Fumi Gate Rock

Airline passengers flying through storms might have more to worry about than a little turbulence. A new study suggests that if jets pass near lightning discharges or related phenomena known as terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, passengers and crew members could be exposed to harmful levels of radiation, a dose equal to that of 400 chest X-rays.

However, the likelihood of encountering these lightning events is very small, the researchers say. In addition, airline passengers are always exposed to slightly elevated radiation levels due to cosmic rays, which bombard Earth's upper atmosphere constantly but typically don't make it to the surface.

Airplane passengers would only be exposed to this high radiation dose if their airplane happens to be near the point of origin of a lightning discharge or a gamma-ray flash, and scientists aren't sure how often, if ever, such exposure occurs. The radiation bursts are extremely brief and extend over just a few hundred feet in the clouds.

"We know that commercial airplanes are typically struck by lightning once or twice a year," said Joe Dwyer, professor of physics and space sciences at Florida Tech. "What we don't know is how often planes happen to be in just the right place or right time to receive a high radiation dose. We believe it is very rare, but more research is needed to answer the question definitively."

Lightning and other mysterious flashes

Scientists admit lightning is still mysterious. They don't really know why it produces X-rays or gamma rays (which are more intense than X-rays), or even how it gets from there to here.

The researchers did not measure high radiation doses directly with airplanes. Instead, they estimated radiation based on satellite and ground observations of X-rays and gamma rays.

With orbiting satellite data, they were able to study terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, or TGFs, mysterious phenomena that appear to originate at the same altitudes used by jet airliners and occur along with lightning. While scientists don't know what causes TGFs, they believe they are produced by electric fields above the thunderstorms.

The research team also included measurements of X-rays and gamma rays from natural lightning on the ground, as well as artificial lightning triggered with wire-trailing rockets fired into storm clouds.

They then used computer models to estimate the amount of radiation that could be produced within, or very near, thunderclouds during lightning storms.

They concluded the radiation in a football field-sized space around these lightning events could reach "biologically significant levels," up to 10 rem (roentgen equivalent man), which is the dosage considered the maximum safe radiation exposure over a person's lifetime.

While the research raises obvious concerns, recent in-flight experiments suggest the incidents are rare, according to study scientist David Smith, an associate professor of physics at UC-Santa Cruz. Flying aboard an aircraft this past summer in Florida, Smith and several of the other researchers used a highly sophisticated instrument to measure gamma-ray flashes from thunderstorms. Over the course of several flights, they only detected one such flash, at a safe distance from the plane.

"These observations show that although thunderstorms do occasionally create intense gamma-ray flashes, the chance of accidently being directly hit by one is small," Smith said.

More inquiry needed

Martin Uman, another author and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UF, noted that airline pilots typically seek to avoid flying through storms.

However, he said, the fact that commercial planes are struck once or twice a year suggests more inquiry is needed. He said he would recommend to the Federal Aviation Administration that it place detectors aboard planes capable of measuring the radiation bursts to determine how often they occur.

"We also need to spend more time looking at gamma and x-ray radiation from lightning and thunderstorms and trying to understand how it works," Uman said.

The research will be detailed in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres.

The World's Weirdest Weather
Image Gallery: Lightening Strikes
Lightning and Other Weather Threats to Airplanes
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NEW YORK (Reuters) –
Demand for U.S. home loans rose to the highest level in about two months, mainly from borrowers locking in low mortgage rates by refinancing, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Wednesday.

Nearly three of every four loan requests last week was for a refinancing, the industry group said.

Total mortgage applications, based on the group's seasonally adjusted market index, rose 8.5 percent to 665.6 last week to the highest since early October.

Demand for loans to buy a home increased by 4.0 percent, while refinancing applications jumped 11.1 percent to 3,185.9 last week. This was the highest refinance index level in about two months.

Average 30-year mortgage rates rose 0.09 percentage point to 4.88 percent but haven't strayed far from all-time lows.

The rate was down from 5.44 percent a year ago and compares with a record low of 4.61 percent set in March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

For a related chart of mortgage rates, right click on the code: and select "Related Graph."

Home purchasing has been slowly accelerating as affordability improves and government incentives have broadened.

Borrowing costs are historically low. Home prices have been slashed about 30 percent on average from their 2006 peaks and starting to rise in many areas.

Potential buyers will show up in bigger numbers through the usually slow winter months to take advantage of a tax credit that the Obama administration extended.

An $8,000 credit that was set to end November 30 for first-time buyers was prolonged, with contract signings now due by April 30 and loan closings by June 30. A new $6,500 tax credit to lure move-up buyers was added.

But double-digit unemployment rates, despite some improvement in November to 10 percent from 10.2 percent, will keep many buyers inactive.

(Reporting by Lynn Adler, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Atlanta Power Window Repair

A window glazed with small panes of glass separated by wooden or lead "glazing bars", or "muntins", arranged in a decorative "glazing pattern" often dictated by the architectural style at use. Due to the historic unavailability of large panes of glass, this was the prevailing style of window until the beginning of the twentieth century, and is traditionally still used today. A window big enough and low enough so that occupants can escape through the opening in an emergency, such as a fire. In the United States, exact specifications for emergency windows in bedrooms are given in many building codes. Vehicles, such as buses and aircraft, frequently have emergency exit windows as well.

The lites in a window sash are divided horizontally and vertically by narrow strips of wood or metal called muntins. More substantial load bearing or structural vertical dividers are called mullions, with the corresponding horizontal dividers referred to as transoms.

MANILA, Philippines – Philippine prosecutors charged the heir of a powerful clan with murder Tuesday in the massacre of 57 people, more than half of them journalists or their staff who were accompanying the family and supporters of an election candidate.
At least 10 witnesses will testify they saw Andal Ampatuan Jr. leading the gunmen, including police officers, who blocked his rival's election caravan moments before the Nov. 23 massacre, prosecutor Al Calica told The Associated Press.
Hours later, troops found the bullet-riddled and hacked bodies near the highway sprawled in the grass and hastily buried in three mass graves by a backhoe together with three vehicles.
Ampatuan turned himself in last week and denied the charges.
He is the scion of a clan allied with President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo that has ruled southern impoverished Maguindanao province unopposed for years. His father, the family's patriarch, and six other family members also are considered suspects but have not been charged.
Prosecutors initially filed 25 murder charges against Ampatuan in southern Cotabato city, whose regional trial court is nearest to the massacre site in Ampatuan township.
The five prosecutors handling the murder case carried two boxloads of evidence and affidavits from witnesses from Manila to Cotabato city aboard two air force helicopters. They are expected to ask the court to try the case in Manila for security reasons.
"The evidence is strong," Calica said, adding that at least 10 witnesses provided written testimonies linking Ampatuan to the killings.
He said three of them were in the convoy carrying journalists and the wife, two sisters, an aunt and several supporters of Ampatuan's rival, Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu of Maguindanao's Buluan township.
Mangudadatu had sent his relatives to file his candidacy papers for governorship. Mangudadatu said Ampatuan had threatened to chop him to pieces if he attempted to challenge the Ampatuan family's ironclad control over the province. So, Mangudadatu sent female family members in the belief they would not be harmed.
Quoting the three witnesses, Calica said they managed to turn their cars from the tail end of the convoy and escaped after shots were fired and the gunmen hurriedly took control of the vans and sport utility vehicles in the caravan.
Police cars were parked along the road as the gunmen led the victims in their vehicles to a remote hilltop where they were butchered, Calica said.
Police said earlier they took into custody six officers, including the Maguindanao provincial police chief and his deputy. Two inspectors among them were allegedly seen during the massacre with Ampatuan, said Erickson Velasquez, head of the criminal investigation division.
Prosecutors said the killings were carefully planned and that more charges will follow. At least one witness alleged that the Ampatuan clan had gathered in the patriarch's mansion in the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak days before to plan the killings, said chief state prosecutor Jovencito Zuno.
The graves were dug in advance and a backhoe positioned to bury the bodies, prosecutors said.
The Ampatuans denied any responsibility in the killings in a rare news conference in Shariff Aguak on Sunday.
In Manila, about 1,000 journalists and activists marched Monday to demand justice for the single worst attack on the media anywhere in the world. Thirty of the victims were journalists or their staff. The protesters hackled Arroyo's spokesman Cerge Remonde when he tried to address them outside the president's office.
The carnage drew worldwide condemnation, including from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the U.S., Australia and EU governments.

Arroyo has declared a state of emergency in Maguindanao and a neighboring province and ordered troops and police to confiscate unlincensed weapons and restore order. But few think the measures will go far enough in a lawless region notorious for political warlords that has been outside the central government's control for generations.

___

Associated Press writer Teresa Cerojano contributed to this report.

Kurt Warner headed to a meeting with Arizona Cardinals medical staff and coaches before Sunday's game wrestling with the question of whether to be honest about the post-concussion symptoms he was experiencing.
"Do I want to stretch the truth a little bit? Do I want to not tell them everything so I could play?" he wondered.
"I know I could dictate it," he said Monday. "But then I had to go, 'What are you thinking?' Because I know this is bigger than that."
The issue of concussions is front and center in the NFL, illustrated starkly Sunday when the two quarterbacks from last season's Super Bowl sat out — after saying during the week they planned to play despite sustaining head injuries the previous game.
Warner didn't play against the Tennessee Titans, and the Cardinals lost. Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger didn't play against the Baltimore Ravens, and the Steelers lost.
Their absences came against the backdrop of increased attention to the issue, from studies highlighting the dangers of repeated head injuries to several statements issued by the NFL on how teams should handle concussions.
"We weren't involved in the decisions (regarding Warner and Roethlisberger). ... But there's no question there's been a culture change in sports regarding concussions," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. "Everybody is much more aware and more conservative in the way they're managing them. And that's a good thing."
Aiello said league officials wouldn't hesitate to question a team if they saw indications that concussions guidelines were possibly not being followed, even without a complaint from somebody within the club.
But as Warner's comments emphasize, all the harrowing stories and the policy changes won't completely solve the problem if players aren't honest about their symptoms. Thirty of 160 NFL players surveyed by The Associated Press from Nov. 2-15 replied that they have hidden or played down the effects of a concussion.
"The players have to raise their hand and say, 'You know what? I got hit and I don't feel 100 percent,'" commissioner Roger Goodell said recently.
That seems to be happening.
"I'm sure all the reports that are out there about concussions and the long-term effect, that those things weigh in your mind heavier than maybe they did five or six years ago," Warner said.
In Philadelphia, Eagles coach Andy Reid acknowledged that the increased attention to the issue is on his mind, too, as dynamic receiver DeSean Jackson recovers from his own concussion.
"I know a lot is being said about concussions," Reid said Monday. "We are as conscious as they come with concussions. We are going to do everything within our power to get (Jackson) the proper treatment and diagnosis."
In 1990, Steelers coach Chuck Noll challenged team neurologist Dr. Joseph Maroon to provide an objective assessment of whether a player should be cleared to return from a concussion. From that conversation emerged the ImPACT Test, now used across the NFL, which measures functions such as reaction time, memory and concentration.
Maroon believes the test catches the "great majority" of players still affected by a concussion. But some will pass the test and still experience symptoms such as headache or nausea that indicate a problem. And those players could choose not to report their symptoms.
Maroon said he has noticed players becoming more likely to admit their symptoms over the last couple of years.
"The hardest thing is for the player to make that decision, that you second-guess yourself," Warner said. "You want to play. You want to consider going into those meetings and not telling the full truth because you know you can sway it one way or another to play."

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Roethlisberger passed neurological tests all week but started experiencing headaches when he practiced. Maroon recommended Saturday that the quarterback sit out. He said he has never been overruled by Noll, Bill Cowher or Tomlin.

"We respect his expert medical opinion," Tomlin said Sunday.

"I wanted to go out there and play tonight," Roethlisberger said. "But the doctors told me it wasn't a good decision. Then, the coaches told me the same thing. So I wasn't playing."

Still, the reaction of some of his Steelers teammates shows how slow the process is. Receiver Hines Ward called Sunday's matchup with the Ravens "almost like a playoff game." He said he could see some players saying, "It's just a concussion. I've played with a concussion before."

___

AP Sports Writers Bob Baum in Tempe, Ariz., Howard Fendrich in Aspen, Colo., David Ginsburg in Baltimore, Rob Maaddi in Philadelphia and Alan Robinson in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON – Senate health care legislation expected this week is likely to include a new long-term care insurance program to help the elderly and the disabled avoid going into nursing homes, Democratic officials say.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is expected to incorporate the voluntary program in legislation to be unveiled as early as Wednesday, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because a final decision has not been made.
Known as the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, or CLASS Act, the program was a top priority for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. It would begin to close a gap in the social safety net that's received little attention in the health care debate.
Fiscal conservatives and government economists have questioned whether the program would be financially sustainable over the long run, and insurance companies are lobbying to strip it from the health care bill.
Nonetheless, the House included the program in its health care legislation, with the approval of the Obama administration. In the Senate, the Health Committee bill had included it, but the Finance Committee omitted it. The approach Reid is considering in a combined bill would address the objections of fiscal conservatives by stipulating that premiums from the program could not be counted in offsetting the cost of the broader health care bill. Reid's office had no comment on Tuesday.
The cost of nursing homes averages $70,000 a year, and a home care attendant runs about $29 an hour. Medicare only covers temporary nursing home stays. Middle-class households have to exhaust their savings before an elder can qualify for nursing home coverage through Medicaid.
Under the proposed program, people would pay a modest monthly premium during their working years. If they become disabled, they would get a cash benefit of at least $50 a day that could be used to pay a home care attendant, buy supplies and equipment, make home improvements such as adding bathroom railings, or defray the costs of nursing home care.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the program would be fiscally solvent over a 75-year-period with the income from premiums, and no taxpayer financing. That assumes an initial monthly premium averaging $123, and a $75 daily benefit. People would sign up for the program at work through a payroll deduction. They would have to pay premiums for five years before they could qualify for benefits. Both the premiums and benefits would be adjusted annually.
"This is primarily a product for baby boomers, and people who are still working," said James Firman, president of the National Council on Aging, and a supporter of the program. "If we don't do this now, I don't think boomers are going to get another chance."
Supporters say the government benefit would provide a foundation upon which private insurance companies could build by selling supplemental long-term care coverage. But the industry says a new program would only create confusion for consumers.
Critics' concerns got validation recently from a report by Medicare economists who are expert in long-range cost estimates. In a report issued last weekend, they said a voluntary insurance program is likely to attract people who expect they'll need the coverage. Without taxpayer subsidies, premiums would keep going up, discouraging healthy people from signing up and triggering an "insurance death spiral."
"Individuals with health problems or who anticipate a greater risk of functional limitation would be more likely to participate than those in better-than-average health," the report said. "There is a significant risk that the problem ... would make the CLASS program unsustainable."

Pool Table Lights

More obscurely, there are games that make use of obstacles and targets, and table-top games played with disks instead of balls.

Billiards has a long and rich history stretching from its inception in the 15th century; to the wrapping of the body of Mary, Queen of Scots in her billiard table cover in 1586; through its many mentions in the works of Shakespeare, including the famous line "let's to billiards" in Antony and Cleopatra (1606–07); to the dome on Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello, which conceals a billiard room he hid, as billiards was illegal in Virginia at that time; and through the many famous enthusiasts of the sport including, Mozart, Louis XIV of France, Marie Antoinette, Immanuel Kant, Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, George Washington, French president Jules Grévy, Charles Dickens, George Armstrong Custer, Theodore Roosevelt, Lewis Carroll, W.C. Fields, Babe Ruth, Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, and many others.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) –
Michael Jackson concert movie "This Is It" saw opening weekend ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada rise by 9 percent from initial estimates to a total $23.2 million, according to final studio figures on Monday.

The movie has made another $69.5 million internationally since its Wednesday opening, up from an original box office estimate of $68.5 million, film studio Columbia Pictures said.

In total, the movie has made $103.9 million at worldwide box offices, said Columbia Pictures, the Sony Corp division that paid $60 million for the video used in the film.

"This Is It" follows Jackson during his final weeks of rehearsal for a planned series of 50 shows in London.

The concerts were canceled when the "Thriller" singer died on June 25 from an overdose of powerful medication in Los Angeles, and investigators are probing his death.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

http://www.capcanaluxuryvilla.com/capcana.html

Cap Cana is a tourism development with an investment of upwards of two billion dollars in the eastern lands of the Dominican Republic. This area renown for its great hotels and beaches, lacks exclusivity to the high upper class which Cap Cana hopes, in part, to offer. The area was conceived with the backing both financially and publicly of "elites" such as Donald Trump, Jack Nicklaus, and other holders.

Cap Cana's area includes more than one-hundred and twenty millon square meters of land, of which twenty-five million will be developed in its first phase. It also includes 8 kilometers of beach and coasts, 5 of which are considered to be among the most spectacular in the Caribbean, locally considered to be neck-in-neck to the beaches of Bahia de Las Aguilas (literally, Bay of the Eagles) located in the southwestern municipality of Perdernales- often referred by past visitors as some of the most beautiful in the world.

Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- The House prepared to attack health
insurers on two fronts, with Democrats seeking to pass the
strongest form of a U.S. government-run insurance plan and a
panel voting to strip the industry’s antitrust exemption.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today that a measure
banning insurers from engaging in price fixing, bid-rigging and
market allocation will be added to broader legislation
overhauling the health-care system. The House Judiciary
Committee voted 20-9 yesterday to approve the measure.

At the same time, Democratic leaders said they can win
passage for a government program to compete with private
insurers and drive down costs, one of the most contentious
issues dividing Democrats and Republicans.

“We have the votes to pass a robust public option,” said
Connecticut Representative John Larson, chairman of the House
Democratic Caucus. A Congressional Budget Office estimate that
the House measure would cut the deficit over 20 years “has
placed us in a good spot with the caucus,” he said.

Democratic leaders in the Senate had a tougher time
yesterday, when they lost a bid to stave off Medicare-payment
cuts to doctors because Republicans and even some Democrats
objected to the $247 billion cost. Democrats have been courting
doctors to support the revamp of the medical system.

Formula Agreement

On a different Medicare payment issue, House Democrats
found agreement today, announcing a plan to resolve differences
that had divided rural and urban lawmakers. The provision will
commission the independent Institute of Medicine to recommend
changes in the Medicare formula that now takes into account
geographic differences in cost of care.

Lawmakers are considering the biggest changes to U.S.
health care since the creation of Medicare in 1965. The
legislation, President Barack Obama’s top domestic priority,
attempts to curb health-care costs while covering tens of
millions of uninsured Americans.

The proposal to create a government-run insurer, or public
option, has divided Democrats, and Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid and Pelosi are working to find consensus. Senator Kent
Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat, today said Reid and White House
officials are leaning toward including a public option, giving
the states the right to opt out, as they blend bills passed by
the Senate finance and health committees.

Snowe Says No

Senator Olympia Snowe, the only Republican in Congress to
back health-care legislation so far, said she would oppose any
effort to include a national public option in the bill, even
with a state opt-out.

Pelosi said there’s no question House Democrats will back a
public option. Under one plan, the program would peg rates to 5
percent above those paid by Medicare, the government health plan
for the elderly.

An alternative would negotiate rates, as private insurers
do. The Blue Dog group of fiscally conservative Democrats
supports that idea, saying it would provide fairer competition
for insurers such as Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.

House Democratic leaders are pushing for the public option
pegged to Medicare rates because “there’s broad, broad
consensus that is the most fiscally responsible approach,” said
New Jersey Democrat Robert Andrews.

$871 Billion

Preliminary Congressional Budget Office estimates show that
the legislation with a public option pegged to Medicare rates
would cost $871 billion over 10 years, while a bill requiring
negotiated reimbursements would be $895 billion, a House
leadership aide said on condition of anonymity.

“I don’t think we have a bad option in the mix,” Pelosi
said in a Bloomberg Television interview yesterday.

To raise money, House Democratic leaders are considering an
annual fee for medical-device manufacturers that would bring in
$20 billion over 10 years, the leadership aide said.

The agreement on the Medicare payment formula will be
“very important” to House passage of health legislation
because “many members of different ideological stripes felt
very passionately” that different regions had been treated
unfairly, Andrews said.

The institute will also devise a new formula for paying
doctors and hospitals based on the outcomes of treatment rather
than the current fees for services that Medicare critics say
provides disincentives to cut costs, under the agreement.

Employer Mandate

While House Democrats are nearing agreement, lawmakers in
the Senate are debating other issues. Chief among them are
whether to require that employers cover workers, and how to pay
for legislation that will cost more than $800 billion over 10
years, as well as the public option.

In all the measures, Americans would be required to buy
insurance, helped by purchasing exchanges and government aid.
Insurers would face new rules and have to accept all clients.

Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, said he met with
Reid on Oct. 20 and pushed him to drop a “robust public
option.” He and Snowe talked with Reid again yesterday to share
concerns about an employer requirement.

Conrad said he’s heard the leadership is leaning toward a
public option that would be required to negotiate rates with
providers. States could also use nonprofit insurance
cooperatives to spur competition, he said, adding that nothing
was settled.

“What I’m hearing is this is the direction of the
conversation,” Conrad said.

Biggest Hits

Insurers have taken some of the biggest hits in the debate.
The industry opposes the public option, and America’s Health
Insurance Plans, a Washington trade group, said action on the
antitrust exemption isn’t needed and might create “increased
regulatory and legal uncertainty.”

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York called the
antitrust exemption “an accident of American history” dating
to a time when state-based companies asserted they weren’t
engaged in interstate commerce. “It’s a different universe
today,” he told reporters.

Insurers also face a possible tax on profits and scaled-
back penalties for Americans who don’t buy coverage, potentially
cutting into the pool of new clients.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Kristin Jensen in Washington at
kjensen@bloomberg.net ;
James Rowley in Washington at
jarowley@bloomberg.net

High Performance Driving School

The first regular auto racing venue was Nice, France, run in late March 1897 as a "Speed Week." To fill out the schedule, most types of racing event were invented here, including the first hill climb (Nice - La Turbie) and a sprint that was, in spirit, the first drag race.

There are also other stock car governing bodies, such as Automobile Racing Club of America and United Speed Alliance Racing.

WASHINGTON – Americans seem to be cooling toward global warming.
Just 57 percent think there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer, down 20 points in just three years, a new poll says. And the share of people who believe pollution caused by humans is causing temperatures to rise has also taken a dip, even as the U.S. and world forums gear up for possible action against climate change.
In a poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, released Thursday, the number of people saying there is strong scientific evidence that the Earth has gotten warmer over the past few decades is down from 71 percent in April of last year and from 77 percent when Pew started asking the question in 2006. The number of people who see the situation as a serious problem also has declined.
The steepest drop has occurred during the past year, as Congress and the Obama administration have taken steps to control heat-trapping emissions for the first time and international negotiations for a new treaty to slow global warming have been under way. At the same time, there has been mounting scientific evidence of climate change — from melting ice caps to the world's oceans hitting the highest monthly recorded temperatures this summer.
The poll was released a day after 18 scientific organizations wrote Congress to reaffirm the consensus behind global warming. A federal government report Thursday found that global warming is upsetting the Arctic's thermostat.
Only about a third, or 36 percent of the respondents, feel that human activities — such as pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles — are behind a temperature increase. That's down from 47 percent from 2006 through last year's poll.
"The priority that people give to pollution and environmental concerns and a whole host of other issues is down because of the economy and because of the focus on other things," suggested Andrew Kohut, the director of the research center, which conducted the poll from Sept. 30 to Oct. 4. "When the focus is on other things, people forget and see these issues as less grave."
Andrew Weaver, a professor of climate analysis at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, said politics could be drowning out scientific awareness.
"It's a combination of poor communication by scientists, a lousy summer in the Eastern United States, people mixing up weather and climate and a full-court press by public relations firms and lobby groups trying to instill a sense of uncertainty and confusion in the public," he said.
Political breakdowns in the survey underscore how tough it could be to enact a law limiting pollution emissions blamed for warming. While three-quarters of Democrats believe the evidence of a warming planet is solid, and nearly half believe the problem is serious, far fewer conservative and moderate Democrats see the problem as grave. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans say there is no solid evidence of global warming, up from 31 percent in early 2007.
Though there are exceptions, the vast majority of scientists agree that global warming is occurring and that the primary cause is a buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal.
Jane Lubchenco, head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told a business group meeting at the White House Thursday: "The science is pretty clear that the climate challenge before us is very real. We're already seeing impacts of climate change in our own backyards."
Despite misgivings about the science, half the respondents still say they support limits on greenhouse gases, even if they could lead to higher energy prices. And a majority — 56 percent — feel the United States should join other countries in setting standards to address global climate change.
But many of the supporters of reducing pollution have heard little to nothing about cap-and-trade, the main mechanism for reducing greenhouse gases favored by the White House and central to legislation passed by the House and a bill the Senate will take up next week.
Under cap-and-trade, a price is put on each ton of pollution, and businesses can buy and sell permits to meet emissions limits.
"Perhaps the most interesting finding in this poll ... is that the more Americans learn about cap-and-trade, the more they oppose cap-and-trade," said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., who opposes the Senate bill and has questioned global warming science.
Regional as well as political differences were detected in the polling.
People living in the Midwest and mountainous areas of the West are far less likely to view global warming as a serious problem and to support limits on greenhouse gases than those in the Northeast and on the West Coast. Both the House and Senate bills have been drafted by Democratic lawmakers from Massachusetts and California.

One of those lawmakers, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, told reporters Thursday that she was happy with the results, given the interests and industry groups fighting the bill.

"Today, to get 57 percent saying that the climate is warming is good, because today everybody is grumpy about everything," Boxer said. "Science will win the day in America. Science always wins the day."

Earlier polls, from different organizations, have not detected a growing skepticism about the science behind global warming.

Since 1997, the percentage of Americans that believe the Earth is heating up has remained constant — at around 80 percent — in polling done by Jon Krosnick of Stanford University. Krosnick, who has been conducting surveys on attitudes about global warming since 1993, was surprised by the Pew results.

He described the decline in the Pew results as "implausible," saying there is nothing that could have caused it.

The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

___

Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: http://www.people-press.org

(This version adds corrected graphic.)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
Two more senators on Thursday urged President Barack Obama to pursue a regional trade deal in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region.

"The Asia Pacific region holds tremendous potential for American manufacturers, farmers and service suppliers," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus and Senator Charles Grassley said in a letter to Obama.

They urged him to complete the Transpacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPP) begun by the administration of former President George W. Bush in 2008.

That would build on existing free trade deals with Singapore, Peru, Chile and Australia by creating a regional trade pact that also includes Vietnam, New Zealand and Brunei.

The TPP would create a high-level regional trade framework "that has the potential to further open new and emerging Asia Pacific markets to U.S. exports," Baucus said.

"Trade needs to be part of the economic recovery effort, and finalizing this agreement would send a message to the world that U.S. trade policy is back in business," Grassley said.

Grassley has strongly criticized Obama for failing to push for congressional approval of free trade deals with Panama, Colombia and South Korea.

Obama administration officials say those pacts are on their agenda, but each has problems that need to be fixed. They have not offered any timeframe for sending them to Congress and some observers think they could languish for another year.

Obama will be in Singapore next month for the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. That 21-member grouping also includes China, Japan, South Korea and Russia.

Senator Richard Lugar has urged Obama to use that meeting to launch negotiations with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on a regional free trade.

That group includes Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and other countries in Southeast Asia.

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk was noncommittal when asked about Lugar's proposal last week.

(Reporting by Doug Palmer; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Babydolls are now available in a sufficiently wide variety of styles that many lingerie retailers consider babydolls a distinct department. Modern babydolls often vary considerably from the styles of the 1960s and 1970s. Babydoll negligees from the 1950s to the early 1980s are now collectible vintage items. Some babydolls open up in front and resemble more of a robe or peignoir.

At this time, there were two other variants of stays, jumps, which were looser stays with attached sleeves, like a jacket, and corsets.(Steele 27)

Queen Size Lingerie

DALLAS – Your bags still fly for free on Southwest Airlines, but if you want a better chance at a window or aisle seat it's going to cost $10 each way.
Southwest announced Wednesday that customers can pay extra to reserve a spot in the boarding line right behind elite fliers and ahead of families and other travelers. Unlike other airlines, Southwest doesn't offer assigned seats.
The new offering comes after Southwest introduced new fees for minors traveling alone and for bringing a small pet on board. Southwest still doesn't charge to check the first two bags, but experts and regular passengers are starting to wonder if that's next.
Southwest, like other airlines, is desperately looking for revenue to offset a slump in traffic, especially among business travelers who usually pay higher fares for last-minute or refundable tickets.
The Dallas-based discount airline lost $37 million in the first six months of this year, and analysts expect that 2009 will be its first unprofitable year since the early 1970s.
Many analysts believe Southwest is passing up hundreds of millions of dollars a year by not charging passengers for all checked bags. CEO Gary Kelly has said bag fees drive customers away, and he has ruled them out at least through the end of 2009. No promises beyond that.
Southwest officials say they're just charging for extra services that customers want.
"The big difference between (the check-in service) and a bag fee is this is strictly optional," said Kevin Krone, Southwest's vice president of marketing.
Southwest is considering other amenities with charges, including in-flight Internet service.
"We'll continue to tinker and develop and launch," Krone said. "We're not done yet."
The airline believes the early check-in charge can raise about $75 million a year, on par with Business Select tickets, which cost more but come with extras such as early boarding and a free drink. "We'd be thrilled if it became in the hundreds of millions," Krone said.
Bob McAdoo, an analyst for Avondale Partners, is more bullish. He believes the boarding charge could raise $250 million a year. It could bring in enough money for the rest of 2009 to salvage a profitable year, he said.
McAdoo estimates that one-fourth of Southwest passengers could pay the check-in fee. Southwest declined to give an estimate.
The new $10 fee is called EarlyBird Check-in, and it was made available Wednesday for trips beginning Thursday and beyond.
Customers can pay the charge up to 25 hours before their plane is scheduled to take off, and they'll be moved toward the front of the boarding line.
The early birds will still wait behind passengers who bought more costly tickets called Business Select and elite-level frequent fliers, but they'll leapfrog over everyone else, even families traveling with small children, and they should find plenty of space in the overhead bins for their carryon luggage.
Southwest officials say that by paying the extra $10, you'll probably be among the first 30 people to board — the "A" group — although they won't promise it.
Families board next, then "B" passengers, and the last group to board Southwest planes is the "C" group. Folks in that group are usually stuck in a middle seat; Southwest's Boeing 737 jets have three seats on each side of the center aisle.

Experienced Southwest travelers go to the company's Web site precisely 24 hours before scheduled departure to be among the first to check in. They'll still be able to do that, but they may find themselves far from the front of the line.

That's good enough for Beverly Nageotte, an artist from Cloudcroft, N.M., who was waiting at Dallas Love Field for a flight back home. She said people would be silly to pay $10 extra.

"You're not going to go anywhere until everyone's on the plane anyway," she said. "I'm happy to get on the plane and hope it takes off and lands safely."

Dallas lawyer Ed Cloutman said $10 would be a bargain for harried consumers.

"Getting stuck in the middle seat is no fun," he said.

Steve Kennedy, a banker from Houston who often flies Southwest to Dallas, recalled that during its freewheeling youth in the 1970s Southwest made a splash by charging more for tickets but threw in a complimentary bottle of liquor.

"I understand in this day probably the best they can do is move you ahead in line instead of giving you a fifth," he said. "Corporations don't like that anymore."

"The Child Thief," (Eos. 480 pages. $26.99) by Brom: Peter Pan lurks in Brooklyn, not ye olde London, in Brom's "The Child Thief."
This retelling of J. M. Barrie's original story emphasizes Peter's luring of children to join his band of Devils in Avalon (the group formerly known as the Lost Boys in a more mythologically jumbled Neverland).
"The Child Thief" follows two illustrated horror novels by Brom, an artist whose gothic images have filled comics, films and role-playing video games such as "World of Warcraft." His illustrations introduce each chapter and, unfortunately, they contain more drama, character and interesting details than the novel itself.
Brom drapes the Peter Pan story in utter darkness. An adolescent Peter trolls present-day Brooklyn for runaways, defends them from bullies and lures them to his magical island where he promises endless playtime. In reality, he's trying to bolster his child army for an epic battle with the Flesh-Eaters, who threaten the island's existence. One runaway, Nick, believes he's the only recruit to catch on to Peter's tricks.
But the original "Peter Pan" was already dark. Barrie didn't hide Peter's fickleness, ruthlessness or malice, nor Wendy's misgivings about her hero. It's an adventure, not a baby's fairy tale; step beyond the nursery and you may fall, but you also may fly.
"The Child Thief" shows Peter for the selfish trickster that he is, but it fails to show us any adventure. It's overlong and too reliant on physically describing all the festering deformities that plague Brom's pirates. It manages to be gory and bleak without really being unsettling. The epic battle turns out to be another disappointing installment in the clash between Christianity and older beliefs.
The original story continues to thrill because it's all about seduction and the subtle things to fear in a charming boy who never grows up. By focusing only on Peter's darker qualities, "The Child Thief" becomes the shadow caught in the nursery window — limp without the boy himself.

In the most high-profile attack on an elected official in recent years, Pakistan's Religious Affairs Minister survived a brush with death after gunmen opened fire on his official car in the heart of Islamabad on Wednesday. The minister, Hamid Saeed Kazmi, was shot in the leg, but is stable and undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital. The attack killed his driver.
Wednesday's shooting has raised fears of a renewed campaign of violence in Pakistan's major cities after a lull following the counterinsurgency operation in the northwest Swat Valley and the assassination of Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed in a CIA drone strike on Aug. 5. (Read: "Hakimullah Mehsud: The New Head of Pakistan's Taliban.")
Today's attack took place at 3 pm, moments after Kazmi left his ministry. At the scene, his black car lies badly damaged on the side of the road. There are bullet marks on three sides of the vehicle, the front windscreen, and on both sides of the backseat. Broken shards of glass lie strewn on the road nearby. The steering wheel is smeared with blood, as are the cars seats. The minister's blood-stained turban and prayer beads were left abandoned as he was rushed to hospital. (See pictures of Pakistan's vulnerable North-West Frontier Province.)
According to Muntazir Khan, a policeman at the scene, two suspected gunmen were on motorbikes. They shot at the driver from the front, apparently killing him instantly. As the vehicle veered to the left side of the road, the attackers turned their guns on the minister, sitting behind blacked-out windows on the back seat. On the left side, eight bullets are punched into the window, four on the right side. The gunmen then managed to speed away.
"This shows that the militant elements have become active again," says Hasan Askari-Rizvi, a security analyst. "It also shows that there are serious security problems. If this type of attack can take place in the center of Islamabad," he added, then nowhere in Pakistan is safe. Police at the scene of the attack say that the minister had not been accompanied by his usual police escort. The attack took place in a sensitive area of the city, just minutes away from major government buildings, and the Inter-Services Intelligence agency's headquarters. The city's many checkpoints, manned by armed policemen, failed to stop the attackers. (See pictures of Pakistan beneath the surface.)
The attack on the minister comes a day after the Interior Ministry said there were unspecified reports of a Taliban campaign to target religious and political leaders. Analysts say that the notoriously vicious new leader of the Pakistani Taliban Hakimullah Mehsud is keen to assert himself after assuming the leadership of the organization. But there is also speculation that any new campaign might be the work of al-Qaeda. Last week, Saudi Arabia's deputy interior minister survived an al-Qaeda suicide bomb attack in the port city of Jeddah. (See pictures of Osama Bin Laden.)
"It's difficult to say whether it was done by the Taliban or other group," says Askari-Rizvi. "What is clear is that it is an attack on a religious leader who has been very critical of the Taliban's use of violence, which seems to be the reason for the attack." Moderate religious leaders who have spoken out against the Taliban's brutality have been repeatedly targeted in recent months. In June, a suicide bomber killed Sarfraz Naeemi, who belonged to a sufi strain of Islam, in his mosque office in Lahore.
Fellow members of the ruling Pakistan People's Party are convinced that Kazmi was targeted for his outspoken opinions. "[Kazmi] has been at the forefront of our government attempt to unify all the senior most Muslim leaders of this country who are all opposed to the militant viewpoint on Islam," says presidential spokesperson Farahnaz Ispahani. "He has been out there, he is a mild and soft-spoken man who has spoken out publicly about the sufi Islam that is the true Islam of Pakistan."
See TIME's Pictures of the Week.
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View this article on Time.comRelated articles on Time.com:Fears Escalate Over Violence in Islamabad Peshawar: More and More, A City Under Siege Taliban Suspected in Pakistan Attack Marriott Terror: A Challenge to Pakistan's Leaders U.S. Drones Kill Up to 32 in Pakistan

Connecting the T.90 to our Windows XP machine was an astounding success. The native USB audio drivers were recognized immediately, and no installations were required in order for our machine to recognize the T.90 as both a recording and a playback device. After installing and running Cakewalk Pyro 5 and selecting the "Make CDs from your cassettes and LPs" option from Pyro's menu, we were soon off and digitizing vinyl into WAV, MP3, and WMA files.

The sound quality was as good as can be expected from old, scratchy records. The built-in audio card records 16-bit at 44.1khz (which you can upscale to 48khz). Because the Stanton T.90 doubles as both a recording and a playback interface for your computer's audio, you can instantly play back the results of your digitally recorded vinyl through the T.90's RCA outputs--but there's more. The T.90 will even allow you to simultaneously mix your computer's audio and your turntable's audio into the same output--bridging both the analog and digital worlds. What DJs do with this feature is up to their imaginations.

http://www.gracedigitalaudio.com/vinylwriter-usb-turnable-records-to-pc-or-mac-p-9.html

BUCHAREST, Romania – Two Americans — a Hindu and a rabbi — have urged Madonna to take up the cause of the many Gypsies in Europe who face discrimination.
Last week, Madonna was booed by thousands of fans during a concert in Bucharest when she said widespread discrimination against Gypsies in eastern Europe should end.
In a statement Wednesday, Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, and Rabbi Jonathan B. Freirich say Madonna could be "effective" in focusing public opinion on the problems faced by Gypsies, also known as Roma.
The two men — both of whom work in Nevada — say the "Roma issue should be one of the highest priorities of the human rights agenda of Europe." Zed and Freirich have both spoken out on behalf of Europe's Roma population before.

These garments are placed on the newly-baptized immediately after coming up out of he waters of baptism (the Orthodox baptize by immersion, even in the case of infant baptism). As the robe is being placed on the new Christian, the priest says the prayer: "The servant of God, N., is clothed with the robe of righteousness; in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." and the choir sings: "Vouchsafe unto me the robe of light, O Thou who clothest Thyself with light as with a garment, Christ our God, plenteous in mercy."

In the Roman Catholic Church, most of those born into the faith are baptized as infants. The traditional clothing for a child being baptised into the Roman Catholic faith is a christening gown, a very long, white infants' garment now made especially for the ceremony of christening and usually only worn then. They are in fact the normal, or at least "best", outer clothing of Western babies until about the 19th century.

Christening Gift

NEW YORK – A stock market ripe for a big pullback succumbed Tuesday, plunging when rumors of a bank failure revived investors' anxiety about the banking industry and the economy as a whole.
A batch of economic reports that just weren't good enough added to the mix as the major indexes all fell about 2 percent and the Dow Jones industrials slid 185 points. Treasury prices, usually the beneficiary of a slide in stocks, ended only moderately higher.
A break in the market's six-month rally was widely expected after investors showed a growing inclination to sell for some time. While the major indexes finished August with respectable gains, including a 3.4 percent rise in the Standard & Poor's 500, trading was erratic and the advances had a half-hearted feeling. Analysts warned that investors were doubting whether they should have bid stocks so high in the rally that began in early March.
So it wasn't surprising that, after the Dow was up 60 points in response to a seemingly better-than-expected reading on manufacturing, something like a rumor about a possible bank failure could take the market down.
"Some time midmorning, rumors came out that a large bank could be in trouble," said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "That's all it takes to spook this market."
The rumors were never substantiated.
The Dow's drop virtually equaled a 186-point slide two weeks ago that the market later recovered from, sending stocks to their highest levels in almost 10 months. Dan Deming, a trader with Strutland Equities in Chicago, said it didn't appear much had changed in the market since then, but investors have grown more nervous as stocks have pushed higher and that was enough to tip off heavy selling.
"It's really more psychological right now than anything. The first day of September — the market shows some weakness and then it just kind of starts to feed on itself," he said. "Everybody is kind of looking over their shoulder."
Deming referred to the fact that many investors had some fear of what might happen in September, which historically has been the worst month for stocks. Many analysts said the change in calendar was one of many factors that created a critical mass of sorts for the market and fueled Tuesday's drop.
Banks and insurance companies were among the most notable losers amid the fears of bank failures, but they also had been pumped up the most in the rally that lifted the market more than 50 percent since hitting 12-year lows in March. With the government reporting last week that 400 banks were in trouble during the second quarter, investors' anxiety about the health of the financial industry was heightened and so rumors that investors might shrug off in less fractious times became powerful enough to cause sustained losses.
The plunge in stocks came even as the Institute for Supply Management reported that U.S. manufacturing grew in August for the first time since January 2008. The market also shrugged off another positive economic report, the sixth straight monthly increase in pending home sales.
On the surface, the day's economic numbers were good. A deeper look at the data gave some cause for concern.
Analysts said both the manufacturing and housing reports got a boost from government stimulus efforts, including the Cash for Clunkers program that has since expired, which means the recovery in those industries may not continue at the same pace.
"In both cases it seems headlines overstate details by a touch," said Tom di Galoma, head of U.S. rates trading at Guggenheim Capital Markets LLC. "People reviewed the numbers and said this type of demand is just not sustainable."
Investors were also uneasy ahead of Friday's employment report from the government, which could reveal more bad news about the job market, one of the worst remaining problem areas in the U.S. economy.
The Dow dropped 185.68, or 2 percent, to 9,310.60. The index is down 270 points, or 2.8 percent, since Friday, its biggest drop over three days since July 7, when it lost 341 points.
The S&P 500 fell 22.58, or 2.2 percent, to 998.04, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 40.17, or 2 percent, to 1,968.89.
The day's retreat was broad:

• Of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow industrials, only Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rose.

• Five stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where consolidated volume came to 7 billion shares compared with a light 5.3 billion Monday.

• The Chicago Board Options Exchange's Volatility Index, known as the market's fear index, surged 12.1 percent, its biggest jump since Aug. 17. The VIX stands at 29.2 and is down 27 percent in 2009 and its historical average is 18-20. It hit a record 89.5 in October at the height of the financial crisis.

In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 14.01, or 2.5 percent, to 558.06.

Bond prices turned mostly higher after stocks began to fall and investors went in search of safer assets. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.36 percent from 3.40 percent late Monday.

Among financial stocks, Bank of America Corp. fell $1.13, or 6.4 percent, to $16.46, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped $1.79, or 4.1 percent, to $41.67. Citigroup Inc. fell 46 cents, or 9.2 percent, to $4.54.

There was one gainer in the Dow: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. rose 10 cents to $50.97.

While the pullback in stocks Tuesday was significant, even with the drop, stocks have risen so much that only one of the roughly 3,100 stocks traded on the NYSE hit a new annual low. And, 53 carved new highs.

A gift basket, or fruit basket is typically a gift that is delivered to the recipient at their home or workplace. There are different varieties of gift baskets, some which have fruit only, some with dry/canned goods only (such as tea, crackers and jam) although the standard gift basket will have have a selection of both. Gourmet gift baskets are very similar to the standard gift basket, although it will include more unusual/high end fruit, and often will have good quality cheese and wine included.

In many human societies, the act of mutually exchanging money, goods, etc. may contribute to social cohesion. Economists have elaborated the economics of gift-giving into the notion of a gift economy.

Gift Baskets

GLASGOW (AFP) –
Scottish Football Association chief executive Gordon Smith wants UEFA to punish Arsenal striker Eduardo for diving in the Champions League play-off round second leg against Celtic.

Eduardo won a crucial penalty in Arsenal's 3-1 win at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday after tumbling theatrically to the turf as Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc came out to make a save.

Celtic midfielder Massimo Donati called for Eduardo to be banned in the aftermath of the match and Smith wants UEFA, European football's governing body, to act retrospectively to punish the Croatia international in the same way they dealt with Lithuania striker Saulius Mikoliunas, who cheated to earn a spot-kick against Scotland at Hampden Park in September 2007.

Video evidence was used to sanction Mikoliunas, who was banned for two matches.

Smith said: "Eduardo is a terrific player who has battled back from a serious injury to resume playing at the highest level.

"However, on Wednesday he showed disrespect to the game by his actions in winning a penalty against Celtic.

"Since I came into this post, I have raised the issue of simulation time and time again - both here in Scotland and with FIFA and UEFA.

"I don't think that I have received enough support in my efforts to eradicate what I believe to be one of the most serious threats to the integrity of football. Last night showed exactly why we must take this issue seriously.

"We have shown the courage to use retrospective punishment when it comes to simulation and I would urge UEFA to do so in this instance. Everything that can be done to stamp it out must be done - starting right now.

"We need a serious debate on these issues. Everyone in football has a responsibility to set the right example to our youngsters.

"We can talk all we want about Fair Play campaigns, but taking action would be a much more powerful deterrent and would send the right message to players everywhere."

Even Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted it was not a penalty and Donati, who scored Celtic's goal in stoppage time, added: "If it is clear on TV then UEFA must act against Eduardo and ban him.

"I think he should get a two-match ban because it wasn't a penalty. I told him that and everyone in the Celtic team told him that."

Celtic defender Glenn Loovens was also in no doubt Eduardo had dived.

"I don't think he even speaks English so there was no point talking to him," Loovens added.

"It is very disappointing but that is football. It's sad it happened to us.

"I don't think it is really fair. But it helped his team take the lead. There is a referee and a linesman to see those kind of things."

LOS ANGELES – The $4.6 million bid for the crypt above Marilyn Monroe has fallen through.
Attorney David Camel says the bidder declined. Camel represents Elsie Poncher, who was auctioning off her late husband's crypt at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery on eBay.com.
Camel says he's working with eBay to resolve the outcome of the auction. He also says there are no plans to move Poncher's husband until a new occupant is found.
Bidding for the auction started at $500,000 on Aug 14. The final bid was $4,602,100 on Monday.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – A silver PT Cruiser matching the description of the vehicle seen dropping off reality TV actor and murder suspect Ryan Jenkins at a motel is parked at his half-sister's condominium in Vancouver.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Norm Massie declined to say Wednesday whether Alena Jenkins is the mystery woman who checked Jenkins into a motel in Hope, British Columbia, three days before he was found dead in his room Sunday of an apparent suicide.
A message left with a woman answering Alena Jenkins' phones was not immediately returned. The woman said Jenkins' half-sister was away arranging funeral details.
Police say they have identified the woman who helped Jenkins check into the motel, but have not released her identity. Police have said the two had a history together and they were investigating whether she would face charges. She is not in custody.
Massie said police would need proof the woman knew Ryan was wanted before they could file charges.
Jenkins, a contestant on VH1's "Megan Wants a Millionaire," was accused of killing his ex-wife, a model whose body was so badly mutilated when found in a trash bin outside Los Angeles that it had to be identified by the serial numbers on her breast implants. He evaded an international manhunt for days as he crossed from the United States into his native Canada.
Police in California have not determined where Jasmine Fiore was killed.
Kevin Walker, who manages the Thunderbird Motel in Hope where Jenkins died, said Jenkins and a young woman arrived Thursday in a Chrysler PT Cruiser with tinted windows and a license plate from Alberta, Jenkins' home province. Jenkins stayed in the car, Walker said.
Walker said he never saw the woman or the car again, and another tenant said the woman left about 20 minutes after check-in.
The PT Cruiser parked in Alena Jenkins' parking lot has an Alberta license plate.
"We're not going to confirm or deny anyone involved in the investigation," Massie said. "Our investigation is on two fronts, first we want to find the circumstances around the incident at the motel in Hope and, as importantly, we have yet to determine how Ryan entered Canada from the U.S. and if any one assisted him doing so."
___
Gillies reported from Toronto.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The U.S. Navy says pirates holding a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia fired at one of its helicopters making a routine surveillance flight over the ship.
The Navy says pirates Wednesday morning fired a large caliber weapon at the helicopter which is based on the USS Chancellorsville. At the time the helicopter was flying over a Taiwanese-flagged vessel called the Win Far, south of the Somali port town of Hobyo.
The Navy said in a statement Thursday that no rounds of ammunition struck the helicopter and no injuries resulted from the incident.
Pirates captured Win Far and its 30-member crew in April.

Sometimes a gift basket will have themes, such as Christmas, baby shower, housewarming and Valentine's Day. Often a basket will be made to suit the recipients' needs, such as diabetic, vegan/vegetarian, gluten intolerance. Gift Baskets do not need to include food and drink, although it is the most standard practice.

A gift or present is the transfer of something, without the need for compensation that is involved in trade. A gift is a voluntary act which does not require anything in return. Even though it involves possibly a social expectation of reciprocity, or a return in the form of prestige or power, a gift is meant to be free.

Holiday Gift Baskets

BAGHDAD — Abdul Aziz al Hakim , the leader of one of Iraq's dominant Shiite Muslim political parties and a renowned cleric who resisted Saddam Hussein's regime for more than 20 years while in exile, died Wednesday in Tehran .

Hakim, 59, was one of the key figures who brought Shiite Muslims to power after Saddam's fall, using the muscle of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq — a party he helped build — to become a prevailing force in Iraqi politics.

His death leaves a vacancy at the top of his party as the country heads into its first national elections since 2005 and as the governing Shiite political alliance shows signs of breaking apart, with Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki separating from Hakim's bloc.

" Sayed al Hakim was a bigger brother and a strong support during the period of fighting the former regime and a fundamental cornerstone in the process of building the new Iraq ," Maliki said. "His departure at this sensitive phase that we are going through is considered a great loss for Iraq ."

Hakim hadn't been seen in public frequently since Iraq's provincial elections in January. His son, Ammar al Hakim , took on some of Hakim's responsibilities as Hakim suffered from lung cancer during the past two years.

He was a well-loved figure in Iraq because of his and his family's efforts to fight Saddam and publicly advocate for Shiite Muslims, a long-oppressed majority under Saddam.

His legacy is mixed, however, because of charges that the Islamic Supreme Council's armed wing, the Badr Organization , participated in the sectarian killings that rocked the country since Saddam's fall.

His reputation also suffered in some quarters because of several high profile visits he had with President George W. Bush , occasions that his rivals, mainly followers of radical cleric Moqtada al Sadr, cited to accuse him of caving to Americans.

Black funeral banners announcing Hakim's death went up in Najaf, a holy city for Shiite Muslims. A ceremony is expected to be held Thursday in Tehran , where he was being treated, followed by a funeral that could draw hundreds of thousands of people to Najaf on Friday.

His family is one of Iraq's preeminent Shiite lines. His father, Grand Ayatollah Muhsin al Hakim, led the Shiite world from 1955 to 1970.

Hakim's death was rare in his family, in that he died of natural causes. Six of his brothers were killed during Saddam's regime.

One brother, the Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Bakir al Hakim, the founder of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq , was killed by a bomb in August 2003 . He'd spent 23 years in exile before returning to Iraq after the American military ousted Saddam.

A prominent member of the Islamic Supreme Council said the party hadn't announced a successor, though a central committee met Wednesday to discuss choosing one.

"In his absence, his followers and others will become aware of the responsibility that he was carrying. They will be aware of the great care he took in order to look after his people and his establishment said Sheik Humam Hammoudi , an Islamic Supreme Council member and member of Iraq's parliament.

Hakim had a hand in founding the Islamic Supreme Council's armed wing, the Badr Organization , while the party was in exile in Iran during Saddam's dictatorship. He also founded two charitable organizations and sought care for Shiite refugees who suffered under Saddam's regime after the Gulf War.

Hakim also was a member of the Iraqi Governing Council , the first Iraqi body that began to lead the country after the American occupation began.

Hakim was "active in bringing down the dictatorship, and after liberation, he worked hard to build a well-organized establishment in order to forward the beliefs and goals of this party," Hammoudi said.

The Islamic Supreme Council is widely viewed as closely aligned with Iran . It is strongest in Iraq's southern provinces and has attempted to have the region designated as a semi-autonomous zone similar to the provinces Kurds govern in Iraq's north.

The Badr Organization was once a feared militia that was believed to have infiltrated several government ministries, but it has reinvented itself as an unarmed humanitarian group.

The party was Iraq's dominant group until this year, when Maliki's Dawa Party ascended on his efforts to be seen as a national leader unconcerned with sectarian divides.

Dawa and the Islamic Supreme Council are allies in parliament, but they have split for January's elections.

(Ashton reports for the Modesto Bee .)

MORE FROM MCCLATCHY

Tensions rise as Iraq blames Baathists in Syria for bombings

With Maliki's party out, Iraq's Shiite coalition splits

Iraq's Anbar still reeling from war that cost jobs and lives

Inspired by fallen son, father completes book on Iraq

Read what McClatchy's Iraqi staff has to say at Inside Iraq

LONDON (AFP) –
Arsenal moved into the Champions League group stages in controversial fashion as Eduardo's dive helped secure a 3-1 victory over Celtic in Wednesday's play-off second leg.

Arsene Wenger's team went through 5-1 on aggregate after outclassing the Scots for the second time in the tie, but they needed a moment of deception from Eduardo to end Celtic's hopes.

The Croatia striker won and converted a first half penalty when he exaggerated his fall as Celtic keeper Artur Boruc came out to make a save.

In truth, Arsenal were always in control and second half goals from Emmanuel Eboue and Andrey Arshavin rubbed salt into Celtic's wounds as the Premier League team comfortably secured their place in Thursday's group stage draw.

Wenger said: "Having seen it again on television it doesn't look to be a penalty but we were likely to score the first goal and we always looked in control of the game.

"I believe it was not a penalty but I'm not sure if the keeper touched him. Eduardo might be a bit cautious because of the injury that he had. He might have jumped out of the way.

"I never asked in my life any player to dive to get a penalty but sometimes the player goes down because there is no way to get out of the way."

Hoops boss Tony Mowbray added: "I haven't seen the reruns but all the boys felt there wasn't any contact for the penalty.

"But we can't say Arsenal didn't deserve to go through."

Mowbray had no option but to go for broke as his side chased an unlikely comeback and he restored Scott McDonald and Marc-Antoine Fortune to the starting line-up after surprisingly dropping his most potent forwards for the first leg.

With the tie effectively wrapped up in Glasgow last week and Saturday's visit to Manchester United in mind, Wenger left Arshavin and Robin van Persie on the bench, while captain Cesc Fabregas missed out with a hamstring injury.

Although Arsenal benefited from a deflection and an own goal to win the first leg, there was no doubting their superiority and they were quickly back in the ascendency.

Eboue flicked a Gael Clichy cross into Nicklas Bendtner's path and the Dane's shot was parried by Boruc. The rebound dropped towards Eduardo but he somehow managed to poke a lunging effort wide from no more than four yards.

The speed of Arsenal's passing and movement bewildered Celtic at time and Mowbray's defence stood statuesque as Eboue's flick sent Denilson clear for a shot that crashed past the near post.

Arsenal were well on top but it took Eduardo's exploitation of the game's dark arts to open the scoring in the 28th minute.

He raced onto Bendtner's pass and waited for Boruc to come sliding off his line before tumbling theatrically to the turf. To Boruc's disbelief Spanish referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez ruled that the incident was worthy of a penalty.

Eduardo dusted himself down, ignored the chants of cheat from the Celtic fans behind Boruc's goal and calmly sent the Polish keeper the wrong way from the spot.

Celtic had the ball in the net just before half-time when McDonald tapped in Fortune's cross but the Australian's effort was rightly ruled out for offside.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was in the stands to check out Arsenal and, apart from the dive, he must have been impressed by Eduardo's display.

The Brazil-born Croatian almost scored again with a curling effort that Boruc tipped over before Bendtner headed the resulting corner wide.

Arsenal were always capable of carving open the Celtic back-four and Eduardo should have doubled the lead, only to drag his shot wide with just Boruc to beat early in the second half.

A second goal was inevitable and it arrived in the 53rd minute when Eboue's powerful finish capped a fine move between Clichy, Bendtner and Diaby that exposed the gulf in class between the teams.

Arshavin, on as a substitute for Eduardo, gave Arsenal a final flourish in the 74th minute when he took Aaron Ramsey's pass and shot past Boruc.

Massimo Donati got one back for Celtic with a superb volley in stoppage time but it was too little too late.

Computer software is so called to distinguish it from computer hardware, which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software. At the lowest level, software consists of a machine language specific to an individual processor. A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state. Software is an ordered sequence of instructions for changing the state of the computer hardware in a particular sequence. It is usually written in high-level programming languages that are easier and more efficient for humans to use (closer to natural language) than machine language. High-level languages are compiled or interpreted into machine language object code. Software may also be written in an assembly language, essentially, a mnemonic representation of a machine language using a natural language alphabet. Assembly language must be assembled into object code via an assembler.

The term "software" was first used in this sense by John W. Tukey in 1958. In computer science and software engineering, computer software is all computer programs. The theory that is the basis for most modern software was first proposed by Alan Turing in his 1935 essay Computable numbers with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem.

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