STANFORD, Calif. (AP) ? Stanford is making a habit of ruining Oregon's undefeated runs.
Chasson Randle scored 17 points, Josh Huestis had 14 points and 13 rebounds, and the Cardinal stunned Oregon on a big stage again by routing the 10th-ranked Ducks 76-52 Wednesday night.
More than two months after the Stanford football team handed Oregon its only loss of the season, the Cardinal (13-8, 4-4 Pac-12) dominated the Ducks from the start for the basketball program's first victory over a top 10 team in almost five years. Stanford snapped a nine-game winning streak for Oregon (18-3, 7-1), which dropped its first conference game this season.
"I hope they think we're a tough bunch," Randle said.
Dwight Powell added 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Aaron Bright finished with 12 points as Stanford built a 25-point lead early in the second half and coasted to the buzzer. Stanford outshot Oregon 52 to 35 percent from the floor. The Cardinal also went 8 of 14 from 3-point range, while the Ducks converted only 4 of 16 from beyond the arc.
Stanford hadn't beaten a ranked opponent since Jan. 13, 2011, when it topped No. 17 Washington 58-56 at home. The last top 10 team Stanford had defeated came when the Cardinal won at No. 9 Washington State 67-65 in overtime on Feb. 2, 2008 ? the season before coach Johnny Dawkins took over.
"It's definitely one of the best games I think our guys have played, being the fact that they're such a highly ranked team," Dawkins said. "I think our kids had some other good moments as well, but this definitely ranks up there as one of the better moments for our program."
Carlos Emory scored 12 points and Arsalan Kazemi had six points and nine rebounds on a forgettable night for Oregon, which matched its highest ranking since March 2007 this week but will surely take a tumble in the AP poll now. Oregon's best start in conference play since finishing 10-0 in the 1925-26 season also is over.
"We just got it handed to us," coach Dana Altman said
Once again, the Ducks can thank Stanford for spoiling all the fun.
The Cardinal football team outlasted Oregon in November on the way to a Pac-12 title and Rose Bowl victory. Coincidentally, Jordan Williamson, who kicked the winning 37-yard field goal in overtime at top-ranked Oregon, stood in the first row of the Stanford student section along with a few teammates.
The hardwood rematch was never quite so close.
Despite Oregon's strong start, the Ducks entered the game as 2?-point underdogs. That might have been in part because the Ducks played without starting point guard Dominic Artis for the second straight game. Artis is out indefinitely with a left foot injury.
In the end, the only surprise was that Las Vegas bookmakers didn't make the line even higher. Stanford followed up its 87-56 win at Utah on Sunday ? its most lopsided league victory in nine years ? with another runaway performance.
The one celebration Oregon enjoyed came after Kazemi's two-handed slam in the opening moments. That faded fast when the Oregon forward fell hard going for a rebound on the next defensive possession.
Kazemi, who had a concussion in a win against Nevada on Dec. 31, lay on the court holding his head for more than a minute before being helped up by a team trainer. He later returned and showed no effects from the injury.
With Kazemi recovering on the bench, Stanford started its never-ending surge.
Randle, Powell, Bright and John Gage each hit a 3-pointer during an 18-2 run that brought the sparse crowd roaring to its feet. The Cardinal clamped down on defense, too, pushing the pace for quick scores to go ahead 20-8 in the first 8 minutes.
Oregon missed its first six shots from beyond the arc and committed 20 turnovers, including three egregious errors just before the break. Stanford scored after each one, part of a quick 6-0 burst capped by Anthony Brown's bank hook that helped the Cardinal carry a 35-22 lead into the locker room.
"It's good to see the ball go in the basket," Dawkins said, chuckling. "It makes everything a little easier."
Stanford started even faster in the second half.
After E.J. Singler's 3-pointer cut the Cardinal's lead to 10, the Ducks never got closer. Powell started a three-point play with a layup over Singler, then made a runner and another from beyond the arc as the Cardinal gained control for good.
Huestis cleaned up a miss with a putback dunk, and Bright made a jumper and a 3-pointer to put the Cardinal ahead 54-29 with 12:08 remaining. Singler finished with six points and four rebounds in 26 minutes.
Stanford students taunted Oregon in the final minutes with chants of "overrated."
"We haven't reached our goals yet, but this is a great win against a great team," Powell said. "They've proven themselves. And we're still in the process of proving ourselves."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stanford-beats-no-10-oregon-76-52-behind-063221688--spt.html
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During President Obama's meeting with police chiefs and sheriffs today, the law enforcement officials focused on the need for background checks and closing the gaping reporting holes.
(L-R) Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau, Hennepin County Minnesota Sheriff Richard W. Stanek, and President Barack Obama met today with other representatives from the Major Cities Chiefs Association and Major County Sheriffs Association to discuss President Obama's policies to reduce gun violence.
Carolyn Kaster / AP
EnlargeLaw enforcement leaders who met with President Barack Obama Monday urged him to focus on strengthening gun purchase background checks and mental health systems, but did not unify behind his more controversial gun control efforts.
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The message from sheriffs and police chiefs gathered at the White House reflected the political reality in Congress that the assault weapons ban in particular is likely to have a hard time winning broad support. The president appeared to recognize the challenge of getting everything he wants from Congress as well, participants in the meeting said.
"We're very supportive of the assault weapons ban," as police chiefs, said Montgomery County, Md., Police Chief J. Thomas Manger in an interview with The Associated Press. "But I think everybody understands that may be a real tough battle to win. And one of the things that the president did say is that we can't look at it like we have to get all of these things or we haven't won."
Opinions over an assault weapons ban and limits on high capacity magazines ? two measures the president supports ? were divided in the room. While Manger said the police chiefs from the large cities support that kind of gun control, some of the elected sheriffs who were in the meeting may not.
"I think what was made clear was that gun control in itself is not the salvation to this issue," said Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald of Story County, Iowa, one of 13 law enforcement leaders who met with the president, vice president and Cabinet members for more than an hour, seated around a conference table in the Roosevelt Room.
Among the participants included three chiefs that responded to the worst shootings of 2012, including Aurora, Colo., where 12 were killed in July; Oak Creek, Wis., where six died in an assault on a Sikh temple, and Newtown, Conn., scene of the most recent mass tragedy that left 20 first-graders dead.
The White House recognizes that police are a credible and important voice in the debate over guns that has developed following last month's elementary school shooting in Connecticut. Obama opened the meeting before media cameras and declared no group more important to listen to in the debate.
"Hopefully if law enforcement officials who are dealing with this stuff every single day can come to some basic consensus in terms of steps that we need to take, Congress is going to be paying attention to them, and we'll be able to make progress," Obama said.
Obama urged Congress to pass an assault weapons ban, limit high capacity magazines and require universal background checks for would-be gun owners in a brief statement to the reporters. But participants said after the media was escorted from the room, the focus was not on the assault weapons ban.
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Despite -- or rather thanks to -- major delays in releasing BlackBerry 10, RIM has let quite a bit slip about its upcoming operating system and related BB10 devices. We've had more than a year to absorb leaks, rumors and official information, after all, so it's no surprise that we have a very good idea of what to expect when Waterloo pulls back the curtain on January 30th. That doesn't mean things are as plain as day, though; the deluge of blurrycam shots and carrier screens have provided an almost indigestible amount of information about BB10, and we don't blame you if you can't keep the story straight. We're here to parse the madness, though, so read on to find out what to expect at tomorrow's launch event.
The first BB10 handset likely won't sport a physical keyboard, but that doesn't mean you should expect a subpar typing experience. RIM's on-screen layout will boast quite a few enhancements to compete with SwiftKey and other similar input options. For instance, the company has demoed predictive typing; press on a letter, and a selection of likely words will hover over the corresponding character ("hey" when you hit H, for example). To pick one of the predicted words, you simply swipe up on it. The keyboard will learn and adapt to your linguistic habits, so you can expect more accurate suggestions over time. In addition to predictive input, the on-screen layout features intuitive gestures such as swiping to the left to delete text and swiping from the lower left to minimize the keyboard. Other gestures include swiping from the bottom to reveal numbers and special characters.
At BlackBerry World 2012, RIM showed us its take on fancy camera software: the "timeline lens," which uses Scalado's Rewind technology to capture frames even before you hit the shutter. This means you can cycle back through the shooter's cache if you miss an image by a second or two.
If The Gadget Masters website, which posted a hands-on video with a "pre-production Z10," is to be believed, we can also expect photo-editing software courtesy of Scalado, including Instagram-style filters and options such as transform, brightness / white balance adjustment, rotate and aspect ratio customization.
One of the most anticipated aspects of BlackBerry 10 is the user interface's focus on multitasking. The aptly named Peek feature, showcased at BlackBerry Jam last September, lets users view apps running in the background by simply swiping from the left or right. From there, users can either return to their previous task or swipe back to go into previously launched programs. At least in theory, this is meant to provide a more fluid app-switching experience than the task list à la webOS and Android.
Back in May, RIM officially previewed the BB10 home screen, which will include an app grid that displays all currently running programs. From here, swiping to the right will bring up the full launcher, and gesturing to the left will bring you to the unified inbox. Here as well, you can use Peek to view recent notifications and any currently running applications, and then swipe to backtrack to the main hub. Users can also minimize a given window to see new notifications. We also got a hands-on look at the UI in action when we met with RIM Principal Architect Gary Klassen last June -- check out our video.
Historically, RIM's handsets have been almost synonymous with the BYOD (bring your own device) movement, so it's no surprise that BB10 devices will come with corporate-minded features on board. First off, the OS has FIP 140-2 certification, meaning it meets the security and encryption requirements of government agencies and enterprises.
BB10 devices will also have BlackBerry Balance, which partitions RIM's phones into separate work and personal profiles. To toggle between these two modes, you simply pull down from the app icon grid. You'll see different applications listed depending on which profile you're in, and you can run applications simultaneously in both profiles. For instance, you can have the browser open on the corporate side, and it will adhere to your IT desk's policies, and on the personal side it will run without these restrictions.
One of many tidbits we've gleaned from the leaked BB10 training manual is that RIM is promising some 70,000 QNX apps in the BlackBerry World store at launch. And indeed, Waterloo has been aggressively courting developers, offering a $10,000 guarantee for approved apps that make less than 10k in the first year. The company also held "Portathon" events to drum up app submissions with a cash incentive. One such contest netted 15,000 entries in less than 38 hours.
In addition to seeking new applications, RIM has invested time and money into securing the top names for its platform. Rest assured that a native Facebook app will be on board at launch, as will Foursquare. We also have good reason to believe that Google Talk and Twitter will be integrated into the unified inbox.
Back in November, CEO Thorsten Heins told us that a full-touch device will be RIM's way of gaining back market share, as the company's smartphone success to date has been in the QWERTY category. Hence, the first BB10 device will feature an on-screen rather than a physical keyboard.
All signs point to the first flagship device being the full-touch BlackBerry Z10, a phone in the higher-end L-Series line. We've seen that model name come up repeatedly, in RIM marketing materials and most recently in a screen cap from Verizon's website.
Leaked specs for the Z10 match up quite closely with the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha we first saw last May. Unveiled at BlackBerry World, the device sported a 4.2-inch, 1,280 x 768 display with 16GB of internal storage. Rumors and leaks about the Z10 have echoed that same set of specifications -- save for 2GB rather than 1GB of RAM -- and we now hear it will run a 1.5GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor under the hood. Whether that CPU spec turns out to be true or not, it's safe to assume the phone will pack a dual-core chip.
From the beginning, Heins has made it clear that RIM's BB10 strategy is to target the more "premium" end of the market first, though "at least six" handsets in total will debut in 2013. We can expect mid-range and lower-end devices in this batch; Heins said a physical keyboard model will be released soon after the first BB10 touch device, and this QWERTY model should fall under the N-Series. Physical keyboards have arguably been RIM's bread and butter, and while the company clearly finessed its on-screen input for the all-touch Z10, it's unclear whether QWERTY models will receive a keyboard revamp as well.
We'd be remiss to move on without mentioning the PlayBook. Though we don't know if any new models are on the horizon, RIM has confirmed that existing versions of its biz-focused tablet will receive the upgrade to BlackBerry 10. Of course, this is possible because the PlayBook is a QNX-based device.
Unsurprisingly, most of the major carriers will be on board when BlackBerry 10 hits the market. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have all confirmed that they'll be carrying BB10 devices at launch, and Sprint recently spoke up to reassure customers that it will be on board by "later this year." UK carriers, including Three, O2 and EE, also confirmed that they'll offer BB10 products in early 2013. Additionally, in our interview with Heins, he confirmed that BB10 devices, including the QWERTY handset, will support 4G LTE.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, RIM
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/29/what-we-know-about-blackberry-10/
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Sen. John Kerry walks past reporters after Tuesday's committee vote (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
The Senate on Tuesday easily confirmed one of its own -- Democrat John Kerry of Massachusetts -- to be the next secretary of state, ending a largely non-controversial process and kicking off what is expected to be a hotly contested special election for the seat Kerry has held since 1985.
The vote was 94-3 for Kerry at a time when bipartisanship is rarely on display in Washington. Just 3 Republicans voted against his nomination -- Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn and Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe.
Kerry voted "present" on his confirmation. He is set to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is stepping down after four years of service.
Kerry, a decorated Vietnam War veteran and the 2004 Democratic nominee for president, has served on the Foreign Relations Committee since his arrival in the Senate and has chaired the committee for the last 4 years.
Kerry began the hearing process with the backing of senators of both parties, many of whom came together Tuesday to publicly laud his service.
"Sen. Kerry is uniquely qualified to serve as the next secretary of state," Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said on the Senate floor prior to the vote, noting that Kerry's personal history as the son of a diplomat as well as his deep knowledge of international affairs as well as his relationships with diplomats.
Menendez is on tap to succeed Kerry as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Earlier Tuesday, that committee unanimously voted to send Kerry's nomination to the full Senate.
Kerry's departure from the Senate is expected to spark a major political fight for his vacant seat in Massachusetts.
Democratic Rep. Ed Markey has already announced his intention to seek Kerry's seat in the special election. Markey has won solid Democratic support from party leaders?and Kerry himself?for his campaign. The party has hoped to coalesce around Markey's candidacy in hopes of avoiding a bitter primary fight ahead of what's expected to be a competitive general special election.
But wide support from Markey may not be enough to keep interested Democrats out of the race. Fellow Rep. Stephen Lynch has long indicated interest in the seat but has yet to reveal his plans.
Lynch's spokesman did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday following Kerry's confirmation.
Democrats in Massachusetts scored a major victory in 2012 when Democrat Elizabeth Warren ousted Republican Sen. Scott Brown. That race was devoid of major outside spending as both candidates had agreed to a ban on third-party spending. Markey on Monday called on his potential challengers to agree to the same type of ban.
That is likely to happen if Brown enters the race, as Brown introduced the "People's Pledge" to ban outside spending in 2012 and has expressed interest in running for Kerry's seat.
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin on Monday revealed plans to set the special election to choose Kerry's successor for June 25 after an April 30 primary.
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Drugmaker Pfizer Inc.'s fourth-quarter results easily beat Wall Street expectations, driving up its stock, as profit more than quadrupled, due to tighter spending and a $4.8 billion gain from selling its nutrition business.
Those boosts offset competition from generic drugs hurting sales of Lipitor and other medicines.
The world's biggest drugmaker said Tuesday that its net income was $6.32 billion, or 85 cents per share, up from $1.44 billion, or 19 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding the windfall from selling its nutrition business to Nestle SA for $11.5 billion on Nov. 30, and a total of $888 million for restructuring, legal and other one-time items, the Viagra maker would have had a profit of $3.51 billion, or 47 cents per share. That's 3 cents more than analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting.
The New York-based company's shares rose 86 cents, or 3.2 percent, to close at $27.70 Tuesday.
"It was certainly a good quarter," said Edward Jones analyst Judson Clark. "They continued to execute on their short-term business model," of controlling costs while making progress on the development of new drugs.
Revenue fell 7 percent to $15.1 billion, mainly due to generic competition to cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor. Analysts expected $14.35 billion.
"Overall, a good quarter driven by the revenue beat," BernsteinResearch analyst Dr. Timothy Anderson wrote to investors, calling Pfizer's 2013 financial forecast "a bit underwhelming."
Pfizer said it expects 2013 earnings per share of $2.20 to $2.30, excluding one-time items, and revenue of $56.2 billion to $58.2 billion. Analysts are expecting $2.28 per share and revenue of $57.55 billion.
Lipitor, which had reigned as the world's top-selling drug ever for nearly a decade, got U.S. generic competition in December 2011 and now has generic rivals in many major markets. The pill had been bringing Pfizer nearly $11 billion a year before then, down from its peak of $13 billion a year.
In the fourth quarter, Lipitor sales plunged 91 percent in the U.S. and 71 percent worldwide, to $584 million. A dozen other medicines also had lower sales due to generic competition.
Altogether, generic competition reduced prescription drug revenue by more than $2.1 billion. Unfavorable currency exchange rates lopped off another 2 percent, or $271 million.
However, several key newer drugs had double-digit sales increases, including fibromyalgia and pain treatment Lyrica, at $1.13 billion, painkiller Celebrex at $750 million, and the Prevnar 13 vaccine against meningitis and other pneumococcal infections, at $993 million. Viagra was up 6 percent at $553 million.
Altogether, Pfizer's prescription drug revenue fell 9 percent in the quarter, to $12.89 billion. The division was led by sales of primary-care medicines, which totaled $3.83 billion. Still, that was down 29 percent as Lipitor's sales in the two biggest markets, the U.S. and Japan, where shifted into the established products category. That segment, which markets off-patent drugs still popular in many countries, posted a 3 percent rise in revenue, to $2.37 billion.
Specialty products, such as Enbrel for psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, and hemophilia treatments Refacto AF and Benefix, had revenue dip 4 percent, to a combined $3.67 billion. Sales in emerging markets such as China and India jumped 17 percent, to $2.65 billion, while sales of cancer drugs, a newer focus for Pfizer, rose 9 percent to $370 million.
The animal health business saw revenue increase 6 percent, to $1.17 billion. Pfizer is set to sell up to 19.8 percent of the business, called Zoetis, in a partial initial public offering on Friday.
The consumer health business saw revenue jump 16 percent, to $936 million, due to strong growth of Advil pain reliever and Centrum vitamins.
"We had a good year," CEO Ian Read said in an interview, adding that he's "looking forward to progressing our pipeline and bringing new products to patients this year."
Read told analysts during a conference call that Pfizer will soon launch two new medicines, rheumatoid arthritis treatment Xeljanz and ? with partner Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. ? potential blockbuster Eliquis, for preventing heart attacks and dangerous clots in patients with the irregular heartbeat atrial fibrillation.
Pfizer said insurers so far have generally been covering Xeljanz, which has a wholesale price of about $2,050 for a month's supply, less than a rival drug.
Eliquis, just approved on Dec. 28 in the U.S., should be in most U.S. pharmacies by Thursday. Pfizer and partner Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. will promote it jointly, noting its advantages over two rival drugs on the market already, Xarelto and Pradaxa.
Asked about plans for acquisitions, Pfizer said its focus is on "bolt-on" deals, meaning purchases of companies with complementary businesses or products, with a price tag of up to several billion dollars.
Read said Pfizer's mid- to late-stage drug pipeline "continues to strengthen with key potential opportunities," including drugs for advanced breast cancer and three other types of cancer, one for high cholesterol and a meningococcal B vaccine for adolescents and young adults.
For the full year, net income was $14.57 billion, or $1.94 per share. That was down from $10.01 billion, or $1.27 per share, in 2011. Revenue totaled $58.99 billion, down 10 percent from $65.26 billion in 2011, before generic competition slashed sales of Lipitor and schizophrenia drug Geodon.
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Linda A. Johnson can be followed at http://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pfizer-q4-net-jumps-sale-nutrition-business-122409461--finance.html
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My beautiful mom at her 80th birthday party. Photo by Bee.
?I don?t really understand what the grieving are going through,? I?ve said many times. ?I?ve never lost anyone very close to me.? I will never say that again.
My mother died last week. It was sudden and shocking to us, her family, even if it seems a rather ordinary death in the retelling. My mom was 80. She?d been in the hospital a couple of weeks back with a urinary tract infection, but seemed to recover and was sent home. The last day I saw her alive, January 12, she was carrying her walker through the house rather than leaning on it. She didn?t want to use it, didn?t feel she needed it, but still wanted to dutifully follow the orders she?d been given.
After several good days at home Mom grew weak again and wound up back in the hospital. There were a few days of trying to discover the cause of her decline, rallying moments when she chatted with visitors, and then suddenly my father was calling me to say, ?Mom is dying.? I felt it must be a mistake. My father must be overreacting. Despite decades of chronic, severe pain and several years with Alzheimer?s, my mom had remained essentially healthy. We?d celebrated her 80th birthday with a surprise party in September and she?d been radiant with happiness, surrounded by not only her friends, but children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. This strong, cheerful mom of mine could not possibly be dying right now, out of the blue.
But she was. I picked up a sister at the airport and hurried to my hometown to see Mom. Another sister, already there, called when we were about half an hour away and told us to come straight to the hospital. She offered no information, but her voice was tight and strange, and I suspected what we would find. I rode up in the elevator pretending that things were going to be normal, taking the last opportunity to believe that there would be a surprise recovery waiting for us in the hospital room. Mom sitting up in bed, perhaps, fussing a little about the bland liquid diet and the limited TV stations.
As soon as we pushed the door open, my game of pretend ended. ?Do you know?? my dad asked.? ?Mom?s gone.?
And there she was, looking for all the world like she was sleeping. For years, my mother had slept ?the sleep of the dead? when her pain medication kicked in. But this was not sleep, and in an instant I?d entered a new world.
I remember that when I was newly married, I would marvel over my change in identity. ?I am someone?s wife. I am a married women.? I did the same thing after my first child was born. ?I am someone?s mother,? I would say, rolling the word over my tongue. Leaving the hospital Wednesday I had the same sense of foreignness, of some mysterious change having come over me. I am now someone whose mother has died. I am a child who has lost a parent. It doesn?t matter that I am 47 years old. Looking at my mother in that hospital bed, knowing that I would never hear her voice or see her smile again, I was a child.
I?ve always feel a little stunted when it comes to caring for those who are hurting. I?m easily embarrassed not only by my own strong emotions, but by those of other people. I worry about saying the wrong thing in a crisis, so I often find myself clumsily keeping my distance. Doing nothing. I know this is not a good thing, and it?s an especially terrible thing for a person who is a pastor. That?s why when God called me I was certain He would limit my calling to study and writing and teaching. Not pastoral care. I mean, God?s not crazy.
The past several days have felt like a gentle tutorial in how to minister to those in pain, and I?ve been learning as a recipient. At the reception after my mother?s memorial service I was chatting with a social worker, a family friend, about my trial and error approach to ministry. ?I don?t know what I?m doing half the time, but I just say pray and show up,? I said. The social worker replied, ?Showing up is the most important thing.? And I knew, absolutely knew, she was right. I?d already been amazed by the people who had shown up for my dad, and for us. Neighbors were at the house within a few hours of mom?s passing, sharing tears and long hugs with all of us. My parents? friends were coming by with food and stories to make my dad laugh. One of my high school friends came loaded down with pizzas and sodas for all the grandchildren, and stayed to cheer me with his company. The little boys from down the block came by every day to walk my mom?s dogs. No one said or did the wrong thing ? the very fear that keeps me away. I found myself thinking, ?This is not so hard, being loving. They?ve just had the kindness and courage to show up, to keep us from being alone in our grief.?
In the movie Lars and the Real Girl, during a time of crisis, the church ladies arrive with food and keep Lars company. ?Is there something I should be doing right now?? Lars asks.
?No, dear. You eat,? they reply. ?We came over to sit. That?s what people do when tragedy strikes. They come over and sit.? How is it that I thought I couldn?t do that? What have I been so afraid of, that has kept me from doing the loving thing for people I care about?
In the letter to the Romans Paul instructs them to ?Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.? It?s just that straightforward. When we shared favorite family stories about Mom, our friends laughed with us. When we thought of Mom, free from pain, in the presence of the God she loved with all her heart, our friends rejoiced with us. And when we thought of going on here, without her, our friends let us weep and sometimes wept with us. They showed up.
I wasn?t ready to lose my mom, and I still wish I could wake up and find that it never happened. But if there is a gift in this loss, it?s that I think I finally get it. I think I can do it the next time someone I love suffers a loss. I can make a casserole, and show up. I can sit and be with them in their grief. I know now what a precious gift that is.
Source: http://strangefigures.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/when-death-comes-love-mean-showing-up/
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I'm often asked, do you need an MFA to be a writer? Of course you don?t; to be a writer, you need to write. That?s misleadingly simple. I like to answer the question with a list (naturally) that also includes some questions to ponder and some unsolicited advice. So, here goes:
What to think about when you think about a graduate program in writing:
--I had some amazing teachers that saved me a lot of time by showing me a path through the thicket of writing. Not all of those teachers were in my MFA workshops, so there are excellent teachers everywhere. But, yes, teachers really can teach you quite a bit!
--While many graduate programs have ?famous? writers you revere and admire on the faculty, being a ?famous? writer doesn?t automatically make one a good teacher. So when you?re considering plunking down the $$ to go to a graduate program, do your homework and check out the faculty.
--Doing your homework means:
A) Reading the work by the core faculty. If everyone on the faculty is writing in a traditional style and your writing is more experimental, it probably isn?t a good match.
B) Speaking to students who are in the program or who recently graduated. This is how you can find out about the teaching. Facebook can be a good resource for finding students, or you can ask the program director for some students to chat with.
C) Show up, if you can. Go to a reading sponsored by the program and get a feel for the place: is the atmosphere friendly and welcoming? Do the faculty attend the reading? Are the questions in the Q&A lively? Or, if you?re at a conference, talk to the writers who teach and ask them about their schools.
--Don?t expect that you?ll automatically get a teaching job after you graduate. If you want to teach?and be sure that you really do want to; it?s not a requirement to being a writer, and may even be a detriment!?you will need a graduate degree. But, to teach creative writing, you will most likely also need a published book (or some amazing, New Yorker-like publications). The degree is no guarantee, and don?t make a mistake imagining that it is. (If you want to teach, try to get some experience while you?re in school. And expect that you?ll be teaching mostly comp while a TA and probably after you graduate and perhaps even for the rest of your life.)
--Think about money. Will attending graduate school put you in debt for the rest of your life? Are you okay with that? There's value to the idea of devoting time/energy/resources to learning to be a better writer--good teachers can help you leapfrog ahead of yourself in terms of writing progress. Will knowing that you?re spending all this money (and time and making the other sacrifices needed) make you take your writing more seriously? There is always going to be a higher standard for critique and study in a graduate program?not to mention the more rigorous reading requirements. Do you want/need someone else to impose those standards upon you; at what price?
--Perhaps the greatest benefit of a graduate writing program is the community, during and after. Maybe you will meet people who will be friends for life, or who will read and comment on your work for life, or who will become high-powered editors/writers who can help you. Maybe. At the least, you?ll be surrounded by a group of people who care deeply about writing/literature and who want to follow the same path of artful pursuit you do.
--Probably this should be a whole separate discussion because I won?t do it justice here, but think about what you want to write. If all you want to write is science fiction (or romance) or some other genre, you WILL learn to be a better writer in a graduate writing program. But your path may be rougher and more challenging than if your interests were more literary. Again, do your homework: How does the program feel about less ?literary? writing?
Unsolicited advice I have for all MFA students:
--Read the books your teachers have written. Ask your teachers questions about their work: how did you handle dialogue? Why did you decide to give the main character 6 brothers? Etc. Talk!
--Make the most of every opportunity. If your teacher offers individual meetings/office hours, go. If your teacher/peers hang out after class for booze or coffee, and it?s within your realm to attend, go. If your teachers/peers are reading their work, go. If the ?famous? visiting writer needs a ride somewhere and you can offer one, go. In short, just go-go-GO!
--Write things down. If your teacher mentions a book/journal/article that was influential to him/her, write it down. Look it up. Think seriously about reading it, if not immediately, at some point. Teachers don?t say these things for no reason, you know!
--Be organized and timely. Get your work done. Try not to be a problem.
--Don?t suck up. Instead, be a nice, interested, interesting person, and you won?t need to suck up. Ask questions instead, and don?t talk only about yourself and your own projects. Be involved in the larger world.
--Be the person in your program who organizes, whether it?s a potluck or a new online literary journal or a fun night bowling. It takes effort to keep your community connected, so pull an oar.
--Thank your teachers at the end of the semester, even the teachers you didn?t like. You probably learned more from them than you think you did.
--Don?t race your way through the program. This is probably the only time in your life where you have all these smart people devoted to you and your writing?take your time and enjoy it.
What about the Low-Res MFA?
Unique advantages to the low-res:
--You don?t need to move and/or uproot your life to go to school.
--There?s a nice mix between workshop interaction and individual, devoted attention to your work.
--Speaking as a fiction teacher, I think it's easier to work on the novel form since you have one mentor for a solid chunk of time who can read a good amount of your work in a sustained way.
--The residency location can be a plus: i.e. if you like the mountains, choose a low-res program located in/near the mountains!
--The reading list can be self-directed so you're reading materials that resonate with you.
Disadvantages to the low-res:
--That word above, "self-directed": this type of program would be a disaster for a certain type of person, who's a totally disorganized procrastinator. In the low-res, you really have to make yourself do the work.
--Things are changing, but typically there are fewer fellowship and funding opportunities available at low-res programs, so the onus of finding a way to pay for the program comes from the student: savings, student loans
--There may be limited TA opportunities.
Disclosure: I teach at the Converse College Low-Residency MFA Program and at the more traditional Johns Hopkins Master of Arts in Writing Program.
Source: http://www.workinprogressinprogress.com/2013/01/do-writers-need-mfa.html
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-bolsters-quantum-vibration-scent-theory-080100750.html
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So, I?d been meaning to go to Bocca Di Lupo for a month of Sundays. And FINALLY I went on Thursday of last week and am pleased to say that it was well worth the wait.
I was a little anxious when I was only offered 2 spaces at the bar from 6 till 8, thinking sitting at the bar a little inferior to at a table (the timing didn?t bother me so much ? after all it was a fairly late booking). However, sitting at the bar was actually a really good thing; we felt part of the kitchen with all its? theatre, smells, sights and sounds. Plus, we could interact with the chefs a little which I enjoyed a lot. I may be wrong, but it must be great as a chef to see people eating the food you?ve cooked, rather than being tucked away downstairs never to be seen by the people you?re creating for, albeit potentially a little exposing at times.
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After a lengthy discussion with the sommelier we settled on a bottle of Lambrusco, a sparkling bottle of fruity lushness. Full of fruit and dancing bubbles, this was a perfect drink to not only toast good friendship to but also for sharing with a diverse range of dishes which were to come to us over the next couple of hours.
Of course we didn't go straight into that! An aperitif was required first to go alongside the delicious focaccia and olives to nibble; and a few moments later came an ap?rol spritz.
The menu at Bocca is a range of cured meats, pasta dishes, amazing grilled meat and fish as well as some delicious deep fried naughtiness.
Who could resist deep fried buffalo bocconcini; crisp balls hiding an oozing centre of rich yet slightly acidic, fresh pale whiteness. Joining this little nibble were 2 fantastic plates of food; crescentine with capocollo Di Martina Franca and squacquerone and a plate of sea bream carpaccio with raw red prawns and a dressing of blood orange and rosemary. Crescentine are little pillows of dough fried in lard. These were served warm so that the fat in the Capocollo (a delicious home made cured neck of pork), and the squacquerone (a soft, unctuous cows' milk cheese with a taste, in my opinion, of sweet fermenting harvested grass for hay), just started to melt. Simple gorgeous! The carpaccio was also delicious and I loved the addition of blood orange zest to the thinly sliced fish; a perfect compliment.
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We then went on to enjoy two plates of pasta (by the way these come in small or large sizes, and we had the small size?moderation is the key?). First we enjoyed pappardelle (which is my favourite pasta) with a ragu of duck pluck (a mix of heart, liver and gizzard). Now I don't normally go for offal if I'm honest. However, I do like gizzards as a result of my year teaching in France where I ate many a 'salade P?rigourdine' with some delicious confit of gizzards mixed in. And I also love liver, so a bit of duck heart was the only thing I'd never eaten before so really this wasn't anything too scary at all. Indeed it was a rich, slow cooked ragu that perfectly coated my favourite ribbons of pasta.
The second plate of pasta was orecchiette with nduja (spicy sausage), red onion, tomato and rocket. Simple but delicious; great ingredients cooked well and served in a matter of moments. I enjoy these little pasta shapes too, with their thicker consistency, they always have a good bite to them, a perfect balance for the soft sauce napping the little ears of pasta.
We were tempted by the slow braised ox cheek in tomato and the mother of all steaks (serving 2 to 10!) that would frequently jump on the grill? (See below)
However, having already consumed a fair amount of food, we opted for the more modest spicy grilled sausage. Although delicious in its own right, I was a little non plussed by this dish? It was good, but just, a bit, well, average after everything else we had eaten. Other than that though, the experience was fantastic and I only wish I?d been sooner. I will certainly be going back. We spent just over ?100 for two which, given the food and alcohol we consumed, felt about right.
After dinner we nipped into Gelupo for some amazing ice cream (i was already a fan) and also to stock up on my favourite little liquorice tronchetinni which you must try if you?ve not yet; little nibs of unsweetened liquorice. Honestly. Try them.
Then off to the Experimental Cocktail Club we went? I love it there. Hidden, in the middle of China Town, it?s notoriously hard to get in and harder to get a table, but we were lucky. My hair must have looked good as they offered us two remaining seats at the bar in an instant?. Incidentally, you can ask for a card which takes you to a bookings page online? I?d suggest using that to avoid disappointment. Or, make sure you?ve done your hair really well.
Over the next couple of hours or so we enjoyed a selection of delicious concoctions. I?ve got into my cocktails over the last couple of years so it?s a real treat to go here. I enjoyed a saint Germain des Pres; a mix of gin, St Germain liqueur, lime juice, elderflower, egg white, a bit of spice and cucumber juice. This was so good, cooling and refreshing but certainly boozy with a hit of spice?
My friend Ellie enjoyed a concoction of beetroot and rum, angostura bitters and lime which was delicious too and then we shared a Stockholm syndrome; vodka infused with cumin and dill, aquavit, lemon juice, sharp and bitters. This was genius. Interestingly, I got the cumin more than the dill, Ellie got the reverse. Either way, a great drink!
These cocktails don?t come cheap at about ?12.50 a pop but they are worth it and it?s not something you do every day. There?s also something really theatrical about cocktails and makes the seem worthwhile.
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NBC News' Willie Geist reports on the cell phone's role for "Rock Center."
By Erika Niedowski, The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. ??Sarah Bertness slipped into her seat at a recent staging of the musical "Million Dollar Quartet" and, when the lights dimmed, started doing something that's long been taboo inside theaters: typing away at her iPhone.
The 26-year-old freelance writer from Providence wasn't being rude. She had a spot in the "tweet seat" section at the Providence Performing Arts Center.
The theater is now setting aside a small number of seats ? in the back ? for those who promise to live-tweet from the performance using a special hashtag. They might offer impressions of the set, music or costumes, lines of dialogue that resonate with them ... or anything else that strikes them, really.
At "Million Dollar Quartet," based on the true story of a 1956 recording session that united music greats Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins, PPAC for the first time had cast members tweeting from backstage, too.
Smartphone on stage
A growing number of theaters, including some on Broadway, have been experimenting in recent years with tweet seats and other real-time uses of social media as they try to figure out the relationship between the stage and the smartphone.
Some insist the theater should remain a sacred, technology-free place and that allowing the use of phones during a show ? even discreetly ? only serves as a potential distraction for other patrons. But others say theaters can't afford not to engage the digital generation, and that the way performances were once enjoyed, in a vacuum, doesn't hold up anymore.
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{{/data.answerData}}"I think that it's important that PPAC and cultural institutions in general kind of jump on the social media bandwagon and learn to engage a broader audience," said Bertness, who runs the blog The Rhode Islander and is such a big Johnny Cash fan that she showed up to the performance wearing all black. "I think it's such a valuable tool."
Scott Moreau, an understudy for Johnny Cash, hadn't ever tweeted from backstage during a performance. He tried to provide a glimpse of what life's like on the tour, which he likened to the special features on a DVD. He said he enjoyed getting instant feedback from the tweeters ? feedback he shared with other cast members.
"It makes it feel a lot more personal," Moreau said.
A picture of Moreau that was tweeted out from backstage ? he was tweeting in it himself ? prompted someone in the tweet seats to declare that's what the Man in Black would have looked like, with an iPhone.
Time for 'Twittermission'?
Other theaters are also trying different digital ways to engage with patrons. In Boston, the Huntington Theater plans to introduce a "Twittermission" where an artist affiliated with the production, or someone from the theater's staff, answers questions about the show on Twitter during intermissions. The tweets will also be projected on screens in the theater lobby, according to spokeswoman Rebecca Curtiss.
The theater won't be introducing tweet seats, though.
"We feel strongly that the experience that an audience member has in our theater should be limited to what they are seeing on the stage," Curtiss said. "When the lights go down and the show begins, we want the art on stage to speak for itself."
PPAC isn't sure yet whether any social media buzz generated by those in the tweet seats will have a measurable effect at the box office. But spokeswoman P.J. Prokop said the theater intends to keep the program through the end of the year, and then evaluate it. Those who sit in the tweet seats get their tickets for free.
Kirsten DiChiappari, who has tweeted three shows there to her nearly 1,400 followers, grew up in New Jersey going to Broadway musicals, plays and the opera. The 41-year-old social media consultant from Bristol sees her live-tweeting as a way to lure people from their living rooms, where many are glued to "horrible reality television."
"It's kind of a way to tease people back to support the live arts, the real arts, the original arts," she said. "I feel like once they go, they'll go again."
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2013/01/27/16726912-tweet-seats-play-a-role-at-the-theater?lite
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Brookline resident Yasmin Siraj will be skating in the finals of the 2013?US Figure Skating Championships tonight, Saturday, Jan. 26, sometime around 9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. on?WHDH-TV 7News Boston.
A member of the Boston Skating Club, the 16-year-old Brookline High School junior is currently in 6th place after scoring 57.88 points in the short program in the senior ladies championships taking place in Omaha, Nebraska.
One of the youngest skaters in the finals, Siraj will skate second in the final rotation of six competitors.?
The top two skaters will be named members of the team that will represent the US in the World Championships in Canada.
Siraj, who won the New England Regionals to qualify for the finals,?won the silver medal at the?U.S. Junior Championships?as a junior in 2010. She made her senior national debut finishing 8th in 2011.?
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INDORE: Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools will introduce vocational courses like retail, security, information technology and automobile technology for students of IX and above from the new academic season. The board is currently offering skill-based courses at senior secondary level to impart skills and knowledge.
City schools have received circular from board officials to introduce vocational courses under national vocational education qualification framework (NVEQF). Ministry of human resource and development has started NVEQF from 2013-14 in schools, colleges and universities. Read more
Source :?timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Source: http://www.thinkindia.net.in/2013/01/cbse-students-upbeat-on-vocational-courses-from-ix.html
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Expert DIY and home improvement advice from www.wickes.co.uk on how to tile a wall. Tips and general advice on how to do it yourself ? Part 1 of 2 ?
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Expert DIY and home improvement advice from www.wickes.co.uk on how to replace a kitchen worktop. Tips and general advice on how to do it yourself ?
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Source: http://www.cohocton.org/789-diy-home-improvement
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TO GO WITH STORY BY GEORGE JAHN Robert Holzer and Katerina Beranova, from left, perform during the opera 'Spiegelgrund' by Austrian composer Peter Androsch in the imperial council hall of the Austrian parliament in Vienna, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Androsch goes where few others have dared, with an opera depicting how Nazis methodically killed mentally or physically deficient children. The performance premieres to mark International Holocaust Day in the parliament of Austria _ a nation still atoning for its role in atrocities committed by the Nazis. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
TO GO WITH STORY BY GEORGE JAHN Robert Holzer and Katerina Beranova, from left, perform during the opera 'Spiegelgrund' by Austrian composer Peter Androsch in the imperial council hall of the Austrian parliament in Vienna, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Androsch goes where few others have dared, with an opera depicting how Nazis methodically killed mentally or physically deficient children. The performance premieres to mark International Holocaust Day in the parliament of Austria _ a nation still atoning for its role in atrocities committed by the Nazis. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
TO GO WITH STORY BY GEORGE JAHN Katerina Beranova, Robert Holzer, Karl M. Sibelius and Silke Doerner, from left, perform during the opera ' Spiegelgrund' by Austrian composer Peter Androsch in the imperial council hall of the Austrian parliament in Vienna, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Androsch goes where few others have dared, with an opera depicting how Nazis methodically killed mentally or physically deficient children. The performance premieres to mark International Holocaust Day in the parliament of Austria _ a nation still atoning for its role in atrocities committed by the Nazis. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
TO GO WITH STORY BY GEORGE JAHN Katerina Beranova and Silke Doerner, from left, perform during the opera 'Spiegelgrund ' by Austrian composer Peter Androsch in the imperial council hall of the Austrian parliament in Vienna, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Androsch goes where few others have dared, with an opera depicting how Nazis methodically killed mentally or physically defficient children. The performance premieres to mark International Holocaust Day in the parliament of Austria _ a nation still atoning for its role in atrocities committed by the Nazis. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
TO GO WITH STORY BY GEORGE JAHN - Katerina Beranova, Robert Holzer and Silke Doerner, from left, perform during the opera 'Spiegelgrund ' by Austrian composer Peter Androsch in the imperial council hall of the Austrian parliament in Vienna, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Androsch goes where few others have dared, with an opera depicting how Nazis methodically killed mentally or physically deficient children. The performance premieres to mark International Holocaust Day in the parliament of Austria _ a nation still atoning for its role in atrocities committed by the Nazis. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
TO GO WITH STORY BY GEORGE JAHN -Speaker of the Austrian Parliament Barbara Prammer smiles during an interview with the Associated Press about Austrian composer Peter Androsch's opera "Spiegelgrund" at the parliament in Vienna, Austria, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Androsch goes where few others have dared, with an opera depicting how Nazis methodically killed mentally or physically deficient children. The performance premieres to mark International Holocaust Day in the parliament of Austria _ a nation still atoning for its role in atrocities committed by the Nazis. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak)
VIENNA (AP) ? Thousands of children were murdered by the Nazis because they fell short of the Aryan ideal. On Friday, a hushed audience gathered in Austria's Parliament to watch the world premiere of an opera depicting how the Nazis methodically killed mentally or physically deficient children at a Vienna hospital during World War II.
The killings were part of a greater campaign that led to the deaths of about 75,000 people ? homosexuals, the handicapped, or others the Nazis called "unworthy lives" ? and served as a prelude to the Holocaust.
Austrians played a huge role in these and other atrocities of the era ? nearly 800 children were killed at Vienna's Spiegelgrund psychiatric ward ? and Friday's premiere of the opera "Spiegelgrund" was the latest installment of a national effort to atone for such acts in word and deed.
The timing was picked to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, which will be observed worldwide Sunday, and the performance was streamed live on the Internet for international audiences. But the parliamentary venue was chosen for a particularly Austrian reason: as a reminder of how the country's politicians fomented the atmosphere of intolerance and authoritarianism that allowed Hitler's troops to walk in in 1938, and a determination to not let history repeat itself.
Composer Peter Androsch said his focus on the era was in part born of his own family's history. His great grandfather died in a Nazi concentration camp. Androsch said the fact that that was hidden for generations "says a lot about conditions in totalitarian regimes and should serve as a reminder for me and many others."
At the premiere ? a hauntingly effective hour-long performance ? legislators were joined in the audience by diplomats, Holocaust survivors, former Spiegelgrund patients and other invited guests in an ornate chamber lined with Ionic columns and used for special legislative sessions.
Spiegelgrund survivor Friedrich Zavel was in the audience. He was brought to the clinic in 1940 after being accused of homosexuality. Now 83, he still shudders when he speaks of his ordeals: humiliation, solitary confinement and torture.
The "Wrap Treatment" consisted of orderlies binding a child first in two sheets soaked in ice water, then two dry sheets, followed by waiting for days without food and drink until the body warmth dried the sheets. There also were beatings and injections that either made the child vomit or left him unable to walk for days.
Asked Friday how he felt about the wrongs done to him, Zavel said: "I know neither revenge nor hate."
The opera itself was more of an oratory. Backlit in gloomy purple and red, and accompanied by strings, flute, percussion and a harpsichord, a trio slipped into each other's roles in an allegorical depiction of how all are victims and perpetrators.
Thus a white-coated doctor embodying "The Law" switched from vocalizing about Sparta's doctrine of letting weak newborns die to singing a child's ditty before moving to the role of "Memory" ? singing broken phrases that harken back to the horrific experiences of the victimized children. The two other singers shifted roles accordingly as a narrator dryly recited facts reflecting the atrocities committed.
"On some days, so many children were killed that the orderlies had to pile the little bodies on a wheelbarrow," narrator Karl Sibelius intones in one sequence before reading a letter from a mother addressed to an institute doctor and pleading for the return of her son.
Bass Robert Holzer was "The Law," and sopranos Katerina Beranova and Alexandra Diesterhoeft sang "Memory" and "Children's Song" respectively. All were very solid.
Parliament President Barbara Prammer said the nation could no longer focus only on glorifying its past.
"We can't choose our history," she told The Associated Press.
___
AP video journalist Philipp Jenne contributed.
___
Online: www.sonostream.tv
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