Flu? Malaria? Disease forecasters look to the sky

In this Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 photo, Jeffrey Shaman poses for a portrait in his office at Columbia University's Department of Environmental Health Sciences in New York. In the study of New York City flu cases published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the authors said they could forecast, by up to seven weeks, the peak of flu season. Scientists hope to try real-time predictions as early as next year, said Jeffrey Shaman of Columbia University, who led the work. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

In this Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 photo, Jeffrey Shaman poses for a portrait in his office at Columbia University's Department of Environmental Health Sciences in New York. In the study of New York City flu cases published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the authors said they could forecast, by up to seven weeks, the peak of flu season. Scientists hope to try real-time predictions as early as next year, said Jeffrey Shaman of Columbia University, who led the work. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

FILE - In this Friday, May 11, 2007 photo, a mosquito is sorted according to species and gender before testing for West Nile Virus at the Dallas County mosquito lab in Dallas. Scientists have been working on mathematical models to predict outbreaks for decades and have long factored in the weather. They have known, for example, that temperature and rainfall affect the breeding of mosquitoes that carry malaria, West Nile virus and other dangerous diseases. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)

(AP) ? Only a 10 percent chance of showers today, but a 70 percent chance of flu next month.

That's the kind of forecasting health scientists are trying to move toward, as they increasingly include weather data in their attempts to predict disease outbreaks.

In one recent study, two scientists reported they could predict ? more than seven weeks in advance ? when flu season was going to peak in New York City. Theirs was just the latest in a growing wave of computer models that factor in rainfall, temperature or other weather conditions to forecast disease.

Health officials are excited by this kind of work and the idea that it could be used to fine-tune vaccination campaigns or other disease prevention efforts.

At the same time, experts note that outbreaks are influenced as much, or more, by human behavior and other factors as by the weather. Some argue weather-based outbreak predictions still have a long way to go. And when government health officials warned in early December that flu season seemed to be off to an early start, they said there was no evidence it was driven by the weather.

This disease-forecasting concept is not new: Scientists have been working on mathematical models to predict outbreaks for decades and have long factored in the weather. They have known, for example, that temperature and rainfall affect the breeding of mosquitoes that carry malaria, West Nile virus and other dangerous diseases.

Recent improvements in weather-tracking have helped, including satellite technology and more sophisticated computer data processing.

As a result, "in the last five years or so, there's been quite an improvement and acceleration" in weather-focused disease modeling, said Ira Longini, a University of Florida biostatistician who's worked on outbreak prediction projects.

Some models have been labeled successes.

In the United States, researchers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of New Mexico tried to predict outbreaks of hantavirus in the late 1990s. They used rain and snow data and other information to study patterns of plant growth that attract rodents. People catch the disease from the droppings of infected rodents.

"We predicted what would happen later that year," said Gregory Glass, a Johns Hopkins researcher who worked on the project.

More recently, in east Africa, satellites have been used to predict rainfall by measuring sea-surface temperatures and cloud density. That's been used to generate "risk maps" for Rift Valley fever ? a virus that spreads from animals to people and in severe cases can cause blindness or death. Researchers have said the system in some cases has given two to six weeks advance warning.

Last year, other researchers using satellite data in east Africa said they found that a small change in average temperature was a warning sign cholera cases would double within four months.

"We are getting very close to developing a viable forecasting system" against cholera that can help health officials in African countries ramp up emergency vaccinations and other efforts, said a statement by one of the authors, Rita Reyburn of the International Vaccine Institute in Seoul, South Korea.

Some diseases are hard to forecast, such as West Nile virus. Last year, the U.S. suffered one of its worst years since the virus arrived in 1999. There were more than 2,600 serious illnesses and nearly 240 deaths.

Officials said the mild winter, early spring and very hot summer helped spur mosquito breeding and the spread of the virus. But the danger wasn't spread uniformly. In Texas, the Dallas area was particularly hard-hit, while other places, including some with similar weather patterns and the same type of mosquitoes, were not as affected.

"Why Dallas, and not areas with similar ecological conditions? We don't really know," said Roger Nasci of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is chief of the CDC branch that tracks insect-borne viruses.

Some think flu lends itself to outbreak forecasting ? there's already a predictability to the annual winter flu season. But that's been tricky, too.

Seasonal flu reports come from doctors' offices, but those show the disease when it's already spreading. Some researchers have studied tweets on Twitter and searches on Google, but their work has offered a jump of only a week or two on traditional methods.

In the study of New York City flu cases published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the authors said they could forecast, by up to seven weeks, the peak of flu season.

They designed a model based on weather and flu data from past years, 2003-09. In part, their design was based on earlier studies that found flu virus spreads better when the air is dry and turns colder. They made calculations based on humidity readings and on Google Flu Trends, which tracks how many people are searching each day for information on flu-related topics (often because they're beginning to feel ill).

Using that model, they hope to try real-time predictions as early as next year, said Jeffrey Shaman of Columbia University, who led the work.

"It's certainly exciting," said Lyn Finelli, the CDC's flu surveillance chief. She said the CDC supports Shaman's work, but agency officials are eager to see follow-up studies showing the model can predict flu trends in places different from New York, like Miami.

Despite the optimism by some, Dr. Edward Ryan, a Harvard University professor of immunology and infectious diseases, is cautious about weather-based prediction models. "I'm not sure any of them are ready for prime time," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-01-03-Disease%20Forecasting/id-6066f007eae94ee2b2d225b8225b1824

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Ray Lewis Gets To Dance Again After Ravens Playoff Win Over Colts (VIDEO)

BALTIMORE -- After dancing before and after the game and making a team-high 13 tackles in between, Ray Lewis took a lap around the stadium to thank the fans of Baltimore for their support over the past 17 years.

It was an unforgettable afternoon for the 71,379 in attendance, players from both teams and most of all, the man in the middle.

Lewis intends to retire after the Ravens complete their playoff run. On Sunday, he did his part to ensure that his last home game wouldn't also be the final chapter of his NFL career.

"I knew how it started, but I never knew how it was going to end here in Baltimore," Lewis said. "For it to go the way it went today, I wouldn't change nothing. There were so many moments, so many fans, just the things that were said. The tears that I saw from people, and I was trying to hold it in myself trying to play a game.

"Just a very, very, very emotional day," Lewis said.

Deftly battling his emotions and opposing linemen, Lewis helped the Ravens beat the Indianapolis Colts 24-9 in the opening round of the playoffs. Although the 37-year-old middle linebacker dropped a sure interception, his performance ? and the emotional lift it provided ? was a key component of the victory.

Lewis finished up by entering on offense, 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage as Baltimore ran a kneel-down to wrap up the game. As the clock ticked down to 0:00, he broke into his trademark dance.

"It was a neat moment, wasn't it?" Ravens coach John Harbaugh said.

Wearing a brace on his right arm, Lewis played for the first time since tearing his right triceps on Oct. 14 against Dallas. He had seven tackles in the first half, including one in the Indianapolis backfield on running back Vick Ballard during a blitz.

Early in the second quarter, Lewis had a deflected pass in his grasp with designs of taking it into the end zone. But he dropped the ball, and many in the sellout crowd uttered a collective groan.

Upon being reminded of the drop, Lewis chuckled and said, "I'll never live that one down. I'm going to put that one on the brace because I tried to put my arm up but the brace wouldn't come up."

He wanted to remove the brace during the game, but thought better of it.

Good idea.

"I didn't feel pain," Lewis said. "I didn't hurt it one time."

Baltimore will next travel to Denver to face the top-seeded Broncos on Saturday.

There was some question as to how long Lewis would last in his first game action in three months. But the aged warrior appeared as fresh as the day he played his first game back in 1996.

"I thought he played exceptionally well," Harbaugh said. "It's always funny to hear people say, `Well, he's not the same that was 10 years ago.' Well, who is?"

Lewis may have lost a step over the past decade, but he's still good enough to lead a playoff team in tackles. And to some, it was as if Lewis was 27 again.

"He was himself. He was the same guy you've seen for the last 17 years," teammate Cary Williams said. "He was the guy who led the huddle, just like always. We followed right behind him because we believe in him."

With Lewis leading the way, the Ravens held the Colts without a touchdown. It was only the second time this season that Indianapolis failed to score in double figures.

As the clock approached the two-minute warning, fans behind the Baltimore sideline chanted in unison, "Thank you, Ray!"

Then, with 1:57 left, the scoreboard aired a montage of Lewis' finest plays, including several crushing hits. He responded by clasping his hands together over his head, tapping his heart and waving.

Minutes before the opening kickoff, Lewis thrilled the sellout crowd during introductions by coming out of the tunnel and gyrating to the tune "Hot in Herre."

Hundreds of fans had their cellphones raised to either take a picture or videotape the moment. The players were captivated by the scene, too.

"I'm sure everyone was affected by it," Ravens wide receiver Anquan Boldin said. "We all wanted to play for him and make sure it wasn't his last game."

Lewis does the dance only before home games, and this was Baltimore's last this season at M&T Bank Stadium. Asked if he might consider a reprise if the Ravens reach the Super Bowl, he sheepishly declined comment.

After concluding pre-game warmups, Lewis addressed the entire team on the 5-yard line. After his short speech, Lewis hugged a few teammates, mingled with family members beyond the end zone and jogged to the sideline, where he engaged in a lengthy embrace with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Thousands of fans were wearing No. 52 jerseys. Lewis has been a fan favorite in Baltimore since he was selected in the first round of the Ravens' initial draft in 1996.

Ken Malik, 61, wore a purple Lewis jersey and a broad smile.

"It's the end of an era for the Baltimore Ravens," he said. "He's been a great player. He's stood for what the Baltimore Ravens are and what they have been since they (came) to Baltimore."

There is no age limitation for fans of Lewis, who made his NFL debut when Kylie O'Neill-Mullin was 4. She was wearing a long black tunic with Lewis' number on the front and back.

"This is a big deal. It's the last time he'll come out of the tunnel," she said. "It's the last time he'll play on this field. I'm excited to be here."

One fan had a sign with a purple heart and the No. 52 in the middle. Earlier, a helicopter flew overhead with the No. 52 painted on its undercarriage.

Lewis was elected to 13 Pro Bowls and is a two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He told his teammates on Wednesday, "This will be my last ride."

One fan in the crowd had a sign that read: "Let's Ride To New Orleans," site of the Super Bowl. Two more wins, and the Ravens will be there.

___

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/06/ray-lewis-dance-again-ravens-playoff-win-colts_n_2421940.html

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How Katy Darby Became a Writer ? ph.d. in creative writing

Grow a thick skin, because the ?no?s will hurt. Tough shit.
But a single ?yes? makes up for a hundred ?no?s,
and acceptance is the best feedback of all.

Katy jumper small

Katy Darby?s work has been read on BBC Radio and published in various places including Stand, Mslexia, Slice and the Arvon and Fish anthologies. She has a BA in English from Oxford University and an MA in Creative Writing from UEA, where she received the David Higham Award. She teaches writing at City University, edited Litro magazine from 2010-12 and co-runs short story reading night Liars? League (www.liarsleague.com). Her debut novel, a Victorian drama called The Unpierced Heart (previously The Whores? Asylum) was published by Penguin in 2012. She lives in London, tweets at @katydarbywriter and her website is www.katydarby.com.

unpierced heart cover (small)Read more by and about Katy:


1.? Why did you want to become a writer?

I suspect this is an incredibly common answer, but as a kid I always had my head buried in a book. Obviously I wanted to be an astronaut and a doctor and all the other things kids want to be, but being a writer was a very early ambition. What thrills me most about writing (apart from the actual writing part ? when it?s going well, anyway) is when people tell me they were moved or excited or entertained by my stuff, especially if they laughed or cried. Same goes for when someone writes a (nice) insightful review, or emails me to say they liked my novel.

I write partly to get story ideas out of my head and onto the page; but my ultimate goal is to give readers the same pleasure I get from the books I love. For me, the purpose of writing is to communicate and connect, and hitting the mark, emotionally or otherwise, is the best feeling in the world. (Well, actually, it?s a toss-up between that, and the feeling when I finish a chapter or a story, but both are pretty addictive)

2.? How did you go about becoming a writer?

I read a lot and wrote a lot. I remember writing my first ?novel? on stapled exercise-paper aged seven. It was a semi-autobiographical police procedural modestly titled Katy the Great Detective and was probably about 500 words long.

After that I wrote stories in class, but I didn?t really write much fiction between the ages of 11 and 21: I was more interested in poetry. At 18 I went up to Oxford to study English at Somerville College, but I only wanted to be a poet until I got into fiction-writing via an evening class at OUDCE (the Oxford University Department of Continuing Education). It was a two-year course and each term focused on a different discipline: poetry, prose or script. Over the next few years I slowly shifted focus from poetry to fiction.

After the OUDCE course I started sending out my stories and got a few publications and prizes. I wrote my first proper novel over six months in an incredibly dull receptionist job, sent it out, got nowhere and realised I needed to work on my prose, so I applied to UEA?s MA in Creative Writing. The first time round I was rejected without an interview, but the second time I won a full scholarship. (All that changed was the story I submitted). Through UEA, I also got my first agent.

In 2007 a short story I was writing kept getting longer until I realised it was going to be a novel: this was The Whores? Asylum (now available in Penguin paperback under the new title The Unpierced Heart). I wrote the first draft in a year, got my agent?s comments, sat on it for ages then finally redrafted it in summer 2009. After a few more tweaks and a new agent (the US-based Vicky Bijur), I got my book deal in July 2010, and the novel was published in February 2012. So getting it on the shelf took five years, beginning to end. I was lucky: plenty take longer and of course many never get picked up.

3.? Who helped you along the way, and how?

This is going to be a bit Oscar-speech, I warn you ?

  1. My parents, who filled the house with books and allowed me unfettered access to them (not that I?m sure they always knew what I was reading). My mother?s copy of Portnoy?s Complaint certainly went right over my 13-year-old head, though I did enjoy my dad?s massive one-volume Lord of the Rings.
  2. My English teachers at Frensham Heights school, who encouraged and praised my writing (mostly poetry at that stage) and gave me a thorough grounding in the literature we were studying.
  3. Dr. Jem Poster and the other tutors on the OUDCE evening class, who expanded my horizons to include fiction and script-writing, and were also very encouraging and constructively critical.
  4. The writing group which grew out of this class: Lucie Whitehouse, John Marzillier, Jenny Stanton and Anne Bigelow are all now published or have agents, and their feedback over many years was invaluable.
  5. All the editors who?ve published (and thereby validated!) my work. What excellent taste they have ?
  6. My tutors and fellow-students at UEA: I was lucky to be taught by Patricia Duncker, Michele Roberts and Andrew Cowan, all superb in their own different ways, and to be part of the very talented, supportive, and hard-drinking class of 2005-6.
  7. Both my agents: Veronique at DHA and now Vicky. Her comments are always bang-on and I really respect her opinion.
  8. My editor Juliet Annan, her assistant Sophie Missing and my publicists at Penguin, Caroline Craig and Lija Kresowaty. The first two for their literary insight and the second two for their patience with a demanding and occasionally hyperactive author. My enthusiasm can sometimes border on pestering ?
  9. The authors I love to read, especially the Victorians: Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, the Brontes, M. R. James, Thackeray, Dickens: they made me a historical novelist as much as all those above.

Mervyn Peake (image from Wikimedia)

4.? Can you tell me about a writer or artist whose biography inspires you?

Mervyn Peake?s life ended very sadly, but he?s inspiring because he wrote exactly what he wanted to, and in so doing forged a strange and marvellous genre all his own. I first read his novels Gormenghast and Titus Groan when I was 14 or 15, and I vividly remember sitting against the radiator in our drama classroom, hoping the teacher would be late so that I could finish the amazing chase sequence in Gormenghast where the villain Steerpike is pursued through the flooded halls of the ancient castle.

Peake is a cult author in the best sense: he was an artist, illustrator and writer who created an astonishing world in Gormenghast, bizarre and idiosyncratic yet absolutely convincing, and peopled with unforgettable characters. Tragically, he died aged just 57 of degenerative brain disease: nonetheless, both his life and writing inspire me, because of the single-minded dedication and spirit of experimentation which characterised them.

Image from mervynpeake.org

5.? What would you say in a short letter to an aspiring writer?

Is 400 words short enough? I hope so ?

Dear Aspiring Writer,

Don?t you hate that word, ?aspiring?? It feels so unfinished and tentative; but in a way that?s useful, because you?re unlikely to ever feel that you ? or your novels, stories or poems ? are the finished product. That?s all part of the fun and frustration of the job.

Writing is a job, by the way, even when it?s unpaid (and that?ll probably be for a while yet, unless you?re very talented and lucky) ? and treating it like one will pay dividends. A million things can and will distract you from doing this job: your actual (day) job, TV, Facebook, Twitter, friends, family, laundry, washing-up, parties, going out, etc. Don?t let them ? or at least, not all the time. Have a life, but keep working too. You really can fit it around your other stuff, I promise. Even if you only spend one night a week writing, within a year you could well have a novel: I did.

Learn to edit your own work ? and by edit, I mostly mean cut. There?s almost no story or chapter (certainly no unpublished one) which cannot be improved by a trim and polish. The delete button is a sweet, beautiful gift to writers (as is the ?Save as Version XXX? option): cutting lets you see what?s really important. Try and shave at least 10% off the wordcount of everything you write. It?s amazing how such a small target can make such a huge difference. (I?ve edited this interview by 10%, for example, and it?s loads better for it).

Get constructive criticism from people you trust, whose work you admire. Writing groups are great, writing classes are better, as they?ll almost certainly be taught by someone in the position you want to be in (i.e. published). And if they?re not, find a class that is.

Send your work out ? and (speaking as an editor here) always follow the submission guidelines. The only truly honest and impartial feedback is from people who don?t know you from Adam. Grow a thick skin, because the ?no?s will hurt. Tough shit. But a single ?yes? makes up for a hundred ?no?s, and acceptance is the best feedback of all.

Keep writing, keep reading and never stop trying to improve, or trying new things ? except, of course, incest and Morris-dancing.

Katy

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Game on, but when will the NHL drop the puck?

NEW YORK (AP) ? Now that a tentative deal is done, one big question remains: When is the puck finally going to drop on the long-delayed hockey season?

Few answers emerged Sunday after a wild finish to 16 hours of hard negotiating produced the agreement that will ultimately end the NHL lockout and get the players back to work.

There was no announcement regarding whether there will be a 48- or 50-game season and when it will begin. Those details are expected in the next few days along with a plan for team owners to vote on the deal. The board of governors could meet in person within a few days or hold a vote via conference call.

Both the league and the players' association are working on a memorandum of understanding, which could be completed by Tuesday. Once it is reviewed, the players' ratification process can also begin.

Knowing how long the wait was to get to this point, a few more days of anticipation shouldn't be too much to take. Regular-season hockey games could be played within the next 10 days.

When representatives from the NHL and the union walked into a Manhattan hotel on Saturday, they knew they were running out of time to save the season.

After hours and hours of tense talks, the sides finally achieved their elusive deal early Sunday morning, finding a way to restart a sport desperate to regain momentum and boost its prominence.

Ending a bitter dispute that wiped out a large part of the hockey season for the third time in less than two decades, the league and its union agreed to the framework of a 10-year labor contract that will allow a delayed schedule to start later this month.

On the 113th day of a management lockout and five days before the league's deadline for a deal, the bleary-eyed sides held a 6 a.m. news conference to announce there will be a season, after all.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and union head Donald Fehr both appeared drained, wearing sweaters and not neckties, when they stood side by side at the hotel and announced labor peace.

"We have reached an agreement on the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement, the details of which need to be put to paper," Bettman said. "We've got to dot a lot of Is, cross a lot of Ts. There's still a lot of work to be done, but the basic framework of the deal has been agreed upon."

The stoppage led to the cancellation of at least 480 games ? the exact length of the curtailed schedule hasn't been determined ? bringing the total of lost regular-season games to a minimum 2,178 during three lockouts under Bettman.

The agreement, which replaces the deal that expired Sept. 15, must be ratified by the 30 team owners and approximately 740 players.

"Hopefully, within just a very few days, the fans can get back to watching people who are skating, and not the two of us," Fehr said.

Fehr became executive director of the NHL Players' Association in December 2010 after leading baseball players through two strikes and a lockout.

Players conceded early on in talks, which began in June, that they would accept a smaller percentage of revenue, and the negotiations were about how much lower.

"It was a battle," said Winnipeg Jets defenseman Ron Hainsey, a key member of the union's bargaining team. "Players obviously would rather not have been here, but our focus now is to give the fans whatever it is ? 48 games, 50 games ? the most exciting season we can."

With much of the money from its $2 billion, 10-year contract with NBC back loaded toward the Stanley Cup playoffs in the spring ? and now perhaps early summer ? the league preferred to time the dispute for the start of the season in the fall. Management made its decision knowing average regular-season attendance rose from 16,534 in 2003-04 to 16,954 in 2005-06 and only seven teams experienced substantial drops.

Flyers chairman Ed Snider told The Associated Press he was glad a partial schedule had been salvaged.

"I'm thrilled for our fans, I'm thrilled for all of our people that work around our sport that have been hurt by this," he said. "I'm thrilled for the players, for the owners. I'm just sorry it had to take this long. The great thing is, we don't have to look at it for hopefully 10 years, or at worst eight, and that's good stuff."

Still, the lockout could wipe out perhaps $1 billion in revenue this season, given about 40 percent of the regular-season schedule won't be played. And while the stoppage was major news in Canada, it was an afterthought for many American sports fans.

"They could have gotten here a lot sooner," said Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based sports business consulting firm Sportscorp Ltd. "They didn't hear a hue and cry from the fans, especially in the United States, when hockey wasn't played. That's very distressing. That indicates there's a level of apathy that is troubling. In contrast, in the NFL when there was a threat of canceling a preseason weekend, the nation was up in arms."

At downtown Detroit's Rub BBQ Pub, manager Chris Eid said he was "ecstatic" when he heard the news. He said the settlement was a big topic of conversation among his afternoon customers.

"Everyone misses hockey," Eid said.

Hockey's first labor dispute was an 11-day strike in 1992 that led to 30 games being postponed. Bettman, a former NBA executive under David Stern, became the NHL commissioner in February 1993. He presided over a 103-day lockout in 1994-95 that ended with a deal on Jan. 11, then a 301-day lockout in 2004-05 that made the NHL the first major North American professional sports league to lose an entire season. The NHL obtained a salary cap in the agreement that followed that dispute and now wanted more gains.

"It was concessionary bargaining right from the beginning," Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan said. "As the players, you kind of understand that and you accepted that. As much as you didn't want to, we understand that the nature of professional sports has kind of changed with the last couple CBAs starting with football and basketball."

This deal was reached with the assistance of Scot Beckenbaugh of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a veteran of the 2004-05 NHL talks, then Major League Soccer's negotiations in 2010, and NFL and NBA talks the following year. Beckenbaugh spent Friday walking back and forth between the league's office and the hotel where players were staying, meeting with each side to set up the final talks.

"Fans throughout North America will have the opportunity to return to a favorite past time and thousands of working men and women and small businesses will no longer be deprived of their livelihoods," said George Cohen, the FMCS director.

Sam Flood, NBC Sports' executive producer, said his production team was "counting the seconds until the season begins." NBC announcer Mike Emrick said players will have more pressure because of the shortened schedule.

"The effect of even a two-game losing streak will be four," he said.

The NHL's revenue of $3.3 billion last season lagged well behind the NFL ($9 billion), Major League Baseball ($7.5 billion) and the NBA ($5 billion), and the deal will lower the hockey players' percentage from 57 to 50 ? owners originally had proposed 46 percent.

This was the third lockout among the major U.S. sports in a period of just over a year. A four-month NFL lockout ended in July 2011 with the loss of only one exhibition game, and an NBA lockout caused each team's schedule to be cut from 82 games to 66 last season.

As part of the deal:

?Players will receive $300 million in transition payments over three years to account for existing contracts, pushing their revenue share over 50 percent at the start of the deal.

?Players gained a defined benefit pension plan for the first time.

?The salary cap for this season will be $70.2 million before prorating to adjust for the shortened season, and the cap will drop to $64.3 million in 2013-14 ? the same amount as 2011-12. There will be a salary floor of $44 million in those years.

?Free agents will be limited to contracts of seven years; eight for those re-signed by their former clubs.

?Salaries within a contract may not vary by more than 35 percent year to year, and the lowest year must be at least 50 percent of the highest year.

?There were no changes to eligibility for free agency and salary arbitration.

?The threshold for teams to release players in salary arbitration will increase from $1.75 million to $3 million.

?Each team may use two buyouts to terminate contracts before the 2013-14 or 2014-15 seasons for two-thirds of the remaining guaranteed income. The buyout will be included in the players' revenue share but not the salary cap.

?The minimum salary will remain at $525,000 this season and will rise to $750,000 by 2021-12.

?Either side may terminate the deal after the 2019-20 season.

?Revenue sharing will increase to $200 million annually and rise with revenue.

?An industry growth fund of $60 million will be funded by the sides over three years and replenished as need.

?Participation of NHL and its players in the 2014 Sochi Olympics will be determined later in discussions also involving the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation.

___

AP Sports Writer Rachel Cohen in New York, Dan Gelston in Philadelphia, and Associated Press Writer David N. Goodman in Detroit contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/game-nhl-drop-puck-085026444--nhl.html

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Fulton Innovation to demo tablet that doubles as wireless charging mat at CES

Fulton Innovation introduces tablet that doubles as Qicompatible mat

Fulton Innovation comes to CES each year armed with the latest tricks in the field of wireless charging, and this year is no exception. Starting things out with a bang, the purveyor of all things Qi will be on-hand to demonstrate its newest feat: the ability to charge your Qi-compatible phone... on the back of a tablet. Indeed, your 7- to 10-inch slate may someday be able to double as its own wireless charging mat, allowing you to feed battery from your tablet to your smartphone just by holding the two devices back-to-back.

Additionally, Fulton promises to show off a multi-device charging platform capable of powering up two devices simultaneously. Even better, this surface can recognize and adapt to the needs of each particular product -- in other words, tablets and smartphones can charge together on the same pad, each device receiving the proper amount of juice. Check out the video and press release past the break to see a few ideas Fulton is bringing to the table this week, and fortunately we'll get to take a closer look at all of them soon.

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Double suicide attack kills four in Afghan south

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Two Taliban suicide bombers targeted a community meeting at a major border town in southern Afghanistan, killing at least four people and wounding 15 others, local officials said on Sunday.

The meeting of tribal elders, known as a shura, was being held at about noon local time when a man drove a car near the compound and detonated a powerful bomb.

"Part of the roof where the elders were fell down after a suicide bomber struck the meeting," said Sayed Hashem Agha, the governor of the Spin Boldak district, Kandahar province.

Minutes later, a man strapped with explosives ran towards a group of police guarding the compound. They fired at him, causing the bomb to detonate.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which happened as Afghan President Hamid Karzai was preparing to visit Washington for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama over the future of the country once NATO pulls out most of its troops by the end of 2014.

"Two suicide bomber attacked the shura office inside the district governor's compound, killing the shura chief and eight others," Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, said in a text message.

The Taliban's death count was at odds with official statements. The militant group routinely exaggerates casualty numbers.

The commander of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, U.S. General John Allen, condemned the attack, saying it showed a disregard for civilian life.

Spin Boldak is the country's second busiest border point on Afghanistan's porous long frontier with Pakistan, and is considered an important smuggling route between the two countries. Numerous insurgent attacks have taken place there.

(Reporting By Sarwar Amani; Writing by Dylan Welch; Editing by Daniel Magnowski and Pravin Char)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/double-suicide-attack-kills-four-afghan-south-104055480.html

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British Spitfire search team arrives in Myanmar

Farmer and businessman David Cundall, of Britain, talks to reporters upon arriving at Yangon International Airport on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013, in Yangon, Myanmar. A team led by Cundall has arrived in Myanmar to begin the first of several digs they hope will unearth dozens of rare British fighter planes said to have been buried in the Southeast Asian country at the end of World War II. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

Farmer and businessman David Cundall, of Britain, talks to reporters upon arriving at Yangon International Airport on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013, in Yangon, Myanmar. A team led by Cundall has arrived in Myanmar to begin the first of several digs they hope will unearth dozens of rare British fighter planes said to have been buried in the Southeast Asian country at the end of World War II. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

British excavators led by aviation enthusiast David Cundall, background center, arrive at Yangon International Airport on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013, in Yangon, Myanmar. The team arrived in Myanmar to begin the first of several digs they hope will unearth dozens of rare British fighter planes said to have been buried in the Southeast Asian country at the end of World War II. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

Tracy Spaight, director of special projects at Wargaming.net, talks to reporters upon arriving at Yangon International Airport on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013, in Yangon, Myanmar. A team led by a British aviation enthusiast has arrived in Myanmar to begin the first of several digs they hope will unearth dozens of rare British fighter planes said to have been buried in the Southeast Asian country at the end of World War II. The venture, backed with a million-dollar guarantee from the Belarusian videogame company, could uncover dozens of Spitfire aircraft locked underground by American engineers at the end of World War II. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

Farmer and businessman David Cundall, of Britain, talks to reporters as freelance archaeologist Andy Brockman, right, listens, upon arriving at Yangon International Airport on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013, in Yangon, Myanmar. A team led by Cundall arrived in Myanmar to begin the first of several digs they hope will unearth dozens of rare British fighter planes said to have been buried in the Southeast Asian country at the end of World War II. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

Freelance archaeologist Andy Brockman alks to reporters upon arriving at Yangon International airport on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013, in Yangon, Myanmar. Brockman, part of a team led by a British aviation enthusiast, arrived in Myanmar to begin the first of several digs they hope will unearth dozens of rare British fighter planes said to have been buried in the Southeast Asian country at the end of World War II. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) ? A search team led by a British aviation enthusiast arrived in Myanmar on Sunday to begin a dig they hope will unearth dozens of rare British Spitfire fighter planes said to have been buried in the Southeast Asian country at the end of World War II.

The 21-member team led by farmer and businessman David Cundall will start excavations soon near the airport in the main city, Yangon.

Cundall said the aircraft were buried in wooden crates around 30 feet under the ground and the project would take about four to six weeks to complete.

"We are expecting them to be in first-class condition," Cundall said shortly after arriving at the international airport in Yangon.

The Spitfire remains Britain's most famous combat aircraft. Its reputation was cemented during the Battle of Britain when the fast-moving single-seater aircraft helped beat back waves of German bombers.

Britain built a total of about 20,000 Spitfires, although the dawn of the jet age at the end of World War II meant that the propeller-driven planes quickly became obsolete.

The planes believed to be in Myanmar were buried by American engineers as the war drew to a close. Searchers hope they are in pristine condition, but Andy Brockman, a freelance archaeologist who is part of the search team, said it was possible all they might find is a mass of corroded metal and rusty aircraft parts.

Nevertheless, he said, "I'm very confident that we'll have answers to the story of what happened ... in 1945."

The venture is being backed by the Belarusian videogame company Wargaming.net, which is best known for its multiplayer titles including "World of Warplanes" and "World of Tanks."

The search team says 36 Spitfires are believed to be buried near Yangon airport, while another 18 are in Myitkyina in northern Kachin state and six more are buried in Meikthila in central Myanmar.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-06-Myanmar-Spitfires/id-cba17624cf1d4d3895d17ab5c7543ef0

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Great Things About Payday Loans

A payday loan is necessary for many reasons nowadays and is sought after more, rather than traditional loans from banks or borrowing from family and friends when you require cash urgently. Cash emergencies arise whenever you least expect it and there are instances that you cannot hold on until bank loans are processed and finalized. Online payday loans or payday loans are short term installment loans that are usually offered by payday loan companies and not really banks. This has been highlighted in the recent years as a short term credit option for those who require cash advance loans. The benefits of payday loans are as follows.

Payday loans are easily accessible. You can apply for pay day loans online, over the phone or even in person. Unlike traditional loans they might require very little information besides your proof of income and banking account information. You have to be 18 years or older to use and qualify for this particular facility. Payday loans are generally approved within 24 hours for those who have provided them with precise information. Unlike traditional loan schemes that occupy to several weeks, payday loans can be approved and credited to your money the following business day and you will immediately make use of the cash.

Another advantage of a payday loan is it requires no credit check instead of traditional bank loans. Usually banks check your financial background before offering you a loan facility. They check if you've defaulted with a payment and endured any type of financial crisis. But with payday loans, the only required information type is evidence of your income and using a stable bank account.

Payday loans are also considered to be a credit management tool since this really is mainly obtained to settle bills before your earnings check arrives and settling it when it will. You also have easy access to the funds within one working day making it convenient and hassle free. Payday loans are mainly an easy way out of lifes financial difficulties. It only takes you to definitely face a money emergency after which you apply for it online which is the most convenient way and relax and relax until you receive the money shortly.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Great-Things-About-Payday-Loans/4363363

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Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make Booze

Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make BoozeSometimes you just don't have the right resources to make a decent drink. But if you get enough sober, thirsty minds focused on the problem, humans can find some pretty creative ways to come up with alcohol.

Did you really think something like a lack of grapes or a shortage of barley could keep mankind from getting its swerve on? No way. We're way too clever for that. Here's the proof.

It's Friday afternoon, you've made it through the long week, and it's time for Happy Hour, Gizmodo's weekly booze column. A cocktail shaker full of innovation, science, and alcohol. So how did you brew this "beer"?

Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make Booze

Carrots

You wouldn't think that this particular vegetable would be good for making booze, but carrots are at least a little bit sweet. Sweetness = sugar, and sugar is what yeast can devour to make into alcohol. According to this recipe, carrots are peeled, chopped, and then boiled until they're mush. Sugar is added (which is almost cheating), as is yeast. The result: Carrot wine. It's less alcoholic than grape wine, but it still comes in sweet or dry varieties. Thirsty, wabbit?

Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make Booze

Maple Sap

The same tree goo that makes syrup can make spirits. First, tap some holes into the right maple tree at the right time in spring. As the temperatures fluctuate between night and day, a sugary sap oozes out from the trees. Where there's sugar, there's some human trying to make booze out of it. The Vermont Spirits distillery's Vermont Gold Vodka is a fine example. It's made from 100 percent maple sap, which is then fermented and triple-distilled. The result was lightly sweet, quite smooth, and made me think of pancakes. I could have polished off a case of it.

Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make Booze

Sour Apples

If you read Michael Pollan's book, The Botany of Desire, then this one will be familiar to you. All our illusions of Johnny Appleseed planting sweet, delicious apples are lies. Lies, I tell you! Most of the apples Johnny planeted were sour enough to pucker your kisser, but they had one very appealing attribute: They made excellent booze. The apples' juice fermented into a tasty cider, and industrious frontiersmen distilled it down into a spirit known as applejack. A few companies still make it. I'm personally partial to Cornelius Applejack?each bottle is made from over 60 pounds of Hudson Valley apples, then aged in bourbon barrels at Harvest Spirits' New York distillery.

Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make Booze

Moldy Fruit & Ketchup

Get ready to supress your gag reflex. As we learned in our visit to San Quentin, prisoners just have to work with what's available. Inmates stash the fruit they get at meals and toss it into a plastic garbage bag. By some accounts, they let it start to rot. Then they sweeten it with whatever they can get their hands on?sugar, drink mixes, even ketchup. Yeah, ketchup. Because the prisoners have no direct access to yeast, they just toss in a few slices of bread and hope for the best. After many days of fermenting, you end up with pruno, a.k.a. prison wine. Some guys take the pruno and distill it into lightning, which can be as high as 160-proof. Both beverages are extremely dangerous.

Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make Booze

Milk

Hey, milk's kinda sweet, right? Sure! Once again, where there's sweet, there's sugar?and the potential to make alcohol. Another product from Vermont Spirits distillery is the very delicious Vermont White. Milk sugar is extracted from milk and then used to make a sweet, fermented liquid. It's then triple-distilled and filtered through charcoal. The result was remarkably smooth and had just a hint of sweetness. Highly recommended.

Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make Booze

Cactus Desert Flora

How do you wet your whistle when you live in a dry ass desert? Make booze from cactus desert flora, of course. The maguey plant, which grows even in very arid parts of Mexico, has a sweet heart. The juice inside was first fermented to make a milky drink called pulque. Craving a higher octane experience, folks began roasting and then grinding these hearts to make a mash which could then be fermented and distilled. The result? That smoky spirit known as mezcal. The maguey's cousin, the blue agave, has an even sweeter heart, and it can be used to distill most tequilas worth drinking. (Update: The maguey and agave plants, while partial to the desert, are not in fact cacti.)

Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make Booze

Potatoes

Potatoes? They aren't even sweet! As the Russians can tell you, it doesn't matter?they're chock full of starch. There is an enzymatic conversion of starches to sugars during the mashing process, which provides plenty of food for the yeasties. It's then fermented and distilled. Most vodkas you find are grain, but a good potato vodka like Chopin, from Poland, is extremely smooth. It's quite nice, if you go for vodkas.

Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make Booze

Rice

Y'know what Asia has a lot of? Rice. So, naturally, people there have found all sorts of ways to ferment and distill it. The most popular way to sip it in the West is in the form of sake, a rice wine that can be very sweet or very dry. In Indonesia they have brem, a Balinese rice wine that looks, tastes, and smells like alcoholic soy sauce. It is disgusting. Once the rice becomes wine, it can be distilled into many different forms. When I visited Indonesia, some locals got me to try arak, a Balinese rot-gut moonshine that was literally poured from a gas can. There is very little that I remember from that night.

Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make Booze

Beets

As long as we're digging things out of the ground and getting drunk off of them, let's try some beets. These root veggies are very high in sugar and there are recipes all over the internet for beet wine. Now, to be fair, every recipe I've seen calls for a lot of added sugar, which probably is mostly responsible for the fermentation. But the beets add a nice, earthy flavor, not to mention that distinctive tongue-staining color. Dwight Schrute approves.

Ten Crazy Things People Use to Make Booze

Honey

This is a golden oldie. As our opportunistic ancient ancestors learned, some bees can make a hive out of a hole in a tree. Rainwater could then flood the bees' hives, making a sweet soup. If enough wild yeast could blow in there, it would start the fermentation process. Say a few thirsty humans stumbled upon these vacated nests and drank some of the sweet fluid inside. Then, presto! Suddenly your 14th great-grandfather started to look a little more attractive to a local lady. One thing led to another, and eventually, that's how you got here. Today, mead (a.k.a. honey wine) can be produced in a controlled environment, like a Brooklyn closet?here's how to make it.


Carrot Image credit: Shutterstock/vlahuta
Maple Sap Image credit: Shutterstock/Rick Parsons
Apple Image credit: Shutterstock/goran cakmazovic
Moldy Fruit Image credit: Shutterstock/CCat82
Milk Image credit: Shutterstock/Alexander Chaikin
Cactus Image credit: Shutterstock/a9photo
Potatoes Image credit: Shutterstock/Wiktory
Rice Image credit: Shutterstock/Elena Elisseeva
Beets Image credit: Shutterstock/vesna cvorovic
Honey Image credit: Shutterstock/StudioSmart

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5972735/ten-crazy-things-people-use-to-make-booze

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Beam Me Up! William Shatner Tweets With Astronaut in Space

Move over Scotty, Captain Kirk has a new favorite engineer. Actor William Shatner, the Canadian actor who portrayed the iconic captain of the Starship Enterprise on TV's "Star Trek" hailed Canada's soon-to-be first space station commander on Twitter to find out the latest news from orbit.

Shatner wrote to Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield, who posts Twitter updates as @Cmdr_Hadfield, Thursday (Jan. 3) using his own Twitter handle @WilliamShatner.

"@Cmdr_Hadfield Are you tweeting from space? MBB," Shatner wrote, signing off with his abbreviation of "My Best, Bill."?

It did not take long for Hadfield, a mechanical engineer and retired colonel in the Canadian Armed Forces, to beam a reply down from the International Space Station.?

"@WilliamShatner Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we're detecting signs of life on the surface," the astronaut wrote.

Hadfield launched into orbit in December aboard a Russian rocket to kick off a months-long mission to the International Space Station. He currently serves as a flight engineer on the space station's six-man Expedition 34 crew. In March, he will take charge of the station's Expedition 35 mission increment, making him Canada's first space commander.

Officials with the Canadian Space Agency (on Twitter as @csa_asc) also used the social media website to confirm to Shatner that Hadfield was, in fact, using Twitter to post updates and photos from space.?

"I'm very impressed!" Shatner wrote back.

Shatner and Hadfield actually have met before, at least in photo form. The actor posed with a tiny paper version of the astronaut as part of a public outreach campaign for Hadfield's mission.

"The last time @WilliamShatner and I met was in another dimension - 2D," Hadfield wrote as he posted the photo.

CSA officials even invited Shatner for a visit, offering him a chance to speak with Hadfield from space. The agency's headquarters, the John H. Chapman Space Center, is located in Saint-Hubert, Quebec.?

"I can't make any promises but I will see what I can do. MBB," Shatner wrote.

Astronauts on the International Space Station have used Twitter as a way to post mission updates and photos from space since 2009, when NASA astronaut Mike Massimino became the first spaceflyer to use Twitter from space during the last space shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. As of today, Hadfield has 61,432 followers on his Twitter account, which he used to unveil the first original song recorded in space (his tune "Jewel in the Night") last week.

Hadfield is due to return to Earth in mid-May.

You can follow Chris Hadfield on Twitter here, @Cmdr_Hadfield, and Shatner here, @WilliamShatner.

You can follow SPACE.com Managing Editor Tariq Malik on Twitter?@tariqjmalik.?Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/beam-william-shatner-tweets-astronaut-space-165424595.html

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