My Study Date

AUGUSTA, Maine – A Maine legislator wants to make the state the first to require cell phones to carry warnings that they can cause brain cancer, although there is no consensus among scientists that they do and industry leaders dispute the claim.
The now-ubiquitous devices carry such warnings in some countries, though no U.S. states require them, according to the National Conference of State Legislators. A similar effort is afoot in San Francisco, where Mayor Gavin Newsom wants his city to be the nation's first to require the warnings.
Maine Rep. Andrea Boland, D-Sanford, said numerous studies point to the cancer risk, and she has persuaded legislative leaders to allow her proposal to come up for discussion during the 2010 session that begins in January, a session usually reserved for emergency and governors' bills.
Boland herself uses a cell phone, but with a speaker to keep the phone away from her head. She also leaves the phone off unless she's expecting a call. At issue is radiation emitted by all cell phones.
Under Boland's bill, manufacturers would have to put labels on phones and packaging warning of the potential for brain cancer associated with electromagnetic radiation. The warnings would recommend that users, especially children and pregnant women, keep the devices away from their head and body.
The Federal Communications Commission, which maintains that all cell phones sold in the U.S. are safe, has set a standard for the "specific absorption rate" of radiofrequency energy, but it doesn't require handset makers to divulge radiation levels.
The San Francisco proposal would require the display of the absorption rate level next to each phone in print at least as big as the price. Boland's bill is not specific about absorption rate levels, but would require a permanent, nonremovable advisory of risk in black type, except for the word "warning," which would be large and in red letters. It would also include a color graphic of a child's brain next to the warning.
While there's little agreement about the health hazards, Boland said Maine's roughly 950,000 cell phone users among its 1.3 million residents "do not know what the risks are."
All told, more than 270 million people subscribed to cellular telephone service last year in the United States, an increase from 110 million in 2000, according to CTIA-The Wireless Association. The industry group contends the devices are safe.
"With respect to the matter of health effects associated with wireless base stations and the use of wireless devices, CTIA and the wireless industry have always been guided by science, and the views of impartial health organizations. The peer-reviewed scientific evidence has overwhelmingly indicated that wireless devices do not pose a public health risk," said CTIA's John Walls.
James Keller of Lewiston, whose cell phone serves as his only phone, seemed skeptical about warning labels. He said many things may cause cancer but lack scientific evidence to support that belief. Besides, he said, people can't live without cell phones.
"It seems a little silly to me, but it's not going to hurt anyone to have a warning on there. If they're really concerned about it, go ahead and put a warning on it," he said outside a sporting good store in Topsham. "It wouldn't deter me from buying a phone."
While there's been no long-term studies on cell phones and cancer, some scientists suggest erring on the side of caution.
Last year, Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director emeritus of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, sent a memo to about 3,000 faculty and staff members warning of risks based on early, unpublished data. He said that children should use the phones only for emergencies because their brains were still developing and that adults should keep the phone away from the head and use a speakerphone or a wireless headset.
Herberman, who says scientific conclusions often take too long, is one of numerous doctors and researchers who have endorsed an August report by retired electronics engineer L. Lloyd Morgan. The report highlights a study that found significantly increased risk of brain tumors from 10 or more years of cell phone or cordless phone use.
Also, the BioInitiative Working Group, an international group of scientists, notes that many countries have issued warnings and that the European Parliament has passed a resolution calling for governmental action to address concerns over health risks from mobile phone use.
But the National Cancer Institute said studies thus far have turned up mixed and inconsistent results, noting that cell phones did not come into widespread use in the United States until the 1990s.
"Although research has not consistently demonstrated a link between cellular telephone use and cancer, scientists still caution that further surveillance is needed before conclusions can be drawn," according to the Cancer Institute's Web site.

Motorola Inc., one of the nation's major wireless phone makers, says on its Web site that all of its products comply with international safety guidelines for radiofrequency energy exposure.

A Motorola official referred questions to CTIA.

WASHINGTON – It was almost unthinkable. The president of the United States walked into a meeting of fellow world leaders and there wasn't a chair for him, a sure sign he was not expected, maybe not even wanted.
Barack Obama didn't pause, however. "I'm going to sit by my friend Lula," he said, moving toward Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
A Brazilian aide gave the U.S. president his chair, and Obama spent the next 80 minutes helping craft new requirements for disclosing efforts to fight global warming. Along with India, South Africa and Brazil, the key member in the room was China, which recently surpassed the U.S. as the world's top emitter of heat-trapping gasses.
At the table this time for China was Premier Wen Jiabao, not an underling as before. Obama was bent on striking a deal before flying home to snowbound Washington.
He would later hail the achievement as a breakthrough. But even Obama said there was much more to do, and climate authorities called Copenhagen's results a modest step in the global bid to curb greenhouse gasses that threaten to melt glaciers and flood coastlines.
Obama's 15-hour, seat-of-the-pants dash through Copenhagen was marked by doggedness, confusion and semi-comedy. Constrained by partisan politics at home, and quarrels between rich and poor nations abroad, he was determined to come home with a victory, no matter how imperfect.
Experts and activists may debate its significance for years. Some, like Jeremy Symons, who watched the talks for the National Wildlife Federation, said it was "high drama and true grit on the part of the president that delivered the deal."
Others were far less kind. The Copenhagen agreements are "merely the repackaging of old and toothless promises," said Asher Miller, executive director of the Post Carbon Institute.
Even though a weary, bleary-eyed Obama had added six hours to his planned nine-hour visit, he was back in Washington by the time delegates at the 193-nation summit approved the U.S.-brokered compromises on Saturday. The agreements will give billions of dollars in climate aid to poor nations, but they do not require the world's major polluters to make deeper cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions.
This account of Obama's hectic day is based on dozens of interviews and statements by key players from numerous countries.
___
Obama was thrown off schedule almost from the moment he landed Friday morning in Copenhagen, where the summit's final-day talks seemed to be collapsing.
Instead of attending a planned meeting with Denmark's prime minister, he plunged into an emergency session of about 20 nations, big and small, wealthy and poor. Right away there was a troubling sign.
China was the only nation to send a second-tier official: vice foreign minister He Yafei instead of Premier Wen, who was in the building. The snub baffled and annoyed delegates.
For months, Obama had been pressing China to put into writing its promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Obama later seemed unusually animated when he alluded indirectly to China in a short, late-morning speech to the full conference.
"I don't know how you have an international agreement where we all are not sharing information and ensuring that we are meeting our commitments," he said. "That doesn't make sense."
Things then appeared to turn for the better, as Obama and Wen met privately, as scheduled, for 55 minutes. A U.S. official said they took a step forward as they discussed emissions targets, financing and transparency.

The two leaders directed aides to work on mutual language, and Obama's team proposed specific wording meant to solidify China's promise to be more forthcoming about its anti-pollution efforts.

A short time later, however, the U.S. team was more baffled and irked than before. At a follow-up session of the morning's big meeting, the Chinese sent an even lower-ranking envoy in Wen's place.

An irritated Obama told his staff, "I don't want to mess around with this anymore, I want to just talk with Premier Wen," according to a senior administration official who spoke on background to discuss sensitive diplomatic issues.

___

By now night had fallen, and it was clear Obama would be late getting home. He kept an appointment to discuss arms control with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Meanwhile he asked aides to try to set up a final one-on-one meeting with Wen, and a separate meeting with leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa. He hoped these fast-growing nations, which had been loosely aligned with China on many of the key issues, might influence the Chinese.

Confusion reigned. Chinese officials said Wen was at his hotel and his staff was at the airport. The same was said of top Indian officials, but nothing was clear.

South African President Jacob Zuma agreed to meet with Obama, then canceled when he heard the Indian leader was away, and Brazil would attend only if India did.

The Chinese said Wen could meet with Obama at 6:15 p.m., then changed it to 7 p.m. Obama used the time to talk strategy with the leaders of France, Germany and Great Britain.

Meanwhile, a four-nation negotiating team known as BASIC gathered. The modified acronym reflected its members: Brazil, South Africa, India and China.

Obama was unaware, however, thinking he was going to meet alone with Wen. After some confusion about who had access to the room, White House aides told the president that Wen was inside with the leaders of the three other countries, apparently working on strategy.

"Good," Obama said as he walked through the door. "Mr. Premier, are you ready to see me?" he called out. "Are you ready?"

Inside he found startled leaders and no chair to sit in.

U.S. officials denied that Obama crashed the party, saying he simply showed up for his 7 p.m. meeting with Wen and found the others there.

Whatever the meeting's original purpose, Obama used it to help strike an agreement on ways to verify developing nations' reductions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, a good U.S. ending to their talks with the Chinese.

___

Other agreements that came from Copenhagen were a mixed bag, with some environmentalists keenly disappointed, and probably no nation entirely pleased.

Rich countries vowed to provide $30 billion in emergency climate aid to poor nations in the next three years, and set a goal of eventually channeling $100 billion a year to them by 2020.

The summit's final document said carbon emissions should be reduced enough to keep the increase in average global temperatures below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) since preindustrial times. But average temperatures already have risen 0.7 degrees C (1.3 degrees F) since then.

The nations most vulnerable to climate change, including low-lying islands, say the 2 degree C figure is already too high.

It was just after 1 a.m. EST Saturday when Air Force One landed outside Washington on the flight from Copenhagen. With a steady snow falling, Obama headed for the White House. It would be 3 1/2 more hours before the 193 nations, with a few objections, would agree to the deal brokered by the American president. A short time later the conference adjourned.

Later Saturday, Obama put the best face possible on the results.

"This breakthrough lays the foundation for international action in the years to come," he said from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room.

But he got no plaudits in the Chinese press.

The English-language China Daily newspaper called Obama's Copenhagen speech "grandstanding," and said it left non-governmental organizations at the summit disappointed.

___

Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein, Michael Casey and Charles Hutzler in Copenhagen; H. Josef Hebert in Washington; and Cara Ana in Beijing contributed to this report.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Part of challenger Diego Sanchez's strategy seemed to be to take out UFC lightweight champ BJ Penn's leg.
That played right into Penn's game plan.
"It's a blessing when a guy grabs my leg," Penn said, "because I know that's my chance to hit him. They're usually running away, and I've got to wait to hit them. If he grabs the leg, I can just keep hitting him."
Penn, used the counter-punching to retain his UFC lightweight championship Saturday night with a fifth-round TKO of Sanchez in the main event of UFC 107.
Referee Herb Dean, with the advice of the ringside doctor, stopped the fight at 2:37 of the round after Penn's kick caught Sanchez, opening a gaping gash above the challenger's left eye.
UFC president Dana White said Sanchez was taken to a hospital.
"He was about as busted up as I've ever seen a guy," White said.
Penn, undefeated at 155 pounds for the past eight years, methodically attacked Sanchez through the first four rounds, mainly with punches and defending against Sanchez's attempts to take out the champion's legs.
Penn said the challenger took some big shots and recovered quickly in the first round, but it seemed to take a lot out of Sanchez.
"Instead of going forward, I think he got kind of bummed out on that," Penn said of Sanchez's initial offense. "He was kind of backing up and moving around the ring.
"After the first round, he started backing up a little bit, but he never totally gave up the fight."
The crowd was clearly in Penn's corner, unleashing chants of "BJ! BJ!" throughout the bout.
In the semifinal, former heavyweight champion Frank Mir made quick work of Cheick Kongo, winning by submission with 1:12 gone in the opening round. It was Mir's first fight since losing the championship to Brock Lesnar in July.
Mir and Kongo had a battle of words in the days leading up to the fight. Kongo had said Mir was a big mouth and he was going to stop the former champ's talk.
Kongo didn't get much of a chance. The two circled each other at first, but about 40 seconds in, Mir rocked Kongo with a left hand to the chin, sending him to the mat.
Mir immediately followed with more punches, and then locked in a guillotine choke. Kongo was unconscious when Dean lifted his arm to check, the hand dropping to Kongo's leg.
When Mir released the hold and began his celebration, Kongo tumbled over on his back limply, sending his corner into the ring. He eventually walked out as Mir called for another chance to get the heavyweight championship back.
"A loss to Cheick would have been a pretty bad statement on my career," Mir said. "He was an opponent that I felt I had to come out and decisively smash to make a statement.

"If I had gone out there and won a three-round decision over Cheick Kongo, I don't know think that would have elevated my status."

In the first bout of the pay-per-view event, 6-foot-11 Stefan Struve used his reach and long legs to keep Paul Buentello at bay. Struve used a strategy of leg kicks in the third round to gain a majority decision, much to the dismay of the crowd, which booed the ruling. Two judges had the bout at 29-28, and the third scored it 28-28.

In the much anticipated lightweight fight between Clay Guida and Kenny Florian, Guida sustained a cut to the scalp in the first round, leading to a timeout as the doctor checked the cut before letting the match continue. Midway through the second round, Florian caught Guida with a right hand, sending him to the mat. From there, he pounded on the downed opponent before Guida tapped out on a rear naked choke.

PARIS (AFP) –
Tens of thousands of European travellers were stranded Sunday in rail stations, traffic jams and airports as heavy snow and ice caused massive disruption at the start of the Christmas holiday season.

At least 19 people froze to death, mainly in Poland and mostly homeless people or drinkers caught out in temperatures that were glacial across Europe, plunging as low as minus 33 Celsius (minus 27 Fahrenheit) in parts of Germany.

Forecasters across the continent are expecting more snow and freezing rain over the next couple of days, but with temperatures rising slightly and the outlook gradually improving in the run-up to Christmas Day on Friday.

Roads and railways were closed or disrupted by snow, black ice or floods across northern and western Europe from Portugal to the Netherlands, and flights from British, Belgian, Dutch, French and German airports delayed.

The most embarrassing scenes for transport operators hit cross-Channel transport between Britain and France, after the Eurostar passenger service from London to Paris was shut down following at least five breakdowns.

Eurostar, the operator of the Channel Tunnel passenger trains, admitted it could not say when services would resume, with more than 24,000 passengers attempting inter-city travel ahead of the Christmas break stranded.

The company said it would send test trains along the route to see if they can withstand the sub-zero temperatures in northern France, which are thought to have caused trains to break down in the tunnel late Friday.

"We did run two or three trains yesterday, they all got through the tunnel OK, but one or two of them showed symptoms of the problem that happened on Friday night," Eurostar director Richard Brown told the BBC.

French Euro MP Dominique Baudis said he would call for the European Commission to investigate after he and his family were among those stuck.

More than 2,000 passengers spent Friday night trapped in the undersea tunnel, some without anything to eat or drink. There were reports of heated disputes on board and some passengers bitterly criticised the company.

Approach roads to the ports of Dover and Calais were snarled by tail-backs because of heavy snow and queues of trucks waiting for delayed shuttle trains through the Channel Tunnel.

"Eurotunnel has advised us that waiting times are up to two hours at the terminal," Kent police Superintendent Matthew Nix said, warning car and truck drivers without reservations to stay away.

At Paris Charles de Gaulle airport 40 percent of flights were cancelled and the remaining services were leaving an average of one hour late, while the city's second airport Orly was the scene of a strike by security staff.

In the Belgian capital Brussels a flight was able to leave just after sunrise for Seville in Spain, but afterwards heavy snow forced authorities to halt all flights from airports in Brussels, Liege and Charleroi.

"We're putting everything into clearing the runway as quickly as possible, but it all depends on how the weather develops," a Brussels airport spokesman told AFP.

Heavy snowfall also closed Germany's third largest airport in the western city of Duesseldorf, authorities said, and in the Netherlands a dozen flights from Amsterdam Schipol were cancelled.

International Thalys trains between Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam were also delayed and Sunday football matches were cancelled as far south as Italy and across much of the north.

The weather problems in Europe came as the eastern United States experienced an even more ferocious snowstorm, which blanketed several states, paralysed transport and cut off power to hundreds of thousands of homes.

RIO DE JANEIRO – A 2-year-old Brazilian boy was recovering nicely Sunday and receiving support from across the country after surgery to remove sewing needles his stepfather confessed to pushing into him, a hospital official said.
The child faces additional surgery, probably in the next couple of days, to remove more of the dozens of needles that remain in his body, said Suzy Moreno, a spokeswoman for Hospital Ana Nery in the northeastern city of Salvador.
Police said the boy's stepfather has confessed to pushing the needles into the boy at the behest of his lover in an odd ritual aimed at keeping the couple together.
Moreno said hundreds of people across Brazil are contacting the hospital to inquire about the boy.
"Many people are coming by to bring Christmas presents," she said. "Many are also calling us to express their outrage. ... The support has been incredible."
Surgeons removed four of the needles — those considered most life-threatening — from one of the boy's lungs and near his heart during a nearly five-hour operation on Friday. The needles were up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) long, Moreno said.
Needles will be removed from his abdomen and spine in upcoming surgeries.
Police say 30-year-old bricklayer Roberto Carlos Magalhaes confessed to sticking the boy with needles because his lover told him to while she was in trances. The rituals were performed over the course of a month.
Police say they believe the lover, Angelina Ribeiro dos Santos, told Magalhaes the ritual would keep them together, but that she was really seeking revenge on Magalhaes' wife by having him hurt her son.
The bricklayer told detectives that dos Santos would enter into trances and give him commands to insert the needles, police inspector Helder Fernandes Santana said. The stepfather told police the rituals happened every few days for a full month, with him inserting several needles during each session.
Magalhaes and dos Santos were both arrested, though no charges had been filed as of Sunday. The two were taken to an undisclosed location for their own protection after a mob threw stones at the police station where they were being held.
Dos Santos is not believed to be a member of any religious or occult group, and authorities believe she came up with the idea on her own, Santana said.
The boy's mother, a maid, took him to her hometown hospital in Ibotirama, about 400 miles (650 kilometers) west of Salvador, on Dec. 10, saying he was complaining of pain. After X-rays revealed the source, he was transferred to Salvador's much larger hospital. His name is not being released because of his age.

Seat Covers

The lumbar is the region of the spine between the diaphragm and the pelvis; it supports the most weight and is the most flexible. The adjustable lumbar mechanisms in seats allow the user to change the seat back shape in this region, to make it more comfortable. Some seats are long enough to support full thigh.

A bucket seat is a seat contoured to hold one person, distinct from bench seats which are flat platforms designed to seat multiple people. Bucket seats are standard in fast cars to keep riders in place when making sharp or quick turns.

TORONTO – BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. surprised Wall Street on Thursday as it reported a 59 percent increase in third-quarter income, boosted by new subscribers and record sales of its smart phones.
More than 80 percent of the Canadian company's new subscribers were non-corporate customers, a sign of the BlackBerry's popularity among consumers amid intense competition from devices such as Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Palm Inc.'s Pre and Motorola Inc.'s Droid.
Shares surged more than 12 percent in after-hours trading.
After initially focusing on corporate customers, RIM has expanded its reach into the consumer market in recent years with such touch-screen models as the BlackBerry Storm. Two years ago, half of RIM's new subscribers were business customers. In the third quarter, they made up less than a fifth.
"The consumer side is growing real fast," co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie said on a conference call with analysts. "It's not like this isn't a competitive space with big companies trying to do well and yet we're No. 1."
RIM sold more than 10 million BlackBerry phones during the third quarter, beating the previous record of 8.3 million, set during the second quarter. By contrast, Apple shipped 7.4 million iPhones in the most recent quarter.
"This shows that RIM is as popular a device as it's ever been, selling more units than its largest competitor," said Duncan Stewart, director of research and analysis at DSam Consulting.
RIM is known for its popular messaging phones that some can't live without. Before he took office, President Barack Obama lobbied successfully to keep his BlackBerry despite security concerns.
But among investors there has been fears about RIM's future in recent months as the stock dropped more than 25 percent after its last earnings report. The BlackBerry's Web browser and phone apps are perceived to be less stellar than the iPhone's. Apple's stock has soared in recent months.
Verizon, a U.S. carrier estimated to represent about 28 percent of RIM revenue last quarter, recently launched a massive marketing campaign for Motorola's Droid smartphone. Verizon has historically heavily marketed the BlackBerry device.
Balsillie acknowledged Verizon is an important strategic partner.
"You can't force love," he said. "Some carriers are feeling quite concerned about how they maintain their relevance. We like to be an agent of that relevance for them."
Balsillie said RIM had its strongest quarter ever for growth outside of North America with 37 percent of revenue coming from overseas and approximately 35 percent of the BlackBerry subscriber base now located outside of North America.
He announced a partnership with China Telecom, a week after reaching a similar deal with China Mobile. He said RIM is considering China for manufacturing and research and development opportunities.
Balsillie reiterated that 100 percent of the handhelds sold one day will be smartphones.
IDC Canada analyst Kevin Restivo said RIM's results underscore the shift from cell phones to smartphones.
"The worldwide smartphone opportunity remains huge — RIM continues to capitalize on it," Restivo said.
RIM's better-than-expected report comes as BlackBerry users in North America faced delays in receiving e-mail on their devices Thursday. RIM said that technicians isolated and resolved the issue and that it is investigating the cause.

Users were still able to make phone calls, browse the Internet and send and receive text messages. RIM didn't say how many users were affected or how long the outage lasted. RIM said some customers may still experience delays as e-mail queues are processed.

RIM, which is based in Waterloo, Ontario, said Thursday that it earned $628.4 million, or $1.10 per share, in the quarter that ended Nov. 28. That compares with $396.3 million, or 69 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue was up 41 percent to $3.92 billion from $2.78 billion last year.

The company's performance surpassed the expectation of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who were expecting net income of $1.04 per share and revenue of $3.78 billion.

Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Adams, said RIM exceeded expectations throughout, and worries among media and analysts were unfounded.

"It continues to execute strongly," Misek said. "They significantly exceeded all metrics."

RIM said fourth-quarter revenue is expected to be in the range of $4.2 billion and $4.4 billion, beating analysts' expectation of $4.1 billion. The company also said gross margin is expected to be at 43.5 percent and earnings per share in the range of $1.23 to $1.31 per share.

Shares jumped $7.75 to $71.21 in after-hours trading Thursday. Before the release of results, shares dropped $1.21, or 1.9 percent, to close at $63.46.

TAMPA, Fla. – Penn State became the first team to win three straight volleyball titles Saturday night, overcoming a two-set deficit to beat Texas in five and extend its record winning streak to 102 straight games.
Megan Hodge led the Nittany Lions (38-0) with 21 kills, including the final one that touched off a wild celebration at midcourt.
"They just won three national championships in a row," Penn State coach Russ Rose said. "Not a lot of people have done stuff like that. Our seniors just willed us to the win."
Penn State's 22-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-13 win helped it stake a claim as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, volleyball team in NCAA history. And maybe one of the best college teams ever.
The winning streak is second in Division I team sports behind the Miami men's tennis program's 137 straight victories from 1957-64.
The Nittany Lions led 22-19 in the first set and were on the brink of going ahead early. Then Texas called timeout, regrouped and rallied for six straight points to put Penn State behind, an unfamiliar position during most of its incredible run.
The Nittany Lions had only lost six sets this season entering the final match, although one of those came in the semifinals against Hawaii, before dropping the first two to Texas.
But Penn State regained its serving prowess and cruised through the next two sets and had only a few miscues in the final set before closing out the Longhorns.
Destinee Hooker had a game-high 34 kills for Texas, which was trying to claim its first volleyball title since 1988.
But the Nittany Lions were just too much.
Penn State hasn't lost since falling to Stanford in September 2007.

Being a member of Congress rates as the least ethical and honest professions – faring worse than car salesmen by 4 percent – according to a new Gallup poll out Wednesday.
In a poll ranking how Americans view the honesty and ethical standards of 21 professions, Congressmen were rated as having a “low/very low” ethical standards by 55 percent of 1,017 adults across the nation. Only 9 percent said members of Congress have “high/very high” standards, while 35 percent gave the lawmakers an “average” rating.
Car salesmen were the only other professionals to get a “low/very low” rating by at least 50 percent of respondents, receiving 51 percent.
Senators ranked third lowest in the poll, earning a 49 percent “low/very low” ethical rating, beating out stockbrokers, 46 percent, and HMO managers at 43 percent.
Only 11 percent of respondents gave senators a “high/very high” ethical rating.
Nurses ranked as the most respected profession with an 83 percent positive rating. Following nurses were pharmacists at 66 percent, doctors at 65 percent, police officers at 63 percent and engineers, who received a 62 percent “high/very high” rating.
Governors were the only other political job polled, and ranked much higher than lawmakers in Washington. Only 15 percent said they had a “high/very high” opinion of governors, but 48 percent gave governors an “average” rating while 35 percent rated them as “low/very low."
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NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. – John Allen Ditullio is a walking billboard for the neo-Nazi movement: a large 6-inch swastika tattooed under his right ear, barbed wire inked down the right side of his face and an extreme and very personal vulgarity scrawled on one side of his neck.
Jurors will never seen any of it. A judge has ruled that the state must pay a cosmetologist up to $150 a day during Ditullio's trial on murder and attempted murder charges and apply makeup to cover up the black ink.
Judge Michael Andrews, acting on a request by Ditullio's lawyer, ruled that the tattoos are potentially offensive and could influence a jury's opinion in the state's death penalty case against the 23-year-old accused of donning a gas mask, breaking into a neighbor's home and stabbing two people, killing one of them.
Since his arrest in the March 26, 2006, crime in this suburban county just north of Tampa, the self-described neo-Nazi has added tattoos to his body that are prominently displayed and not easily concealed. Ditullio doesn't have the money to pay to have the tattoos covered up, said his public defender, Bjorn Brunvand, who was worried that a jury might be biased against his client on the basis of the tattoos alone.
"Whenever someone is facing the death penalty, they should get a fair trial," Brunvand said. "The jury can judge this case on the facts and the law and not base their decision on being offended."
Any tattoos Ditullio had before his arrest won't be covered, such as a small cross under his right eye. Earlier this week, he wore a neatly pressed blue shirt and gray slacks yet several tattoos on his hands and wrists were still visible.
As is common with defendants on trial, Ditullio's appearance had been scrubbed clean: his hair was trimmed, and his unruly beard was cut into a neat goatee.
The trial began Tuesday with opening statements. Proceedings are expected to stretch into next week.
Prosecutors allege that Ditullio broke into his neighbor's home and stabbed two people — injuring 44-year-old Patricia Wells, the home's owner, and killing Kristofer King, a 17-year-old visitor and friend of Wells' son.
Wells lived next door to a mobile home that was commonly known as "the Nazi compound," which had large swastika flags flying on the property, authorities said. Ditullio was arrested at the mobile home after a SWAT standoff.
Authorities called the stabbings a hate crime, and Wells agreed, previously telling local media that she believed Ditullio attacked her because she had a black friend — and because her own son was gay and Ditullio may have mistaken King for her son.
Brunvand said his client is innocent and plans to tell the jury that someone else inside the neo-Nazi compound could have committed the crime.
In 2007, while awaiting trial in the Pasco County Jail, Ditullio was charged with attempted escape; authorities found smuggled saw blades, sheets made into a rope and a hole sawed into the stainless steel toilet inside Ditullio's cell.
A similar case involving a tattoo makeover happened in Laredo, Texas, in 2007, when a teenage assassin for a powerful Mexican drug cartel was charged with murder. Rosalio Reta was charged with murder and wore makeup in the courtroom to cover his facial tattoos; he pleaded guilty to a 40-year sentence before the case actually went to the jury.
Covering tattoos for a trial is rare, said Michael Siegel, professor of law at the University of Florida, especially in a case like this when the content of the tattoos — neo-Nazi symbols — mesh with the facts of the case.
"The defendant did initially make the choice to communicate to the world through the tattoos on his body," said Siegel. "Now he's asking for protection from his own decisions."
Siegel said he believes the judge was trying to be "conservative" in his judgment in case the trial results are appealed.
"Judges bend over backwards to be fair," said Siegel. "It's human nature when you're a judge."

What doesn't bother Siegel, however, is the fact that taxpayers will foot the bill for the hourlong makeup session each morning before court proceedings begin.

"It's the responsibility of the taxpayers, whether we like it or not, to provide people with a fair trial," he said. "And it costs a lot of money."

NEW YORK – AT&T says it is boosting its top available broadband speeds in Austin, Texas, San Antonio and St. Louis in preparation for a wider rollout.
The company says its new U-verse High Speed Internet Max Turbo tier will provide downloads at up to 24 megabits per second and uploads at up to 3 megabits per second.
The new tier will be available where AT&T Inc. has upgraded its phone lines to carry its U-Verse TV and data service. Max Turbo will cost residential customers $65 per month when bundled with TV.
Previously, the top download speed available on U-Verse was 18 megabits per second.

TUESDAY, Dec. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Certain dietary supplements
appear to affect the development of colorectal cancer or its recurrence,
two new studies suggest.

In one study, researchers from the U.S. National Institute for
Environmental Health Sciences found that eating a diet high in omega-3
fatty acids cut the risk of developing colorectal cancer by nearly 40
percent. In the other study, from cancer researchers in Italy, consumption
of a dietary supplement containing selenium was found to reduce the
chances of having polyps recur by a similar amount.

Both studies were to be presented Dec. 7 in Houston at a conference on
cancer prevention sponsored by the American Association for Cancer
Research.

In the selenium study, 411 people, 25 to 75 years old, who'd had one or
more colorectal polyps removed took either a supplement or a placebo. The
supplement, described as an antioxidant compound, contained 200 micrograms
of selenomethionnine (a combination of selenium and methionnine), 30
milligrams of zinc, 6,000 international units of vitamin A, 180 milligrams
of vitamin C and 30 milligrams of vitamin E.

Participants had a colonoscopy one year, three years and five years
after starting the regimen.

Polyps recurred in 4.2 percent of those taking the supplement, compared
with 7.2 percent of the placebo group. Overall, the study found, people
taking the supplement had about a 40 percent reduction in risk for a
return of polyps.

The researchers estimated that, after 15 years, about 48 percent of
those taking the supplement would still be free of polyps, versus about 30
percent of those not taking the supplement.

Polyps, or adenoma, are benign growths on the large bowel. Though only
a small proportion progress to become cancer, about 70 to 80 percent of
colorectal cancer cases begin as polyps, according to the American
Association for Cancer Research. About one in four people, most older than
60, will have at least one adenoma.

Selenium is found in soil, and human consumption comes by eating plants
that have absorbed the nutrient or fish or animals that have eaten plants
as part of their diet. "The content of selenium in the food depends on the
soil content of this trace element, and in the same country there are
areas at high, adequate or low content of selenium in the soil," said the
study's lead author, Dr. Luigina Bonelli, head of the unit of secondary
prevention and screening at the National Institute for Cancer Research in
Genoa, Italy.

Earlier research had suggested that selenium can inhibit cell
proliferation in the colon and rectum, Bonelli said.

Michele Forman, a professor of epidemiology at the M.D. Anderson
Cancer Center in Houston, said that, though the findings are interesting,
it's impossible to tell if the benefit was attributable to the selenium or
to the other vitamins and minerals included in the supplement.

"You really don't know if it's the selenium or some combination that
reduces risk of recurrence," Forman said.

In addition, the daily dosages of vitamins A and E taken by the
participants were higher than the recommended daily allowances, Forman
added. High levels of such vitamins can be detrimental, she said.

In the omega-3 study, U.S. researchers surveyed 1,509 whites and 369
blacks about their dietary habits in the past year. About half of the
participants had colorectal cancer.

Among the white participants, those whose diets were in the highest
fourth of omega-3 fatty acid consumption were 39 percent less likely to
have colorectal cancer than those in the lowest fourth. However, for
reasons the authors said they did not know, no association was noted
between omega-3s and a reduction of colorectal cancer risk among black
participants. The disease occurs at a higher rate among blacks than
whites.

"Our finding clearly supports the evidence from previous experimental
and clinical studies showing that long-chain omega-3 fatty acids inhibit
tumor growth," said the study's lead author, Sangmi Kim, a postdoctoral
fellow at the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in
Research Triangle Park, N.C.

Kim said the research supports boosting omega-3 intake through diet or
perhaps by taking an omega-3 supplement. Omega-3 fatty acids are found in
fish, especially oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, herring, anchovies,
sardines and tuna. Plant-based sources include flax and flaxseed oil,
Brussels sprouts, soybeans and soybean oil, canola oil, spinach, walnuts
and kiwi.

Previous studies have suggested that omega-3 fatty acids act as
anti-inflammatory agents and help prevent cancer. But in the new study,
Forman noted, participants were asked about their diets after they had
been diagnosed with colorectal cancer so it's possible that their
recollections were not fully accurate.

In addition, she said, it's possible that the benefit was not the
result of omega-3s. Those who ate more fish might have had a healthier
diet overall, she said.

"Were they eating a salmon-and-broccoli diet or a
hamburger-and-french-fry diet?" Forman asked. "We don't know enough to
say that it's truly the effect of the omega-3s."

More information

The American Association for Cancer Research has more on colorectal cancer.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) –
Taliban militants on Wednesday dynamited two boys' schools in Pakistan's Khyber district, where troops are pressing an offensive against Islamist insurgents, an official said.

The attacks took place in Bara town, about 20 kilometres (13 miles) south of the regional capital Peshawar, with most of the buildings reduced to rubble but no one injured in the blasts in the early hours of the morning.

Pakistan is currently in the grip of a fierce Taliban insurgency, with 68 people killed in bombs across the country in the past three days alone as militants avenge multiple operations against them in the lawless northwest.

"Both main school buildings were completely destroyed," said Shafeerullah Wazir, the top administrative official of Khyber district, adding that only two classrooms remained standing in the adjacent schools.

Wazir said that militants buried large quantities of dynamite around the outer walls of the government-run high school and primary school.

"Both Taliban and Lashkar-e-Islam people are involved in this act," he said.

Pakistani troops launched an offensive in Khyber district -- which straddles Peshawar and Afghanistan -- in September to try and flush out both the Taliban and homegrown militant group Lashkar-e-Islam (Army of Islam).

Bara is close to Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province, which has been hit by a series of bombings in recent months, with a suicide blast on October 28 killing 125 people in the worst attack in two years.

Islamist militants opposed to co-education have destroyed hundreds of schools, mostly for girls, in the northwest of the country in recent years.

Nearly 200 schools were destroyed in the Swat valley alone during a two-year Taliban uprising to enforce sharia law in a district once favoured by Western tourists for its ski slopes and bracing mountain air.

Pakistan's military is engaged in offensives against Islamist fighters across much of the northwest including the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, a region branded by Washington as the most dangerous place on earth.

About 30,000 troops poured into South Waziristan in mid October to try and dismantle the strongholds of the Taliban leadership, enraging militants who have responded with a surge in bomb blasts and attacks.

On Monday, blasts in Peshawar and the eastern city of Lahore killed 59 people, then on Tuesday two suicide attackers detonated a car bomb near the offices of Pakistan's main spy agency in eastern Multan, killing nine.

A fierce Islamist insurgency has killed more than 2,670 people in attacks in Pakistan mostly blamed on the Taliban in the last two-and-a-half years.

The definition of a dog breed is a matter of some controversy. Depending on the size of the original founding population, closed gene pool breeds can have problems with inbreeding, specifically due to the founder effect. Dog breeders are increasingly aware of the importance of population genetics and of maintaining diverse gene pools. Health testing and new DNA tests can help avoid problems, by providing a replacement for natural selection. Without selection, inbreeding and closed gene pools can increase the risk of severe health or behavioral problems.

Modern dog breeds show more variation in size, appearance, and behavior than any other domestic animal. Within the range of extremes, dogs generally share attributes with their wild ancestors, the wolves. Dogs are predators and scavengers, possessing sharp teeth and strong jaws for attacking, holding, and tearing their food. Although selective breeding has changed the appearance of many breeds, all dogs retain basic traits from their distant ancestors. Like many other predatory mammals, the dog has powerful muscles, fused wristbones, a cardiovascular system that supports both sprinting and endurance, and teeth for catching and tearing. Unlike humans which are plantigrade, dogs are digitigrade.

Dog Gates

Fort Worth Fence

Servitudes are legal arrangements of land use arising out of private agreements. Under the feudal system, most land in England was cultivated in common fields, where peasants were allocated strips of arable land that were used to support the needs of the local village or manor. By the sixteenth century the growth of population and prosperity provided incentives for landowners to use their land in more profitable ways, dispossessing the peasantry. Common fields were aggregated and enclosed by large and enterprising farmers -- either through negotiation among one another or by lease from the landlord -- to maximize the productivity of the available land and contain livestock. Fences redefined the means by which land is used, resulting in the modern law of servitudes.

In the United States, the earliest settlers claimed land by simply fencing it in. Later, as the American government formed, unsettled land became technically owned by the government and programs to register land ownership developed, usually making raw land available for low prices or for free, if the owner improved the property, including the construction of fences.

PRISTINA, Kosovo – European Union police in Kosovo said Monday a man claiming to be a hit man for former ethnic Albanian rebels has been arrested on suspicion of murder and participation in organized crime.
Christophe Lamfalussy, spokesman for the EU police and justice mission known as EULEX, said the man, who identified himself as Nazim Bllaca, will appear before a judge on Tuesday.
Bllaca, whose video-recorded confession was aired on Kosovo media over the weekend, claimed he planned the executions of fellow ethnic Albanians suspected of collaborating with Serbia's regime, senior politicians from a rival political party and war crime witnesses in the aftermath of the 1998-99 Kosovo war. He carried out some of the killing himself, he said.
He says he acted on orders from former senior ethnic Albanian rebel commanders, some of whom are now part of Kosovo's government. Bllaca was a member of the now disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army that fought Serbia in an independence war.
His arrest is bound to further strain the fragile coalition of ruling ethnic Albanian political parties that has suffered a setback following last month's local poll. No clear winners emerged, and the main political rivals face a mid-December run off in elections for mayors and local councils in most of Kosovo's 36 municipalities.
The governing coalition is made up of Prime Minister Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo, and its junior partner, Democratic League of Kosovo of late pacifist President Ibrahim Rugova.
The two were, in the past, bitter political rivals, and the coalition deal struck in 2007 was hailed as a breakthrough between the former fighters and moderate forces that advocated peaceful resistance.