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Wednesday, 13 February 2013
Hide Your Moonshine Operation in Plain Sight with This Prohibition Kit
A roundup of the best photos of the day
HOUSTON (AP) ? A Texas man has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting at a crash scene of a suspected drunken driver who authorities say plowed into his sons as they helped push their family's broken-down pickup truck along a dark, narrow, rural road.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/photos-of-the-day-1340925511-slideshow/
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Tuesday, 12 February 2013
Data Entry Outsourcing & Safety Concern
Outsourcing or sourcing is a great business tools, as per many leading business intellectuals and owners. Extension of internet the outsourcing trend has gained remarkable boost and business from across USA, Australia, Canada and other European nations have started outsourcing their time consuming, expensive business needs to offshore professionals and companies in search of low cost workforce, gain access to world class capabilities, technologies and services without worry about infrastructure, hiring, management, retention and other issues.
With benefits like time and cost reduction some safety concerns also comes to limelight while transferring data, or while entering data, data security breach, data theft etc. Here finding the right vendor for all outsourcing needs has become very crucial. Acquiring a perfect deal results in increased productivity, better revenue generation and cost saving, streamline business process.
Despite having safety concern 60% plus business owners believe smart outsourcing can helps them sleek SLA and out beat competitive business environments. And access to new technologies allows them to reduce cost and enhance the quality of back office and day to day data entry tasks.
Rules of outsourcing to be on safer side:
? With cost saving also look for innovative and flexible business opportunities
? Don?t take tempted decisions, investigate first
? Look for the value added benefits and free trial to start with
? Incorporate current market intelligence and pricing trends
? Pre-decide vendor strategy
? It?s best to look for strong business relationship than one time job
? Go for short time SLA
? If services are not per your expectation, it?s never too late to pull back
For more information, contact:
Bea Arthur, author and professional working at Data Entry India (DEI), one of the leading data conversion specialist and company since, 1992. Inquire for assistance and questions on info@dataentryindia.comSource: http://dataentryoutsourcingcompanies.blogspot.com/2013/02/data-entry-outsourcing-safety-concern.html
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Monday, 11 February 2013
Purely Gourmet: Antique Salon | Fillinger Photography ...
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Source: http://ahmedrazu505.blogspot.com/2013/02/purely-gourmet-antique-salon-fillinger.html
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SCC and College Foundation to hold financial aid workshop
by The Sampson Independent
Sampson Community College and College Foundation of NC, Inc., are partnering to present a financial aid presentation on Tuesday, Feb. 12, for all prospective students planning to attend college in the upcoming academic year and have not yet applied for financial aid. The informative session will be held in the Activities Center on the SCC campus at 6 p.m.
Judye Tart, director of Financial Aid at SCC, along with April Morey, regional representative from College Foundation, Inc., will spearhead the event. Tart says this is a great opportunity for high school students and their parents to learn valuable information regarding the application process, types of financial aid, deadlines, verification requirements and other important financial aid information.
She is urging all area high school students who are interested in the financial aid process to attend the workshop, regardless of the college they are planning to attend?private, four-year or community college. ?The workshop is for everyone who has questions about planning and paying for college as well as learning to utilize the College Foundation website for scholarship searches and other useful resources.?
Financial aid presentations are routinely conducted in Clinton City and Sampson County schools. However, Tart says she is also extending the invitation to other student populations as well. ?Sometimes there are conflicts that prohibit students from attending their high school presentations, and we hope this workshop will be conveniently scheduled for them. We also encourage home-schooled students as well as those who attend private school, to join us,? says Tart.
For additional information about financial aid assistance, contact Judye Tart at 592-8084 or visit www.sampsoncc.edu.
Source: http://clintonnc.com/bookmark/21683286
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'Argo' named best film at Britain's Oscars
George Clooney, left, and Ben Affleck arrive for the BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Opera House on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in London. (Photo by Ki Price/Invision/AP)
George Clooney, left, and Ben Affleck arrive for the BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Opera House on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in London. (Photo by Ki Price/Invision/AP)
American actor and director Ben Affleck with the award for Best Film for "Argo," at the BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Opera House on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in London. (Photo by Jonathan Short/Invision/AP)
Laura Whitmore arrives for the BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Opera House on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in London. (Photo by Jonathan Short/Invision/AP))
George Clooney arrives for the BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Opera House on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in London. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Invision/AP)
Alicia Vikander arrives for the BAFTA Film Awards at the Royal Opera House on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in London. (Photo by Jon Furniss/Invision/AP)
LONDON (AP) ? Iran-hostage drama "Argo" continued its journey from awards-season outsider to favorite Sunday, winning three prizes, including best-picture, at the British Academy Film Awards.
Ben Affleck was named best director for the based-on-reality story of a longshot plan to rescue a group of American diplomats from Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and the film also took the editing trophy.
Affleck, who has made a remarkable journey from little-regarded actor to award-winning director, dedicated his directing prize for "anyone out there who's trying to get their second act."
George Clooney, a producer of "Argo," quipped: "I don't know what you're going to do for a third act."
Daniel Day-Lewis won his universally expected best-actor trophy for "Lincoln" ? the only prize out of 10 nominations for Steven Spielberg's historical biopic.
Emmanuelle Riva, the 85-year-old French film legend, was named best actress for Michael Haneke's poignant old-age portrait "Amour." It also was named best foreign-language film.
Made-in-Britain French revolutionary musical "Les Miserables" won four prizes, including best supporting actress for Anne Hathaway. James Bond adventure "Skyfall" spied some elusive awards recognition, winning trophies for music and best British film.
The British awards, known as BAFTAs, are increasingly glamorous ? despite a well-earned reputation for dismal weather ? and ever-more scrutinized as an indicator of likely success at the Hollywood Oscars. In recent years they have prefigured Academy Awards triumph for word-of-mouth hits such as "Slumdog Millionaire," ''The King's Speech" and "The Artist."
This year they spread their honors widely, with multiple trophies for "Life of Pi," ''Silver Linings Playbook," ''Amour" and "Django Unchained," as well as "Argo."
Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden thriller "Zero Dark Thirty" was shut out of the prizes, despite five nominations.
This season's movie with momentum is crowd-pleaser "Argo," which has been building steam with big prizes at ceremonies such as the Golden Globes, the Producers Guild and the Directors Guild of America Awards.
It is now considered a front-runner for the best picture award at the Oscars on Feb. 24, even though Affleck was not nominated for best director.
"Argo" marks a change for Affleck, whose first two features as director ? "Gone Baby Gone" and "The Town" ? were set in his native Boston. In "Argo" he stars as Tony Mendez, a CIA agent who poses as a sci-fi filmmaker in a risky plot to rescue Americans in Tehran.
"I wanted to get as far away from Boston as I could," Affleck said. "I ended up in Iran."
"Skyfall," the highest-grossing film in the Bond series' 50-year history, was named best British film ? rare awards-season recognition for an action movie. Thomas Newman's score also won the best-music prize.
Director Sam Mendes said he was accepting the trophy on behalf of the "1,292 people" who worked on "Skyfall."
"We all had high expectations for this film and it's fair to say all of them have been exceeded," Mendes said. "Here's to the next 50 years."
Quentin Tarantino picked up the original screenplay award for "Django Unchained," and Christoph Waltz was named best supporting actor for playing a loquacious bounty hunter in Tarantino's slave-revenge thriller.
Waltz said his victory was entirely due to Tarantino ? "you silver-penned devil, you."
Tarantino also revealed that he plans another film that sets out to right an historical wrong, after anti-Nazi saga "Inglourious Basterds" and "Django Unchained."
"I think there is something about this that begs a trilogy," he said. "I don't know what the third one's going to be yet."
Hathaway said she was "overjoyed" at being named best supporting actress for her brief but powerhouse performance in "Les Miserables." She said she was so taken aback that "I almost walked past George Clooney without hugging him."
She also expressed sympathy for co-star Eddie Redmayne, who had been due to present an award but ? co-presenter Sally Field informed the audience ? was vomiting backstage.
"Feel better," Hathaway said. "I mean I'd be holding your hair back, but, you know..."
Writer-director David O. Russell won the adapted screenplay prize for "Silver Linings Playbook," a comedy about characters confronting mental illness.
"Les Mis" also took trophies for production design, sound and makeup/hair, and "Life of Pi" received honors for cinematography and visual effects.
Before the ceremony, stars including Clooney, Affleck, Hugh Jackman, Samuel L. Jackson, Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper braved a chilly rain that turned to snow outside the Royal Opera House.
For once it was hair, even more than frocks, that drew attention ? many stars opted for dark colors, though Marion Cotillard defied the dull weather in a canary-yellow gown. Beards were de rigeur among male stars including Clooney, Affleck and Cooper, while Helen Mirren turned heads with a pink 'do, sported in honor of breast cancer awareness.
Sunday's ceremony also saw director Alan Parker receive a BAFTA Fellowship, the academy's highest honor, for a career that includes "Midnight Express," ''Fame" and "Mississippi Burning."
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Just about everyone is definitely the internet for various purposes and cause. One of the numerous explanations why people use the internet would be to make money. Generating revenue online is a great venture because you do not need to go elsewhere to work as well as earn cash. There are truly a lot of opportunities available and here are the best online business ideas.
Affiliate Marketing Business This particular idea involves promoting other people?s or even other company?s services on your own website and blogsite. Basically, you are going to earn via commissions from every successful purchase. You will need to be very good in promoting, as if you google top 10 is an offline sales person. Some other skills necessary to allow it to be big in affiliate marketing tend to be web marketing, product sales copywriting, etc . Affiliate services and products you have to choose are those that are in line with your passions and interests. Do not just choose those that are highly popular, tend to be achievement what you need.
Running a blog Company Essentially, a blog is really a website in whose contents may be articles or even reviews organized chronologically as if you had been placing daily records in your journal. You may also add photos and videos. When you have a blog, there are numerous WordPress Anleitung ways you could make money. There are paid advertisements you can apply for. Ads will be shown on your blogs; ads that are in relation to the contents of the web page. You may also earn through affiliate marketing with creating content. You can write reviews or articles about the products you might be affiliated in order to; and proving links that readers can follow in which the affiliate services and products may be purchased. You need to be skilled at copywriting, web marketing and social network in order to thrive in this business.
Sale Some like Amazon . com and eBay tend to be ideal places that online auctions are kept. You are able to sell as well as resell items through these online marketplaces. Drop delivery services may also be implemented when you organized your auction business. You need to be proficient at sales copywriting and merchandising to make it in this endeavor. In addition, you must also be able to offer excellent customer support which means you will gain loyal patronage from online buyers.
Online store You may also put up your own online shop wherein you can perform web commerce. You can sell numerous products and in addition offer technology-based services on your website. You have to get the skills of an excellent entrepreneur to really make it great in this venture.
Arts And Crafts Business For those who have an artistic hobby such as knitting, artwork or toning, this can be a business that you can certainly consider. Just create your works of art and sell all of them online. You can handcraft clothing, jewelries, luggage and much more. You may also bake cookies, cupcakes and other pastries. You will find there are actually websites and companies who hire or even pay people for making crafts and arts for them. Apart from your creative skills, you should also try to become proficient at selling and marketing to be able to produce high sales for your company.
Source: http://www.proman-help.isys-informatik.ch/index.php/Benutzer%3AMoellerJustus452
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Sunday, 10 February 2013
'Identity Thief' swipes No. 1 spot with $36.6M
This undated publicity image released by Universal Pictures shows Jason Bateman, background, and Melissa McCarthy in a scene from, "Identity Thief." (AP Photo/Universal Pictures)
This undated publicity image released by Universal Pictures shows Jason Bateman, background, and Melissa McCarthy in a scene from, "Identity Thief." (AP Photo/Universal Pictures)
Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy attend the world premiere of "Identity Thief" at the Mann Village Westwood, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Todd Williamson/Invision/AP Images)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? "Identity Thief" has turned out to be the real thing at the North American box office.
The comedy starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy debuted at No. 1 with a $36.6 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Identity Thief" opened solidly despite the winter storm that buried much of the U.S. Northeast. Distributor Universal Pictures estimates the storm might have choked off as much as 10 percent of the movie's business.
"It took such a chunk out of the business this weekend. But we can't control Mother Nature," said Nikki Rocco, Universal's head of distribution. "We probably could have hit $40 million if it weren't for the weather this weekend."
The previous weekend's top movie, the zombie romance "Warm Bodies," fell to No. 2 with $11.5 million. That raises its domestic total to $36.7 million.
The weekend's other new wide release, Steven Soderbergh's thriller "Side Effects," had a modest opening of $10 million, coming in at No. 3.
Tom Cruise's 1986 hit "Top Gun" took flight again in theaters with a 3-D reissue that pulled in $1.9 million in narrow release of 300 theaters. The movie has a short run on the big-screen leading up to its Feb. 19 3-D release on DVD and Blu-ray.
Overall domestic revenues were down sharply from a year ago, when four movies had big openings ? "The Vow," ''Safe House," ''Journey 2: The Mysterious Island" and a 3-D reissue of "Star Wars: Episode I ? The Phantom Menace."
Receipts totaled $105 million, down 45 percent from the same weekend last year ? which was the only non-holiday weekend to have four movies open with more than $20 million, according to box-office tracker Hollywood.com.
"The same weekend a year ago was such a tremendous weekend," said Hollywood.com analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "It's really tough to live up to a weekend like we had last year. It was sort of a foregone conclusion that this was going to be a down weekend."
"Identity Thief" came in above industry expectations despite the storm and poor reviews for the comedy, which stars Bateman as a man chasing down a con artist (McCarthy) who has racked up thousands of dollars of charges in his name.
The combination of the actors and the premise made it a review-proof comedy, Rocco said.
"I think people just want to be entertained," Rocco said. "The chemistry between Jason and Melissa is the reason why this picture is doing so well."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Identity Thief," $36.6 million ($230,000 international).
2. "Warm Bodies," $11.5 million.
3. "Side Effects," $10 million.
4. "Silver Linings Playbook," $6.9 million.
5. "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters," $5.8 million ($11.6 million international).
6. "Mama," $4.3 million ($6.1 million international).
7. "Zero Dark Thirty," $4 million.
8. "Argo," $2.5 million.
9. "Django Unchained," $2.3 million.
10. "Bullet to the Head," $2 million.
___
Estimated weekend ticket sales at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada) for films distributed overseas by Hollywood studios, according to Rentrak:
1. "Django Unchained," $18.7 million.
2. "Wreck-It Ralph," $11.7 million.
3. "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters," $11.6 million.
4 (tie). "A Good Day to Die Hard," $10.1 million.
4 (tie). "Les Miserables," $10.1 million.
6. "Lincoln," $10 million.
7. "Miracle in Cell No. 7," $9.5 million.
8. "The Berlin File," $8.7 million.
9. "Flight," $8 million.
10. "Kokowaah 2," $7.3 million.
___
Online:
http://www.hollywood.com
http://www.rentrak.com
___
Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC..
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How to stay productive during the Snowpocalypse
The Eastern half of the United States is gearing up for a massive winter storm this evening, and we're preparing for the worst. Here's how to stay productive during the impending Snowpocalypse.
Apart from the annoying cold and all the white fluffy stuff, the biggest potential inconveniences that go hand-in-hand with a major snowstorm include power outages or Internet outages. Here's what to do if you wake up tomorrow without power or Internet.
Preparing for a power loss
As the icy winds of Hoth blow through your town, they can destroy power lines, overload transformers, and otherwise do a whole lot of damage to the electricity grid. You don't want to wait until you wake up without power to start worrying about it though, so prepare right now with these tips.
Charge up your devices the night beforehand
If you've got a nice supply of laptops, smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices in your house, plug them in now and let them charge up as long as you can. Avoid using them unplugged tonight so you don't forget to plug them back in overnight, and make sure they're powered off (or saving battery in sleep mode) so they don't start draining as soon as the power dies.
Charge up those extra batteries
You probably can't run out and buy extra batteries right now, but if you've got some extra ones lying around, whether they be regular batteries or extended batteries, don't forget to charge those up, too. We all know how much today's smartphones drain battery, so you'll need all the juice you can get.
Dig out your old phones
Chances are, you've got at least one or two (if not several) old phones buried in the basement. Dig out as many as you can find, and charge them up. If your smartphone dies early on in the day, you'll want other phones you can rely on?even if they're just regular feature phones. Lots of us have ditched our landlines, but if you need something in case of an emergency, that old beat up Motorola RAZR is the perfect candidate. Remember that most cellphones can still make emergency calls even if you don't pay for service, and if you can swap your SIM card from your current phone, it's easy to transfer your current service to an old device.
Get the most out of your battery life
No matter what kind of device you have, chances are you can do some optimizing to make that battery last longer. Dim your screen, turn off Bluetooth and other non-essential apps or hardware, and put it to sleep whenever you're not using it. For more device-centric tips, check out our guides to extending the battery life of your Windows laptop, Linux laptop, an Android phone or any other smartphone. You can even eke a few more minutes out of your battery by using the right browser and turning off Flash completely.
Use your car as a phone charger when you really need it
It's not the ideal solution, but if your phone dies and you need one on hand for emergency calls, you can always whip out your car charger and start up your car for a few minutes of charging (you know, if your car will even start). You'll be patting yourself on the back for buying that USB car charger right about now.
Preparing for an Internet outage
Even if your power doesn't go out, your ISP might lose service in the midst of the onslaught (it's happened to a few of us at team Lifehacker during previous storms). If they do, here are your options as far as staying connected.
Tether your phone
It's one of the most tried and true methods for getting wireless Internet, and while it certainly won't provide a connection for the entire day, it can help you get any important work done before enjoying the rest of your snow day. If you're rocking an Android phone, you have quite a few choices, both if you've rooted and if you haven't.
If you're an iPhone user and you haven't paid for tethering from AT&T, you'll have to jailbreak and use previously mentionedMyWi. Note that if you wake up without Internet, you won't be able to jailbreak tomorrow ? so if it's important enough to you, maybe tonight's the night to back up your phone and check out redsn0w. Also note that tethering will drain your battery like crazy, so use your Internet wisely during the few precious moments you have. (That means no Facebook, you guys! It's just going to be full of the same Snowpocalypse statuses anyways).
Rent that movie from iTunes ? just this once ? because Netflix'll be down
You may forget from time to time that Netflix and other similar streaming services actually rely on a stable Internet connection, so when you go to enjoy your day off tomorrow, you might be disappointed to realize you've lost your entire queue. Now would be a good time to check out iTunes' rental system, or something similar. You may not like that whole paying part, but you have to do the best you can with what you've got, right?
Check and see if you're the only oneJust because you've lost power or Internet doesn't mean everyone has. If you've got a Starbucks, McDonalds, or other Wi-Fi plentiful chain near your house, you can always head there to get some work done (you know, if you can even get out of the house). Make sure you've got a car-friendly driveway, too?if you're out of salt, there are a lot of other household items that'll melt that ice, too.If your cell service goes out (or your phone runs out of juice)If your cell goes dead, on either the battery or service side, and you lack for a fall-back landline, you've still got options?especially if your web connection is still active, or you've got another Internet source.
Best option: Google Voice & Gmail calling
If you've already signed up to use Google Voice, you can make free calls from Gmail's chat sidebar. Just sign into Gmail, hit the "+" button to expand chat if it's not already expanded, and click the "Call phone" option. You may need to download a plug-in to get calling working; it might be a good move to already have it installed the night before a big storm hits.
Once the plug-in is installed, you're good to go, and if you use Android or otherwise have your Google Contacts set up, you won't even need to remember your boss' phone number. You'll be using your laptop speakers and tiny mic hole by default; it would be handy to have a USB headset handy, or at least a pair of headphones to prevent echoing and feedback.
Skype out
If you aren't a Google Voice user, the best you can do is a VoIP service like Skype, which lets you call regular phones right from your computer. Of course, if your friends or relatives have Skype, you can call them for free, but if you need to call other people's regular old phones, you'll need to shell out a bit for a SkypeOut number. What's nice, though, is that you can pay as you go?so if you just need a SkypeOut number for the Snowpocalypse, you don't have to subscribe to a monthly plan or anything like that. Check out Skype's pricing plans for more information.
Accept your tech-free day as the gift of productivity
Computers and the Internet are great tools, but they're also great distractions. If you lose your Internet connection, or your power altogether, you may prefer to think of it not as a curse, but a productivity blessing. There are a lot of Internet-free ways you can catch up with work, like going over your to-do list, organizing your files and folders, or even getting some real, distraction-free work done. It might even inspire you to disconnect more often.
You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/how-stay-productive-during-snowpocalypse-1B8301702
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Saturday, 9 February 2013
New England begins the big dig-out after epic snow
April Palmieri digs out her car in front of her home, background left, on 17th Street after a snow storm on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013 in Bayville, N.Y. Palmieri had five feet of water in her basement as result of the rains from Superstorm Sandy. A howling storm across the Northeast left the New York-to-Boston corridor shrouded in 1 to 3 feet of snow Saturday, stranding motorists on highways overnight and piling up drifts so high that some homeowners couldn't get their doors open. More than 650,000 homes and businesses were left without electricity. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
April Palmieri digs out her car in front of her home, background left, on 17th Street after a snow storm on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013 in Bayville, N.Y. Palmieri had five feet of water in her basement as result of the rains from Superstorm Sandy. A howling storm across the Northeast left the New York-to-Boston corridor shrouded in 1 to 3 feet of snow Saturday, stranding motorists on highways overnight and piling up drifts so high that some homeowners couldn't get their doors open. More than 650,000 homes and businesses were left without electricity. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
Snowbound vehicles remain stranded Saturday morning, Feb. 9, 2013 along Route 347 in Lake Grove, N.Y. Hundreds of cars were stranded on New York?s Long Island roadways as snow rapidly covered roadways. Many people abandoned their vehicles and first responders rescued motorists who chose to spend the frigid night in their vehicles. (AP Photo/Newsday, John Paraskevas)
Shop owners clear the sidewalk in front of their stores on Main St. in Irvington, N.Y., Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. The year's first major winter storm dumped up to 21 inches on the Lower Hudson Valley. (AP Photo/The Journal News, Seth Harrison) NYC OUT, NO SALES, ONLINE OUT, TV OUT, NEWSDAY INTERNET OUT; MAGS OUT
Payloaders clear snow from the Long Island Expressway just west of exit 59 Ocean Ave where several cars and a truck are abandoned after a snow storm on Saturday, Feb. 9, 31, 2013, in Ronkonkoma , N.Y. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
Workers at a car dealership on Route 6 in Carmel, N.Y. clean snow from the cars in their lot, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. The year's first major winter storm dumped up to 21 inches on the Lower Hudson Valley. (AP Photo/The Journal News, Frank Becerra Jr.) NYC OUT, NO SALES, ONLINE OUT, TV OUT, NEWSDAY INTERNET OUT; MAGS OUT
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) ? New Englanders began the back-breaking job of digging out from as much as 3 feet of snow Saturday and emergency crews used snowmobiles to reach shivering motorists stranded overnight on New York's Long Island after a howling storm swept through the Northeast.
About 475,000 homes and businesses remained without power late Saturday night, down from a peak of about 650,000, and some could be cold and dark for days. Roads across the New York-to-Boston corridor of roughly 25 million people were impassable. Cars were entombed by drifts. Some people found the wet, heavy snow packed so high against their homes they couldn't get their doors open.
"It's like lifting cement. They say it's 2 feet, but I think it's more like 3 feet," said Michael Levesque, who was shoveling snow in Quincy, Mass., for a landscaping company.
In Providence, where the drifts were 5 feet high and telephone lines encrusted with ice and snow drooped under the weight, Jason Harrison labored for nearly three hours to clear his blocked driveway and front walk and still had more work to do. His snowblower, he said, "has already paid for itself."
At least five deaths in the U.S. were blamed on the overnight snowstorm, including an 11-year-old boy in Boston who was overcome by carbon monoxide as he sat in a running car to keep warm while his father shoveled Saturday morning.
Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee cautioned that while the snow had stopped, the danger hadn't passed: "People need to take this storm seriously, even after it's over. If you have any kind of heart condition, be careful with the shoveling."
Blowing with hurricane-force winds of more than 80 mph in places, the storm hit hard along the heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor between New York City and Maine. Milford., Conn., got 38 inches of snow, and Portland, Maine, recorded 31.9, shattering a 1979 record. Several communities in New York and across New England got more than 2 feet.
Still, the storm was not as bad as some of the forecasts led many to fear, and not as dire as the Blizzard of '78, used by longtime New Englanders as the benchmark by which all other winter storms are measured.
By midday Saturday, the National Weather Service reported preliminary snowfall totals of 24.9 inches in Boston, or fifth on the city's all-time list. Bradley Airport near Hartford, Conn., got 22 inches, for the No. 2 spot in the record books there.
Concord, N.H., got 24 inches of snow, the second-highest amount on record and a few inches short of the reading from the great Blizzard of 1888.
In New York, where Central Park recorded 11 inches, not even enough to make the Top 10 list, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city "dodged a bullet" and its streets were "in great shape." The three major airports ? LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark, N.J. ? were up and running by late morning after shutting down the evening before.
Most of the power outages were in Massachusetts, where more than 400,000 homes and businesses were left in the dark. Hours before midnight Saturday, about 308,000 customers remained without power. In Rhode Island, a peak of around 180,000 customers lost power, or about one-third of the state. Late night, the total was down to 130,000.
Connecticut crews had slowly whittled down the outage total to 31,000 from a high of about 38,000, and power was restored to nearly all of the more than 15,000 in Maine and New Hampshire who were left without lights after the storm hit.
Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island imposed travel bans until 4 p.m. to keep cars off the road and let plows do their work, and the National Guard helped clear highways in Connecticut, where more than 240 auto accidents were reported. The Guardsmen rescued about 90 motorists, including a few who had hypothermia and were taken to hospitals.
On Long Island, which got more than 2? feet of snow, hundreds of drivers spent a cold and scary night stuck on the highways. Even snowplows got bogged down or were blocked by stuck cars, so emergency workers used snowmobiles to try to reach motorists, many of whom were still waiting to be rescued hours after the snow had stopped.
One of those who was rescued, Priscilla Arena, prayed as she waited, took out a sheet of loose-leaf paper and wrote what she thought might be her last words to her husband and children, ages 5 and 9. Among her advice: "Remember all the things that mommy taught you. Never say you hate someone you love."
Richard Ebbrecht, a chiropractor, left his office in Brooklyn at 3 p.m. on Friday and headed for home in Middle Island, N.Y., but got stuck six or seven times on the Long Island Expressway and other roads.
"There was a bunch of us Long Islanders. We were all helping each other, shoveling, pushing," he said. He finally gave up and settled in for the night in his car just two miles from his destination. At 8 a.m., when it was light out, he walked home.
"I could run my car and keep the heat on and listen to the radio a little bit," he said. "It was very icy under my car. That's why my car is still there."
Around the New York metropolitan area, many victims of Superstorm Sandy were mercifully spared another round of flooding, property damage and power failures.
"I was very lucky and I never even lost power," said Susan Kelly of Bayville. "We were dry as anything. My new roof was fantastic. Other than digging out, this storm was a nice storm." As for the shoveling, "I got two hours of exercise."
At New York's Fashion Week, women tottered on 4-inch heels through the snow to get to the tents to see designers' newest collections.
Across much of New England, streets were empty of cars and dotted instead with children who had never seen so much snow and were jumping into snow banks and making forts. Snow was waist-high in the streets of Boston. Plows made some thoroughfares passable but piled even more snow on cars parked on the city's narrow streets.
Boston's Logan Airport was not expected to resume operations until late Saturday night.
Life went on as usual for some. In Portland, Karen Willis Beal got her dream wedding on Saturday ? complete with a snowstorm just like the one that hit before her parents married in December 1970.
"I have always wanted a snowstorm for my wedding, and my wish has come true to the max," she said.
In Massachusetts, the National Guard and Worcester emergency workers teamed up to deliver a baby at the height of the storm at the family's home. Everyone was fine.
Some spots in Massachusetts had to be evacuated because of coastal flooding, including Salisbury Beach, where around 40 people were ordered out.
Among them were Ed and Nancy Bemis, who heard waves crashing and rolling underneath their home, which sits on stilts. At one point, Ed Bemis went outside to take pictures, and a wave came up, blew out their door and knocked down his wife.
"The objects were flying everywhere. If you went in there, it looks like ... two big guys got in a big, big fight. It tore the doors right off their hinges. It's a mess," he said.
___
Lindsay reported from Salisbury, Mass. Associated Press writers David Klepper in Providence, Ebony Reed in Quincy, Mass., Karen Matthews in New York, Frank Eltman in Farmingville N.Y., Charles Krupa in Boston, and John Christoffersen in Fairfield, Conn., contributed to this report.
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Anti-government protesters march across Egypt
CAIRO (AP) ? Thousands of Egyptians are staging rallies in cities across the country to denounce the rule of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi and his fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood.
Protesters took to the streets Friday in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said and several cities in the Nile Delta to oppose the group.
Hamdeen Sabahi, a leader of the opposition National Salvation Front, said in a message posted on his Twitter account: "We will continue our peaceful struggle with the Egyptian people and revolutionary youth to continue our revolution."
Religious edicts issued by hardline Muslim clerics against Morsi's political opponents this week have raised fears of assassinations in Egypt, after a top anti-Islamist politician was gunned down in Tunisia, birthplace of the region's so-called Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 that led to Morsi's election last summer.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/anti-government-protesters-march-across-egypt-142005747.html
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Friday, 8 February 2013
A Court Is About To Determine The Fate Of ... - Business Insider
A federal appeals court is set to consider a case closely watched by Google Inc, Facebook Inc and other technology companies that could determine how far the patent system should go in protecting software inventions.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which specializes in patent cases, will hear arguments on Friday over whether patents should be granted for business methods whose main innovation is that they require the use of a computer.
Only some business methods can be patented, an issue that has gone to the U.S. Supreme Court.
CLS Bank International, which runs a foreign-exchange settlement system, is seeking to convince the Washington, D.C., court's nine judges that financial markets technology company Alice Corp's patents represent abstract ideas and are thus invalid.
Alice, based in Melbourne, Australia, and owned in part by National Australia Bank Ltd, holds a portfolio of patents, including four that cover a computerized system for exchanging financial obligations. The company argues that when an invention requires the use of a computer, even if it involves an abstract idea, "it's patentable if the computer plays a significant role in the invention."
In July, a three-judge panel of the appeals court agreed with Alice in a split decision. But dissenting Judge Sharon Prost criticized the majority for flouting Supreme Court precedent. CLS was later granted its petition to re-argue the case before the full court.
CLS, which originally brought the case in 2007, has argued that Alice's patents seek to monopolize an idea that's long been a part of financial transactions.
"Computer-implemented methods are important to the economy, and we hope this case can shed some light" on the law in the area, CLS attorney Mark Perry, of the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, said in an interview.
An attorney for Alice declined to comment, citing the pending litigation.
Many technology and Internet companies worry that too many patents have been granted for simple ideas, hindering others from building innovations using those principles. They say this slows technology development, though other companies, including smaller developers and individuals, say inventors deserve legal protections for their innovations.
Google, Dell Inc and Facebook filed a friend-of-the-court brief criticizing the appeals panel's earlier decision.
They wrote that "bare-bones patents" like Alice's do not innovate enough on their own to deserve patent protection. "The real work comes later, when others undertake the innovative task of developing concrete applications," they wrote.
LinkedIn Corp, Twitter and others also submitted a friend-of-the-court brief, arguing against too much leniency in granting patents, though they did not pledge support for either side in the case.
International Business Machines Corp, on the other hand, filed a brief saying most software inventions qualify for patent protection. IBM, which has topped the list of U.S. patent recipients for 20 years, cautioned the court against creating a strict rule that would further limit protection, though it did not side with either party in the lawsuit.
John Vandenberg, an attorney at the law firm Klarquist Sparkman who filed the brief for the LinkedIn and Twitter group, said a finding in favor of CLS could allow judges to throw out other lawsuits immediately if they determine a patent covers an abstract idea.
The case comes after two Supreme Court decisions involving similar issues of patent eligibility.
In Bilski v. Kappos, the high court found in 2010 that a business-method patent for guarding against investment risk was an abstract idea and could not be patented. Last March, in Mayo v. Prometheus, the court ruled that a company could not patent a diagnostic process involving blood tests because observations about natural phenomena cannot be protected.
The case is CLS Bank International et al v. Alice Corporation Pty Ltd, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 11-1301.
(Reporting By Erin Geiger Smith; Editing by Martha Graybow and Douglas Royalty)
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Conference news | ICE launches : Online Gambling News
February 7, 2013
Czech firm Kajot, who are perhaps better known for who than what?s at the stand, chose ICE 2013 to launch their new Golden Games Compendium in the hope of drumming up some interest. The company brought with it 3D screens and a number of beautiful birds dressed as Harlequin?s that were on hand to help out anyone that wanted to know more. The slots compilation contains six new games and if the interest around the stand was anything to go by the games are sure to be a big hit.
Payment systems have a huge part to play when it comes to gambling and two of those in attendance, Porto Maso Wirex and Papaya Electronic Money, managed to come to an agreement to work together on a future project. The terms of the agreement were undisclosed and the contract will see the two focus on the European market.
As for casino games themselves it was down to Asian-facing Alfastreet to confirm the launch of a new product. The showpiece of their stand was a huge Wheel of Fortune that has been designed to be a centrepiece of casino and the plan is to have it debut in Singapore casino this year before moving into US ones afterwards. ICE was also the place they launched a new multiplayer platform and a modified craps program.
What?s clear from this year?s ICE is that casino firms aren?t winding down and are continuing to launch new and innovative products for the world to see.
Source: http://calvinayre.com/2013/02/07/business/land-based-launches-galore-at-ice/
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Preparatory drill test performed on Mars
Feb. 7, 2013 ? The drill on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used both percussion and rotation to bore about 0.8 inch (2 centimeters) into a rock on Mars and generate cuttings for evaluation in advance of the rover's first sample-collection drilling.
Completion of this "mini drill" test in preparation for full drilling was confirmed in data from Mars received late Wednesday at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. If the drill cuttings on the ground around the fresh hole pass visual evaluation as suitable for processing by the rover's sample handling mechanisms, the rover team plans to proceed with commanding the first full drilling in coming days.
An image of the hole and surrounding cuttings produced by the mini drill test is online at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA16760 .
The test was performed on a patch of flat, vein-bearing rock called "John Klein." The locations of earlier percussion-only testing and planned sample-collection drilling are also on John Klein. Pre-drilling observations of this rock yielded indications of one or more episodes of wet environmental conditions. The team plans to use Curiosity's laboratory instruments to analyze sample powder from inside the rock to learn more about the site's environmental history.
The planned full drilling will be the first rock drilling on Mars to collect a sample of material for analysis.
During a two-year prime mission, researchers are using Curiosity's 10 science instruments to assess whether the study area in Gale Crater on Mars ever has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.
More information about Curiosity is online at: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ .
You can follow the mission on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/vWZkZTt57Sg/130207203938.htm
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Menendez says he called gov't in way to help donor
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Sen. Robert Menendez acknowledged Wednesday that his office contacted U.S. health agencies in a way that would help the biggest political donor to his re-election, the same eye doctor whose private jet Menendez used for two personal trips to the Dominican Republic.
The senator denied to The Associated Press that he sought to intervene improperly in billing disputes between the doctor and the government.
Menendez, D-N.J., said he contacted the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to ask about billing practices and policies. The contacts came during a dispute between CMS and Dr. Salomon Melgen, a longtime friend and campaign supporter of Menendez. The FBI searched Melgen's offices last week.
"The bottom line is, we raised concerns with CMS over policy and over ambiguities that are difficult for medical providers to understand and to seek a clarification," Menendez said.
The senator called federal health officials in 2009 and met with them again in 2012, each time urging them to change what he called an unfair payment policy that had cost his friend Melgen $8.9 million, according to an official close to the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person is not authorized to talk about ongoing investigations.
The official said Medicare held firm on the billing dispute and ordered the money repaid. It's unclear whether Melgen has repaid all or just some of the $8.9 million. He currently is appealing his case.
Medicare providers accused of fraudulent or improper billing are allowed to appeal their case, even after being fined or suspended from the program.
Melgen contends he didn't fraudulently bill the taxpayer-funded Medicare program but was confused about what was allowed, the official said.
Melgen treated patients suffering from macular degeneration with the costly drug Lucentis, which runs about $2,000 a vial. Melgen was only giving patients portions of the vial, which is allowed, but he was billing the government for the entire amount, the official said.
The drug has been the subject of controversy, and in a 2012 report from the Health and Human Services inspector general, the agency recommended that Medicare officials stop using the drug because there was a cheaper and equally effective alternative.
Menendez, who spoke during a roundtable Wednesday with reporters and others on Capitol Hill, subsequently told the AP he did not try to intervene with government regulators on Melgen's behalf. In a statement, the senator's spokeswoman, Tricia Enright, said Menendez "was never aware of and has not intervened in any Medicare fraud investigation on behalf of Vitreo Retinal Consultants," Melgen's company.
During the period that Menendez contacted federal officials in 2009 and 2012, Melgen was dealing with several financial setbacks. In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service filed a $6 million tax lien against Melgen's Palm Beach estate. Melgen satisfied that lien in 2011, but the IRS slapped a new $11.1 million tax lien on Melgen that same year. Melgen's home is assessed at $2.3 million.
Melgen also has filed a series of lawsuits in Florida state and federal courts starting in 2005, alleging that he lost $15 million in a Florida-based Ponzi scheme. In legal documents, Melgen's attorneys said that he was among a group of affluent investors who lost a total of more than $190 million routed through fraudulent hedge funds. Melgen has sued a brokerage and several other defendants, including Bank of America, alleging breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, negligence and other offenses.
But judges have repeatedly dismissed the lawsuits, most recently in 2010 when a U.S. appellate court ruled against Melgen. He tried again last July, filing a new case against Bank of America.
The Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, urged Menendez to stop publicly discussing his business relationship with Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist and entrepreneur. Reid cited a pending inquiry into the matter by the Senate Ethics Committee but praised Menendez as an invaluable leader.
"We all have these issues come to us," Reid said. "We have to work our way through it ... I would suggest to my friend that he shouldn't get into this today."
Menendez has acknowledged that he flew on Melgen's private plane and failed, initially, to properly pay for the trips. He told reporters he reimbursed some $58,500 from his personal funds.
The events have engulfed Menendez, 59, just as he assumed the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, succeeding former Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who resigned last week to become secretary of state.
Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of Menendez's for many years. Last year, Melgen's practice gave $700,000 to Majority PAC, a super political action committee set up to fund Democratic candidates for Senate. Aided by Melgen's donation, the super PAC became the largest outside political committee contributing to Menendez's re-election, spending more than $582,000 on the senator's behalf.
___
Kennedy reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Stephen Braun and Andrew Taylor also contributed from Washington.
___
Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations (at) ap.org
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Wednesday, 6 February 2013
2006 Cy Young winner Brandon Webb retires
Brandon Webb, who won the NL Cy Young Award in 2006 and was one of the top pitchers in baseball before being beset by arm injuries, is retiring.
The right-hander's agents, Mike Montana and Jonathan Maurer of Millennium Sports Management, confirmed Monday night that Webb was calling it a career.
"He has worked so hard over the past three years to come back but his shoulder just wouldn't allow it to happen," Montana said in an email. "He's a first class guy with a great family that he'll get to spend more time with now."
The 33-year-old Webb hasn't pitched in the majors since 2009 because of shoulder problems. He came up with Arizona in 2003 and had a 2.84 ERA in 180 innings. He pitched more than 200 innings each of the next five seasons for the Diamondbacks, using his heavy sinker to win a Cy Young and earn three All-Star selections. He finished second in the Cy Young voting in both 2007 and '08, winning a total of 40 games those seasons.
He threw four innings with the Diamondbacks in 2009, leaving his first start of the season with an aching shoulder and missing the rest of the season. In 2011, he signed with the Texas Rangers, but never pitched in a regular-season game.
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Documents: Officials worried about Superdome power
San Francisco 49ers cheerleaders perform during a power outage at the Superdome in the second half of the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game between the 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
San Francisco 49ers cheerleaders perform during a power outage at the Superdome in the second half of the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game between the 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Concerned the Superdome might not be able to handle the energy needed for its first Super Bowl since Hurricane Katrina, officials spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on upgrades to decayed utility lines, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The improvements apparently weren't enough, however, to prevent an embarrassing and puzzling 34-minute power outage during the third quarter of the game between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
Two days later, officials still had not pinpointed the cause of the outage. The Superdome's management company, SMG, and the utility that supplies the stadium, Entergy New Orleans, announced Tuesday that they would hire outside experts to investigate.
"We wanted to leave no stone unturned," Entergy spokesman Chanel Lagarde told the AP. He said the two companies had not been able to reach a conclusion on the cause and wanted a third-party analysis.
"We thought it was important to get another party looking at this to make sure we were looking at everything that we need to examine," Lagarde said.
SMG Vice President Doug Thornton told a news conference at City Hall later Tuesday that the hiring of a third party does not signify a disagreement between SMG and Entergy.
"It's important for us to have total transparency and we have agreed among ourselves that we will exchange records," Thornton said. "We were metering the power. They were doing the same on their side. We need to figure out what the root cause of this is and fix it."
Documents obtained Monday through a records request by The Associated Press show that Superdome officials worried months ago about losing power during the NFL championship.
Tests on the electrical feeders that connect incoming power from utility lines to the stadium showed decay and "a chance of failure," state officials warned in a memo dated Oct. 15. The documents, obtained by the AP through a records request, also show that Entergy expressed concern about the reliability of the service before the Super Bowl.
The memo said Entergy and the Superdome's engineering staff "had concerns regarding the reliability of the Dome service from Entergy's connection point to the Dome."
The memo was prepared for the Louisiana Stadium & Exposition District, the state body responsible for the Superdome.
Authorities subsequently authorized spending nearly $1 million on Superdome improvements, including more than $600,000 for upgrading the dome's electrical feeder cable system, work that was done in December.
"As discussed in previous board meetings, this enhancement is necessary to maintain both the Superdome and the New Orleans Arena as top tier facilities, and to ensure that we do not experience any electrical issues during the Super Bowl," said an LSED document dated Dec. 19.
Superdome commission records show a $513,250 contract to replace feeder cables was awarded to Allstar Electric, a company based in suburban New Orleans.
Arthur Westbrook, Allstar's project manager for the job, referred all questions about possible causes of the outage to the management company.
A lawyer for the LSED, Larry Roedel, said Monday a preliminary investigation found the replacement work done in December did not appear to have caused Sunday's outage.
Eric Grubman, NFL executive vice president of business operations, told the AP on Tuesday that the league was aware of the city's pre-game upgrades to the utility lines, "which we understood to be important and beneficial."
"SMG and others kept us apprised and those reports gave us no real cause for concern," Grubman said. "It is natural and understandable for energy suppliers to be concerned prior to a huge event. If an engineer is asked whether something is 100 percent failsafe, an engineer will normally say, 'No, there is always a risk of failure.'"
Both Entergy and SMG said Sunday that an "abnormality" occurred where stadium equipment intersects with an Entergy electric feed, causing a breaker to create the outage. It remained unclear Monday exactly what the abnormality was or why it occurred.
The lights-out championship game proved an embarrassment for New Orleans just when it was hoping to show the rest of the world how far it has come since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. But many fans were forgiving, and officials expressed confidence that the episode wouldn't hurt the city's hopes of hosting the championship again.
To New Orleans' relief, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the city did a "terrific" job hosting its first pro-football championship in the post-Katrina era.
"I fully expect that we will be back here for Super Bowls," he said, noting a backup power system was poised to kick in but wasn't needed once the lights came back.
Mayor Mitch Landrieu told a news conference Tuesday that the outage won't hurt the city's chances of hosting another Super Bowl and he joked that the game got better after the blackout.
"That 34 minutes is not going to cast a shadow over the accomplishments of the city," Landrieu said, calling the event "as near-perfect a Super Bowl as the country has ever seen." He added that officials estimate the game brought $432 million into the city.
Fans watching from home weren't deterred, either. An estimated 108.4 million television viewers saw the Baltimore Ravens beat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31, making it the third-most-viewed program in television history. Both the 2010 and 2011 games hit the 111 million mark.
As for possible culprits, it couldn't be blamed on a case of too much demand for power.
Meters showed the 76,000-seat stadium was drawing no more electricity than it does during a typical New Orleans Saints game, according to Doug Thornton, the Superdome manager.
He also ruled out Beyonce's electrifying halftime performance. She brought along her own generator.
Officials with the utility and the Superdome were quick to note that an NFL game, the Sugar Bowl and another bowl game were played there in recent weeks with no apparent problems.
Cynthia Hedge-Morrell, chairwoman of the New Orleans City Council's Utility Committee, called an emergency committee meeting Friday with Entergy representatives and others, seeking additional information.
The blackout came after a nearly flawless week of activity for football fans in New Orleans leading up to the big game.
The Big Easy last hosted the Super Bowl in 2002, and officials were hoping this would serve as the ultimate showcase for the city's recovery since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The storm tore holes in the roof of the Superdome and caused water damage to its electrical systems, and more than $330 million was spent repairing and upgrading the stadium.
Sunday's Super Bowl was New Orleans' 10th as host, and officials plan to make a bid for an 11th in 2018.
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OUYA game console will be in retail stores this June | Android ...
The OUYA game console is going to soon be available in retail stores. The consoles are expected to land with several retailers including some brick-and-mortar and some on the web. The list of stores looks to include Gamestop, Best Buy and Target as well as Amazon. The OUYA should be available with these retailers beginning in June, and pre-orders are already available with several of them.
The price of the OUYA console will be $99.99, which is what we are seeing with the currently available pre-orders direct from OUYA. The extra controllers on the other hand look to be a bit pricier. Current OUYA controller pre-orders are available for $30, however retail availability is expected to be $50. To follow up on a previous report, those who are looking to pre-order direct from OUYA at this point have missed the April delivery timeframe and so far we have yet to see another update in terms of shipping.
In addition to placing a pre-order with OUYA, you can also do so with Amazon, Best Buy and Target. We have yet to see release dates from all the retailers, however Target has the OUYA console listed with a release date of June 4. Aside from already having talked quite a bit about the OUYA due to the Kickstarter and pre-order availability ? the console is expected to officially be unveiled in March.
Taking that a step further and we have the Kickstarter backers set to receive their consoles in March with OUYA pre-orders coming in April and an official launch in June when the retail availability begins. The retail availability information came by way of the Wall Street Journal who recently interviewed CEO Julie Uhrman. During that interview Uhrman noted that they currently have more than 68,000 consoles on order and are expecting to have games from every genre and perhaps more important ? games from publishers that you know.
Source: http://androidcommunity.com/ouya-game-console-will-be-in-retail-stores-this-june-20130205/
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Did German Cookie Monster return stolen emblem?
Jochen Luebke / EPA
The missing golden Leibniz cookie hangs from the statue of a horse in front of the Leibniz University in Hannover, Germany, on Tuesday.
By Andy Eckardt, Producer, NBC News
MAINZ, Germany ??Germany's famous "golden cookie" hostage may have been freed ? released by none other than a Teutonic version of the Cookie Monster himself.
Police found a golden cookie hanging from a statue outside Leipniz University in Hannover Tuesday morning, several weeks after a metal cookie emblem was stolen from the headquarters of a German food company.
The 44-pound cookie emblem was taken from a statue outside the headquarters of German food giant Bahlsen in January. It had been a company landmark since 1913.
Local Hannover newspaper Hannoversche Allgemeine then received a ransom note signed by the "Cookie Monster" ? complete with letters cut out of newspapers and a photo of the blue-haired "Sesame Street" character biting the golden treat.
The kidnapper demanded that a shipment of cookies be sent to a local children's hospital.
Last week the head of the company, Werner Bahlsen, offered to donate 52,000 packets of the manufacturer's popular Leipniz cookies to 52 different organizations after the safe return of its precious pastry. He also stressed that his company would "refuse to be blackmailed."
Police specialists on Tuesday determined that the cookie found on the Leipniz University statue was "most likely" the original golden treat.
Courtesy HAZ / Michael Thomas
A ransom note signed by the Cookie Monster was sent to a German newspaper, along with a photograph of a person dressed up as the "Sesame Street" character.
"I am very happy and I hope that it is really our cookie and that we can soon put it up again," Werner Bahlsen said in a statement.
As for the mysterious thief, he ??or she ??is not lacking a sense of humor.
Less than a week after Hannoversche Allgemeine received the first ransom note, another letter arrived in the mail. Once again it included a photo of a person dressed in Cookie Monster costume, police said.
This time, it was good news.
"Because Werni loves the biscuit as much as I do and now always cries and misses the biscuit so badly, I'm giving it back to him," the kidnapper wrote.
"Werni" is a nickname for the German name Werner, a reference to Werner Bahlsen's public appeals for the safe return of his company emblem.
And it seems the culprit deliberately chose the Leipniz University location for the return of its golden hostage as a nod to Bahlsen's popular "Leipniz Cookie".
Werner Bahlsen said in a statement Tuesday that he would keep his promise of donating 52,000 packages of cookies?? if the golden cookie turns out to be the real thing.
Related:
Has Cookie Monster gone bad? 44-pound chunk of German statue stolen
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