Diet patterns may keep brain from shrinking

Thursday, December 29, 2011

People with diets high in several vitamins or in omega 3 fatty acids are less likely to have the brain shrinkage associated with Alzheimer's disease than people whose diets are not high in those nutrients, according to a new study published in the December 28, 2011, online issue of Neurology?, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Those with diets high in omega 3 fatty acids and in vitamins C, D, E and the B vitamins also had higher scores on mental thinking tests than people with diets low in those nutrients. These omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D are primarily found in fish. The B vitamins and antioxidants C and E are primarily found in fruits and vegetables.

In another finding, the study showed that people with diets high in trans fats were more likely to have brain shrinkage and lower scores on the thinking and memory tests than people with diets low in trans fats. Trans fats are primarily found in packaged, fast, fried and frozen food, baked goods and margarine spreads.

The study involved 104 people with an average age of 87 and very few risk factors for memory and thinking problems. Blood tests were used to determine the levels of various nutrients present in the blood of each participant. All of the participants also took tests of their memory and thinking skills. A total of 42 of the participants had MRI scans to measure their brain volume.

Overall, the participants had good nutritional status, but seven percent were deficient in vitamin B12 and 25 percent were deficient in vitamin D.

Study author Gene Bowman, ND, MPH, of Oregon Health & Science University in Portland and a member of the American Academy of Neurology, said that the nutrient biomarkers in the blood accounted for a significant amount of the variation in both brain volume and thinking and memory scores. For the thinking and memory scores, the nutrient biomarkers accounted for 17 percent of the variation in the scores. Other factors such as age, number of years of education and high blood pressure accounted for 46 percent of the variation. For brain volume, the nutrient biomarkers accounted for 37 percent of the variation.

"These results need to be confirmed, but obviously it is very exciting to think that people could potentially stop their brains from shrinking and keep them sharp by adjusting their diet," Bowman said.

The study was the first to use nutrient biomarkers in the blood to analyze the effect of diet on memory and thinking skills and brain volume. Previous studies have looked at only one or a few nutrients at a time or have used questionnaires to assess people's diet. But questionnaires rely on people's memory of their diet, and they also do not account for how much of the nutrients are absorbed by the body, which can be an issue in the elderly.

###

American Academy of Neurology: http://www.aan.com/go/pressroom

Thanks to American Academy of Neurology for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116340/Diet_patterns_may_keep_brain_from_shrinking

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Is Shift Worker Diet An Occupational Hazard?

60-Second Science | Health

An editorial in PLOS Medicine makes the case for considering the poor eating habits of shift workers, and the associated health risk, as a legally defined occupational hazard. Sophie Bushwick reports.

December 28, 2011?|

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For shift workers, odd hours usually mean strange sleeping habits and unhealthy meals. And now an editorial in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine takes the position that unhealthy eating associated with unusual working hours could be considered a new form of occupational hazard. Because such eating is a risk factor for obesity and diabetes. [Poor Diet in Shift Workers: A New Occupational Health Hazard?]

More than 15 percent of workers in the United States are employed in shifts, with workers taking over for each other so that the establishment can stay open for up to 24 hours a day. Because some shifts take place at night, employees have their circadian rhythms disrupted, and thus their metabolisms.

Taking round the clock shifts also makes eating a good diet and getting sufficient exercise difficult. A recent study in the same journal found an increase in diabetes risk among nurses who performed shift work. [An Pan et al, Rotating Night Shift Work and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Two Prospective Cohort Studies in Women]

The editorial suggests not only employee incentives, but also legislation to make healthful diets easy and cheap. It concludes that treating poor eating among shift workers as an occupational hazard is consistent with the history of workplace safety rights.

?Sophie Bushwick

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=c2bcee52ca42dc9d3669af85d7ada1bb

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Conflict minerals crackdown backfiring in Congo: U.N. (Reuters)

KINSHASA (Reuters) ? A U.S. crackdown on so-called "conflict minerals" in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has backfired by pushing trade deeper into the hands of criminals, including at least one former rebel leader, a U.N. report said on Friday.

The finding underscores the difficulty faced by both the United States and Congo governments in choking off funding to eastern Congo's roving armed bands, believed responsible for thousands of rapes and killings of villagers.

In an effort to pressure Congo's rebels, the United States adopted a law last year requiring the Securities and Exchange Commission to write rules forcing companies to prove minerals they derived from Congo are "conflict free."

But the rules have not been finalized due to wide opposition from companies and industry groups, creating uncertainty that has led international trading firms to virtually stop all purchases from Congo.

"(This) has mainly led to a loss of production and increased criminality, which I think everyone would agree is not a great result," Gregory Salter, who worked as a consultant for the U.N. report, told Reuters.

Eight years after the official end of a war that killed more than 5 million people, Congo has struggled to tackle rebel groups and criminal elements within its own armed forces that haunt the densely forested east and enrich themselves on illegal mining.

Congo has some of the world's largest deposits of minerals including tin and coltan used in making cell phones and computers, but decades of conflict and corruption mean most of the population remains mired in poverty, a situation made worse by "conflict mineral" crackdown, the U.N. Group of Experts' report noted.

RWANDA SMUGGLING

"This refusal (by international companies) to purchase untagged material left many exporters ... bereft of their main, or only customers, and therefore incomes," the group stated.

Congo exports dropped by around 90 percent following the decision by firms not to accept minerals from the region, mining officials told Reuters earlier this year

"(It) appears to have increased the need for fraudulent operators to seek or accept military assistance in their mineral smuggling operations," the report said.

A former rebel, who is now a general in the Congolese army, is implicated in illegal mineral trafficking, the group said.

Bosco Ntaganda, who is subject to an ICC arrest warrant for war crimes, controls the supply of minerals from the Congolese city of Goma into neighboring Rwanda, which has seen a rise in smuggling in 2011, the report said.

"The level of recorded domestic production of tin, tungsten and tantalum ores (in Rwanda) continues to be higher than industry analysts consider the real level of production to be... suggesting that material from the DRC is being smuggled into Rwanda, and then tagged as of Rwandan origin," the report said.

Mineral exports from Rwanda are expected to reach $150 million by the end of 2011, up from $118 million in the last financial year between July 2010 and July 2011.

Last month Rwanda returned more than 80 tonnes of minerals to Congo and Rwandan officials have told Reuters that the tagging system, which allows minerals to be traced back to their mine of origin, is working at "nearly 100 percent."

Congo's armed forces have faced repeated allegations of operating illegal mining rackets, and last year President Joseph Kabila suspended mining in the region for six months in an effort to demilitarize the industry.

Congolese Minister of Mines Martin Kabwelulu has dismissed accusations that the Congolese army were involved in illegal mining as "rumors" but said he backed the U.S. legislation to clean up the mining sector.

"For me the Dodd-Frank law is very good, because it stops the criminals from working," he told Reuters by text message.

Salter said improvements had been seen in some areas of Congo, notably northern Katanga, but that when the SEC rules are eventually announced they must allow legitimate trade from the eastern provinces, despite heavy militarization of the region and instability there.

"There's been a lot of progress made but the missing piece in the puzzle is establishing legitimate supply routes," he said.

(Writing by Richard Valdmanis)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111230/wl_nm/us_congo_democratic_un

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Sprint caps year of Network Vision milestones with first LTE cluster deployment in Kankakee, Illinois

Overhauling a nationwide wireless network isn't exactly for the faint of heart, but Sprint continues marching toward its LTE future and the broader plan known as Network Vision. With a majority of the rollout to be in place by 2013, the carrier is working to bring multi-modal functionality and spectrum integration to its towers, which the provider suggests will deliver expanded coverage, stronger signal and fewer dropped calls for all customers. Earlier this year, Sprint launched its first multi-modal tower in Branchburg, New Jersey, and has now completed its first cluster of sites in Kanakee, Illinois. With the first LTE-capable devices on track for a mid-2012 arrival, Sprint claims that it's wrapped-up field tests and is poised for a rapid LTE deployment. We certainly hope so, because AT&T and Verizon are hardly wasting time in flooding the airwaves with blistering 4G goodness. You'll find the full PR after the break.

[Thanks, Xavier]

Continue reading Sprint caps year of Network Vision milestones with first LTE cluster deployment in Kankakee, Illinois

Sprint caps year of Network Vision milestones with first LTE cluster deployment in Kankakee, Illinois originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 07:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/28/sprint-caps-year-of-network-vision-milestones-with-first-lte-clu/

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Tough choices in 2012 will reveal Denver Mayor Michael Hancock's leadership style

By Jeremy P. Meyer
The Denver Post

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, front. (Denver Post file photo)

Next year will make clear one thing: how Denver Mayor Michael Hancock leads.

Is he a leader who reaches into his gut to pull out decisions based on his convictions? Or is he a leader who relies on consensus, committees and recommendations from task forces?

So far, Hancock has not been forced to make many controversial decisions; after being sworn in July 18, he has spent most of the past five months filling out his administration.

"We're calling 2012 'The Year of Decisions,' " Hancock said in a recent interview.

Matters on his plate for 2012 will be weighty, carrying with them political implications and possible controversy.

He'll be faced with choosing to impose a trash fee on Denver residents,

PUBLIC SAFETY: The city must negotiate contracts with public-safety unions. Hancock has already made some tough decisions ? including hiring Police Chief Robert White. White is transforming the department after a project that saves $8 million and increases officers in "line-of-duty functions." (Andy Cross, Denver Post file photo)

deciding whether to ask voters in November to support a mill- levy increase for city services, negotiating contracts with public-safety unions and figuring out what to do about a library system that has asked either to be given a dedicated revenue stream or to be carved off into a special tax district.

He also must come to a decision about what to do about the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo, which last week responded to the mayor's request to deliver a business plan with a list of possible moves.

"The boldness and big decisions are looming for Denver, and we are going to have to prepare ourselves to make them," Hancock said.

He has yet to show that side, said Susan Barnes-Gelt, a former councilwoman and observer of Denver government.

Hancock, she said, must "decide what his priorities are, articulate them, organize his Cabinet and staff around them and fight for them.

"So far," she said, "he hasn't done that."

Echoes of campaign

It is the same criticism Hancock's election opponent, Chris Romer, lobbed at the former councilman during the spring's runoff campaign ? saying Hancock tends to legislate by committee rather than make gut decisions.

STOCK SHOW: The future of the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo is an open question, with ideas ranging from doing nothing to expanding current facilities to building a new complex. The mayor has already decided to pull Denver out of a state Regional Tourism Act application with Aurora. (Joe Amon, Denver Post file photo)

Hancock disputed that assertion.

"I feel that you have to do both," Hancock said. "If you look at some of the decisions I have had to make while in office, clearly I have been thoughtful to get advice from people who I trust.

"But as I said in those debates, this is not a cowboy kind of town where I can ride roughshod and make decisions without including people. This is a town that has a collaborative spirit. We have always been that way."

Hancock noted he has made some tough decisions ? including hiring Police Chief Robert White, who's only the second chief to come from outside of the Denver Police Department.

White came from Louisville, Ky., starting a few weeks ago.

Hancock said White is

BUDGET CHANGES: In late January, Hancock will be presented with a report recommending how the city can cut costs and raise revenues. Some recommendations already have been revealed: charging a fee for trash service, raising property taxes and cutting costs in the government. (Aaron Montoya, Denver Post file photo)

being tasked with transforming the department, following a strategic alignment project developed early this year that saves $8 million and increases the number of officers in "line-of- duty functions."

Hearing "both sides"

Hancock also said he had to decide to pull Denver out of the Regional Tourism Act application with Aurora. However, he made that decision after Auditor Dennis Gallagher and the entire City Council urged him to act.

"There was no formal committee that told me to pull out," he said. "You also had people who were saying we ought to stay in. So we were hearing it from both sides. There have been decisions where there weren't committees recommending a certain route. It was just me taking (a look) at the totality of the information and saying, 'This is what my gut tells me.' "

Hancock said that in early January he expects to announce the final two positions in his Cabinet ? manager of public works and manager of planning and development.

And late in January, Hancock and the Office of Economic Development will announce the city's economic-development plan for the next four years.

Director Paul Washington said the plan calls for more than just adding jobs and buildings.

"It is a pathway to strong families, integrated communities and self-sufficiency," Washington said.

Washington recently returned from China, where he said he had successful conversations about creating an "inbound trade mission" with clean-energy-technology entrepreneurs from Chongqing ? a city of 35 million people.

Budget changes ahead

Also in late January, Hancock will be presented with a host of decisions in the form of a report by a task force looking at the city's long-term financial structure ? a list of recommendations of how the city can cut costs and raise revenues to permanently fill a persistent $30 million budget gap.

Some of those recommendations already have been revealed: charging a fee for trash service, raising property taxes and cutting costs in the government.

Hancock's chief financial officer, Cary Kennedy, said her office will analyze each recommendation and the City Council and public will have a chance to weigh in before any decision is made.

"Looking into the future, we can't continue the same service delivery without making changes," Kennedy said. "The mayor is fully committed to finding solutions and ensuring the city's budget is balanced and the city's long-term financial situation is solvent."

Hancock has vowed that his administration won't continue to "kick the can down the road."

"We are changing fundamentally the way we support and fund our city government," he said. "We can either do nothing, or we can make some tweaks. We are going to have to have a good conversation with the community about what that looks like going forward."

Jeremy P. Meyer: 303-954-1367, jpmeyer@denverpost.com or twitter.com/jpmeyerDPost

Source: http://feeds.denverpost.com/~r/dp-news-local-denver-metro/~3/6iAG6UinFEs/ci_19629135

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Man caught trying to board flight with loaded handgun

KANSAS CITY, Mo?? A man trying to board a Delta Airlines flight in Kansas City with a loaded handgun was charged on Thursday with carrying a concealed weapon, authorities said.

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Anthony Winn, 26, of Kansas City was caught by a security screener Wednesday with what appeared to be a gun in his carry-on bag, according to U.S. Attorney Beth Phillips of the Western District of Missouri.

Officers at the airport found a loaded 9 millimeter Glock handgun with 23 live rounds of ammunition, including one in the chamber, said a criminal complaint filed Thursday. Police also found $4,906 in Winn's pants pockets and $26,515 in three pairs of jeans in his carry-on bag.

Winn said he was bringing the bag to a friend in Arizona and did not know it contained a gun.

He was charged with having a concealed handgun in his bag and with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Winn has two prior felony burglary convictions and a conviction for unlawful use of a weapon, authorities said.

Winn was bound for Minneapolis and then Tuscon, according to the case documents.

U.S. Attorney spokesman Don Ledford said authorities believe Winn had "no terrorist motives or connections."

He is being held in federal custody as he awaits a detention hearing on January 3.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45819477/ns/travel-news/

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UF survey: Florida consumer confidence jumps in December

The index used by UF researchers in the survey is benchmarked to 1966, which means a value of 100 represents the same level of confidence for that year. The lowest index possible is a 2; the highest is 150.

Consumer confidence in December shot up in four of the five indexes used by survey takers, and declined in only one. The index that reveals whether Floridians think their personal finances have improved from a year ago rose one point to 53. Another showed their overall expectations in the soundness of the U.S. economy jumped six points to 59. Confidence in the economy?s performance over the next five years also rose ? this time three points to 71. Finally, the overall perception of survey takers that the present is a good time to buy ?big ticket? items, such as washing machines and laptops ? went up sharply by seven points to 85.

The only index to show dropping confidence was an expectation of a drop in personal finances a year from now, declining two points to 78.

Taken as a whole, the UF survey reflects a changing mood that matches growing confidence across the nation, said Chris McCarty, director of UF?s Survey Research Center in the Bureau of Economic and Business Research. In addition, he added, there are factors in the Florida economy that were interpreted as positive by both younger and older respondents. Men were more positive than women by a margin of 71 points to 67.

?Floridians are most likely optimistic about continued improvement in the employment situation,? McCarty said. The decline in unemployment in November was .4 percent to 10 percent. The drop marked the first time in many months that economic sectors other than tourism led the way in employment increases. McCarty noted that employers in trade, transportation and utilities employed 34,800 more workers from October to November. However, he cautioned that many of these new jobs were in retail trade and may only reflect holiday seasonal hiring, which could disappear in early 2012.

McCarty also cited several other reasons for the change in mood. Retailers are offering big seasonal discounts to shoppers and mortgage interest rates are low. Housing prices may have ?bottomed out? for a while, he said, hovering about around $130,100 for a single-family home. Gas prices are down, too. A gallon cost about 15 cents less than it did in November, though prices are expected to rise in 2012.

Stock prices were unsteady but did not sink in the wake of bad economic news coming from Europe, as some economists expected. Media reports about the U.S. Congress? wrangling over debt and spending issues also didn?t sour consumer confidence. ?Contrary to our prediction, the impasse of the Super Commission regarding deficit reductions came and went with very little concern from consumers,? McCarty said.

Overall, the mood for December is modestly upbeat. But McCarty cautioned that Floridians may find it hard to remain optimistic in the coming year, if Congress carries through with $1.2 trillion in mandatory spending cuts required by the debt ceiling deal in 2011.

The UF survey was conducted between Dec. 11 and Dec. 22, and reflects the responses of 411 individuals statewide.

Provided by University of Florida (news : web)

Source: http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-uf-survey-florida-consumer-confidence.html

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Military battle against militants in Yemen kill 9

SANAA, Yemen (AP) -- Yemeni soldiers battled al-Qaida-linked militants Monday outside the southern city of Zinjibar, which remains partly under the control of the Islamists. Five soldiers and four fighters were killed, a military official said.

The intense fighting in northern and eastern Zinjibar included artillery and rocket shelling on militant hideouts, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with military regulations.

He said the military units were engaged in pitched battles with armed gangs deployed on the streets, and have advanced on areas controlled by the militants.

At least 60 people, including 23 soldiers, have been killed in the fighting since last week.

Islamic militants, including some with links to the al-Qaida branch in Yemen, seized control of Zinjibar and another town in April and May. They were taking advantage of the turmoil surrounding the popular uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh to expand their area of operations.

Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula was behind several nearly successful attempts to attack U.S. targets, including the failed attempt to down a passenger jet bound for Detroit on Christmas Day 2009. Washington believes it is the most dangerous of several al-Qaida's offshoots around the globe.

President Saleh has cooperated with the U.S. in fighting the group and used the threat of al-Qaida in arguing that he could not relinquish power in Yemen despite the protests calling for him to go since February.

The U.S. withdrew its support of Saleh in the summer, and the autocratic leader signed a deal last month to transfer power in exchange for immunity from prosecution over the deaths of protesters and corruption during his 33 years in power.

The deal has failed to quell the protests in Yemen, which have recently expanded to include labor strikes, calling for Saleh loyalists to be removed from office and for Saleh to be put on trial.

On Monday, Yemen's military agreed to replace a commander accused of corruption, apparently settling a brief strike by 1,000 soldiers, said Anwar Abdullah, an officer in a military department that deals with public affairs and army morale. Abdullah said that the strikers demanded the ouster of department head Maj. Gen. Ali al-Shater for mismanagement, accusing him of running his own prison, in which some soldiers were jailed even for minor offenses. Some were kept in chains.

Abdullah said after the prime minister intervened in the dispute Monday, it was agreed that al-Shater would be replaced.

The soldiers said they would end their strike when the defense minister appoints a new commander.

Source: http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_YEMEN?SITE=VARIT&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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Engadget Mobile Podcast 118 - 12.26.2011

If listening to Engadget Chinese editor Richard Lai talk about the bleedingest-edge phones from China isn't the perfect programming to shake off all those extra trips to the Christmas buffet to, we don't know what is. It's the Engadget Mobile Podcast, now with more globetrotting/calorie burning madness inside.

Hosts: Myriam Joire (tnkgrl), Brad Molen
Guest: Richard Lai
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Tycho - Coastal Brake (Ghostly International)

00:01:07 - Xiaomi Phone review
00:10:56 - Meizu MX review
00:29:53 - Samsung Captivate Glide review
00:47:10 - Samsung Stratosphere review
00:53:55 - AT&T abandons T-Mobile merger plans (updated)
01:13:33 - Amazon reportedly considered a RIM purchase, 'commercial partnership' still on the table
01:22:05 - ITC sides with Apple, bans sale and import of some HTC phones (updated)
01:25:55 - Dell's Streak Pro 101DL to become Baidu's first Yi phone, shows up in FCC's database




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Engadget Mobile Podcast 118 - 12.26.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Dec 2011 12:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/26/engadget-mobile-podcast-118-12-26-2011/

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From Dear Leader to Marilyn Monroe, defector mocks Kim (Reuters)

SEOUL (Reuters) ? Above the ballooning dress of Marilyn Monroe is the face of the late North Korean despot Kim Jong-il. A pigeon flies overhead and a feather lies nearby on the ground.

North Korean artist Song Byeok once proudly drew the "Dear Leader" in propaganda paintings. But he was sent to labor in one of the reclusive state's notorious prisons after hunger forced him to try to flee.

Now a defector living in the South Korean capital, Seoul, Song has turned to mocking a ruler who led his country into famine, isolation and economic ruin.

"The day I finished this, he passed away," Song said of his painting and the death of Kim on December 17.

"He's not an eternal creature but the same as the feather of a pigeon," said Song, using the feather to symbolize something inconsequential.

"I thought it would've been better if he made North Koreans better off and forget hunger before he died."

Kim, who was 69 when he died, was a patron of the arts in his hermit kingdom and at times went to extreme means to promote the arts.

He once kidnapped a film director and forced him to make movies for him. Kim amassed a big hoard of South Korean movies on DVD and commissioned works of art.

Song never had a sitting with Kim, the second member of a dynasty that has ruled North Korea since its birth in 1948.

Every morning, he was handed a sketch of whatever piece of propaganda the state wanted illustrated that day.

"How could I, just a commoner, meet Kim Jong-il? He is the sun," the 42-year-old painter and sculptor recalled.

STARVATION, ESCAPE

Song, like most other North Koreans, practically worshipped Kim and before that, his father, Kim Il-sung.

But starvation, a result of chronic mismanagement and natural disasters, changed that. After floods in the late 1990s, conditions deteriorated to the point of desperation.

In August 2000, Song and his father, driven by hunger, tried to swim across the Tumen river to China in the hope of getting food from relatives there.

But his father was swept away in the swollen river and Song was caught and sent to a labor camp, the North Korean equivalent of the Soviet-era gulags where the human rights group Amnesty International says 200,000 citizens are forced to work with little food and under threat of execution.

In the freezing Korean winter, Song recalls he was as lightly dressed as when he was arrested in summer.

A finger on his right hand became infected and eventually, he says he was so close to death that his captors could get no work out of him and released him.

But Song was determined to try to get out and in 2002, leaving his mother and sister behind, he made it and ended up in Seoul. After his mother died in 2005, he brought his sister and her family out in 2007 with the help of a broker in China.

"If we had had enough to eat, I would have not come," Song said.

Despite losing his finger, Song took up his brush again. Some of his paintings now show hollow-eyed North Korean girls and smiling, homeless children, known in the North as "fluttering swallows," surrounding Kim.

As for Kim Jong-un, the twenty something son of Kim Jong-il, who will become the third member of the Kim dynasty to rule North Korea, Song says for now, he has no plan to paint him.

"He's too young and I don't want to say yet," said Song.

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111226/stage_nm/us_korea_north_painting

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Ratings: Football, Wonderful Life Most Popular over Christmas Weekend

It's A Wonderful Life

On Christmas Eve and Christmas, people who squeezed in some television amidst all the opening of presents, eating and visiting the folks went with an old holiday standby and ? what else? ? football.

NBC's airing of It's a Wonderful Life was No. 1 on Saturday night, with Frank Capra's 1946 film starring James Stewart grabbing 4.55 million viewers. First runner-up: ABC's rerunning of 1965's The Sound of Music.

Check out the best and worst of 2011

NBC's Sunday Night Football trounced the reruns and holiday fare it was competing with. The football game in which the Green Bay Packers clinched home field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs by decisively beating the Chicago Bears averaged 21.24 million viewers, posting a 6.8 rating among industry-prized 18-to-49-year-olds. It produced the highest overnight rating for a game played on Christmas night since 1995.

Source: http://www.tvguide.com/News/Ratings-Football-Wonderful-1041125.aspx?rss=breakingnews

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Military Wives? Choir Named Official Christmas Number One (VIDEOS)

The Military Wives' choir was named the 60th Official Christmas Number 1 on Christmas Day, by the Official Charts Company.

More than 550,000 copies of their album "Wherever You Are" were sold last week; the figure was more than the combined sales of 12 other top albums.

The album features the group and choirmaster Gareth Malone. The track also collected the Official Singles Chart Number 1 Award.

The proceeds of the sale will go to the aid of?the Royal British Legion?and the?Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen Families Association.?The performers' dear ones are posted in Afghanistan.

"This is so surreal. Who would have guessed in those first rehearsals that we could take Christmas Number 1? It's testament to the Military Wives' hard work and the nation's support of them as well as the power of choral singing," the Official Charts Company quotes Malone as saying.

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The "Little Mix" album with four "The X-Factor" participants was one of the top contenders for the award. ?

The wives first performed for the first time at the BBC2's The Choir series.?

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/272644/20111226/military-wives-choir-named-official-christmas-number.htm

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UK's Prince Philip remains in hospital (AP)

LONDON ? Britain's Prince Philip spent a third night in the hospital as he recovers after treatment for a blocked coronary artery.

The 90-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II is in good spirits and will remain under observation for "a short period," Buckingham Palace officials said Monday. There are no details of when he may be released.

The prince underwent a successful coronary stent procedure at Papworth, a specialist heart hospital in Cambridgeshire, where he was taken on Friday after complaining of chest pains.

It was the most serious health scare suffered by Philip, who is known to be active and robust. He has continued to appear at many engagements, most recently taking a 10-day tour of Australia with the queen.

He is likely to miss the Royal Family's traditional Boxing Day shooting party on Monday at the queen's private Sandringham estate in Norfolk, an event he usually leads.

Six of Philip's grandchildren, including Princes William and Harry, visited him Sunday in the hospital.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_prince_philip

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Video: Video: A Giant test, Big Ben's status and more

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Google becomes the Clark Griswold of the internet with 'Jingle Bells' doodle

Having conquered so many aspects of the software world, it's time for Google to take the next logical step in its evolution: becoming that annoying neighbor who always goes a bit overboard each year with the Christmas display. This time out, Google's doodle lets you play five bars of "Jingle Bells" manually, bringing down the lights and finishing up the song with a full-on holiday light show. Check it out, but don't blame us if your computer blows a fuse.

Google becomes the Clark Griswold of the internet with 'Jingle Bells' doodle originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rapture Or Not, Promise To Care For Pets Stands | KOSU Radio

Filed by KOSU News in Business.
December 24, 2011

Back in May, followers of Harold Camping were preparing for the coming rapture. For some, that preparation included someone to look after their pets.

At the time, animal lover Bart Centre, the creator of Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, had 259 clients whose pets he promised to look after in the event that they were raptured in the next 10 years. Those clients paid $135 for the first pet and $20 for each additional pet.

Clearly, the rapture didn?t happen as predicted on May 21. Centre tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz that, with the exception of a few demands for refunds, there wasn?t a lot of fallout from the religious event, or nonevent, rather.

?I had to disappoint them and let them know we don?t do refunds,? Centre says.

There might not have been much fallout to Centre?s business from the rapture not happening, but there was some fallout, in the form of complaints, when NPR first told Centre?s story. Many criticized him and said that he was taking advantage of people, but Centre says that?s not the case.

?I do not advertise my business. My business is advertised by the media and by word of mouth,? Centre says. ?I don?t threaten people with the rapture coming; I outright tell them I do not believe in the rapture.?

Centre says that does not negate the possibility that they could be right and he could be wrong, so he?s offering a service to people who love their pets and believe the rapture is going to happen.

?I?m not in a position to say to them, ?It?s not going to happen and you?re foolish,?? he says. ?If this is what they believe, then I will give them piece of mind.?

Centre says business has been a little slow and he?s added only a few clients since May. But he expects that around October 2012, close to when the Mayan calendar ends and what many people believe signifies the coming rapture, business might just pick up again. [Copyright 2011 National Public Radio]

Source: http://kosu.org/2011/12/rapture-or-not-promise-to-care-for-pets-stands/

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University of Manitoba bursary honors pioneering female doctor

WINNIPEG - A new award honours the first Canadian woman of Icelandic descent who became a doctor.

Dr. Sigga Christianson Houston started a medical dynasty that now spans four generations.

Her son Dr. C. Stuart Houston and his family have given nearly $100,000 to the University of Manitoba to establish the Sigga Christianson Houston Travel Award.

It will offer travel bursaries to medical students who participate in a summer early exposure program or clinical elective in a remote northern community with a general practitioner or pediatrician.

Sigga Houston earned her medical degree from the university in 1925.

She married and settled in Yorkton, Sask., with her husband in 1928 and established a medical practice.

She retired at 82 and lived another 20 years after that.

(CJOB)

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2011/12/22/university-of-manitoba-bu_n_1166641.html

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Facebook Snubs Zynga?s CityVille As Most Popular Game Despite 5X Users Of #1 Gardens Of Time

Playdom's Gardens of Time took the #1 spot of Facebook's Most Popular Games of 2011 list. But wait, Zynga's CityVille was ranked #3 despite peaking at over 100 million monthly active users and 21 million daily active users -- far more than Gardens of Time's peaks of 17 million MAU and 4 million DAU,?or its current stats according to AppData. That's because Facebook's list was mostly based on Yes / No user surveys of whether they'd recommend the game, and hardly on active user count like it said It's almost as if Facebook used its cloudy methodology to keep Zynga from?completely?dominating the list, as the Mark Pincus machine currently owns all 5 Facebook games with the most DAU and still ended up with 4 of the top 10 spots on Facebook's list.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Hk-T6QgEdp8/

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U.S. Troops Charged in Death of Fellow Soldier

KABUL/NEW YORK (Reuters) - - The U.S. Army has charged eight soldiers deployed to Afghanistan in the death of Private Danny Chen, a 19-year-old Chinese-American who was bullied and taunted by fellow troops over his heritage.

Chen was found in a guard tower in southern Afghanistan after apparently shooting himself, NATO-led forces in Afghanistan said on Wednesday.

Chen's platoon leader, 1st Lieutenant Daniel Schwartz, was among the accused, charged with dereliction of duty. Other soldiers face charges including involuntary manslaughter, assault and negligent homicide.

The case has resonated in Chen's hometown of New York City, where his mother gave an emotional press conference calling for justice for her son while Asian-American activists criticized the Army for tolerating hazing and racial discrimination.

"Whether suicide or homicide, those responsible for mistreating Danny caused his death. They must be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for the killing of Danny Chen," said Elizabeth OuYang, president of the New York chapter of the OCA, which represents Asian-Americans.

The Pentagon called Chen's death a "tragic incident" but strongly rejected accusations that hazing and racial discrimination were tolerated.

"Hazing is not tolerated in the military. If it's found and it's proven, it's dealt with," said Captain John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.

"We treat each other with dignity and respect. That's what this uniform requires. And when we don't, there is a justice system in place to deal with it. And that's what we're seeing here in the case of Private Chen."

An Army official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the eight men had been moved to an undisclosed location for their own security.

The charges were the result of a commander's inquiry into the death of Chen, an only child born in the United States to immigrant parents.

"When Danny told (me) that he wanted to serve in the Army, (I) didn't want him to go. But he was insistent," his mother Su Zhen Chen told a news conference in New York City's Chinatown. She does not speak English and her comments were loosely translated through an interpreter.

"Danny was a very good student. At his school, all his teachers, all his classmates, he had lots of friends. He gets along well with others," the translator added, saying his mother could not figure out "why they would do this in the Army."

An Army criminal investigation into the circumstances of Chen's death remains open, said a spokesman for the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Command.

"Aside from investigating the actual cause and manner of Private Chen's death, we are also investigating the circumstances leading up to his death," U.S.-based spokesman Chris Grey said in an email.

"You can be sure that CID will continue to conduct a professional and very thorough investigation. We are not releasing any details to the public at this point to protect the integrity of our ongoing investigation."

Chen's family has not concluded whether he committed suicide or was killed, OuYang said, adding there were no indications of depression based on his postings from Afghanistan.

Commenting on the racial taunting Chen allegedly suffered, OuYang said: "Clearly ... the Army's diversity training is not effective."

The charges come barely two months after three U.S. Marines were ordered to face court-martial on charges they physically abused and humiliated a fellow Marine who later killed himself while they were serving in Afghanistan.

Lance Corporal Harry Lew, 21, shot himself during a patrol in April after he was allegedly beaten and hazed by others in his unit for falling asleep while on sentry duty.

(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wjw-news-national/~3/oN2779KHgEQ/sns-rt-us-afghanistan-usa-deathtre7bk1k9-20111221,0,2612130.story

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Fill Out Your Address Book to Make Siri Work Better [SIRI]

Out of the box Siri can do a few common things, but it struggles when you try to get too complicated with it. GigaOM offers up a few clever address book customizations to make Siri work more naturally.

We've previously covered the basics of talking to Siri, but GigaOM takes it a step further by walking you through the steps to setting up your workplace, family members, and pronunciation. For instance, if you enter in your work address, you can make better use of the Reminders app and get a better functionality out of maps. For those of us who haven't done a lot of data entry into the Address Book, this is simple way to make Siri work in a more natural way. The bottom line is that the more Siri knows about you, the better it can do its job. Check out the full set of tips over on GigaOM.

Quick tip: Introduce yourself to Siri | GigaOM

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/OQNAOymRmcw/fill-out-your-address-book-to-make-siri-work-better

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Oil rises above $98 after US crude supply drop (AP)

SINGAPORE ? Oil rose above $98 a barrel Wednesday in Asia after a report showed U.S. crude supplies fell more than expected, a sign demand may be improving.

Benchmark crude for February delivery was up 85 cents to $98.09 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The January contract, which expired Tuesday, rose $3.34, or 3.6 percent, to finish at $97.22.

In London, Brent crude was up 80 cents at $107.53 on the ICE futures exchange.

The American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude inventories rose 4.6 million barrels last week while analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., had predicted a drop of 2.3 million barrels.

Inventories of gasoline slid 2.8 million barrels last week while distillates dropped 400,000 barrels, the API said.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reports its weekly supply data later Wednesday.

Evidence the U.S. economy is improving also helped extend Tuesday's gains in the oil price. U.S. retailers said that holiday sales jumped last week, while the government reported a surge in apartment construction and building permits in November.

Some analysts remain pessimistic about the global economy and expect a slowdown to undermine demand for commodities.

"We expect the problems in the eurozone to escalate and global growth to remain sluggish, maintaining the downward pressure on the prices of commodities," Capital Economics said in a report.

In other energy trading on the Nymex, natural gas rose 0.3 cent to $3.13 per 1,000 cubic feet. Heating oil added 2.9 cents to $2.89 a gallon and gasoline futures were up 1.1 cents to $2.60 a gallon.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices

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AP's Female Athlete of the Year winners (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)

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Regulators sue former top execs at Fannie, Freddie (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? U.S. securities regulators sued six former executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Friday, including ex-CEOs of both mortgage finance companies, saying they misled investors over exposure to risky home loans.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued three former executives at Fannie Mae and three at Freddie Mac. The civil charges were brought in two separate lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

The SEC accused former Fannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd, former Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron and four other defendants of knowingly approving false statements to investors that drastically misrepresented the extent of the firms' exposure to toxic mortgages.

Spokesmen for Mudd and Syron did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The SEC said both firms have agreed to cooperate with the agency and have agreed to admit responsibility for the alleged conduct, without agreeing or denying that they are liable. The firms have also entered into non-prosecution agreements with the agency, the SEC said.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have been propped up by $169 billion in federal aid since they were rescued by the government in 2008.

The cases are SEC v. Daniel Mudd et al., No. 11-9202 and SEC v. Syron et. al No. 11-9201, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

(Reporting by Basil Katz, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and John Wallace)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personalfinance/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/bs_nm/us_fannie_freddie_sec

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Penny-sized frogs are world's smallest

The frogs are so small they seem to have hit the lower limit of body size for frogs and toads, so it's unlikely that researchers will find anything much smaller.

Smaller than a penny, two newly discovered frog species are considered the smallest ever found. The pipsqueaks live in Papua New Guinea and run about 0.4 inches (8-to-9 millimeters) in length.

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The two species,?Paedophrynedekot?and?Paedophryneverrucosa,?are not only?the smallest frogs ever discovered, they are also the smallest of a group of animals called tetrapods (four-legged animals with backbones). The duo rounds out the?Paedophryne?genus, which already contained two other, slightly larger, frog species first described in 2002.

The name?P. dekot?derives from the word for "very small" in the local language, Daga, noted study researcher Fred Kraus in the Dec. 12 issue of the journal ZooKeys;?P. verrucosa?was named from the Latin for "full of warts," due to its distinctively lumpy skin.

P. dekot?inhabits the lower ranges, below about 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) of the western slope of Mt. Dayman, in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea, and?P. verrucosa?lives on the southeastern slope of ?Mt. Suckling, near a region that joins Mt. Dayman.

"Miniaturization occurs in many frog genera?around the world," Kraus, of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, said in a statement. "New Guinea seems particularly well represented, with species in seven genera exhibiting the phenomenon. Although most frog genera have only a few diminutive representatives mixed among larger relatives,?Paedophryne?is unique in that all species are minute."

The frogs are so small they seem to have hit the lower limit of body size for frogs and toads, so it's unlikely that researchers will find anything much smaller. The frogs are brown or red-brown in color, with?camouflaging flecks?of brown and blackish triangles on their sides.?P. verrucosa?has lots of wartlike protrusions on its skin, along with some yellow splotches.

Because of their tiny size, their?fingers and toes?are too small to allow much climbing, so they have found a niche on the forest floor, where their tiny body size allows them to hide among leaf litter and moss. The author suggests they might eat tiny arthropods, such as mites.

They are so small that females of both species can only have two eggs, limiting their ability to reproduce. Most frogs have lots of eggs per litter, so this small number is very rare. They also lose moisture very quickly, restricting them to very wet tropical forests.

The four known?Paedophryne?species inhabit small ranges in the mountains of southeastern Papua New Guinea and its offshore islands. Until their DNA is analyzed, researchers can't be sure who their closest froggy relatives are.

Kraus recorded the call the?male?P. verrucosa?uses to attract females, which he notes sounds like "a quick drag of a finger over a comb." It makes its calls at dusk until the sky turns dark, and also before dawn.

The study of these tiny frogs was published Dec. 12 in the journal ZooKeys

You can follow LiveScience staff writer Jennifer Welsh on Twitter @microbelover. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter?@livescience?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/HKsGr3dZIm4/Penny-sized-frogs-are-world-s-smallest

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