Nashville, Season 1

Every week in?Slate?s?Nashville TV club, Katy Waldman will have an IM conversation with a different?Nashville?fan. This week, she rehashes episode 1.14 with June Thomas,?a?Slate?culture critic.

June Thomas: Hey Katy! Sorry to be late checking in. I replayed Rayna's song and lost track of time. I've never done that before!

Katy?Waldman: You?re forgiven! It?was?pretty haunting.

Thomas: I kind of loved it, though my enjoyment was tempered somewhat by trying to figure out if it was insensitive to sing it to a recovering alcoholic (?Pour me something stronger than me?) or a sign of how well they knew each other. Anyways,?I just bought it. First time I've done that with a TV song since Mercedes sang "Break the Windows Out Your Car" in Season 1 of Glee!

Waldman: Is it just me, or was this episode particularly musical? Everybody sang: Juliette, Scarlett and Gunnar, Rayna (with assists from Pam Tillis and Kate York)?

Thomas: That's right! It's funny, at the beginning of the episode, I was thinking that it was foolish of the producers to give all the good songs (that is, all the songs I like most) to Scarlett and Gunnar, since they're the rookies of the show, and then Rayna goes and sings my favorite of the whole season.

Waldman: It's always strange and a bit goofy when Scarlett and Gunnar perform and an awed hush descends on the room.?

Thomas:?Yep, the way everyone?real-life stars that even a country know-nothing me recognized as Music City royalty?was nodding and whispering, "They're the real deal" when they played at the Bluebird Cafe was kind of ridiculous. But at the same time...undeniable!

Waldman: Yes! There's a fatedness to those two, or at least, I think fate plays a role on the show. Especially this week, with the themes of birth and death. But Gunnar and Scarlett almost seem "destined for greatness," unbelievably cheesy as that sounds.

Thomas:?Or perhaps it was all about how important a moment can be. There was a lot about families?how the people closest to you can either support and love you unconditionally, or let you down. Or sometimes both. Jolene failed Juliette when she was 9. Teddy lied and left Rayna with the press on her tail. Gunnar? He loved Jason and tried to do the right thing by him, but that kinda sorta maybe led to Jason being killed. Or Jolene breaks her sobriety and Juliette misses her chance to sing in front of that amazing crowd because she has to take her home. Things turn on a dime. The only love you can trust is from your yeller pup. If the cops had come for Gunnar just a few minutes earlier, he'd have missed his big chance. That's fate, I think.

Waldman: What did you make of Jason's death, the first mortality on?Nashville?

Thomas: It shocked me. After the great trio the three of them played a few episodes ago, I had a vision of that little m?nage as the next Lady Antebellum. But apparently that act is destined to be a duet.

I was even more shocked by the post-death makeout sesh, though. Is that a rational response to your collaborator, roommate, and friend hearing devastating news?

Waldman: That scene was thoroughly weird. Not only did the sexy stuff feel all wrong, tonally, but Scarlett isway?too tender-hearted to consider nookie on such a grief-drenched occasion. The real Scarlett would have just sat there weeping sugar-water.

Thomas: Yes, I wondered if we're supposed to think that in all the hours she spent staring at her phone wondering what had happened to Gunnar, she realized how she really felt about him, but even if they'd sold that version of events?and they didn't?it felt all wrong.

Waldman: The adorable cupcake magic, on the other hand, was pure Scarlett.??

Thomas: That's the second show to pull that cupcake trick in the last month or so?was?New?Girl?the other? It has given me a complex about my retro cupcake-eating ways.

Waldman: I eat them the traditional way too. I don?t need frosting in every bite.

Thomas: Once again, the city politics plot managed to find at least 10 ways to be ridiculous. It's the equivalent ofDownton's?Bates in jail?so boring that it's better to ignore it. But let's just stick to one doozy: So the recently defeated Coleman would, within moments of getting the nonsensical request from the guy who played dirty to beat him, accept the position of deputy mayor? Even if Coleman thought Teddy was destined to leave office early (and divorcing Queen of Hearts Rayna James surely means he'd be a one-term mayor), that wouldn't be worth the humiliation.

Waldman: The point, though, was vindication of Teddy's character, rather than development of Coleman's, right? We're supposed to see Teddy turning over a new leaf, finding his integrity as a politician (ha), patching up the mess Lamar made.

Thomas: I might be a little more open to that interpretation if he hadn't just named his mistress to a Cabinet position.

Thomas:?The man's a snake. And since he's now taken it upon himself to get into a feud with Lamar, he's apparently a dumb snake.

Waldman: Well, Peggy?s pretty assertive. When?s the last time you?ve seen a randy TV character kick the door closed unironically?

Thomas: That was totally to provide a cheesy still for the jacket of the DVD release. Speaking of on-the-nose framing devices, how about poor Avery. Dude is on the outside looking in on the other happy, smiley people. Literally.

Waldman: Allow me to voice my profound critical thoughts on Avery. Glad I?m not you, Avery! It?s not that he?s squandered all our sympathy by being a jerk?he?s suffered enough to win some of it back, theoretically?but he?s got just one note, the hungry, brooding, narcissistic artist note, and for me it?s not terribly interesting.

Thomas: On the other hand, the Jolene story line saddens me. It has so much potential, and occasional moments of transcendence, but a lot of the time it feels totally rote. I bought her relapse?she's so new to sobriety, she's at a party with flowing booze (which is maybe more than a little insensitive given Deacon's well-publicized recovery), no one is paying her any mind. I can see her joining in on the toast to the man who saved her life. A little less convincing, though, is the boozy amends for Juliette's thwarted ninth birthday party. Or her sponsor who makes house calls.

Waldman: Donate! The gift that could keep on giving. His prettiness and the intimate moment in which he listens to Juliette sing made me worry that he and the younger Barnes may hook up. Hopefully he is just there to elicit revelations, such as the detail about the burning cigarette that Juliette put out to (grudgingly) save her mother?s life.

Thomas: That's what frustrates me about the Jolene/Juliette relationship. There are moments that are convincingly truthful and real. I understand why Juliette is so cold and guarded with her mother?and I applaud the show for being faithful to that story line even though it goes against the whole mom and apple pie thing. And I agree, remembering that moment when she chose to save Jolene was really powerful. But there's just something that holds me back from connecting.

Maybe I'm channeling my inner Juliette, angry at Jolene's pathetic weakness and hurt by her inability to play her role. Jolene is supposed to be looking after Juliette, and that hasn't been true since, well, at least since Juliette was 9.

Waldman: That's an interesting thought. I was going to suggest that the thing holding me back, at least, was Juliette's occasional abrasiveness. I can't quite invest fully in the storyline because sometimes Juliette turns into a horrible person I can't (don't want to) relate to. I don?t wish for another Scarlett, but it gets painful, watching Juliette reject her mother again and again.

Thomas: See, in the great game of "Which Nashville Character Are You?" I'm a Juliette. Thank goodness you're a Rayna.

Waldman: Phew! Glad you didn?t say I was Avery, after all.

Maybe this goes along with ?Dear Brother? being a particularly musical episode, but it also struck me as an especially moody one, more atmospheric than dramatic. That?s not to say I didn?t enjoy it, but it didn?t seem to hold a lot of surprises (despite its surprise party). The whole thing felt pensive, subdued, melancholy.

Thomas:?I felt the same way. Which is odd, right, given that we had Jason killed. S + G hooking up, and what I thought was the best song of the season.

About that song, too: Even though I really liked it, it didn't work in a musical sense. That is, I didn't know what Rayna was expressing. Sure, she loves Deacon, she finds him a challenge, but she'll be there for him. But we already knew that. If Nashville were a piece of musical theater, and in a sense it is, you'd want the mood of that song to act as a catalyst for a big change between those characters. A deeper connection, a rupture, something. But I couldn't read the vibe clearly.

Waldman: Maybe because it was just her singing to him. We don't know how it affected him or his feelings for her. I guess they did reconcile by the episode?s end, though that seemed more a function of the divorce than Rayna?s performance.

Of course, if the songs characters sing for each other reveal things about their relationship, it's also probably significant that Juliette was prevented from singing for Deacon at all.

Thomas: Yes?and Juliette was thinking about preventing Rayna from singing. "We'll see. I'll let you know," she said.

Waldman:?Poor Rayna. Can you imagine anything more stressful than going grocery shopping with sister Tammy? I kept waiting for her to micromanage every piece of food Rayna put in the cart. It distracted me from the sisterly Real Talk.

Thomas: That shopping expedition was even more ridiculous than the Nashville politics plot. And couldn't the writers have done better than "COUNTRY QUEEN & MR. MAYOR CALL IT QUITS!" Seriously so-so.

Waldman: You mean: ?Charming!?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=fd70229b7193bdc97e9d3b67e9cfd99d

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Environmental Concerns Reach Fever Pitch over Plan to Link Red Sea to Dead Sea

Controversies linger over the drinking water project's impact, which could result in hard-to-manage algal blooms or gypsum crystals in the Dead Sea

By Josie Glausiusz and Nature magazine

A planned pipeline would deliver water from the Red Sea (center below) to the inland Dead Sea (center) to stem its rapid disappearance. Image: NASA

An ambitious plan to build a pipeline to carry water from the Red Sea to the shrinking Dead Sea lurched forward this month, after the World Bank held hearings to gather public comments on the proposal. But environmentalists charge that alternative plans to save the Dead Sea would be cheaper, more flexible and would have less impact on the region?s ecosystems.

If the project proceeds, a 180-kilometer buried pipeline will carry up to 2 billion cubic meters (m³) of sea water per year from the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea through Jordanian territory to the Dead Sea.

The Dead Sea is world's lowest inland area. Proposals have been put forward to set up the pipeline so that the downward flow of the water goes through a hydroelectric plant that would in turn power a desalination plant, providing up to 850 million m³ of fresh water per year to the parched region. Brine from the desalination plant would be discharged into the already-saline Dead Sea, replenishing water that is evaporating from the lake at a rate of more than 1 meter per year.

The estimated cost of the project would be at least US$10 billion, of which about $2 billion would be for facilities that would pump the desalinated water from the Dead Sea towards Amman ? a distance of 200 kilometers, and a difference in altitude of 1,000 meters.

Public discourse
The World Bank in the past two weeks held public forums on the proposal in six cities across the three regions affected by the plan: Amman and Aqaba in Jordan; Eilat and Jerusalem in Israel; and Ramallah and Jericho in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The meetings came after the publication last year of three major reports ? a feasibility study, an environmental and social assessment and a study of alternatives to the controversial project.

Alex McPhail, team leader for the World Bank's Red Sea?Dead Sea study program, presented the three reports at the cacophonous Jerusalem hearing. McPhail said that the environmental and social assessment, led by the Environmental Resources Management, an international consultancy, indicates that ?all potential major environmental and social impacts can be mitigated to acceptable levels? ? with one notable exception.

Studies indicate that if more than 400 million m³ of sea water is added to the Dead Sea, the body of water could be afflicted with algal blooms or the formation of gypsum crystals, with effects that could be difficult to predict. But that amount of water or more is needed to stabilize or raise the level of the Dead Sea.

The environmental outcome of mixing Red Sea water into the Dead Sea is one of the project?s biggest stumbling blocks, according to the conduit?s biggest opponent, Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME), which is headquartered in Amman.

Ways to water
FoEME favors exploring alternative ways of getting drinking water to the region and saving the Dead Sea. These include increasing water recycling and conservation by Israel and Jordan; importing water from Turkey; and desalinating sea water on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea or at Aqaba, then discharging the brine into the Dead Sea and pumping the fresh water directly to Amman.

Pumping desalinated Mediterranean sea water across Israel to Amman ?almost certainly would be cheaper? than pumping it across Jordanian territory, says David Meehan, team leader for the feasibility study. ?But my perception is that it would be hugely unpopular in Jordan. Basically Israel would control the tap on the water supply to Amman.?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=658359d3b835e5e045e4ca71a827af8c

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'Stormin' Norman' to be laid to rest at West Point

One of the most celebrated generals of the 20th Century, Norman Schwarzkopf is being lauded by presidents and military leaders as a true patriot. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News

Norman Schwarzkopf, the general who commanded the 30-country coalition that drove Saddam Hussein?s forces out of Kuwait, will be laid to rest on Thursday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. A 1956 graduate of the military academy, ?Stormin? Norman? will be buried after a memorial service at the West Point chapel.

The Desert Storm commander with a tough-as-tacks reputation died on Dec. 27 in Tampa, Fla., of complications from pneumonia. He was 78.

Schwarzkopf served two tours in Vietnam, staying on after a conflict that left many former brothers-in-arms disillusioned with the military.

He was appointed commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa in 1988. In 1990, he took command of the U.S.-led forces that drove back Hussein?s forces in Operation Desert Storm.

It was the first war televised in real time, and Schwarzkopf, a bulldog clad in desert camouflage, used his TV appearances to send a message to his adversary.

?With those cameras grinding away, I knew I wasn?t talking just to friendly audiences, but that Saddam and his bully boys were watching me on CNN in their headquarters,? Schwarzkopf wrote in his 1992 autobiography.

For the most part, Schwarzkopf receded from public life after Desert Storm, apart from a brief term as a military analyst for NBC. He lived out his retirement in Tampa, emerging to campaign for the re-election of President George W. Bush in 2004.

Schwarzkopf ?stood tall for the country and Army he loved,? President Obama said in a statement on the general?s passing in December.

The general will be buried near his father in the West Point cemetery. Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf was a 1917 graduate of the military academy who went on to help found the New Jersey State Police.

?I just would be very happy if the history books said that I was a soldier who served his country with honor and loved his troops and loved his family,? Schwarzkopf once said. ?That?s enough for me.?

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/28/17130970-stormin-norman-desert-storm-commander-to-be-laid-to-rest-at-west-point?lite

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US stocks keep sliding on weak data, Fed qualms

Maureen Smaldone, a trader for Brendan E. Cryan and Company, monitor trading activity from her workstation at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Stock market indexes flipped between small gains and losses early after the U.S. government reported that housing construction slowed down during the first month of the year. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Maureen Smaldone, a trader for Brendan E. Cryan and Company, monitor trading activity from her workstation at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Stock market indexes flipped between small gains and losses early after the U.S. government reported that housing construction slowed down during the first month of the year. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

U.S. stocks continued a two-day slide Thursday on weak economic data and concern about the Federal Reserve's resolve to keep juicing the market.

European stocks were sharply lower a day after U.S. stocks sustained some of their steepest declines this year. A monthly survey of European executives showed that business activity in the European Union slowed in February, a strong signal that a downturn that began last year will continue into 2013.

France's CAC 40 index fell 2.3 percent. Germany's DAX fell 1.9 percent, and in London, the FTSE 100 dropped 1.6 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was on track for its first weekly decline since December.

Signaling that the U.S. labor market remains in slow recovery mode, the government said more people applied for unemployment benefits last week. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose to the highest in six weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 50 points to 13,877 shortly before noon Eastern time. The S&P 500 index dropped eight to 1,504. The Nasdaq composite index lost 26 to 3,138.

The indexes have soared this year to their highest levels since the financial crisis, but may be ready to fall back to earth, said Kim Caughey Forrest, senior analyst with Fort Pitt Capital Group, a portfolio management firm in Pittsburgh.

"I think the market has gotten ahead of itself," she said. She said fourth-quarter earnings have generally met expectations, but only after those expectations were reduced when companies made dire projections in November and December.

Wal-Mart Stores rose after beating analysts' profit forecasts in the fourth quarter. However, the biggest retailer warned of a slow start to the year. It gained $2.11 cents, or 3 percent, to $71.32.

After a strong start to the holiday season, Wal-Mart said, the first three weeks of December were weak, and business has been volatile since then. The company attributed some of what it is seeing to a delay in tax refund checks that have left people strapped for cash. Wal-Mart's customers also have less money to spend because a temporary payroll tax cut expired in December.

"Everybody's gotten a 2 percent pay cut, and people who file their taxes early are not getting a refund back in a timely manner," Forrest said.

Supermarket chain Safeway was the biggest gainer in the S&P 500, rising $3.37, or 17 percent, to $23.50 after saying its net income jumped 13 percent in the fourth quarter, helped by higher gift and prepaid card revenue.

Electric car company Tesla Motors plunged after a day after reporting that its fourth-quarter net loss grew 10 percent on costs related to production of its new Model S. The stock fell $3.74, or 10 percent to $34.80.

Asian stocks closed sharply lower. The sell-off began Wednesday afternoon in New York after the release of minutes from the Fed's latest meeting. The meeting notes showed that some policymakers want to wind down bond purchases and other measures aimed at boosting the economy.

The minutes revealed new divisions over the Fed's low-interest rate policies. There is no sign of inflation, yet there was more evidence that some Fed officials are ready to ease off the stimulus programs before the economy has fully recovered.

The Fed's bond-buying has been boosting markets by reducing the cost of borrowing for companies and investors, Forrest explained. When interest rates are lower, it's possible to do business cheaper even if a company isn't growing, she said.

"Thinking maybe interest rates will creep higher, this is a very chilling scenario" for the market, she said.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.98 percent from 2.05 percent early Wednesday as demand increased for ultra-safe assets.

___

Daniel Wagner can be reached at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-21-Wall%20Street/id-041a3000f63b409d95f85cc765067ca2

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Symantec Publishes Q&A on the Chinese APT1 Campaign

Following the report issued by security firm Mandiant on APT1, the massive cyber espionage campaign allegedly launched by the Chinese military, Symantec has come forward to provide some clarifications, but also to reassure customers that they?re protected against the threat.

The company has released a Q&A in which it details the Comment Crew, the hacker group that?s believed to be behind APT1.

Symantec reports that the spear phishing emails sent by the cybercriminals usually contain attachments entitled something like this:

- ArmyPlansConferenceOnNewGCVSolicitation.pdf
- Chinese Oil Executive Learning From Experience.doc
- ?My Eight-year In Bank Of America.pdf

The industries targeted by the Comment Crew are IT, finance, energy, aerospace, manufacturing, media, telecoms, transportation and public services. The most targeted countries appear to be the US and India, but pieces of malware used by the Comment Crew have also been spotted in Russia, and other locations.

Additional details about APT1 and information on what threats are blocked by Symantec products are available here.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Symantec-Publishes-Q-A-on-the-Chinese-APT1-Campaign-331047.shtml

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Strange but true stories from Academy Awards past

(Reuters) - The Academy Awards are usually tightly scripted events, but sometimes even Oscar gets a taste of the unexpected. Here are some of the curious moments when things veered off course on the red carpet.

REFUSING OSCAR

A few Oscar winners have felt compelled to turn down their prizes over the years. The first was screenwriter Dudley Nichols, who refused his Best Screenwriter award for "The Informer" in 1936 because of conflicts between the Screen Writers Guild and the Academy. Marlon Brando famously sent a proxy to refuse his 1972 Best Actor Oscar for "The Godfather" on his behalf (and to deliver a 15-page speech on Hollywood's mistreatment of Native Americans while she was there).

The all-time greatest rejection, though, goes to George C. Scott, who denounced his Best Actor nomination for "Patton," calling the awards "offensive, barbarous and innately corrupt." Scott was quoted as calling the ceremonies "a two-hour meat parade, a public display with contrived suspense for economic reasons." When he won the award, he was 3,000 miles away at home, watching a hockey game on TV. Brilliantly, Scott's high moral tone was strangely absent when, two years later, he let it be known that if the Academy felt like nominating him for Best Director for "Rage," he wouldn't object. Unsurprisingly, they didn't much feel like it.

Ten years later, Scott was so keen on the idea of an offensively barbarous two-hour meat parade that he bought last-minute tickets for the 1982 ceremony, and would have gotten away without incident had he not been spotted by a columnist from Variety and heckled on the red carpet.

A LONG WALK TO THE STAGE

Hattie McDaniel was the first African-American to win an Academy Award, for her portrayal of Mammy in the 1939 film "Gone With The Wind" - as mentioned by George Clooney in his 2006 "Isn't Hollywood progressive?" Oscars speech. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqDbG9h-f7c ) What he didn't mention was that, while the rest of the cast and crew of "Gone with the Wind" sat at a big table together, McDaniel and her companion were seated at a table for two in the back of the room, as the Ambassador Hotel was still segregated. And it was from all the way at the back of the room that she had to walk to accept her award with, one has to say, a very gracious speech under the circumstances. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7t4pTNZshA ) So, progressive, but not all that progressive, eh, George?

MINISKIRT BAN

In her 1967 classic "How to Dress for Success," Oscar-winning designer Edith Head said, "Even the most beautiful legs - Marlene Dietrich's, for instance - look better when the kneecap is covered." To back up the sentiment, Head, who served as a special adviser to the Academy, banned miniskirts from the 40th Academy Awards in 1967, saving the nation from the indignity of knees it suffered in 1966 (like the shocking mid-leg areas of Inger Stevens: http://www.ingerstevens.org/images2.html - although to be fair, that IS more of a swimsuit than evening wear).

THE STREAKER

Daring to show a little more leg (and a lot more of everything else) than even the poor, oppressed miniskirt lovers of 1967 was Robert Opel, who in 1974 became the only person to have appeared naked onstage at the Oscars. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IIl3zSYL8k ) Sadly, he wasn't a daring nominee, or even a presenter - just some guy who really liked being naked. "Isn't it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off his clothes and showing his shortcomings," quipped David Niven, securing his place in dictionaries of hilarious quips forevermore. Of course, it was later suggested that the streak had been arranged by the producers to spice up a boring run of ceremonies, and that Niven has been seen to borrow a pencil to note down his spontaneous line before the show had even begun, but it's far more fun to believe the opposite.

THERE'S NO HOSTING LIKE ... WELL, NO HOSTING

There have been good hosts, bad hosts, really bad hosts and really, really bad hosts, but the all-time worst ceremony was one with no host. Few people who saw the 1989 awards show's opening number - a duet between an actress playing Snow White and non-singer Rob Lowe - will ever forget it. ... no matter how much they might want to, or how hard they might try. It wasn't the first time the show had gone without a host; there was a three-year run in the late '60s after Bob Hope's tenure, when no one could follow his masterful act. But 1989 was the last time that happened.

BANNED!

After the Academy caught wind of Sasha Baron Cohen's plan to turn up dressed as his leading role in "The Dictator," rumors flew in the weeks leading up to the 2012 Oscars that Baron Cohen would be barred from the ceremony. The Academy, however, said he had never been banned, just warned that the red carpet was no place for stunts. Apparently, Baron Cohen didn't get the message; he arrived in full costume, carrying an urn containing, he said, the ashes of Kim Jong-il, which he then proceeded to spill over Ryan Seacrest before being escorted off the premises. Actual bans from the Oscars are harder to come by - but not impossible. Just ask Nicholas Chartier, who was reportedly the first nominee ever to fall that far afoul of Oscar, for sending an email to a group of people including Academy members encouraging them to support the film he produced ("The Hurt Locker") and disparaging another nominated film. (http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/03/entertainment/la-et-chartier3-2010mar03 )

VALUE OF THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS STATUETTE: $1

Much to the disappointment of some faded stars, there's no profit to be made from an old Oscar. Since 1950, the Academy has made every recipient of the little golden man sign a "winner's agreement." If you fall out of love with fame and one day wish to sell you statuette, you have to offer it to the Academy first for $1. That doesn't mean that Oscars never surface in auctions - Steven Spielberg has spent more than $1.1 million on two used pre-winner's-agreement Oscars - Clark Gable's in 1996 and Bette Davis' in 2001, in order to return them to the Academy. There's nothing someone with a shelf of real Golden Men likes less than someone else trying to buy their way into the club.

THE SHIFTING STATUETTE

The modern award is 13.5 inches high, weighs 8.5 pounds (3.85 kilograms) and is made of gold-plated britannium, a pewter-like alloy, on a black metal base. But it has not always been so. Before World War Two, the base was stone; during the war, statuettes were made of plaster as a nod to the war effort (though winners could swap them for metal ones once the war was over).

Until the 1950s, child actors who won Oscars were given miniature statuettes. This was not because they were too tiny and weak to carry the big ones off the stage but because it was thought unfair to the adults that they would have to compete with kids.

When ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and his dummy Charlie McCarthy got an honorary Oscar in 1938, he was given a wooden Oscar statuette with a movable mouth.

AUSTERITY OSCARS

In 1944, as part of the war effort, the Academy took the 16th Academy Awards to Grauman's Chinese Theater, the first time for the Oscars in a big public venue. Men and women in uniform were given free tickets for the ceremony, and in a show of solidarity some were given seats on the stage. However, as this video will attest, some of them did look a little bored. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bxTD6KWO5Y )

THE OSCARS' OSCAR

The late Walt Disney currently holds the record for winning the most, with 26 awards given to him personally (22 Oscars, three Special Awards and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award).

On the flip side, sound re-recording mixer - it's a real job, apparently - Kevin O'Connell has been named the Oscar's most unlucky nominee, having been nominated 20 times without winning.

Meanwhile, there has only ever been one Oscar to win an Oscar. Songwriter Oscar Hammerstein II, fittingly, won two.

(Reporting By Anna Pickard; Editing by Arlene Getz, Kathy Jones and Douglas Royalty)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/strange-true-stories-academy-awards-past-163545729.html

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Content Marketing Skills: 50 Things Every Content Marketer Should ...

By Elisa Gabbert February 19, 2013 Posted In: Copywriting Comments: 6

Fancy yourself a content marketer, or want to become one? Here?s a big fat list of the content marketing skills and tactics you should know before you apply for that content marketer job or update the title on your business cards.

1. Good grammar and proper use of punctuation ? Hopefully you learned this in school. If you weren?t paying any attention, it?s not too late. You can pick up a lot just from reading voraciously ? like how the mermaid in Splash learned English from watching TV. I also recommend picking up a basic writing manual, because it would be very difficult to intuit all the finer points of grammar and punctuation through intuition. You?ll feel nice and superior once you know the difference between a hyphen, an en-dash, and an em-dash.
2. The difference between grammar and style ? A lot of choices you make when writing aren?t technically about grammar but what editors call ?style? ? and I don?t mean whether your shoes match your belt. A ?style guide? is a set of conventions that publishers agree to use for consistency?s sake. Most newspapers adhere to AP style while most book publishers adhere to Chicago style. Unfortunately, a lot of web publishers skip this step, part of the reason why many websites and blogs appear less than completely professional. If you?re serious about content marketing, make sure there?s someone on your team who understands the grammar/style distinction. Ideally, you?ll create your own style guide for internal use. An example of a style choice is whether you hyphenate ?email? ? for years, ?e-mail? was the usual standard, but it?s now most commonly written without the hyphen.
3. How to create an outline ? Good fences make good neighbors, and good outlines make good papers. It?s one of the secrets of good writers. Start with structure and build out from there.
4. How to write concisely ? A new book called How to Not Write Bad (see what he did there?) by Ben Yagoda shows an example of a needless circumlocution: ?The criteria that made this site able to be nominated are because of the uniqueness of the content it possesses.? Yagoda rewrites this statement as: ?The site has excellent content.? Fluffing up your point with extra and longer words is a classic student paper move. It only has the effect of making you appear underconfident in your opinions. State what you mean as clearly and simply as possible (which is not to say there?s no room for personality in your content ? see #4).
5. How to write in your own voice ? Everyone talks in their own voice without thinking, but many people find it difficult to write in that voice. Though some types of content require a sort of generic, professional uber-voice, your blogging and social media efforts will benefit from showing some of your real personality. Don?t write sentences you would be embarrassed to say out loud.
6. The difference between concision and saying too little ? There?s a persistent myth that web readers are lazy and won?t read long content. We?ve found the opposite to be true ? the longer our content, the better our engagement metrics across the board (page views, shares, time on page, comments, etc.). So don?t use ?concision? as an excuse for dull writing that lacks detail and analysis.
7. How to write scannable content ? That said, not everyone will want to read every word on the page, so use lists, bullet points, subheads, boldface, highlighting, pop-out quotes and other formatting tricks that make your content easy to scan for high-level takeaways. Another good trick for long-form content: Create a table of contents with jump links so readers can skip right to the part they?re interested in and ignore the rest.
8. HTML ? Most content management platforms have a WYSIWYG editor ? i.e., ?what you see is what you get.? That means they work like a Word document, with buttons to help you format your text, insert images, etc. But no WYSIWYG editor works perfectly every time, and you?ll find it incredibly useful to be able to look at the source code and fiddle around to get your formatting right. Bonus points if you can hand-code a table.
9. How to do keyword research ? SEO keywords are still the cornerstone of content marketing. Familiarize yourself with some basic keyword tools and start using them regularly. I use Google?s tool and our own Free Keyword Tool as basic starting points, then delve into others for special circumstances.
10. How to find and use long-tail keywords ? Keyword tools won?t always provide you with a lot of long-tail keyword options. Here are nine ways to find those longer, more specific niche terms.

    
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11. The three types of search queries ? Different types of search queries reveal different intent and demand different types of content. Know the three main types: informational, navigational, and transactional.
12. How to align content types with marketing goals ? Some types of content drive lots of traffic. Others may get fewer views, but be better at converting new leads or customers. Know what types of content are more likely to help you meet your business goals.
13. On-page optimization basics ? I.e., where to put those keywords. Title and URL are no brainers. Then there?s subheads, images, your meta description, etc. ? and obviously your keyword should be peppered throughout the body of the text if it?s actually relevant to the content. SEOmoz has a good analysis of on-page optimization factors to help you aim for the perfectly optimized page.
14. The anatomy of a SERP ? You should know what a basic Google SERP looks like depending on search query type and be able to recognize anomalies, changes, and possible tests. What queries trigger universal results or the 7-result SERP? How much real estate is given to ads ? above the organic results, on the right-hand side or even below the results? Are there product listing ads or just text ads? What queries trigger the Knowledge Graph?
15. The difference between page title and H1 ? Each page on your site can effectively have two titles. You can choose to make these the same or vary them.
16. How to write a super clickable, shareable title ? The viral marketing experts at Upworthy recommend writing 25 titles (you read that right, 25) for each piece of content to help you hit upon true title genius. Because the first 24 might suck.
17. How to write formulaic titles ? Not every page on your site needs to be hyper-shareable. Product pages, for example, should stick to the basics, conveying maximum information while still being SEO-friendly. By hitting upon a title tag formula, you can optimize this high-volume pages in a scalable way.
18. The character/pixel limits for titles and meta descriptions ? Up until recently, the thinking was that titles could be no longer than 70 characters, or Google will truncate them or, on occasion, substitute a completely different title (yay). Recent experiments suggest that characters per se are not the limiting factor, but pixels. (If you don't feel like counting pixels, 70 chars is still a good rough guideline.) Your meta description should be between 150 and 160 characters.
19. How to write a meta description ? Aside from knowing the character limit, know the purpose of this text. Google says it can?t and won?t affect your rankings, but since it might show up in the search results, it should accurately describe your content as well as ?sell? it to convince them to click. It should be as relevant and compelling as a PPC ad. Also: Don?t use quotation marks in your meta description ? a quote will make Google think your description is over before it is.
20. How to optimize images ? Image search traffic, the other white meat! Know how to use keywords in your image file names and alt text in order to rank in Google image search.

    
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21. When to link ? and when not to ? Links are a beautifully subtle, gently suggestive way to point readers to more information on related topics within your content. Use internal linking to keep readers on your site and foster flow among your various pages. Use external linking when it makes more sense to reference an outside source. Don?t overuse either or you?ll sacrifice readability, and piss Google off in the process.
22. The importance of inbound links ? Links still matter, yes they do, we like links and you should too. Even if your team separates the content marketing and SEO roles, every web marketer should understand why links matter ? and the kind of content that earns them.
23. How to write an outreach email ? If your content marketing mojo is strong, you?ll get links without even asking for them. But it takes a while to get into that upper echelon. Initially, you?ll need to go out and seek the links. One way to do this is by writing an outreach email to potentially interested linking parties. After all, people can?t link to your content if they don?t know it exists. And the goal here is actually twofold ? you?ll be building relationships at the same time.
24. How to use Google Alerts ? Set up a Google Alert so you?ll know when people talk about you, your company, or your products, etc. on the web. You can also use Google Alerts to follow a ?beat? ? for example if you plan to cover some industry news announcement, you can keep up with the evolving story and the coverage elsewhere. (Note that in my experience, Google Alerts don?t work very well for low-volume queries.)
25. How to turn citations into links ? If a site mentions your brand or cites your content without linking, reach out and ask them to provide a link. It?s one of the easiest forms of link building.
26. How to make your content easily shareable ? You?ll get more social shares (on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, Pinterest, what-have-you) if you make it very easy for readers to share your stuff. Install social buttons and widgets that minimize the work for your visitors.
27. How to monitor brand mentions on social media ? Don?t sign in to Twitter to tweet out your new content, then promptly sign out and never look at it again. Ugh! If you?re going to use social platforms to promote your content, make sure you?re also keeping up with conversations there, responding to questions and feedback, and occasionally promoting other people, content, and brands as well. In other words, be human.
28. How to respond to a complaint ? If someone leaves a nasty review or flames you on social media, don?t get mad and don?t get defensive (at least not publicly).
29. How to moderate and respond to blog comments ? This seems more basic than basic but a lot of content marketers get this wrong. If you never respond to comments, it gives the impression that you don?t care whether people leave them or not. And please don?t leave obvious spam comments under your posts. Major turnoff.
30. When to update old content ? If you?re still getting search traffic to an old piece of content that is no longer accurate or up-to-date, take the time to update the content, or you?re wasting that traffic.
31. The importance of anchor text ? Anchor text ? the text that you make clickable when hyperlinking ? is powerful stuff. You can even see it in action with less competitive queries. But tread carefully ? many experts believe that anchor text is getting less valuable as a signal, and over-optimized anchor text could even get you flagged as a web spammer.
32. The importance of information architecture ? It may not be part of your job to define the structure of your website, but at the very least you should understand why a well-organized information architecture is key for good SEO and usability.
33. How to use Google Analytics ? When Larry interviews SEO candidates, he asks them to sign into their Google Analytics account and poke around. This shows two things: a) how their site or blog is doing (which demonstrates if they can apply SEO) and b) if they know their way around the application (which demonstrates how much time they spend in Analytics). Don?t just create content; track and measure so you know what works and what you should do more/less of in the future.
34. How and when to leverage rich snippets ? Rich snippets are the organic SEO equivalent of ad extensions in AdWords. They benefit some types of businesses more than others. For example, e-commerce companies should make use of the reviews and ratings snippets. Here is a list of the types of rich snippets that Google offers.
35. How to set up author markup ? Specifically, as a content marketer, you should know how to take advantage of the author markup snippet so that your author photo shows up in the SERPs, which builds authority and can have a big effect on your click-through rate. Unfortunately (IMO) you?ll need a Google+ account to do this.
36. How to use the structured data testing tool ? Use this tool to test how your snippets/microdata appear in search results.

    
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37. How to set up an A/B test ? A/B testing isn?t just for ads and subject lines. You can test titles, layouts, images, all kinds of marvelous things that could affect the way people interact with your content. There are some pretty robust software options out there for A/B and multivariate testing, but the easiest (and free-est) way to get started is with Google Analytics Content Experiments (formerly Website Optimizer).
38. How to write a press release ? These are usually pretty boring and formulaic, to tell you the truth, but nonetheless you should know how to write professionally about a corporate news announcement. Know what information to include in a press release and how to set the right tone.
39. How to ?spin? an article from different angles ? There?s always more than one way to skin a cat and spin a story. I?m not talkin? about old-school, spammy-crappy, no-value article spinning. I?m talking about re-writing an article or other piece of content with a different focus, so it has broader appeal to more audiences. Just make sure the different articles are truly unique with minimal overlap.
40. How to repurpose content in other formats ? Similarly, know how to change the format of a piece of content to get more leverage out of it, without changing the ?angle? per se. Turn a long blog post or series of blog posts into an e-book or guide that users can download as a PDF. Or turn the data in an infographic (visual content) into a written, readable article.
41. How to pitch a story ? You?ll occasionally want to publish content somewhere other than your own site, to build your audience, expand reach as well as grow your link profile. Learn how to write a tactful pitch letter that demonstrates the value you can provide with a contributed piece of content.
42. How to build a slide deck ? As far as I?m concerned, PowerPoint and Excel are necessary evils. As a writer, I?d always rather work in a good ol? Word doc, but there are situations where you?ll need to present information in a different way. Webinars and online courses, for example, require slide decks. This presentation has some ideas for making better-looking slides:
43. How to find questions to answer with your content ? Common questions make great starting points for content. Here are three ways to find questions to answer.
44. How to do an interview ? It?s hard to get good answers if you don?t know how to ask good questions. Once you learn that skill, interviewing experts with a higher profile and larger network than you can be a great way to drive traffic and links and attract some attention. Another smart tactic is the group interview (AKA crowdsourcing).
45. What makes a good infographic ? Like them or not, infographics are a type of content and as a content marketer, you should know your way around one. Not every kind of information lends itself to a visual presentation, but some data does, and when executed well, infographics make awesome linkbait.
46. What makes a good video ? It?s often easier to rank for a competitive keyword with a video than with traditional written content, because fewer people are doing video. ?How to? keywords often lend themselves to videos, for example.
47. When to outsource content creation ? Your time is worth something, and it won?t always be cost-effective for you to handle every aspect of a content marketing project. Consider outsourcing when you want to create a type of content that?s not in your area of expertise. For example, I don?t know how to edit a video or execute complex design work ? but I can write the script or do the research.
48. How to do a competitive content analysis ? Before tackling a competitive keyword space, see who and what is already ranking. What do their backlink profiles look like? Do you have a hope and prayer of competing? How can your content be more awesome?
49. How to create and maintain an editorial calendar ? The bigger your site, goals, and team, the more likely it is that you?ll need an editorial calendar to keep things running smoothly and on schedule. Here are some of the pros and cons plus mistakes to avoid when creating an editorial calendar.
50. How to troubleshoot a traffic loss ? If a previously reliable piece of content suddenly falls off a Google cliff due to algorithmic changes, know how to troubleshoot and recover.

What did I miss? Content marketers, let me know in the comments!

Source: http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/02/19/content-marketing-skills

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Liat Kornowski: 'How I Met Your Mother' Season 8, Episode 17 Recap: The Captain Is Back And Lily's Got A New Gig

Note: Do not read on if you have not yet seen Season 8, Episode 17 of CBS "How I Met Your Mother" titled "The Ashtray."

Much like Robin's repeated flash-forward last week (Mrs. Doubtfire turned into Mike Tyson, just to jog your memory), this episode's core sequence was a repeated memory. Granted, last week Robin added key details with each new story and this week we saw the same incident through three different sets of eyes, but come on, "HIMYM" writers, switch up your act. We have a whole new season ahead of us.

The premise: The Captain (Kyle MacLachlan) is back, as promised, and leaves a message on Ted's archaic answering machine to call him back at his earliest convenience. Ted, freaked out, recounts the story of the last time he saw The Captain, a year and a half earlier, a few weeks after he broke up with Zoey (watch out for Ted and Barney's hilarious Garth and Kat-like storytelling). It was at a gallery opening Lily had dragged Ted and Robin to, which Barney insists he was also present for.

Ted's version: While enjoying the shrimp cocktail, Robin alerts him that The Captain just walked in. In this rendition, The Captain is rude and unpleasant to Ted, so much so that when he invites the trio to his upstairs apartment he threatens Ted with a harpoon gun. Ted then notices that the photograph The Captain holds near and dear to his heart is that of Becky (remember Robin's overly perky past co-anchor?), whom Ted resumed dating. He is afraid that's why The Captain is looking for him but when he finally takes his call, he discovers The Captain wants Robin's number.

Robin's version: Ted smoked a serious sandwich before showing up at the gallery and his memory of The Captain acting obnoxious was a result thereof (his spoken-out-loud internal monologue is one the show's most LOL-worthy moments). In Robin's version of events The Captain comes on to her rather crudely and when she turns him down, she asks him to call her in a year and a half after he's done rebounding. In her opinion, that's why he's looking for her. But when she calls him back she discovers it isn't her The Captain is looking for, it's Lily.

Lily's version: Ted was baked, Robin was smashed, and Lily tried to keep it from getting embarrassing. When The Captain waltzed in with his art consultant, Lily tried to give her professional two cents only to be ridiculed by the condescending expert, and later at The Captain's apartment, by him. In her recollection, when The Captain showed her his new painting she told him she liked another one better, the one with the elephants. He brashly told her she knows nothing about art because she is just a kindergarten teacher. As punishment, she stole his priceless crystal ashtray.

Present day Marshall begs Lily to return the ashtray to The Captain before he presses charges. She initially refuses and bursts into tears, claiming his remark hurt most because it was true. She is just a kindergarten teacher and has done nothing with her art degree. In an incredibly poignant moment, Marshall tells Lily it's never too late for her to pursue her dreams: "I promise you, your best and your most exciting days are all ahead of you," to which Lily replies: "there gets to be a point in life where that just stops being true." Nevertheless, she agrees to right her wrong.

The end: The Captain didn't even notice his ashtray was missing. Instead, he called Lily because he ended up buying that elephant painting the night of the art exhibit. He liked how she just liked it, no artsy fartsy reasoning to it. Now, a year and a half later, he sold it for four million dollars. Lily's keen eye for the next Basquiat earned her The Captain's respect and a job offer - to be his art consultant. And though it's not quite what she had in mind when Marshall urged her to rekindle her romance with art, she agrees.

"How I Met Your Mother" airs Mondays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.

• "The Final Page, Part One And Two"

  Jason Segel, Seth Green, Alyson Hannigan

• "The Final Page, Part One And Two"

  Jason Segel, Seth Green, Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris

• "The Final Page, Part One And Two"

  Jason Segel, Seth Green, Alyson Hannigan

• "The Final Page, Part One And Two"

  Jason Segel, Seth Green, Alyson Hannigan

• "The Final Page, Part One And Two"

  Jason Segel, Seth Green, Alyson Hannigan

• "The Final Page, Part One And Two"

  Jason Segel, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan

• "The Final Page, Part One And Two"

  Jason Segel, Seth Green, Alyson Hannigan, Neil Patrick Harris

• "The Final Page, Part One And Two"

  Jason Segel, Neil Patrick Harris, Alyson Hannigan, Josh Radnor

• "The Final Page, Part One And Two"

  Jason Segel, Seth Green, Alyson Hannigan

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liat-kornowski/how-i-met-your-mother-recap-the-ashtray_b_2714292.html

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Derby Sports Massage Therapy Specialist Announces New ...

Derby, England -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/19/2013 -- Nrgize Health and Fitness has teamed up with Mickleover Gymnastics to offer sports massage therapy, including treatment for sciatica, from their own treatment room within the gymnastics centre located on Amberley Drive, Sinfin; from February 2013.

As well as providing sports massage therapy and treatment for sciatica, Nrgize Health and Fitness also provide onsite massage, massage at work and fitness training; working with some of the most celebrated personal trainers Derby has to offer.

Nrgize Director Nina Flint, an advanced Personal Trainer and Sports Massage Therapist, commented on her company's new treatment room venture: "Nrgize has grown considerably throughout 2012 and our reputation for sports massage therapy means that we are treating more and more people each month. Teaming up with Mickleover Gymnastics, an established and reputable organisation, will add value to each organisations offering. It will provide the service of high grade sports massage therapy for Derby Gymnastics and will enable Nrgize to treat more people in a professional surrounding and not to mention, will offer more and more people suffering from injuries quality sports massage therapy at affordable prices?.

Appointments will be available at the Derby Gymnastics Centre with Nina on Mondays between 10 am and 5:30 pm, Wednesdays between 10am and 6pm and some Saturday mornings by appointment only. Mickleover Gymnastics members and their immediate family will be entitled to free injury assessments and also a ?5 discount on standard treatment prices.

Individuals wishing to book and to learn more about sports massage therapy, onsite massage at work and fitness training and personal trainers services offered throughout Derby can learn more from Nrgize Health and Fitness' new website; www.nrgize.me.uk.

Contact
Nrgize Health and Fitness
18 Rawlinson Avenue,
Derby
DE23 8WA
Tel: 0844 445 7904
Email: info@nrgize.me.uk
Web: www.nrgize.me.uk

Source: http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/derby-sports-massage-therapy-specialist-announces-new-treatment-room-208577.htm

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US Celebrates Presidents' Day (Voice Of America)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Western Washington man orders $47 Starbucks drink

by KING 5 News

KREM.com

Posted on February 18, 2013 at 6:48 PM

Updated today at 7:01 PM

An Enumclaw man took his caffeine craving to a record breaking level.

Beau Chevassus ordered what well could be the most expensive Starbucks drink ever for his 27th birthday.

He said it contained 48 shots of espresso, soy, several bananas, mango and protein powder among other things.

Since Chevassus planned this in advance he also brought his own 52 ounce coffee cup.

The drink rang up at $47.30.

Chevassus didn't actually pay for it, Starbucks gave it to him for free since it was his birthday.

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Source: http://www.krem.com/news/northwest-news/191756441.html

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Overdue Energy Efficiency Standards Costing U.S. $$ Billions

President Obama says?addressing climate change is smart economic policy as well as?a moral imperative, but his administration keeps delaying stronger appliance and equipment energy-efficiency standards.

These standards are?among the most successful ways to quickly?cut energy consumption and contribute to economic growth. They create hundreds of thousands of jobs and save billions of dollars on?utility bills across the economy.

The Obama administration has missed deadlines for completing eight new appliance, lighting, and equipment energy efficiency standards. Because each month of delay also delays the effective date of any new standard, millions of additional inefficient products will be sold and remain in use, wasting energy for many years. This energy waste will cost consumers billions of dollars and result in millions of tons of long-lasting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that should have been avoided.

Eight standards are currently?held up,?costing individuals?and businesses?$3.7 billion and?40 million metric tons of excess carbon?emissions, according to?the Appliance Standards Awareness Project (ASAP) and American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).

In fact, every?month of delay adds another $300 million in lost savings and another 4.4 million metrics tons?of carbon emissions, equivalent to burning?19,000 rail cars of coal.

Raising efficiency standards also?spurs innovation as manufacturers compete to introduce the most advanced equipment at the lowest?cost.?Delays in issuing standards compounds over time because it takes a long time for manufacturers to develop new products.

The delays to date will cost consumers and businesses about $3.7 billion in lost savings (net present value, 2011$) and will result in nearly 40 million metric tons of additional CO2 emissions. Table 1 below shows the lost consumer and business savings and additional emissions caused by the delays for each overdue standard.

The delays and resulting costs are still mounting. Each additional month of delay will cost consumers another $300 million in lost savings and result in another 4.4 million metric tons of additional CO2 emissions.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is the agency responsible for completing new efficiency standards. Once DOE completes a notice of proposed rule (?NOPR?) or a final rule containing a new standard, it must be approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). During the first two years of the Obama administration, DOE and OMB worked well to complete new standards on time. But over the past two years, OMB?s reviews have become lengthy?as long as 16 months in one case?and DOE has fallen behind.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ColoradoEnergyNews/~3/s44IfD0uh0I/

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Nano-machines for 'bionic proteins'

Feb. 15, 2013 ? Physicists of the University of Vienna together with researchers from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna developed nano-machines which recreate principal activities of proteins. They present the first versatile and modular example of a fully artificial protein-mimetic model system, thanks to the Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC), a high performance computing infrastructure. These "bionic proteins" could play an important role in innovating pharmaceutical research.

Proteins are the fundamental building blocks of all living organism we currently know. Because of the large number and complexity of bio-molecular processes they are capable of, proteins are often referred to as "molecular machines." Take for instance the proteins in your muscles: At each contraction stimulated by the brain, an uncountable number of proteins change their structures to create the collective motion of the contraction. This extraordinary process is performed by molecules which have a size of only about a nanometer, a billionth of a meter.

Muscle contraction is just one of the numerous activities of proteins: There are proteins that transport cargo in the cells, proteins that construct other proteins, there are even cages in which proteins that "mis-behave" can be trapped for correction, and the list goes on and on. "Imitating these astonishing bio-mechanical properties of proteins and transferring them to a fully artificial system is our long term objective," says Ivan Coluzza from the Faculty of Physics of the University of Vienna, who works on this project together with colleagues of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna.

Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC)

In a recent paper in Physical Review Letters, the team presented the first example of a fully artificial bio-mimetic model system capable of spontaneously self-knotting into a target structure. Using computer simulations, they reverse engineered proteins by focusing on the key elements that give them the ability to execute the program written in the genetic code. The computationally very intensive simulations have been made possible by access to the powerful Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC), a high performance computing infrastructure operated jointly by the University of Vienna, the Vienna University of Technology and the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna.

Artificial proteins in the laboratory

The team now works on realizing such artificial proteins in the laboratory using specially functionalized nanoparticles. The particles will then be connected into chains following the sequence determined by the computer simulations, such that the artificial proteins fold into the desired shapes. Such knotted nanostructures could be used as new stable drug delivery vehicles and as enzyme-like, but more stable, catalysts.

This project was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) within the SFB "Vienna Computational Materials Laboratory" (ViCoM).

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Vienna.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Ivan Coluzza, Peter D. J. van Oostrum, Barbara Capone, Erik Reimhult, Christoph Dellago. Sequence Controlled Self-Knotting Colloidal Patchy Polymers. Physical Review Letters, 2013; 110 (7) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.075501

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/irK00fWGxvo/130217084908.htm

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UNC chancellor Thorp to take provost job at Washington University

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RALEIGH (AP) -- The chancellor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill says he's leaving to become provost of Washington University in St. Louis.

Thorp said in an email he was sending Monday to students, faculty and staff that the new job would allow him to teach and do research while serving as chief academic officer of Washington University.

Thorp, 48, announced in September he would step down as chancellor at the end of the academic year. He said he would return to the classroom.

Thorp has been chancellor at UNC for five years. For the past two years, he's been affected by a sprawling scandal that started with improper benefits for football players and spread to academic fraud in the African and Afro-American Studies Department.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://sandhills.news14.com/content/top_stories/688560/unc-chancellor-thorp-to-take-provost-job-at-washington-university

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Things We Learned About Beyonce In Documentary (Full Video)

Things We Learned About Beyonce In Documentary (Full Video)

Beyonce’s HBO documentary, “Life is But a Dream,” debuted Saturday night showing the singer open up about parting ways with her manager father, her devastating miscarriage, and her marriage and daughter Blue Ivy with hubby Jay-Z. The documentary shows fans a glimpse into the private singer’s life, who shares her heartbreak showing that even people ...

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Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/02/things-we-learned-about-beyonce-in-documentary-full-video/

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Longer airport security lines (CNN)

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