BCS Championship: Tale of the tape

In this Dec. 21, 2012, photo, construction continues on the new strength training center as part of the Alabama athletic facilities in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

In this Dec. 21, 2012, photo, construction continues on the new strength training center as part of the Alabama athletic facilities in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

This Dec. 21, 2012, photo shows Alabama's trophy cases at the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

In this Dec. 21, 2012, photo, former Alabama running back Mark Ingram's Heisman Trophy is displayed at the Alabama athletic facilities in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)

In this Dec. 26, 2012, photo, trophies are displayed in the concourse of the Joyce Center in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

In this Dec. 27, 2012, photo, a Heisman Trophy is displayed in front of a mural showing seven winners from Notre Dame in the lobby of the Guglielmino Athletics Complex on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

Everything about the BCS championship between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Alabama seems larger than life.

Not only do these schools stand among the best ever in college football, they also lead the pack in celebrating that success and in investing for the future.

If ever college football presented a heavyweight event it's the Fighting Irish against the Crimson Tide.

So here, then, is a tale of the tape for Monday's marquee matchup in Miami.

___

? FOOTBALL BUILDING

ALABAMA: The Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility, named for the current athletic director, has a 20,000-square-foot strength and conditioning center ? which is soon to be replaced ? plus aquatic rehabilitation pools. The building also houses athletic administrators and the football offices.

NOTRE DAME: The Guglielmino Athletics Complex, named after the booster who funded it, has a 25,000-square-foot health and fitness center, meeting rooms and the football offices. Plus, the Morse Recruiting lounge with championship banners for Notre Dame's "11 consensus national championships."

___

? TROPHIES

ALABAMA: The "Hall of Champions" overlooks the lobby on the second floor of the athletic facility. It has trophy cases for the Crimson Tide's 14 national champions ? including a spot where 'Bama is hoping 2012 can be added ? and a large case for the 23 Southeastern Conference title teams. Prominently perched on a marble pedestal is Mark Ingram's 2009 Heisman Trophy, the program's first.

NOTRE DAME: The lobby of the Gug, as the athletics complex is called, is basically one of college football's largest trophy cases. The first thing visitors see is Notre Dame's last national championship trophy, the coaches' trophy the Irish received after the 1988 season. To the left, across the wall are seven Heisman Trophies. No other school has won more.

___

? WEIGHT ROOM

ALABAMA: A new weight room is nearly completed. Trustees approved the $9.1 million, 34,495-square-foot, two-story strength and conditioning facility in August that will connect the athletic building and the indoor practice facility. It's expected to be ready in early February.

NOTRE DAME: The football players work out at the Haggar Fitness Center in the Gug. It features more than 250 pieces of weight training equipment, six flat-screen TVs and a sound system, and it's available to all Notre Dame athletes.

___

? STATUES

ALABAMA: Coach Nick Saban's towering likeness stands next to Bryant-Denny Stadium, offering a good spot for fan pictures on game day. The 9-foot statue is one of five honoring Tide football coaches who have won national titles, joining Wallace Wade, Frank Thomas, Paul W. "Bear" Bryant and Gene Stallings in the Walk of Champions plaza. It was unveiled in the spring of 2011, 15 months after 'Bama won the 2009 championship.

NOTRE DAME: Walk around Notre Dame Stadium and at each entrance you'll find a statute of one of its championship-winning coaches. Knute Rockne's guards the north tunnel, facing Touchdown Jesus. Dan Devine is at Gate A. Ara Parseghian is at Gate B. Frank Leahy is at Gate C. Lou Holtz is at Gate D.

___

? MASCOTS

ALABAMA: Tradition holds that the Tide's elephant mascot dates to 1930 when Atlanta Journal sports writer Everett Strupper wrote that a fan called out: "Hold your horses, the elephants are coming." The "Red Elephant" nickname for the linemen stuck. The Big Al mascot made his official debut in the 1979 Sugar Bowl, when Alabama claimed its second straight national title with a win over Penn State. A game-saving goal line stand stole some of Big Al's thunder.

NOTRE DAME: The Leprechaun became the official mascot of the Fighting Irish in 1965, though four years earlier a student first donned the costume and roamed the sidelines. Leprechaun tryouts consist of a five-minute mock pep rally, an interview with a local media personality, responding to game situations, answering Notre Dame trivia, dancing an Irish jig, and doing 50 push-ups.

___

? KEEPING IN STEP

ALABAMA: The Crimsonettes, a group of energetic dancers, entertain crowds at various sporting events. They're chosen based on dancing skills, physical fitness and the ability to learn the group routine, according to the school's Web site.

NOTRE DAME: The Irish Guard. Formed in 1949 as a part of the University of Notre Dame Marching Band, the guards wear a uniform of traditional Scottish kilt and Notre Dame tartan. To the top of the shako, a guard stands 7-feet tall, and the game-day inspection of the Guard usually draws a crowd ? though not for the same reasons the Crimsonettes do.

___

? SLOGANS

ALABAMA: Roll Tide, Roll Tide. "Yea Alabama" was written by the editor of the student newspaper, The Rammer-Jammer, in a contest that followed a win over Washington in the 1926 Rose Bowl. The lyrics include: "You're Dixie's football pride, Crimson Tide! Yea, Alabama! Drown 'em Tide!" The ending call "Roll Tide, Roll Tide" was added later.

NOTRE DAME: Wake Up the Echoes. The "Victory March" was first performed at Notre Dame on Easter Sunday on 1909. Not until 10 years later did it start being played at athletic events. The second verse starts: "Cheer, cheer for old Notre Dame, Wake up the echoes cheering her name."

___

? INTEGRATION

ALABAMA: John Mitchell became the first African-American to play for the Crimson Tide in 1971 after he transferred from junior college for his final two seasons. He was an All-American defensive end as a senior in 1972. Mitchell is now assistant head coach and defensive line coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he's coached the linemen since 1994. He started his career as Bear Bryant's defensive line coach in 1973 and became the Southeastern Conference's first black defensive coordinator at LSU in 1990. Bryant assistant Jerry Claiborne later said that a 1970 game with Southern California and star Sam Cunningham caught Bryant's attention and "did more to integrate Alabama in 60 minutes than Martin Luther King did in 20 years."

NOTRE DAME: Defensive lineman Wayne Edmonds, from rural Pennsylvania, became the first African-American to earn a monogram on the football team in 1953. He and Richard Washington were the first black student-athletes to play in a game. The 1953 team went undefeated, a season when Georgia Tech refused to play Notre Dame at home because of the black players on the Fighting Irish and the game was moved to South Bend.

___

? CAMPUS SHRINE

ALABAMA: If there's not necessarily a "Touchdown Jesus" equivalent, there is Denny Chimes, where the football team captains get to leave their indelible marks. The base of the tower displays hand and foot impressions of each captain from Tide teams since the 1940s.

NOTRE DAME: The Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes is one-seventh the size of the French shrine where the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette in 1858. Visitors pass by peacefully, light candles and say prayers ? probably a few for a Fighting Irish victory.

___

? FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP

ALABAMA: 'Bama headed West in 1925 to capture the program's first national championship with a 20-19 win over Washington in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. ? the same place Saban won his first with the Tide. The 1925 squad went 10-0 and outscored opponents 297-26, and seven organizations declared Alabama the nation's best team.

NOTRE DAME: In 1924, it was Notre Dame that capped an undefeated season in the Rose Bowl by beating Pop Warner's Stanford team for the national championship. The first of three for Knute Rockne, and 11 that Notre Dame claims. The Fighting Irish haven't played in the Rose Bowl since.

___

? BEST WALK-ON

ALABAMA: Carson Tinker received a scholarship before this season but was already one of college football's most well-known walk-ons and long snappers, though for a tragic reason. His girlfriend, Ashley Harrison, was killed by a tornado when she and Tinker were thrown about 50 yards from the closet where they had huddled. Tinker has persevered and become a fan favorite with nearly 27,000 followers on Twitter.

NOTRE DAME: Rudy Ruettiger, the ultimate underdog story. He overcame a learning disability to get accepted to Notre Dame, then at 5-foot-6 and 165 pounds he made the Fighting Irish scout team. He got on the field for three plays, and had a sack on the final play of his final game. Hollywood got hold of the story, added a little melodrama, and turned it into a sports movie classic.

___

? BEST QUARTERBACK

ALABAMA: Joe Namath came to Tuscaloosa from Beaver Falls, Pa., and was a 1964 All-American for the Tide team that was named national champion by some organizations. Then, of course, he became an unforgettable pro football star who guaranteed his New York Jets would upset Baltimore in the 1969 Super Bowl ? before making good on it. Bart Starr, another Hall of Famer, and Kenny Stabler also went on to terrific pro careers.

NOTRE DAME: Joe Montana, another western Pennsylvania kid who grew up to become an all-time great quarterback, came to Notre Dame in 1974. In his sophomore season, he gained a reputation as the comeback kid, coming off the bench to lead the Fighting Irish from behind to beat North Carolina and Air Force. He capped his career with another remarkable comeback victory against Houston in the 1979 Cotton Bowl, then went on to win four Super Bowls with the San Francisco 49ers.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-04-T25-BCS-Tale%20of%20the%20Tape/id-09fdbd36039c4981bd01bca9db43e295

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Bristling Dixie

Song of the South

Still From Song of the South

?We?re through with caviar,? Walt Disney lamented. ?From now on it?s mashed potatoes and gravy.? The company that bore his name was reeling from the disappointing box office returns of Pinocchio and Fantasia. During the war, the perpetually unsteady company had been kept afloat by government-commissioned propaganda movies and cheaply produced ?package films? like The Three Caballeros and Make Mine Music. Now the war was over, and the boss needed a hit. Something technically innovative but not too expensive. Something instantly beloved.

Disney had cunningly negotiated the rights to Joel Chandler Harris? plantation-set Uncle Remus? tales back in 1939, while Clark Gable was still dominating movie screens. A known literary entity that oozed bankable southern charm: Disney had found his potatoes.

The resulting film, Song of the South, turned out to be yet another commercial disappointment. But as Jason Sperb details in his fascinating new book Disney?s Most Notorious Film, its life as both corporate emblem and fount of controversy would last for decades. The Disney Company hasn?t let Song of the South out of its hallowed ?vault? in 25 years. The film?s live-action depictions of Uncle Remus and his fellow smilin?, Massah-servin? black folk are embarrassingly racist. But South?s central song, ?Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,? is all but synonymous with Disney itself, and the characters live on in the company?s massively popular Splash Mountain rides. So Song of the South lives on, yet the company can?t even really acknowledge the film, much less cash in on it directly. If you were born after 1980, you?ve almost certainly never seen it in full, and it?s unlikely that will change anytime soon.

Song of the South concerns a young boy, Johnny, who moves to his mother?s family plantation in Georgia right as his father leaves the family to fight for some unspecified cause in Atlanta. Alone and depressed, he?s comforted by the tall tales of Uncle Remus, an ex-slave living on the property. The era of the film?s setting is purposefully vague; while it?s implied that the black workers are no longer Johnny?s family?s property, they are still completely subservient, and happily so. John Baskett plays Remus as a preternaturally jolly companion, a buoyant and beatific link between the stately live-action sequences and the animated ones involving Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox as a proto-Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote.

For Baskett?s magical-Negro presence, for the cartoon characters? ludicrously stereotypical voices, and for the generally pleasant dynamic between the white landowners and their help, Sperb calls Song of the South ?one of Hollywood?s most resiliently offensive racist texts.? That last word is the giveaway that Disney?s Most Notorious Film isn?t a work of movie criticism so much as the latest entry in the ever-expanding academic subculture of Disney Studies. Sperb spends relatively little time with the movie itself, instead tracing its place in the popular consciousness as it went in and out of style.

He first punctures the myth that the racial caricatures in Song of the South were ?a product of its time.? This is an argument that the film?s defenders trot out reliably, when, in fact, Disney took uncharacteristic pains to undercut the Harris tales? potential offensiveness. As Neal Gabler?s biography reveals, Disney hired a leftist screenwriter, Mauric Rapf, to modify the original script by southerner Dalton Reymond; Disney Company reps met with producers of the racially controversial 1943 film Stormy Weather to hear about their marketing experiences; and Disney publicists warned management of potential racially charged blowback. Walt Disney himself even invited NAACP president Walter White to California to oversee script revisions, though the meeting never occurred.

In short, Disney knew he was playing with a loaded gun even before filming began. As Sperb puts it: ?Not only is Song of the South a movie derogatory because of its ?Uncle Tomism,? it was made by people who were well aware of the stereotype, who knew others would be offended, and who clearly felt there was nothing wrong with that.??

Disney?s debt to Gone With the Wind was made clear by his casting of Hattie McDaniel in a minor role, and he might have been confused about why his film was attacked for tastelessness less than a decade after McDaniel won her Oscar for an essentially Mammy role. Sperb explains that racial progressivism was at a high point in America coming out of the war. Black Americans had served ably, of course, and Americans were eager to prove their superiority to the Nazis in terms of ethnic tolerance.

But after succeeding generations experienced Song of the South?s colorful imagery in their Golden Books and accompanying records, in episodes of the Disneyland television series, and through the omnipresence of ?Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah,? Song of the South became an unlikely hit in three re-releases throughout the 1970s and ?80s. ?People who grew up with Disney?s Uncle Remus in their homes were more receptive [in 1972] than 1940s audiences had been to a jarringly inappropriate ?Uncle Tom?-ish Southern melodrama,? Sperb writes. And by the 1980s, when it was twice re-released theatrically, viewers brought nostalgia to Song that blinded them to its true offensiveness; in Sperb?s telling, the film had become ?so outdated that its offensiveness was hard for some to see.??

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=ea76214b75e76129111eb252cafdbfa5

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United Tech's Sikorsky sole bidder in U.S. helicopter contest

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force on Friday declined to confirm that it had received only one bid for a $6.8 billion helicopter competition that closed on Thursday, saying that information was "source selection sensitive."

All but one of the contractors expected to bid to build a new combat search and rescue helicopters for the Air Force announced last month that they would not compete, raising the prospect that the Air Force would have to adopt a different approach to the acquisition program.

Sikorsky Aircraft, a unit of United Technologies Corp , did submit a bid for the competition, based on its H-60 helicopter, according to a company spokesman. Other potential competitors confirmed that they had decided to skip the bidding, and at least one of the companies said it was exploring a possible legal challenge to the terms of the competition.

Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick declined to say how many companies had submitted bids by the January 3 deadline or whether the Air Force had already initiated steps to reflect that the procurement would now come from a sole source.

"We cannot release as the information is source selection sensitive," he told Reuters in an emailed statement.

Gulick said the Air Force remained "committed to a fair, open and transparent process" to pick a new, affordable Combat Rescue Helicopter (CRH) that met the military's requirements.

"To ensure this occurs, we are prohibited from releasing information while in the request for proposal and selection processes. Once we select and announce the final contractor we will be able to openly discuss the details of the CRH program," he said in an emailed statement.

Lieutenant General Charles Davis, the top military official in charge of Air Force acquisition, told Reuters in an interview last month that the helicopter competition was structured to tell potential bidders exactly what capabilities the Air Force wanted and what it could afford.

He denied that the terms of the competition had been written to favor the Black Hawk helicopter built by Sikorsky, and said Sikorsky would be asked to submit certified cost and pricing data if it turned out to be the sole bidder for the program.

A Sikorsky spokesman said the company was aware that it could be asked to provide such data if no other bids came in. Lockheed Martin Corp is a key subcontractor on the Sikorsky bid.

Boeing, Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc , EADS and Northrop Grumman Corp teamed with AgustaWestland, a unit of Italy's Finmeccanica SpA , announced last month that they would not bid for the work.

At the time, industry executives said the bidding rules were so narrowly framed that they effectively excluded all but Sikorsky's Black Hawk helicopter from the competition, and would not reward extra capability offered by other aircraft.

Davis last month said that the Air Force had already drawn up plans for how to handle the procurement if only one company submitted a bid, although he said the service would have preferred to have a competitive process with more bidders.

He said the Air Force's move away from more "nebulous" and "open-ended" procurements was a positive thing for industry, allowing companies to make more informed decisions about whether to spend money preparing a bid for a given competition.

He said the change toward more narrowly-defined requirements for military equipment was a result of multiple protests filed by companies in recent years that challenged the more open and subjective way procurements were structured in the past.

Boeing won the Air Force's last rescue helicopter competition with its H-47 helicopter, only to see the $15 billion contract after several protests by losing bidders.

"This is clearly a result of all of the issues that have accumulated over the years of all of these high visibility protests," he said. As a result, the Air Force was now being more diligent in how it structured its acquisition programs.

"The bottom line is this is a good news story," he told Reuters in December.

(Reporting By Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/united-techs-sikorsky-sole-bidder-u-helicopter-contest-201245022--finance.html

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Asian shares drop on Fed minutes, dollar extends gains

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares fell on Friday, as investors booked profits from a recent sharp climb after senior Federal Reserve officials expressed concerns about continuing to expand stimulative bond buying, but the dollar extended gains as U.S. debt yields rose.

European shares were seen tracking Asian peers lower, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX would open down as much as 0.3 percent. A 0.1 percent drop in U.S. stock futures suggested a soft Wall Street start.

Minutes from the Fed's December policy meeting released on Thursday showed concerns among some members of the Federal Open Markets Committee about the potential risks of the Fed's asset purchases on financial markets, even if it looked set to continue an open-ended stimulus program for now.

The Fed's asset-buying policy has been pivotal in underpinning investor risk appetite, so the more hawkish Fed minutes unnerved financial markets.

Benchmark U.S. Treasury yields continued their climb, hitting an eight-month high around 1.93 percent in Asia on Friday, while key 10-year Japanese government bond yields touched a 3-1/2-month high of 0.83 percent.

The dollar also rose on data showing U.S. private-sector hiring improved in December, raising hopes for a strong monthly payrolls report due later in the day, a key gauge to the U.S. economy and the Fed's future policy course.

The dollar's rise makes dollar-based assets more expensive for non-dollar investors, hitting precious metals and oil.

The Fed's minutes spurred consolidation from broad-based buying which took place after U.S. lawmakers earlier this week narrowly avoided falling off the "fiscal cliff" of automatic taxes rises and spending cuts, which risked derailing the economy.

"Market moves largely reflect positioning after the recent rallies and before the nonfarm payrolls, which could tip the markets either way," said Yuji Saito, director of foreign exchange at Credit Agricole in Tokyo, adding that markets may be dictated by interest rates this year, rather than risk-on, risk-off sentiment as was last year.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 0.7 percent, after scaling its highest since August 2011 on Thursday. But the pan-Asian index was set to end the first week of 2013 up 1.8 percent, thanks to the New Year's rally.

"After the big relief rally we had on the fiscal cliff decision and compromise, I would expect the market to consolidate a little bit," Martin Lakos division director at Macquarie Private Wealth, said of Australian shares which slipped 0.4 percent, retreating from Thursday's 19-month highs. Hong Kong shares eased from a 19-month highs, falling 0.6 percent, but Shanghai rose 0.5 percent.

The dollar hit its highest since July 2010 against the yen at 87.835 while the euro fell to a three-week low of $1.3019. The U.S. dollar also touched a six-week high against a basket of major currencies on Friday.

"Dollar-positive momentum is solid as the fiscal cliff was averted, the overnight data was good and yields were rising. I won't be surprised to see the dollar rise to 90 yen soon," said Hiroshi Maeba, head of FX trading Japan for UBS in Tokyo.

"Despite repeated Japanese intervention, the dollar had refused to strengthen in the past, but now, it's advancing without any action, suggesting the direction has completely changed to support continued dollar buying," Maeba said.

The yen's tumble pushed Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average briefly up more than 3 percent to its highest since March 2011, outshining the Asian regional bourses. The Nikkei closed up 2.8 percent.

FISCAL CLIFF VS DATA

U.S. President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans face tough talks on spending cuts and an increase in the nation's debt limit as the hard-fought fiscal deal delayed decisions on expenditures until March 1.

Investor sentiment was supported by recent solid data from the world's two largest economies, the United States and China.

China's services sector saw its slowest rate of expansion in nearly a year and a half in December, a private sector survey showed on Friday, but underlying growth revival remained intact, even if it were modest.

"We are coming off overbought levels today. This cyclical-led rally in offshore Chinese shares should continue in the next few weeks, China's improving economic data will help," said Wang Ao-chao, UOB-Kay Hian's Shanghai-based head of China research.

The U.S. economy likely added 150,000 jobs in December, according to a Reuters survey, up from 146,000 in November. The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 7.7 percent.

Resolution of the U.S. fiscal cliff crisis could weigh on some Asian assets as investors could start to shift some money out of overpriced Asian investments in favour of the U.S. on brightening prospects for American stocks.

U.S. crude fell 0.7 percent to $92.26 a barrel while Brent shed 0.6 percent to $111.47.

Spot gold fell 1 percent to around $1,645, dragging silver down more than 2 percent to $29.48.

Despite the decline in equities markets, sentiment in Asian credit markets remained upbeat, with the spread on the iTraxx Asia ex-Japan investment-grade index narrowing by two basis points.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-drop-fed-minutes-dollar-extends-gains-064206462--finance.html

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Hot Chocolate Tastes Much Better In an Orange Cup

Scientists have discovered that an orange or creme-colored cup definitely makes chocolate taste better, while a white or red cup will not enhance the flavor. The discovery demonstrates once again that our taste buds are definitely influenced by the colors our eyes perceive. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/uNCfaiwzTME/hot-chocolate-tastes-much-better-in-an-orange-cup

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Get Fit and in Shape For 2013 - Hot Beauty Health

by Diana Ajih on January 2, 2013

in health

The new year has arrived and getting the body you?ve always wanted is a common new year?s resolutions for most adults! Reaching this goal is difficult to achieve but if you can stick with it, you?ll do wonders for your health. To get fit and in shape for 2013, I?ve put together a guide filled with exercise & diet tips, healthy recipes, and fitness tools. This guide will help you get into that fitness routine once and for all.

Step up the Exercise

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Sort Out Your Diet

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Healthy Recipes

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Fitness Essentials

get fit and in shape

1. I like to listen to music when I workout and?Powerbeats by Beats by Dre?fits perfectly around my ears and delivers superb sound .

2. Yoga pants are a necessity for me when I?m headed to the gym or working out from home.

3. These Puma cross-trainers ?will help you move in any direction especially if you?re trying to get your Zumba on!

4. Make fitness in 2013 fun with a pedometer. This particular brand motivates you with games, goals, and even charity donations.

5. You?ll need a perfectly-sized workout bag to hold everything you need when heading to the gym.

6. Yogitoes make great yoga mats and this skidless version prevents slipping to enhance your yoga practice.

7. I receive this Bobble water bottle as a gift last summer and it?s amazing. The bottle comes with a filter and it?s 100% recyclable.

8. This Adidas Supernova Racer Bra is a quality sports bra and gives me all the support I need.

9. These resistance cords comes with a workout DVD so now you have no excuse for skipping exercise.

Source: http://www.hotbeautyhealth.com/health/get-fit-and-in-shape-for-2013/

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Pope hopes for 2013 of peace, slams unbridled capitalism

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict said in his New Year's message on Tuesday he hoped 2013 would be a year of peace and that the world was under threat from unbridled capitalism, terrorism and criminality.

The 85-year-old pope rang in the new year with a mass for about 10,000 people in St Peter's Basilica on the day the Roman Catholic Church marks its World Day of Peace with initiatives around the world.

He also spoke of peace after the mass, addressing tens of thousands of people who had followed the service from outside in St Peter's Square.

"A new year is like a trip. With the light and the grace of God, may it be the start of a path to peace for every person, every family, every country and for the entire world," he said from his window overlooking the square.

He thanked the world's peacemakers, saying they deserve praise for working, often behind the scenes, tirelessly, thanklessly and armed only "with the weapons of prayer and forgiveness".

Peace marchers carrying rainbow banners released blue balloons in a sunny but cold St Peter's Square as the pope spoke.

Earlier in his homily, the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics decried "hotbeds of tension and conflict caused by growing instances of inequality between rich and poor".

He also denounced "the prevalence of a selfish and individualistic mindset which also finds expression in an unregulated capitalism, various forms of terrorism and criminality".

Benedict said he was convinced of "humanity's innate vocation to peace" despite many problems and setbacks. A personal relationship with God can help all believers deal with what he called the "darkness and anguish" that sometimes defines human existence.

"This is the inner peace that we want in the midst of events in history that are sometimes tumultuous and confused, events that sometimes leave us shaken," he said.

In his full message for the peace day, the pope called for a new economic model and ethical regulations for markets, saying the global financial crisis was proof that capitalism does not protect society's weakest members.

He also warned that food insecurity was a threat to peace in some parts of the world and strongly reaffirmed the Church's opposition to gay marriage. Heterosexual marriage had an indispensable role in society, he said.

Thousands of people took part in a peace march to the Vatican led by the Catholic peace and charity group, the Sant' Egidio Community, which negotiated the end of the civil war in Mozambique in 1992.

Other peace marches took place in Italian cities, and Catholic dioceses around the world held their own events.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-hopes-2013-peace-slams-unbridled-capitalism-122008660.html

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Wall Street extends gains, Dow up 2 percent

During an oddly jokey statement at the White House as the fiscal deadline bore down Monday afternoon, President Obama said, "I'm going to be president for the next four years. I?hope." He was warning Republicans that, yes, they'd have to deal with him for a while. But it was, to be sure, a strange moment. Could he actually have been joking about assassination? About impeachment? The?apocalypse? Or has everyone just had enough of these negotiations??

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-poised-rally-fiscal-deal-101327376--finance.html

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