Acceptable approach when delivering cover letter, resume, etc. in person?
I'm applying for my first graphic design job outside of free-lancing. I plan on printing my resume on a thick card stock, but should I also do that with my cover letter? That would seem a little tacky handing two thick pieces of paper, so should I print the cover letter on normal paper and the resume on card stock?
Furthermore, what is the most accepted way to deliver this content? Stapling them would seem unprofessional. Paper clipping could be better, but I'm hoping the cover letter doesn't get lost with the resume. Beyond that, I don't know any other way.
I also have a business card I designed for contact convenience, but I'm not sure if I should attach that with the cover letter and resume. Perhaps it would be better to save the business card as a takeaway for an interview?
Amazon has reported sales up by more than a quarter in 2012, after a year in which sales of digital ebooks grew quickly.
The company, releasing fourth quarter and full-year sales figures, said net sales were up by 27% to $61.09bn (?38.6bn) in the year to the end of January, compared to $48.08bn (?30.4bn) in 2011. Sales of e-books rose by 70% during the year while sales of physical books were up by just single digits.
?We?re now seeing the transition we?ve been expecting,? said Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.com. ?After five years, eBooks is a multi-billion dollar category for us and growing fast ? up approximately 70% last year. In contrast, our physical book sales experienced the lowest December growth rate in our 17 years as a book seller, up just 5%. We?re excited and very grateful to our customers for their response to Kindle and our ever expanding ecosystem and selection.?
But operating income was down by 22% to $676m (?427.7m), from $862m (?545.5m) in 2011, taking the company to a full-year loss of $39m (?24.7m), from net income of $631m (?399.3m) in 2011. In the fourth quarter of the year, to December 31, net sales rose by 22% to $21.27bn (?13.4bn) from $17.43bn (?11.0bn) in the fourth quarter of 2011. Operating income rose by 56%, compared to the previous year, to $405m (?256.3m) in the quarter, while net income fell by 45% to $97m (?61.4m).
The company said that its Kindle Fire tablet was its bestselling product for the second year in a row across all its markets, including the UK. During the last quarter the company launched Kindle Stores in Brazil, Canada, China and Japan. Amazon predicted net sales up by between 14% and 26% in the first quarter of 2013.
$NEWLINE As a Cleveland native, its hard for me to say anything nice about a Pittsburgh Steelers player.$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE This is not the case when$NEWLINE $NEWLINE Will Allen$NEWLINE $NEWLINE is the subject.$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE The Dayton native and Steelers safety will give area kids a realty check Wednesday.$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE The Wayne High School grad will stress the importance of a college education at Wogaman Elementary and Louise Troy PreK-3 School as part of his work with After-School All-Stars Ohio.$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE He is a statewide ambassador for the national program that provides free, after-school programming to more than 700 school children between Columbus, Dayton and Toledo.$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE Spokeswoman Nicole Staples said many disadvantaged youth cling too tightly to dreams of making millions in the NBA or NFL.$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE ?It is really important to get them to think about education and not rely on being a professional athlete,? she said.$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE $NEWLINE $NEWLINE $NEWLINE $NEWLINE
$NEWLINE Wayne High School graduate and NFL Pittsburgh Steeler Will Allen joked with Wayne High School AD and head football coach, Jay Minton in 2011. Allen launched an after-school life skills program to help Dayton kids. (Staff photo by Jim Noelker)$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE $NEWLINE
$NEWLINE Staples said Allen has a degree in communications from Ohio State University and plans to seek an advance degree once his football degree is over.$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE He played in the Super Bowl in 2011.$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE $NEWLINE Click here for more on our 2013 Super Bowl coverage.$NEWLINE $NEWLINE
$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE Allen will discuss the importance of being a good student and being responsible, Staple said.$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE ?He?ll help inspire them and show them positive role model,? she said.$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE $NEWLINE What do you think?$NEWLINE $NEWLINE
$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE Note: This is a blog.- a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the contents of such a site ($NEWLINEMerriam-webster)$NEWLINE
$NEWLINE $NEWLINE Twitter$NEWLINE $NEWLINE with me at DDNSmartmouth. Have an item for Seen and Overheard?$NEWLINE $NEWLINE Click here.$NEWLINE $NEWLINE
$NEWLINE $NEWLINE $NEWLINE
$NEWLINE $NEWLINE Permalink$NEWLINE $NEWLINE |$NEWLINE $NEWLINE Comments (0)$NEWLINE $NEWLINE |$NEWLINE $NEWLINE $NEWLINE Post your comment$NEWLINE $NEWLINE |$NEWLINE $NEWLINE Categories:$NEWLINE $NEWLINE People you know$NEWLINE $NEWLINE
$NEWLINE$NEWLINE$NEWLINE$NEWLINE$NEWLINE$NEWLINE$NEWLINE$NEWLINE$NEWLINEvar cxnt_subchan1 = \"Seen and Overheard\";$NEWLINEvar cxnt_subchan2 = \"Archives\";$NEWLINEvar cxnt_subchan3 = \"Pittsburgh Steeler to stress education over the NFL dream\";$NEWLINE$ENDSCRIPT$NEWLINE
Italy's former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, seen giving a speech during a campaign rally in Rome Friday, appears to have shrugged off recent scandals.
By Claudio Lavanga, Producer, NBC News
ROME ? He is the comeback kid of Italian politics, but Silvio Berlusconi's attempt to revive his career is under the spotlight after he defended fascist wartime leader Benito Mussolini at a ceremony for victims of the Nazi Holocaust.?
The former prime minister said Mussolini's decision to echo Nazi Germany's anti-Jewish laws had been his "worst fault" as a leader "who in so many other ways did well."
He said: "It is difficult now to put yourself in the shoes of people who were making decisions at that time. Obviously the government of that time, out of fear that German power might lead to victory, preferred to ally itself with Hitler's Germany rather than opposing it."
The remarks, given?to reporters in Milan on Sunday, prompted outrage from many quarters in Italy and overseas.
?He has lost the plot," said David Patsi, president of the Italian school Dante Alighieri in Jerusalem and whose father was killed in a concentration camp. "He is an idiot. But I am not surprised. Sometime he even reminds me of Mussolini."
He added: "But I don?t think he is the problem. The problem is that a large number of Italians agree with him.??
That helps explain why Berlusconi could still make his comeback, despite a track record would have forced almost any other politician to retire from public life.
In November 2011, he was forced to resign as prime minister after it became clear that his denial of the economic crisis was bringing Italy to the brink of disaster.
In October last year, he was sentenced to four years in prison for an epic offshore tax fraud, put off pending appeals to higher courts.
And, if that weren't enough, he is still on trial for allegedly paying an underage exotic dancer for sex.
His popularity hit an all-time low and the 76-year-old with a net worth of almost $6 billion --?according to Forbes magazine -- might have been expected to retire to one of his many mansions.
But he was simply waiting for the chance to strike back in the flamboyant style that won him three terms as prime minister.
Following the resignation of Mario Monti -- the technocratic prime minister who replaced him in 2011 promising to reinvigorate Italy's languishing economy -- Berlusconi has done what he does best: He carpet-bombed the Italian media with guest appearances, clocking up an impressive 63 hours of airtime in only 21 days.
In essence, it's as if during the recent U.S. presidential election, former president George W. Bush was given more airtime than Barack Obama and Mitt Romney combined.
Crisis 'wasn't my fault' Seems inconceivable, but then Italy has always been an exception in the Western world, and flamboyant and media-friendly Berlusconi, even as an outsider, draws a bigger audience than his closest competitors combined.
Officially, Berlusconi is not actually running as a candidate prime minister -- because this was the price it took to persuade the Northern League party to join?Berlusconi's People of Freedom party in a coalition.
But a good result in the elections could mean that all bets are off.
Karima el Marough, better known as "Ruby the Heart Stealer," was called to testify over allegations that former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi paid to have sex with her when she was still a minor. NBC's Claudio Lavanga reports.
?Italy?s economic crisis wasn?t my fault. It was the consequence of the wider international crisis,? a defiant Berlusconi recently told a TV host, before he refused to apologize for previously denying the extent of the crisis.
It would seem to be an uphill task for Berlusconi to win the premiership for a fourth time -- in polls his coalition is trailing the center-left Democratic Party by at least 12 points.
But, after his TV onslaught, Berlusconi's bloc saw its poll rating rise by 3 percentage points.
Berlusconi 'very clever'
Italians are tired of painfully high unemployment rates, rising taxes, tax-evasion clampdowns and plummeting spending power.
But it remains to be seen whether they really believe Berlusconi when he claims that the economic crisis wasn't his fault and that his tax-cutting strategy is the solution.
?Berlusconi has been very clever. He stepped aside when the new government introduced very unpopular austerity measures and has come back in the limelight only now, saying that the cure was worse than the illness,? Maurizio Caprara, a journalist for the daily Corriere della Sera, said.
?Now he is trying to rally again his troops. Many became disillusioned following his many scandals, but many, as the polls show, may decide to give him one more try,? he added.
Monti recently called Berlusconi the "Pied Piper of Hamelin," who ?leads the mice to drown in the river, having fooled Italians three times already.?
And yet, at least according to his recently rising popularity, many Italians seem to find his tune irresistible.??
Related:
Italy's 'bunga bunga' man Berlusconi, 76, unveils girlfriend, 27
Witness: Italian ex-PM Berlusconi hosted strippers dressed as nuns
Woman dressed as burlesque Obama for Berlusconi, court told
Times-Mail January 28, 2013 BEDFORD ? A number of personnel changes were approved Thursday during a meeting of the North Lawrence school board. Resignations Curt Alvey, resigning as BNL junior varsity b ... Please log in at right to read the rest of this story. Subscribing to TMNews.com gives you 24/7 access to our news, features, and story archives (back to 1996) from anywhere. To start a subscription, you will need a major credit card and an email address to set up the account. Seven-day home delivery subscribers are entitled to complimentary access to our web site.
Baltimore Ravens safety Bernard Pollard speaks during media day for the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
Baltimore Ravens safety Bernard Pollard speaks during media day for the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis answers reporters questions during media day for the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
San Francisco 49ers safety Dashon Goldson (38) smiles during media day for the NFL Super Bowl XLVII football game Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Making the game safer is making NFL players unsure what's a legal hit.
Players on both Super Bowl teams say they are confused about which hits are considered clean and which ones could lead to a fine. And it's not just the guys on defense who are wondering about the future of pro football.
"I think the rules will change a lot," San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis said Tuesday. "There's already no helmet to helmet. Might be flag football, maybe."
Baltimore Ravens safety Bernard Pollard, one of the league's hardest hitters, warned against trying to take collisions out of the game, as long as they are clean.
"You can't play this game and not expect it to be physical," said Pollard, who was fined $15,250 for a hit on Patriots receiver Wes Welker in the AFC championship game that Pollard believes was within the rules. "There will be injuries in football. There's a car crash on every play."
His 49ers counterpart, All-Pro Dashon Goldson, says defenders keep this in mind when they take the field:
"Do your best and then hope you don't get a letter (with a fine) in your locker on Wednesday."
The NFL has sought to eliminate any hits to the head and neck area of defenseless players, particularly in the last three years. It also has banned players launching themselves helmet-first toward an opponent.
Yet, every week, players are fined for those actions, and there have been suspensions. Baltimore safety Ed Reed drew a one-game suspension this season that was lifted by the NFL on appeal and turned into a $50,000 fine for repeated illegal tackles. The 5-foot-11, 205-pound Reed is not considered a vicious hitter.
Reed admits he can't be sure what's a true tackle these days and what crosses the line.
"A lot needs to be done with it. I don't think every fine is right," he said. "You have to go back and really look at how guys play the game before you judge them, is what I'm trying to say."
While still recognizing the importance of keeping games as safe as possible, defensive players have complained for years about the league's crackdown on hits. The 49ers and Ravens have two of the most physical defenses in the NFL, and they are proud of their violent nature.
"You can't play timid," Goldson said.
But even offensive players concede that defenses are at a disadvantage to the point of confusion.
Baltimore's Anquan Boldin, one of the more physical wide receivers in the league, doesn't feel sorry for anyone trying to tackle him. But he understands their plight as they close in.
" All defensive players have to deal with that," Boldin said. "It's tough on defensive players on those defenseless receiver calls because they come in and then the receiver drops his shoulder and they hit in the (head). And they get a penalty.
"So maybe they aren't sure and that's bad. This game is played too fast to worry about that, but they do have to worry."
The NFL isn't going to back down on its emphasis on player safety, of course. It is facing at least 175 lawsuits as more than 3,800 players have sued the league over head injuries as the concussion issue has gained attention in recent years. The total number of plaintiffs is 6,000 when spouses, relatives and other representatives are included.
So the emphasis on eliminating what Ray Anderson, the league's main disciplinarian, calls "egregious fouls" will remain.
"We will just not let up," Anderson told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "Get used to it, this will be our mantra: We have an obligation in being relentless in protecting our players.
"If they are in a defenseless position, hitting in the helmet is unnecessary. We said player health and safety is our No. 1 priority from the get-go and we have stuck to it with no apologies and no defensive attitude about it."
Meantime, as offenses make scoreboards spin with record numbers of points, defenses try to figure out exactly what they are allowed to do.
"We are guys who are supposed to hit," said 49ers safety Donte Whitner, who is known for his bone-crunching tackles. "We have to bring the element of fear when they come over the middle. We want receivers to think do you really want to keep coming over the middle time and time again.
"We need to make sure they don't want to, but we need to do it the right way. But we need to figure out the right way."
___
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
All Critics (214) | Top Critics (50) | Fresh (189) | Rotten (16)
It's a rom-com that succeeds in revitalizing that discredited genre where so many others have failed, injecting it with the grit and emotion of realist drama rather than with amped-up whimsy or social satire or montages of people walking on the beach.
Silver Linings Playbook tells us that happily-ever-after may depend on finding people who coexist with our lunacy, not ones who can lead us out of it. In any case, it's crazy good.
A crazy beaut of a comedy that brims with generosity and manages to circumvent predictability at every turn.
An edgy romantic dramedy that suits our anxious times.
This meaningful film keeps the laughs, giddy anxiousness and warm butterflies from the trailer and sustains it all through two full hours of a love story.
Silver Linings Playbook is a fine, funny film, and one that should charm viewers who haven't been tricked by all those Oscar nominations into anticipating it as some kind of world-changing work of art for the ages.
David O. Russell's latest buzz film straddles a fine line between farce and kitchen-sink drama before settling into a groove that gets under one's skin.
It starts to fray about halfway through as it shifts into a more conventional mode, taking on the usual trappings of the genre and making its way to a predictable resolution
Both charming and gritty... Cooper is edgy, while Lawrence is dynamite
If there's one reason why you should see this film, it's to admire the wonderful performances from Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.
Using Twitter to track the flu: A better way to screen the TweetsPublic release date: 28-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Phil Sneiderman prs@jhu.edu 443-287-9960 Johns Hopkins University
Sifting through social media messages has become a popular way to track when and where flu cases occur, but a key hurdle hampers the process: how to identify flu-infection tweets. Some tweets are posted by people who have been sick with the virus, while others come from folks who are merely talking about the illness. If you are tracking actual flu cases, such conversations about the flu in general can skew the results.
To address this problem, Johns Hopkins computer scientists and researchers in the university's School of Medicine have developed a new tweet-screening method that not only delivers real-time data on flu cases, but also filters out online chatter that is not linked to actual flu infections. Comparing their method, which is based on analysis of 5,000 publicly available tweets per minute, to other Twitter-based tracking tools, the Johns Hopkins researchers say their real-time results track more closely with government disease data that takes much longer to compile.
"When you look at Twitter posts, you can see people talking about being afraid of catching the flu or asking friends if they should get a flu shot or mentioning a public figure who seems to be ill," said Mark Dredze, an assistant research professor in the Department of Computer Science who uses tweets to monitor public health trends. "But posts like this don't measure how many people have actually contracted the flu. We wanted to separate hype about the flu from messages from people who truly become ill."
Dredze, who also is a research scientist at the Johns Hopkins Human Language Technology Center of Excellence, led a team that in mid-2011 released one of the first and most comprehensive studies showing that Twitter data can yield useful public health information. Since then, this strategy has become so popular that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last summer sponsored a contest challenging researchers to design an online application that could track major disease outbreaks.
This winter, as the United States entered an unusually severe and early flu season, Twitter-based flu projections have drawn increasing attention. Many public tweets, such as, "I'm so sick this week with the flu," can indicate a rise in the flu rate. Collecting enough of these tweets can help health officials gauge the scope and severity of an epidemic.
But the reliability of many computer models can be weakened by too many tweets that point to flu-related news reports and other matters not directly linked to a specific flu case, said David Broniatowski, a School of Medicine postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Emergency Medicine's Center for Advanced Modeling in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences.
"For example," he said, "a recent spike in Twitter flu activity was caused by discussions about basketball legend Kobe Bryant's flu-like symptoms during a recent game. Mr. Bryant's health notwithstanding, such tweets do very little to help public health officials prepare our nation for the next big outbreak."
To improve their accuracy when using tweets to track the flu, the John Hopkins team developed sophisticated statistical methods based on human language processing technologies. The methods are designed to filter out the chatter. The system can distinguish, for example, between "I have the flu" and "I'm worried about getting the flu."
Another advantage of the Johns Hopkins flu projection method is that it can produce real-time results. By comparison, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which record flu-related symptoms from hospital visits, typically take two weeks to publish data on the flu's prevalence.
To check the reliability of their enhanced system, the Johns Hopkins researchers recently compared their results to CDC data for the same period. The researchers said that during November and December 2012, their system demonstrated a substantial improvement in tracking with CDC figures as compared to previous Twitter-based tracking methods. "In late December," Dredze added, "the news media picked up on the flu epidemic, causing a somewhat spurious rise in the rate produced by our Twitter system. But our new algorithm handles this effect much better than other systems, ignoring the spurious spike in tweets."
The researchers have also used their Twitter data to produce United States maps that document the stark differences between last year's mild flu season and the much higher incidence of the virus in the winter of 2012-2013.
While their new method was only recently developed, the Johns Hopkins researchers chose to release information on the flu tracking system because of the higher incidence of illness this winter. Team members hope to share the enhanced flu tracking method with leading government health agencies.
"This new work demonstrates that Twitter posts can be used to guide public health officials in their response to outbreaks of infectious diseases," Dredze said. "Our hope is that the new technology can be used track other diseases as well."
###
Other Johns Hopkins researchers participating in the Twitter flu project are doctoral student Michael Paul and recent bachelor's degree graduate Alex Lamb, both in the Department of Computer Science.
The Johns Hopkins researchers noted that their enhanced Twitter flu analysis system looked only at public tweets in which all user names and gender information had been removed. The system was tested only on messages from the United States. The research was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health's Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study.
View a video produced by Twitter about Johns Hopkins' use of tweets to track public health trends here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmDIh-YS0GI
Read an earlier news release about Johns Hopkins' use of tweets to track public health trends at: http://releases.jhu.edu/2011/07/06/tracking-public-health-trends-from-twitter-messages/
Color U.S. flu maps and video available; contact Phil Sneiderman.
Related links:
Human Language Technology Center of Excellence at Johns Hopkins:
http://hltcoe.jhu.edu
Mark Dredze's website: http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~mdredze/
Johns Hopkins Department of Computer Science: http://www.cs.jhu.edu/
Center for Advanced Modeling in The Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/emergencymedicine/center_for_advanced_modeling/
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Using Twitter to track the flu: A better way to screen the TweetsPublic release date: 28-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Phil Sneiderman prs@jhu.edu 443-287-9960 Johns Hopkins University
Sifting through social media messages has become a popular way to track when and where flu cases occur, but a key hurdle hampers the process: how to identify flu-infection tweets. Some tweets are posted by people who have been sick with the virus, while others come from folks who are merely talking about the illness. If you are tracking actual flu cases, such conversations about the flu in general can skew the results.
To address this problem, Johns Hopkins computer scientists and researchers in the university's School of Medicine have developed a new tweet-screening method that not only delivers real-time data on flu cases, but also filters out online chatter that is not linked to actual flu infections. Comparing their method, which is based on analysis of 5,000 publicly available tweets per minute, to other Twitter-based tracking tools, the Johns Hopkins researchers say their real-time results track more closely with government disease data that takes much longer to compile.
"When you look at Twitter posts, you can see people talking about being afraid of catching the flu or asking friends if they should get a flu shot or mentioning a public figure who seems to be ill," said Mark Dredze, an assistant research professor in the Department of Computer Science who uses tweets to monitor public health trends. "But posts like this don't measure how many people have actually contracted the flu. We wanted to separate hype about the flu from messages from people who truly become ill."
Dredze, who also is a research scientist at the Johns Hopkins Human Language Technology Center of Excellence, led a team that in mid-2011 released one of the first and most comprehensive studies showing that Twitter data can yield useful public health information. Since then, this strategy has become so popular that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last summer sponsored a contest challenging researchers to design an online application that could track major disease outbreaks.
This winter, as the United States entered an unusually severe and early flu season, Twitter-based flu projections have drawn increasing attention. Many public tweets, such as, "I'm so sick this week with the flu," can indicate a rise in the flu rate. Collecting enough of these tweets can help health officials gauge the scope and severity of an epidemic.
But the reliability of many computer models can be weakened by too many tweets that point to flu-related news reports and other matters not directly linked to a specific flu case, said David Broniatowski, a School of Medicine postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Emergency Medicine's Center for Advanced Modeling in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences.
"For example," he said, "a recent spike in Twitter flu activity was caused by discussions about basketball legend Kobe Bryant's flu-like symptoms during a recent game. Mr. Bryant's health notwithstanding, such tweets do very little to help public health officials prepare our nation for the next big outbreak."
To improve their accuracy when using tweets to track the flu, the John Hopkins team developed sophisticated statistical methods based on human language processing technologies. The methods are designed to filter out the chatter. The system can distinguish, for example, between "I have the flu" and "I'm worried about getting the flu."
Another advantage of the Johns Hopkins flu projection method is that it can produce real-time results. By comparison, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which record flu-related symptoms from hospital visits, typically take two weeks to publish data on the flu's prevalence.
To check the reliability of their enhanced system, the Johns Hopkins researchers recently compared their results to CDC data for the same period. The researchers said that during November and December 2012, their system demonstrated a substantial improvement in tracking with CDC figures as compared to previous Twitter-based tracking methods. "In late December," Dredze added, "the news media picked up on the flu epidemic, causing a somewhat spurious rise in the rate produced by our Twitter system. But our new algorithm handles this effect much better than other systems, ignoring the spurious spike in tweets."
The researchers have also used their Twitter data to produce United States maps that document the stark differences between last year's mild flu season and the much higher incidence of the virus in the winter of 2012-2013.
While their new method was only recently developed, the Johns Hopkins researchers chose to release information on the flu tracking system because of the higher incidence of illness this winter. Team members hope to share the enhanced flu tracking method with leading government health agencies.
"This new work demonstrates that Twitter posts can be used to guide public health officials in their response to outbreaks of infectious diseases," Dredze said. "Our hope is that the new technology can be used track other diseases as well."
###
Other Johns Hopkins researchers participating in the Twitter flu project are doctoral student Michael Paul and recent bachelor's degree graduate Alex Lamb, both in the Department of Computer Science.
The Johns Hopkins researchers noted that their enhanced Twitter flu analysis system looked only at public tweets in which all user names and gender information had been removed. The system was tested only on messages from the United States. The research was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health's Models of Infectious Disease Agent Study.
View a video produced by Twitter about Johns Hopkins' use of tweets to track public health trends here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmDIh-YS0GI
Read an earlier news release about Johns Hopkins' use of tweets to track public health trends at: http://releases.jhu.edu/2011/07/06/tracking-public-health-trends-from-twitter-messages/
Color U.S. flu maps and video available; contact Phil Sneiderman.
Related links:
Human Language Technology Center of Excellence at Johns Hopkins:
http://hltcoe.jhu.edu
Mark Dredze's website: http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~mdredze/
Johns Hopkins Department of Computer Science: http://www.cs.jhu.edu/
Center for Advanced Modeling in The Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/emergencymedicine/center_for_advanced_modeling/
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NASA presents a video tribute to the astronauts of the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia tragedies.
By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News
This should be the saddest week of the year for NASA ??which is marking the anniversaries of three fatal tragedies, including the 10th anniversary of the shuttle Columbia's catastrophic breakup. But the way NASA Administrator Charles Bolden sees it, this week is not just about mourning 17 dead astronauts.
"I think this is not a memorial. It's a celebration, because of what they made possible," he told NBC News this month during a visit to Seattle. "We're commemorating them, and we're thanking them by continuing to move forward ??and not dropping back and dwelling on the pain. They'd be pretty angry, I think, if they saw that."
The week of celebration?? and, yes, of commemoration?? begins on Sunday with the 46th anniversary of the 1967 Apollo 1 launch-pad fire. The 27th anniversary of the 1986 Challenger explosion follows on Monday. This year, NASA is focusing the most on Friday, the 10th anniversary of the Columbia tragedy, which has been set aside as the agency's "Day of Remembrance" for all of its fallen astronauts.
Ever since the loss of Columbia and its crew of seven, NASA has organized solemn commemorations during the last week of January.
"We honor the memory of all three crews that were lost over the history of human spaceflight," Bolden explained. "We thought it was fitting that it be somewhere around the dates of those three losses. We think about this every day, to be quite honest. But we take these particular times and set them aside, when we can let everyone else around the world join us and help celebrate."
There's that word again.
"I use the term 'celebrate' because we have to remember that, yeah, we lost some valiant people?? but what their sacrifice brought is what we should really be thinking about: the fact that they dared to challenge and do things differently," Bolden said. "Because of what they did, we're well on the cusp of going deeper into space than we've ever gone before."
Each tragedy?took a terrible?toll ? and in each case, NASA learned from its mistakes:
Apollo 1's three astronauts were Gus Grissom, one of the Mercury 7 pioneers; Ed White, the first American to do a spacewalk; and rookie spaceflier Roger Chaffee. They died during a pre-launch test at the launch pad when bad wiring sparked a blaze in the pure-oxygen environment inside their sealed capsule. After the fire, engineers overhauled the wiring system, switched over to a less flammable oxygen-nitrogen mix and redesigned the hatch to open outward instead of inward. Years later, Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong observed that the accident provided "the gift of time" ? a chance to change a lot of things for the better. "We got that added benefit, but we regret the price we had to pay," Armstrong said.
January 27, 1967:?The crew of Apollo 1, Command Pilot Virgil 'Gus' Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward H. White and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee were killed when a fire ripped through the spacecraft's cabin during a launch pad test. NBC's Bill Ryan reports.? ?
Challenger's crew of seven was led by commander Dick Scobee, but the best-known flier was Christa McAuliffe, who was tapped to be the first teacher in space. The other astronauts were Michael Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Ron McNair and Greg Jarvis. Their space shuttle blew up 73 seconds after launch, due to a bad seal on one of the solid rocket boosters. The investigation led to a redesign of the boosters, which worked without fail ever since. It also pointed up the problem of "go fever," which led NASA to give the go-ahead for launch amid dangerously low temperatures. Reforms in management procedures gave astronauts, engineers and contractors more of a role in ensuring launch safety.?
January 28, 1986: NBC's Dan Molina reports on the loss of the space shuttle Challenger and its crew of seven.
Columbia's crew included Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, as well as commander Rick Husband, David Brown, Laurel Clark, Michael Anderson,?Kalpana Chawla and William McCool. The shuttle broke up over Texas during its descent at the end of a 16-day science mission. Investigators concluded that flying foam insulation from the external fuel tank damaged the left wing during launch, setting the stage for the Feb. 1 tragedy. The fuel tank was redesigned, emergency rescue plans were updated, and an array of cameras was added to the shuttle to watch for damage. The investigators also pointed to lapses in NASA's "safety culture." The George W. Bush administration followed up on the investigative panel's recommendations and decided to close down the space shuttle program once construction of the International Space Station was complete. That day finally came on July 21, 2011, with the landing of the space shuttle Atlantis.
Dec. 31, 2008: NASA released new information about what the astronauts went through in their final moments on board the space shuttle Columbia in 2003. NBC's Tom Costello reports.
Bolden said the successful operation of the space station and the rise of a new generation of commercial space vehicles would not have been possible if it weren't for the sacrifices made by the fallen astronauts. Rather than shutting down America's space program, political leaders gave the go-ahead for more ambitious plans to go beyond Earth orbit, and ultimately to Mars.
"If we didn't have that coming along, then what would have been the point of losing them?" Bolden said.?
To recognize those sacrifices, Bolden will attend a space conference being conducted in Ramon's honor this week in Israel, and then will return to Washington in time for Friday's?wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. NASA's space centers are planning commemorations as well: Officials at Johnson Space Center will participate in memorial events in Texas on Thursday and Friday. Kennedy Space Center's ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET Friday at the visitor center's Space Mirror Memorial. That Florida observance is open to the public and will be broadcast on NASA TV.
Stay tuned for more about NASA's week of sad celebration in the days ahead ? and feel free to add your own reminiscences and tributes as comments below.
More about NASA's space tragedies:
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
January 25, 2013? | ? Posted by : Amber Rudd MP? | ? News,slider ? | ? 0 Comment?
Pett Sports Association will receive ?47,435 to refurbish the sports pavilion at the Recreation Ground at the heart of small East Sussex village, Pett, just outside Hastings. This funding will help deliver new, high quality facilities for the local cricket team, as well as full disabled access and more sustainable heating and power. The pavilion extension will include a new functions room that it is hoped will be used by all members of the local community for social and sporting activities. And as a result, a new junior cricket side will play at Pett for the first time this year.
Local MP, Amber Rudd, said: ?This investment by Sport England into Pett Sports Association as part of our Olympic legacy is fantastic news. Pett has always had a strong sports tradition, and this money will help them expand their cricket and other activities to more people from the village and from the surrounding area, including Ore on the edge of Hastings where I know how great the need is for more activities for young people.?
Pett Sports Association Secretary, Philippa Strickland, said: ?We are delighted to have secured this investment, which means we can upgrade our facilities to meet the ever increasing needs of the local community, especially the young people for whom the cricket club is such an important and positive activity. We still have more funding to raise, but intend to start work on the Pavilion in October, as soon as this new cricket season finishes, and have the new facilities ready for the 2014 season.?
The Inspired Facilities fund is part of the ?135 million Places People Play legacy programme that is bringing the magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities across the country. Every sports facility that receives funding will carry the London 2012 Inspire mark ? celebrating the link to the Games.
Sport England?s Chair,Richard Lewis, said: ?This National Lottery investment will create a lasting sporting legacy for East Sussex.
?This fund has really hit the mark with sports clubs in the South East. It shows we?re offering the legacy that people want for their local community. For hundreds of clubs and tens of thousands of people, 2013 will be the year their local sports facilities got better.?
LOCOG Chair, Seb Coe, said: ?This is a fantastic funding project that will deliver a real legacy from the London 2012 Games.? It will provide a whole range of sporting opportunities for young people through improved facilities and will I hope inspire them to take up sport.?
Amber is pictured with members of the Pett Sports Association at the Pavilion.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein's proposed bill would not ban assault-weapon ownership, but it would ban the manufacture, sale, transfer, or importation of new assault weapons, as well as ban high-capacity magazines.
By Peter Grier,?Staff writer / January 24, 2013
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California speaks in favor of legislation to ban new assault weapons and high-capacity magazines at a briefing on Capitol Hill on Thursday.
Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
Enlarge
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California on Thursday introduced long-promised legislation aimed at controlling assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. As critics note, ?assault weapon? is a category of firearm that?s difficult to define. Millions of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are already in the hands of private citizens. So how would Senator Feinstein?s new restrictions work?
Skip to next paragraph Peter Grier
Washington Editor
Peter Grier is The Christian Science Monitor's Washington editor. In this capacity, he helps direct coverage for the paper on most news events in the nation's capital.
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
First, a general definition: assault weapons are small-caliber, high-powered rifles, pistols, or shotguns that are styled to appear as if they belong in a military or law enforcement arsenal. They are semiautomatic, meaning that each pull of the trigger fires one bullet and then chambers the next round.
True military rifles, such as the M16A2, are automatic, capable of firing multiple bullets with one pull of the trigger. But civilian ownership of automatic weapons has been tightly controlled in the US since the 1930s.
Feinstein?s bill is not a flat ban on assault-weapon ownership. Instead, it would ban the manufacture, sale, transfer, or importation of new assault weapons, as well as all ammunition feeding devices capable of holding more than 10 rounds. The legislation grandfathers in existing weapons and high-capacity magazines in private hands as legal.
The legislation bans more than 150 firearms by name. According to the bill, these include all AR-15 types, which are civilian derivatives of the military M-16; all AK-47 types, which are derivatives of the famous Soviet assault rifle of the same name; and MAC weapons, Thompson weapons, and Uzis, among others.
Beyond that, the legislation would restrict weapons according to their characteristics. Falling into this category would be semiautomatic rifles that can accept a detachable magazine, and have at least one military-style feature from this list: pistol grip; forward grip, folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; grenade launcher or rocket launcher; barrel shroud; or threaded barrel.
Pistols and shotguns with similar features would also be covered by the legislation?s restrictions.
These restrictions are somewhat tougher than those contained in the assault weapons ban that was the law of the land from 1994 to 2004. Under that law, a weapon had to have two of the military style features, instead of one, to be categorized as an ?assault? weapon. The new bill would also ban some of the stylistic workarounds that manufacturers used to get around the previous legislation, such as thumbhole stocks, which mimic a pistol grip.
?One criticism of the ?94 law was that it was ... too easy work around. Manufacturers would simply remove one of the characteristics, and the firearm was legal. The bill we are introducing today will make it much more difficult to work around,? said Feinstein at a Thursday press conference.
However, in some ways, the bill is most different than the old not for the way it categorizes new assault weapons, but for the manner in which it treats existing assault weapons and magazines in private hands.
If a current assault weapon owner wishes to sell or otherwise transfer the firearm, for instance, the new bill requires that the transferee undergo a background check carried out either by the FBI or a state-level agency. It is difficult to see how the federal government could enforce this provision without a registry of existing assault weapons ? something gun-rights groups vehemently oppose as government intrusion on Second Amendment rights.
As for existing high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, the bill would prohibit their further sale or transfer, according to Feinstein?s summary of the legislation. That means they would remain lawful to own for those who already have them, but not to get rid of, except to destroy.
The bill would establish a safe storage requirement for grandfathered assault rifles. Feinstein has yet to specify exactly what this would entail, though in the past she has talked about wanting to require trigger locks for such weapons.
Finally, the new legislation would also allow states and localities to use certain federal funds to hold voluntary buy-back programs for grandfathered assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.
Gun owner groups said they would oppose all aspects of the proposed reinstatement of assault weapon and high-capacity magazine restrictions.
?Senator Feinstein has been trying to ban guns from law-abiding citizens for decades,? said the National Rifle Association in a statement.
On this week's installment of "Grey's Anatomy," phantom limb syndrome takes over Arizona Robbins (Jessica Capshaw) and the pediatric surgeon -- who had recently (finally) made some progress since losing her leg in a plane crash at the start of Season 9 -- is going to experience a major setback.
Phantom limb syndrome plagues the majority of amputees, "Grey's" star Capshaw explained to HuffPost TV via phone, and it causes painful sensations that an amputated limb is still attached to the body and is moving appropriately with other body parts. "I can only imagine how devastating it would be," Capshaw said. "And it would certainly stop you in your tracks as far as recovery goes. How do you deal with that?"
Below, Capshaw opens up about Arizona's battle this season (which initially "scared [her] off"), being behind this season ("because sometimes it's actually hard to watch"), potential firings at Seattle Grace in the wake of the lawsuit settlement, the debate over just how much gay visibility Callie (Sara Ramirez) and Arizona bring to the TV landscape and much more.
It's been a long season for Arizona. What has it been like for you playing a character who's been in such a dark place? It's been challenging. It's been really challenging. Shonda [Rhimes, the creator of "Grey's Anatomy"] -- who's like the Oz -- knew way better than I did what the landscape of [Arizona's] journey was going to be. I was scared off by merely the hint of the journey. I just had a baby and I was like, "Wait. Hold on. I'm coming back and I'm going to play this? This is really sad and dark and I want to talk about things that are lovely and light and life-affirming." So I don't know that I was even quite ready for what was about to happen, but, as I tend to do, I said, "Alright. Let's try!" And since we started, it has been dark and it's been challenging and I hope, I pray, authentic.
It's not been pretty. As an actor, I think you get attached to even creating the look of a character and in the beginning, believe you me, I used to look at my makeup artist and say, "Mascara?" [Laughs.] She'd say, "Hmm. I don't know." And I was like, "Yeah, I know. I shouldn't." [Laughs.] It was stripping everything away and you kind of had to lean into it and I did.
Ultimately, it's been a tremendous gift to be given material that is as challenging as this if you feel like you can come out the other end and feel like you did a great job. I'm very proud of the work. But I do have to say, I'm not as current with the episodes as I should be because sometimes it's actually hard to watch for me. And I can't stop talking about the visual effects guys because they're so unbelievable. I mean, they make it look like I have one leg, which also completely flips me out. It's bizarre. And speaking of bizarre, this week's episode really dips into -- Sandra Oh [who plays Cristina] and I were talking about it -- something really cool and totally different and creepy and nightmarish. It's been very interesting to do and ultimately incredibly rewarding.
Yes, in this week's episode, Arizona struggles with phantom limb syndrome. What can you tell viewers about that? Did you do a lot of research? Yes, I spoke to amputees and we have a wonderful researcher so there was a lot of literature and thankfully, there's a real community. There are places where people who are dealing with this kind of loss can go to to understand the stages, much like grief counselors. If you're lucky enough to be around that kind of resource, you can take advantage of that.
There are many people who go through phantom limb syndrome, which is that you feel excruciating pain where the limb was that is no longer there. So you're on the road to recovery, you're accepting, you're accepting, you're accepting, you're accepting and then all of a sudden, your mind is not communicating correctly with your body and your mind thinks that something's there and it's creating a sensation of pain that your body actually isn't feeling because the limb isn't there. There are a bunch of different therapies and our show represents a couple of them. I can only imagine how devastating it would be. And it would certainly stop you in your tracks as far as recovery goes. How do you deal with that?
That's so upsetting because the last couple episodes, we've seen Arizona really ... Start to buck up? [Laughs.]
Exactly. Especially in terms of things with Callie. Will the phantom limb be a huge setback for her? I think the show is definitely not teeing up the story to be one of defeat so I think that ultimately, there's not a closure really, but it's about dealing with this particular syndrome and besting it. She will see an end to it and honestly, it's the road to acceptance and then moving past that because once you can accept that something is gone, you can move on from it. But if you can't accept that it's gone, you're not going anywhere.
At the end of last week's episode, Hunt [Kevin McKidd] learned that the hospital would go bankrupt if they pay the settlement that Arizona, Callie and the other doctors are owed. When will we see the fall out there? I think it's going to be sooner rather than later. With the arrival of the amazing Constance Zimmer [who's playing Dr. Alana Cahill, a physician?s adviser hired to help Seattle Grace avoid bankruptcy] comes a bottom line. She's kind of the bad news bear. As far as the political climate and the social climate goes right now in our country and probably the world, we're all understanding that there's someone ultimately that comes in and has a bottom line and talks about how there are people who are on teams that aren't efficient and you can get rid of them. So when she comes in, that's her job and it definitely upsets the applecart.
Because of the loss of Arizona's leg, we really haven't seen much else between her and Callie this season that doesn't revolve around that issue. Will there be more interactions with them, maybe as parents and more specifically, as gay parents? Well, it's hard to work to children. [Laughs.] I mean, I would never want to speak for someone else, but I feel that in playing the character, for sure, you absolutely have to celebrate and understand what your specific life will be and who the character is within the framework of the show. But I feel like I've always approached this character and this couple like we're all just people. I've never felt that we needed to politicize it and I've always leaned away from politicizing it because I think the most important thing is showing relationships and partnerships and love and challenge and making it all about one thing has always been less interesting to me. I think the goal is for us all to be who we are and have that be not only OK, but equal.
I mean, listen, if everything was addressed, the show would be three hours. [Laughs.] We have to trust that the audience will make certain acceptances that [Callie and Arizona] are at home being parents and that will come in and out. But I also think from when I was a fan of the show and it's a show about a hospital and a group of doctors. Of course it's always exciting when their personal lives come into it, but it is a show about doctors. We spend 90 percent of our time telling our stories in scrubs so how can it be about much more?
Does it feel like the fact that Callie and Arizona are not really not viewed as a "gay" couple anymore and are just a couple is a sign of progress? Yeah. I mean, it's not a big thing. It's interesting. We got into a discussion one time because Derek [Patrick Dempsey] and Meredith [Ellen Pompeo] never kissed inside the hospital because that was when they were at work. And something came up one time when we were blocking a scene and we were thinking we might put in a kiss and then we thought, "Hmm. Does this feel right? We're at work. Do people kiss at work?" And then we were wondering, "Well, is it a straight/gay issue? It doesn't feel like that, but is it?" To be frank, there are people who are fans of the show that do wish there was more of that or less of that. I guess, at the end of the day, we always just end up playing the characters the best we can in the moment.
"Grey's Anatomy" airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST on ABC.
Kurt and Blaine, "Glee"
Kurt Hummel (Chris Colfer) and Blaine Anderson ((Darren Criss) were the epitome of high school sweethearts on Fox's "Glee" -- and the fan-favorite couple among most Gleeks. Klaine is kind of like a holy word in the "Glee" Bible. Not only were they each other's first boyfriends, but they lost their virginity to each other during the controversial Season 3 episode, "First Time." Blaine has also helped Kurt through some tough times, including standing up to Kurt's bully, Dave Karofsky, and taking a laced slushy to the eye to protect him. Though Kurt's move to New York led to some major problems for the couple, we still have faith that they'll end up together.
Michael and Ben, "Queer As Folk"
For the first two seasons of "Queer As Folk," we thought that Michael Novotny (Hal Sparks) would never get past his obsession with his best friend Brian Kinney (Gale Harold) -- but then he met writer and fellow comic book lover Ben Bruckner (Robert Gant) and his love life took a turn for the better. Together, Michael and Ben had to deal with Ben's steroid use and his HIV, but eventually the two celebrated their marriage in Canada, with Brian by Michael's side, and they eventually had two children. Sure, Ben might think they're "conformist homosexuals," but we're just happy Michael finally got the happy ending that he deserved. They may not have been the show's most popular couple, but they were the cutest. (Sorry, Brian and Justin fans!)
David and Keith, "Six Feet Under"
There was just something that felt authentic and real about David (Michael C. Hall) and Keith's (Mathew St. Patrick) relationship on "Six Feet Under." Keith supported David as he came to terms with his sexuality, came out to his family and struggled to recover from a traumatic kidnapping. They had their struggles, but eventually settled down together, adopted two kids and, as the series finale's flashforward showed, lived a nice long life and eventually got legally married in the state of California. (Yep, creator Alan Ball predicted the Prop 8 ruling way back in 2005!)
Cam & Mitchell, "Modern Family"
Arguably the most popular gay couple on television at the moment, Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) are the perfect complement to one another. Mitchell's serious and more introverted, and Cam is a jovial clown (occasionally even literally -- we love Fizbo!). Always a blast to watch, the couple's antics are both heartwarming and hilarious. Even if we don't get to see them be affectionate with each other nearly often enough, we love seeing them raise their adopted daughter Lily together. "Modern Family" writers, now it's time to get these two properly (and legally) hitched!
Jack McPhee & Doug Witter, "Dawson's Creek"
There were many hearts broken in the "Creek," but it was most difficult to watch Jack (Kerr Smith) struggle with each of his relationships after he came out of the closet. When he finally hooked up with Pacey's brother Doug (Dylan Neal), we couldn't help but cheer, and Doug's hesitation to come out at work made Jack finally step up as a confident and proud gay man. Their story wrapped on a bittersweet note in the series finale, as they agreed to raise dying Jen's (Michelle Williams) daughter Amy together in Capeside.
Callie and Arizona, "Grey's Anatomy"
Callie (Sara Ramirez) tried being married to a man (R.I.P. George O'Malley) before realizing she had feelings for women. Her first try at having a girlfriend (Erica Hahn, played by Brooke Smith) didn't end well, but her rebound relationship with Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) made her embrace her sexuality, even if her religious father couldn't. Their relationship has survived quite a bit -- including the loss of Arizona's leg (as a result of Callie's decision) -- but the two vowed to stay together since getting married in front of all their friends, with Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) officiating. Even with the madness at Seattle Grace, they're still holding on.
Willow and Tara, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
You can just call Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Tara (Amber Benson) the Wiccans that stole our hearts. From their budding romance that grew along with their powers to the tragic end, Willow and Tara were the couple we loved to love. If Tara was under Willow's spell (yes, we're referencing Tara's song in "Once More With Feeling" and the fact that Willow really did cast spells on Tara, grrr), then we were under theirs.
Barca and Pietros, "Spartacus: Blood and Sand"
Two of this show's most winning qualities are the fact that that it depicts a whole range of sexuality with clear-eyed thoughtfulness and that gay relationships aren't treated any differently than heterosexual ones. Barca (Antonio Te Maioho) was one of the fiercest gladiators in "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," and at the end of a long day in the arena, this tough warrior found comfort in the arms of a young man named Pietros (Eka Darville). The couple had their share of ups and downs, but Barca's intimacy with Pietros gave dimension and depth to the character. Terrible things tend to happen to the "Sparatacus" gladiators, who are slaves after all, but at least we got to see the sweet sides of two men who didn't often have occasion to let down their guards.
Bette and Tina, "The L Word"
For six seasons, fans of Showtime's groundbreaking lesbian-centric series "The L Word" followed the highs and lows of Bette (Jennifer Beals) and Tina's (Laurel Holloman) complicated relationship. There was adultery and pregnancy struggles and tons of emotion that all culminated in that very absurd murder in the series finale. Still, we'd like to think that Tibette stayed together ... even in the Jenny Schecter aftermath.
Kevin and Scotty, "Brothers and Sisters"
Kevin (Matthew Rhys) and Scotty (Luke Macfarlane) had their rough patches, but Scotty was the only man who could put up with Kevin's neuroses and the Walker family drama. Their commitment ceremony in Season 2 -- the first same-sex TV marriage ever to involve main characters -- didn't make life a total fairytale, but they did weather quite a few more storms (cheating and a failed surrogacy among them) before adopting daughter Olivia.
Emily and Maya, "Pretty Little Liars"
It was hardly an easy road for formerly closeted lesbian Emily (Shay Mitchell) on ABC Family's "Pretty Little Liars." But when she met Maya (Bianca Lawson), the new girl living in her missing BFF's house (yep, you read that right), she was smitten. Though Emily's mom tried to keep them apart and Maya's parents sent her to boot camp, the two finally found their way back to each other. Maya even made a grand gesture and professed her love to Emily. Sadly, Maya was murdered and Emily, in turn, murdered her killer. Not that we'd condone that but still ... it's sweet as far was "Pretty Little Liars" goes.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Pentagon's decision to lift the ban on women serving in combat presents a daunting challenge to top military leaders who now will have to decide which, if any, jobs they believe should be open only to men.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to announce Thursday that more than 230,000 battlefront posts ? many in Army and Marine infantry units and in potentially elite commando jobs ? are now open to women. It will be up to the military service chiefs to recommend and defend whether women should be excluded from any of those more demanding and deadly positions, such as Navy SEALs or the Army's Delta Force.
The historic change, which was recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, overturns a 1994 rule prohibiting women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units.
The change won't take place overnight: Service chiefs will have to develop plans for allowing women to seek the combat positions, a senior military official said. Some jobs may open as soon as this year, while assessments for others, such as special operations forces, may take longer. The services will have until January 2016 to make a case to that some positions should remain closed to women.
Officials briefed The Associated Press on the changes Wednesday on condition of anonymity so they could speak ahead of the official announcement.
There long has been opposition to putting women in combat, based on questions of whether they have the necessary strength and stamina for certain jobs, or whether their presence might hurt unit cohesion.
But as news of Panetta's expected order got out, many members of Congress, including the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., announced their support.
"It reflects the reality of 21st century military operations," Levin said.
Objections were few. Jerry Boykin, executive vice president of the Family Research Council, called the move "another social experiment" that will place unnecessary burdens on military commanders.
"While their focus must remain on winning the battles and protecting their troops, they will now have the distraction of having to provide some separation of the genders during fast moving and deadly situations," said Boykin, a retired Army lieutenant general. He noted that small units often are in sustained combat for extended periods of time under primal living conditions with no privacy.
Panetta's move comes in his final weeks as Pentagon chief and just days after President Barack Obama's inaugural speech in which he spoke passionately about equal rights for all. The new order expands the department's action of nearly a year ago to open about 14,500 combat positions to women, nearly all of them in the Army.
In addition to questions of strength and performance, there also have been suggestions that the American public would not tolerate large numbers of women being killed in war.
Under the 1994 Pentagon policy, women were prohibited from being assigned to ground combat units below the brigade level. A brigade is roughly 3,500 troops split into several battalions of about 800 soldiers each. Historically, brigades were based farther from the front lines, and they often included top command and support staff.
The necessities of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, propelled women into jobs as medics, military police and intelligence officers that were sometimes attached ? but not formally assigned ? to battalions. So while a woman couldn't be assigned as an infantryman in a battalion going out on patrol, she could fly the helicopter supporting the unit, or move in to provide medical aid if troops were injured.
And these conflicts, where battlefield lines are blurred and insurgents can lurk around every corner, have made it almost impossible to keep women clear of combat.
Still, as recent surveys and experiences have shown, it will not be an easy transition. When the Marine Corps sought women to go through its tough infantry course last year, two volunteered and both failed to complete the course. And there may not be a wide clamoring from women for the more intense, dangerous and difficult jobs, including some infantry and commando positions.
Two lawsuits were filed last year challenging the Pentagon's ban on women serving in combat, adding pressure on officials to overturn the policy. And the military services have been studying the issue and surveying their forces to determine how it may affect performance and morale.
The Joint Chiefs have been meeting regularly on the matter and they unanimously agreed to send the recommendation to Panetta earlier this month.
A senior military official familiar with the discussions said the chiefs laid out three main principles to guide them as they move through the process. Those were to maintain America's effective fighting force, preserve military readiness and develop a process that would give all service members the best chance to succeed.
Women comprise about 14 percent of the 1.4 million active military personnel. More than 280,000 women have been sent to Iraq, Afghanistan or to jobs in neighboring nations in support of the wars. Of the more than 6,600 U.S. service members who have been killed, 152 have been women.
The senior military official said the military chiefs must report back to Panetta with their initial implementation plans by May 15.
___
AP National Security Writer Robert Burns and AP Broadcast reporter Sagar Meghani contributed to this report.
Amazon has reported sales up by more than a quarter in 2012, after a year in which sales of digital ebooks grew quickly. ![\"GMMORAINE01.JPG\"](\"http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/shared-blogs/dayton/seen_and_overheard/upload/2013/01/GMMORAINE01-thumb.JPG\")
$NEWLINE $NEWLINE 
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 28-Jan-2013
Share ] 
Pett Sports Association will receive ?47,435 to refurbish the sports pavilion at the Recreation Ground at the heart of small East Sussex village, Pett, just outside Hastings. This funding will help deliver new, high quality facilities for the local cricket team, as well as full disabled access and more sustainable heating and power. The pavilion extension will include a new functions room that it is hoped will be used by all members of the local community for social and sporting activities. And as a result, a new junior cricket side will play at Pett for the first time this year.