Verizon Selects brings targeted ads to VZ wireless customers, induces more holiday shopping

We've grown accustomed to the creepily context-aware ads in our Gmail inboxes and we've seen targeted ads come to game consoles and printers, so naturally, it's no surprise Verizon's bringing such advertising to its mobile customers. Called Verizon Selects, it's a program rolling out to some Big Red patrons, who, should they choose to opt in, will receive tailored offers and marketing messages on their phones.

It works by using myriad user info, including location, web browsing and mobile app usage data "to create specific insights" -- i.e. VZW figures out where you go and what you like in order to shoot you appropriate ads. In order to get folks with the program, Verizon will offer those who opt in a coupon or "some other form of reward," and the company is assuaging privacy fears by allowing users to control their privacy choices on the Verizon Selects website. What say you, dear readers -- will you be opting into Big Red's new mobile marketing scheme? Sound off in the comments below.

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Source: Verizon Wireless

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/04/verizon-selects-targeted-ads/

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Steelers sneak by Ravens

Pittsburgh surprises AFC North rivals 23-20 despite starting QB out with injury

Image: Ravens-SteelersReuters

Pittsburgh receiver Emmanuel Sanders tries to run away from Baltimore cornerback Corey Graham. Pittsburgh won Sunday's game, 23-20.

By DAVID GINSBURG

updated 7:27 p.m. ET Dec. 2, 2012

BALTIMORE - Ben Roethlisberger couldn't have done it any better.

Third-string quarterback Charlie Batch directed a 61-yard drive in the closing minutes, and Shaun Suisham kicked a 42-yard field goal as time expired to give the Pittsburgh Steelers a 23-20 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

Playing without the injured Roethlisberger for a third straight week, the Steelers turned to the 37-year-old Batch for the second game in a row. He went 25 for 36 for 276 yards, threw a touchdown and rallied the Steelers past their arch rivals in the AFC North.

Pittsburgh trailed 13-3 in the first half and 20-13 in the fourth quarter before coming back. Batch missed a wide open Mike Wallace in the end zone near the end of the first half, but the veteran quarterback more than made up for it after halftime.

Pittsburgh (7-5) snapped a two-game losing streak and kept alive its slim hopes of overtaking Baltimore (9-3) in the division. The teams have split their games this season, with each team winning by three points.

The Ravens could have clinched a playoff berth with a victory. Instead, Baltimore had its 15-game home winning streak snapped and also lost for the first time in 13 games against division foes.

Batch outplayed Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco, who went 16 for 34 for 188 yards and fueled Pittsburgh's comeback by losing a fumble in the fourth quarter.

One week after committing eight turnovers in a loss to Cleveland, the Steelers gave the ball away three times against Baltimore. The Ravens converted two of the takeaways into touchdowns, and the third - a leaping interception by Ed Reed in the end zone - kept a 20-13 lead intact with 10:59 left.

Pittsburgh got the ball back, however, when James Harrison forced a fumble by Flacco at the 27. Batch threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Heath Miller to tie it with 7:24 to go.

The next time Pittsburgh got the ball back, Batch showed his poise with a beat-the-clock march. The key play in the final drive was a 15-yard completion to Wallace on a third-and-7.

After generating only 93 yards in offense in the first half, the Steelers opened the third quarter with a 78-yard touchdown drive to pull even at 13. Batch threw a 43-yard pass to Miller before Jonathan Dwyer scored on a 16-yard run.

Later in the quarter, Batch connected with Emmanuel Sanders near midfield with no defender in sight. But Sanders inexplicably lost his grip on the football after taking two steps, and the Ravens recovered on the Baltimore 37.

The Ravens turned the miscue into a 20-13 lead. Flacco completed a 19-yard pass to Dennis Pitta before Ray Rice took a handoff, veered right, then broke left and outside for a 34-yard score.

The bickering between these two familiar foes began with the opening kickoff, when several players had to be separated after Baltimore's Jacoby Jones downed the ball for a touchback.

Flacco then threw six straight passes before the Ravens had to punt, and Batch moved the Steelers 48 yards in 11 plays to set up a 46-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.

Baltimore tied it early in the second quarter when rookie Justin Tucker capped a 40-yard drive with a 45-yard field goal. Then, after Pittsburgh went three-and-out, a pass interference call against Cortez Allen accounted for 30 yards in a 54-yard drive that produced Tucker's second field goal.

Just when it appeared the Ravens were taking control, Flacco threw an up-for-grabs floater that was intercepted by Ryan Clark near midfield. Pittsburgh gave it right back, though, when wide receiver Antonio Brown took a handoff and ran left before throwing a pass across the field that was picked off by Corey Graham.

Baltimore didn't waste the gift. Flacco connected twice with Anquan Boldin during a four-play, 69-yard drive, including a 31-yard touchdown throw just beyond Allen's reach to make it 13-3.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Steelers sneak by Ravens

Ben Roethlisberger wasn't on the field for Pittsburgh, but that didn't keep the Steelers from surprising their AFC North rivals for a key 23-20 win on Sunday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50050311/ns/sports-nfl/

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3D print yourself something big, piece by piece

Hal Hodson, technology reporter

If you believe the hype, 3D printing means that no one is ever going to need to go out shopping again for that spatula, laundry basket, kitchen table or even gun. But there's a problem. The size of the objects you can print is limited by the volume of your 3D printer.

The Cube home printer, for instance, which costs $1299, can print only in a volume about the size of a lunch box. Research labs can afford big printers, but the home user is stuck printing toy soldiers, rubber stamps and other plastic trinkets.

A new software tool developed by Linjie Luo at Princeton University and colleagues automatically breaks up large 3D models into components that a smaller printer can make, adding connectors to clip the whole object together. The software, called Chopper, works by analysing a 3D model before printing and breaking it down in an optimal way. Object seams are placed as far away as possible from areas of high mechanical stress, also splitting the object into as few sections as possible.

Making these kinds of calculations about 3D objects is difficult, but Chopper was generally able to devise partitions which worked better than those chosen by humans (except for a 3D printed armadillo, for reasons that the Princeton team didn't understand, but perhaps that's no great loss).

Although this opens the door for home printers to make larger, more useful objects, the team found that consumer-grade printers tended to be unable to print the partitioned parts with a high enough fidelity to be useful. The research was presented at the SIGGRAPH Asia conference in Singapore last Thursday.

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Russia, Turkey agree to differ over Syria conflict

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Russia and Turkey agreed to differ on Monday on strategies to end Syria's civil war, highlighting how distant the prospects of a negotiated solution to the 20-month-old conflict are.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan during a one-day visit to Istanbul aimed partly at ensuring differences over Syria do not damage a deepening trade and energy relationship.

"The positions of the Russian Federation and Turkey completely correspond regarding what has to be attained (in Syria), but as of yet no shared approach regarding methods of how to attain it has been reached," Putin told a joint news conference with Erdogan after the talks.

Turkey - worried about Syria's chemical weapons, a growing refugee crisis, and Syrian support for Kurdish militants - has been a major backer of the Syrian opposition and has led calls for international action against President Bashar al-Assad.

It sees Russia, one of Syria's closest allies, as key to quelling a conflict that has sent over a hundred thousand refugees fleeing to Turkish soil and stirred warnings of a sectarian war beyond Syria's borders.

"Our biggest wish is an immediate halt to the bloodshed and fighting in Syria, and we are taking steps to make sure our foreign ministers are carrying out extensive work with this aim," Erdogan told the news conference.

But Moscow has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at putting pressure on the Syrian leader, blocking Turkish, Western and Arab efforts to provide U.N. support for the rebel forces trying to topple him.

As Syria's new opposition coalition consolidates, Russia has stepped up efforts to tell the world it is not on Assad's side, part of a bid to cast itself as a neutral player with an interest in peace alone. But it has shown no signs of shifting to join Western rivals in backing the rebels.

Turkish officials say Russia must be assured it does not stand to lose from the departure of Assad, who has been Moscow's chief Middle Eastern ally. Syria has been a major client for Russian arms and hosts a naval maintenance facility that is Russia's only military base outside the former Soviet Union.

Both sides have been careful to ensure their differences over Syria do not undermine a broader relationship governed by trade, Turkey's need for energy supplies and mutual security interests across an array of regional hotspots.

"Turkish-Russian relations have made significant progress in the last 10 years," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a television interview ahead of Putin's visit.

"Nobody should dwell on a scenario in which tensions emerge between Turkey and Russia over Syria."

ENERGY DEALS

Russia provides nearly two thirds of Turkey's gas supplies and often ramps up its exports to the country during frequent cuts in Iranian gas supplies in the winter.

Erdogan said Turkey would continue to buy natural gas from Iran despite the prospect of tighter U.S. sanctions aimed at ratcheting up economic pressure on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak, who was also in Istanbul, said on Sunday Russia was willing to increase gas supplies to Turkey - Gazprom's second-largest natural gas consumer after Germany - this winter if requested.

Turkish energy officials said Ankara, which usually buys around 30 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas from Russia each year, had requested an additional 3 bcm from Gazprom ahead of an anticipated rise in energy demand in the winter months.

Gazprom clinched a long-term deal to export natural gas to private companies in Turkey last month, securing a growing market for the Russian gas export monopoly as it faces declines from its core consumers in the European Union.

The move followed a one-year impasse in gas trade between Gazprom and Turkish firms after state pipeline company Botas did not renew an expiring 25-year contract at the end of 2011 due to a pricing dispute. Business has continued in the meantime only on a short-term basis.

State-controlled Russian energy group InterRao meanwhile said it had reached a tentative agreement to complete the purchase of a power station in Turkey this year by buying the Turkish subsidiary of U.S. firm AEI. [ID:nL5E8N3GAB]

Sources familiar with the matter say the deal had been held up for months amid tensions between Moscow and Ankara with Turkish government approval the last major hurdle.

(Additional reporting by Steve Gutterman and Thomas Grove in Moscow and Daren Butler in Istanbul; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-turkey-agree-differ-over-syria-conflict-181549025--finance.html

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Explainer: Why was pregnant duchess hospitalized?

FILE - Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge seen during her visit to St. Andrew?s School, where she attended school, in Pangbourne, England, in this file photo dated Friday, Nov. 30, 2012. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby, St James's Palace officially announced Monday Dec. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Arthur Edwards, File)

FILE - Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge seen during her visit to St. Andrew?s School, where she attended school, in Pangbourne, England, in this file photo dated Friday, Nov. 30, 2012. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby, St James's Palace officially announced Monday Dec. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Arthur Edwards, File)

Policeman stand guard outside the King Edward VII hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge has been admitted with a severe form of morning sickness, in London, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Prince William and his wife Kate are expecting their first child. St. James's Palace announced the pregnancy Monday, saying that the Duchess of Cambridge ? formerly known as Kate Middleton ? has a severe form of morning sickness and is currently in a London hospital. William is at his wife's side. The palace said since the pregnancy is in its "very early stages," the 30-year-old duchess is expected to stay in the hospital for several days and will require a period of rest afterward. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

(AP) ? While morning sickness in pregnant women is common, the problem the Duchess of Cambridge has been hospitalized with is not.

In a statement Monday, palace officials said she was hospitalized with hyperemesis gravidarum, a potentially dangerous type of morning sickness where vomiting is so severe no food or liquid can be kept down. Palace officials said the duchess was expected to remain hospitalized for several days and would require a period of rest afterward.

The condition most often affects women early in their pregnancy; the duchess is less than 12 weeks pregnant.

Doctors said the duchess would likely recover in a few days. Dr. Daghni Rajasingam, a spokeswoman for Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said women with severe symptoms ? including dehydration, dizziness and persistent vomiting ? needed to be hospitalized for treatment, including being given fluids intravenously.

"However, this usually only means a few days in (the) hospital," she said in a statement. "The best advice for anyone suffering from (severe morning sickness) is to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluid."

Severe morning sickness affects about 1 in 200 pregnant women, according to Britain's Department of Health. It is more common in young women, women who are pregnant for the first time and those expecting multiple babies.

Doctors aren't sure what causes it but suspect it could be linked to hormonal changes or nutritional problems.

If the problem is recognized and treated early, doctors say there are no long-term effects for either the mother or the child. Left untreated, the mother could be at risk of developing neurological problems ? including seizures ? or risk delivering the baby early.

Rajasingam said most pregnant women recover from the condition with no serious consequences.

"With early diagnosis and treatment, there is no reason why we shouldn't expect a healthy pregnancy," she said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-12-03-Britain-Royal%20Pregnancy%20Explainer/id-20fe921397954d28b01ec467bbb758c7

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Fox News exec urged Petraeus to run for president

Ailes, Petraeus (Fox News/Getty/File)

Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes wanted Gen. David Petraeus to run for president in 2012.

Ailes, former campaign adviser to Richard Nixon, had a contributor headed to Afghanistan in the spring of 2011 deliver the message to Petraeus, the recently disgraced director of the Central Intelligence Agency and then commander of U.S. and allied forces there, the Washington Post's Bob Woodward reports.

Kathleen T. McFarland, the Fox News contributor and former national security and Pentagon aide, spoke with Petraeus for 90 minutes in the general's office in Kabul. Woodward obtained an audio recording of the conversation, which was posted on the Post's website.

"[Ailes] loves you, and everybody at Fox loves you," McFarland told Petraeus at one point.

Near the end of their conversation, McFarland relayed the message from Ailes. If President Obama offered Petraeus the job of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, take it. "If you're offered anything else," McFarland said, "don't take it, resign in six months and run for president. Okay?"

"And I know you're not running for president," McFarland added. "But at some point when you go to New York next, you may want to just chat with Roger. And Rupert Murdoch, for that matter."

"Well, Rupert's after me, as well," Petraeus replied. "Look,? what I have told people is, I truly want to continue to serve my country if it is in a, you know, a quite significantly meaningful position. And there's all of about two of those in the world. You all have really got to shut your mouths?or shut your ... Yeah, shut your mouths, too."

"I'm only reporting this back to Roger," McFarland assured Petraeus. "That's our deal."

Petraeus said he would consider the Joint Chiefs chairman and possibly "one other" post "but that's about it."

"I'm not going to, you know, go to NATO meetings for the rest of my life, or fight service budget battles or anything like that," he said.

Petraeus was appointed CIA director in September 2011. He resigned last month after admitting to an extramarital affair with Paula Broadwell, his biographer.

Ailes confirmed to Woodward that he did give McFarland advice to deliver to Petraeus, but it was meant in jest.

"It was more of a joke, a wiseass way I have," Ailes said. "I thought the Republican field needed to be shaken up and Petraeus might be a good candidate."

"It sounds like she thought she was on a secret mission in the Reagan administration," Ailes added. "She was way out of line. ... It's someone's fantasy to make me a kingmaker. It's not my job."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/ailes-petraeus-president-run-fox-news-143926347--election.html

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Creating A More Heart Centered Business - Retirement Homes

As a residential or service provider for seniors, it is easy to get caught up with meeting State and Federal regulations, financial issues, personnel turnover, and dealing with the everyday running of a business. That said, the real priority is how well you can care for the seniors and their families whom place lives in your trust. Priority One is your Resident.

How can you easily improve how you serve your senior customer in a more Heart Centered manner?

1. Make it easy for communication with family to occur ? to and from. This includes phone usage (and long distance) any time of day. Ease for family members to connect with a ?live? caregiver any time of day. Most family members work and many live in different time zones, how easy to you make it for them to maintain communication with their family member but also with YOU?

  • Do you have a 1-800 number?
  • Can people leave a message besides voice mail? Something like a website plugin called Vicita can allow a person to type in their message to the company for answering.
  • Is there a ?live? person answering phones at all times?
  • Can the senior access a phone easily and have privacy (very important) any time of day?

2.Sexuality and Intimacy ? these two issues seem to be human needs that service providers and facilities shy away from. Do the people you serve have opportunities for intimacy with another resident, spouses, or their significant other? If not, why? Just because a person is, a senior doesn?t mean that their sex drive or need for intimacy is gone. Can a wife of a resident visit and spend the night with her husband who is under your care?

Please take some time to really see how your service can create a more responsive environment to meet the very basic needs of people ? intimacy, sexuality, and maintaining closeness with another person.

3. No matter how hard we try, staff will treat whom they serve differently for a variety of reasons and that isn?t going to change. The question is how do we turn that into a positive?

Some solutions may include in creating a biography of each senior served ? learn about the person?s past, hobbies once enjoyed, topics of discussion they enjoy, adventures they?ve experienced, and so forth. Involve family of the senior for more detail. In doing this, you allow staff to more fully recognize each senior as the individual they are and what kinds of life they had before becoming more limited. This exercise helps create relationships, for staff to view seniors they serve differently, and for a more ?family? environment to exist. Post the biography in the senior?s room so staff will always remember the wonderful life of the person they serve.

Have the seniors you serve create their own Adventure List vs. a Bucket List. Help those you serve to accomplish, in some manner, what they still want to get out of life.

Have the family create a collage of pictures, events, and other special moments of their senior family member. The collage should then be mounted in the resident?s room.

A great model is having staff responsible for seniors they prefer to work with. While working in an ICF, we had several staff that all preferred the same residents and they became a group of staff and residents who were always together. Other staff loved working with other residents and the model was repeated. The result was a significant improvement in the quality of care, less regression for residents, happier residents, less staff turnover, and much happier staff. Win-Win.

Creating a Heart Centered business doesn?t mean the business of being in business is any less but rather more. Adding in services, such as mentioned, create enormous intangible results that benefit seniors, staff, families, and your business. Tangible results will also be seen and many of them will be ones you would not have thought of.

Calling one?s self a Heart Centered business is common but how many are actually doing it fully? Discover and try various ways to create your own results achieving Heart Centered business and your business will thrive in the process.

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  • 12 years ago, Emeritus began offering an alternative to seniors who could no longer live at home, yet didn't require full-time, skilled nursing home care. ...

  • Church Street Station offers new homes in Hanover Park. This Cook County community features a scenic pond, gazebo and courtyards with benches. Conveniently ...

  • Enjoy the freedom of personal independence or the comfort of feeling catered to. The levels of care can be tailored to meet your needs and desires. Services ...

  • Create your world with choices. It's up to you. Here, each day presents a new range of possibilities, and your free to choose.

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'Cliff' talks: White House waiting on GOP move

This Nov. 30, 2012, photo provided by CBS News shows Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner answering questions about averting the "fiscal cliff" on the December 2nd edition of ?Face the Nation.? Geithner said Republicans have to stop using fuzzy ?political math? and say how much they are willing to raise tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and then specify the spending cuts they want, Treasury Secretary. (AP Photo/CBS News, Chris Usher)

This Nov. 30, 2012, photo provided by CBS News shows Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner answering questions about averting the "fiscal cliff" on the December 2nd edition of ?Face the Nation.? Geithner said Republicans have to stop using fuzzy ?political math? and say how much they are willing to raise tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and then specify the spending cuts they want, Treasury Secretary. (AP Photo/CBS News, Chris Usher)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012, after private talks with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the fiscal cliff negotiations. Boehner said no substantive progress has been made between the White House and the House" in the past two weeks. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

This Nov. 30, 2012, photo provided by CBS News shows Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner answering questions about averting the "fiscal cliff" on the December 2nd edition of ?Face the Nation.? Geithner said Republicans have to stop using fuzzy ?political math? and say how much they are willing to raise tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and then specify the spending cuts they want, Treasury Secretary. (AP Photo/CBS News, Chris Usher)

(AP) ? Republicans have to stop using "political math" and say how much they are willing to raise tax rates on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans and then specify the spending cuts they want, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in an interview that aired Sunday.

Just four weeks from the proverbial "fiscal cliff," House Speaker John Boehner countered that Republicans have a plan for providing as much as $800 billion in new government revenue over the next decade and would consider the elimination of tax deductions on high-income earners. But when pressed on "Fox News Sunday" for precise details, the Ohio Republican declined to say.

There are "a lot of options in terms of how to get there," Boehner said.

Both Boehner's and Geithner's latest remarks indicate it could be some time before serious negotiations begin between the White House and Republicans on how to avert economic calamity expected in less than a month when President George W. Bush-era tax cuts expire and automatic, across-the-board spending cuts kick in.

Last week, the White House delivered to Capitol Hill its opening plan: $1.6 trillion in higher taxes over a decade, hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending, a possible extension of the temporary Social Security payroll tax cut and enhancing the president's power to raise the national debt limit.

In exchange, the president would back $600 billion in spending cuts, including $350 billion from Medicare and other health programs. But he also wants $200 billion in new spending for jobless benefits, public works projects and aid for struggling homeowners. His proposal for raising the ceiling on government borrowing would make it virtually impossible for Congress to block him.

Republicans said they responded in closed-door meetings with laughter and disbelief.

"I was just flabbergasted," Boehner said. "I looked at him (Geithner) and I said, 'You can't be serious.'" Boehner described negotiations as going "nowhere, period," and said "there's clearly a chance" the nation will go over the cliff.

Geithner, the administration's point man for negotiations, was slightly more optimistic while saying the ball was in Boehner's court. But the treasury secretary also said he didn't expect a counteroffer right away, as Republicans work to sort out tensions within the party in the wake of bruising national elections that left Democrats in charge of the White House and the Senate.

Boehner acknowledged in his interview, aired Sunday, that he wasn't happy with public remarks by Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, who said he was ready to go along with Obama's plan to renew expiring income tax cuts for the majority of Americans and negotiate the rates on top earners later.

"They're trying to figure out where they go next," Geithner said of Republicans, "and we might need to give them a little time to figure out where they go next."

He called the back-and-forth "normal political theater," saying all that's blocking a timely deal is the GOP's reluctance to accept higher tax rates on the wealthy.

"It's welcome that they're recognizing that revenues are going to have to go up. But they haven't told us anything about how far rates should go up ... (and) who should pay higher taxes," Geithner said.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that she will try to force a vote on the Senate-passed bill favored by Democrats to avert a fiscal cliff. But she was unlikely to line up enough Republicans to succeed.

Republican leaders have said they accept higher tax revenue overall, but only through what they call tax reform __ closing loopholes and limiting deductions __ and only coupled with tough measures to curb the explosive growth of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

"If we gave the president $1.6 trillion of new money, what do you think he'd do with it?" asked Boehner. "He's going to spend it. It's what Washington does."

Cole didn't back down Sunday on his earlier comments that Republicans should agree to Obama's plan for continuing Bush's tax rates for middle-class America and focus the negotiations on the other issues. Doing so, he said, would make the GOP position even stronger.

"The reality is, nobody can look at this budget and think if you don't reform entitlements you can balance it. You can give the president every tax increase he's asked for, you'd still be in the hole," he said.

Geithner appeared on CBS' "Face the Nation," NBC's "Meet the Press," CNN's "State of the Union," ABC's "This Week" and "Fox News Sunday." Cole appeared on ABC "This Week."

___

Associated Press writers Mark S. Smith in Washington and Erik Schelzig in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Notre Dame vs. Alabama: Star power, power football

Notre Dame running back Theo Riddick, right, and wide receiver Luke Massa, left, celebrate after Notre Dame defeated Southern California 22-13 in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

Notre Dame running back Theo Riddick, right, and wide receiver Luke Massa, left, celebrate after Notre Dame defeated Southern California 22-13 in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

Alabama defensive lineman Quinton Dial (90) runs on the field with a Alabama flag after their 32-28 win in the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football?game against Georgia, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

(AP) ? On one side, a blossoming dynasty from the college football capital of the Deep South. On the other, the sport's most famous team, trying to reclaim its place among the elite.

Notre Dame and Alabama bring star power and power football to the BCS championship.

The matchup becomes official Sunday night when the full BCS lineup is announced on ESPN. There's still some mystery about whether Northern Illinois or Boise State could slip in as a BCS buster, but there's no drama about the main event: No. 1 Notre Dame against No. 2 Alabama in Miami on Jan. 7.

The Irish clinched their spot a week ago in Los Angeles by completing a perfect season against rival Southern California.

Alabama earned its spot Saturday, beating Georgia 32-28 in a thrilling Southeastern Conference title game.

The program that coach Paul Bryant turned into an SEC behemoth in the 1960s and 70s, winning six national championships during his tenure, is again dominating college football with a modern-day version of the Bear leading the way in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Coach Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide are on the verge of one of the great runs in history. Alabama would become the first team to repeat as champions since the Bowl Championship Series was implemented in 1998, and the 11th team to win consecutive AP titles since the poll started in 1936.

The Tide also won the 2009 BCS championship. The last team to win three major national titles in four seasons was Nebraska, which went back-to-back in 1994 and '95 and finished No. 1 in the final coaches' poll in 1997.

In a spread-the-field, hurry-up offense world, the Tide is homage to traditional football.

The Tide put its no-frills muscle on display Saturday, mashing Georgia with 350 yards rushing, most impressively when Alabama trailed 21-10 in the second half and you might have expected the Tide to open up its passing game.

Eddie Lacy, listed at a conservative 220 pounds, went for 181 against the Bulldogs to up his season total to 1,182 with 17 touchdowns. T.J. Yeldon, at 216 pounds, provides more speed with his punch. The freshman has run for 1,000 yards and scored 12 touchdowns.

But this is no 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Both backs average over 6 yards per carry, behind an offensive line anchored by All-American center Barrett Jones. And quarterback AJ McCarron has thrown 26 touchdowns with only three interceptions.

The Tide has been more potent offensively this season than last to make up for a defense that has slipped, but only a bit. Alabama leads the nation in total defense (246 yards per game) and is second in points allowed (10.7 per game). Linebackers Adrian Hubbard, Nico Johnson, CJ Mosley and Trey Depriest average 242 pounds.

When Brian Kelly was hired at Notre Dame three years ago, he looked at Alabama and the SEC, which has won six straight BCS titles, and decided the Irish needed to play like that.

Kelly built his reputation and winning teams at previous stops on fast-paced spread offenses. In South Bend, Ind., he has put the fight back in the Irish, who have won eight AP national titles ? only Alabama has as many ? but none since 1988.

Notre Dame has allowed the fewest touchdowns in the country (10) and is sixth overall in total defense (286 yards per game). The face of the Irish isn't a strong-armed quarterback or speedy ball carrier. It's middle linebacker Manti Te'o, a 255-pound offense wrecker with a nose for the ball. The senior has seven interceptions and is a likely Heisman finalist.

Te'o, along with 300-pound linemen Stephon Tuitt and Louis Nix, have formed a red-zone wall for the Irish. Late goal line stands highlighted victories against Stanford and USC.

While nurturing redshirt freshman Everett Golson, Kelly has leaned on Notre Dame's running game, which averages 202 yards. Alabama averages 224 on the ground.

If Notre Dame, making its first appearance in a BCS championship, is going to break the SEC's strangle hold on the crystal ball trophy, the Irish will try to beat 'Bama at its own game.

And Kelly will try to uphold a Notre Dame tradition, by winning a national title in his third season as coach. Frank Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz all won it all in Year 3 playing in the shadows of the Golden Dome.

Notre Dame will try to become the first team since BYU in 1984 to start the season unranked a win a national title.

Expect plenty to be watching. With the popularity of both programs, the second-to-last BCS title games is expected to be the highest rated ever.

In two years, college football switches to a four-team playoff to determine its champion. No doubt fans of Florida (11-1), Oregon (11-1), Stanford (11-2) and Kansas State (11-1) wish they could push the start date up on that, but for the most part there isn't much griping about this championship matchup.

Notre Dame is the only undefeated team that is eligible ? thanks to Ohio State's NCAA sanctions ? and Alabama is the champion of the league that has produced the last half dozen national champs.

Roll Tide or return to glory? To be determined in south Florida.

___

Follow Ralph D. Russo at www.Twitter.com/ralphdrussoap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-02-T25-BCS%20Championship/id-bac8fa9a30cc4a59aba054cc20b4647b

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Glowing fish shed light on metabolism

Monday, December 3, 2012

A tiny, translucent zebrafish that glows green when its liver makes glucose has helped an international team of researchers identify a compound that regulates whole-body metabolism and appears to protect obese mice from signs of metabolic disorders.

Led by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the work demonstrates how a fish smaller than a grain of rice can help screen for drugs to help control obesity, type 2 diabetes and other metabolic disorders, which affect a rising 34 percent of American adults and are major risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

Described this week in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, the new compound emerged from a panel of 2,400 medications and drug-like compounds tested in the zebrafish. The test was designed to identify key regulators of "fasting metabolism"? a state most people face every day after the lingering remnants of their long-digested meals pass slowly down their digestive tract.

Fasting metabolism is the body's way of fulfilling its energy needs between meals by turning to fat and other stored sources. It involves a carefully balanced and coordinated cascade of reactions that see numerous genes in various tissues kick into action and do things like burn fat.

In type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases, this careful balance is lost.

"The body cannot keep up with the breakdown of energy, and lipids [molecules of fat] can accumulate to toxic levels in the liver," said UCSF postdoctoral fellow Philipp Gut, MD, who led the research with Didier Y.R. Stainier, PhD, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics.

How the Screen Works

Some screens can be conducted in cell culture by taking living cells grown in the laboratory and exposing them to various drugs. The ability to rapidly test large libraries of compounds in the last few decades through such screens has revolutionized biomedical science.

But looking for drugs that regulate biological processes like metabolism, which involves multiple interacting organs in the body, and even more types of cells, cannot be done in cell screens because they lack the same complexity. Mice are often used to test pharmacological compounds, but screens of this magnitude would require thousands of mice, which would be ethically impossible to justify and prohibitively expensive.

Gut and his colleagues set out to develop the zebrafish screen as an ethical and inexpensive solution, and the new paper demonstrates the validity of this approach, he said. Furthermore, this study illustrates the fact that model organisms should be an integral part of the new roadmap defined by the NIH and other medical research organizations around the world to translate the most advanced laboratory science into benefits for patients, Stainier said.

Of the thousands of compounds the team screened, two appeared to turn on a handful of genes that caused the animals to burn fat as a way of producing energy ? an end that would be desirable for many people with metabolic disorders.

Further experiments with one of these compounds in mice showed that it could protect obese mice from metabolic problems.

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University of California - San Francisco: http://www.ucsf.edu

Thanks to University of California - San Francisco for this article.

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