Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Also, be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor even implied. Any irrelevancies you can mention will also be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.
One Response to ?Social Media for Business?
egockel Says:
January 29th, 2012 at 9:46 pm
I?m sorry, but where in this info graphic does it exactly tell you ?how to harness the power of Social Media?? It?s pretty, but doesn?t exactly tell me how to do this for my business. And, each vertical is different (say, automotive manufacturers vs. financial services)
Nick Santino, a struggling soap opera actor, apparently took his own life last week after he euthanized his dog due to pressure from his condo association.
Nick, who appeared on All My Children and Guiding Light, was found dead in his New York residence just a day after he put down beloved pit bull, Rocco
"Today I betrayed mand put down my best friend," Santino, 47, wrote in a suicide note. "Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He didn't deserve this."
Santino, who was raised in an orphanage and foster homes, adopted Rocco from a shelter several years ago, and wrote fondly of his dog on his Facebook page.
"I did not rescue Rocco, Rocco rescued me," he once wrote.
But in 2010, Santino began to have issues with residents in his building, after new strict dog regulations were announced, which included a ban on pit bulls.
The ban didn't affect residents who already had pit bulls in the building, many of Santino's neighbors reportedly weren't fond of Rocco, and complained.
"He felt like he was in this battle because he was the only guy in the building with a pit-bull mix," Santino's neighbor, Kevin Clearly, told the New York Post.
"He was distraught and remorseful about putting down his best friend."
It was much worse than anyone thought. After making a call to his former girlfriend at about 2 a.m. Wednesday, police found Santino's body in his bedroom.
He passed away from an apparent overdose on pills.
GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) ? Five people were killed in election related violence in India's isolated, northeastern state of Manipur, police said on Saturday.
Among those who died were a woman, a security guard and three election duty staff, when suspected tribal rebels attacked a polling booth in the state's Chandel district.
"The militants are suspected to be from the National Socialist Council of Nagaland faction," a police officer said.
No group, however, has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
Strife-ridden Manipur, bordering Myanmar, is the first of five Indian states to go to polls in early 2012 to elect a state legislature.
The Congress party, which leads the federal coalition government, is expected to retain office.
CorCom, an alliance of seven separatist Manipuri groups who view India as a colonial power, blamed the Congress government for "degeneration of the Manipuri society ... to the present state of social, moral, economic and political bankruptcy."
"We are fighting against the Indian occupation of Manipur. So as a part of fighting Indian occupation we ban the Congress and their agents in Manipur," the alliance said in an e-mail received by Reuters late on Friday.
The group claimed responsibility for a grenade attack on a Congress candidate's home last week.
(Additional reporting and writing by Arup Roychoudhury in NEW DELHI; Editing by Ed Lane)
WILMINGTON, N.C. ? A North Carolina man must stand trial in a plot to hire a hit man to behead three witnesses from his brother's terrorism case, a federal magistrate judge ruled on Friday.
Following a day-long preliminary hearing, federal Magistrate Judge Robert B. Jones Jr. also ordered Shkumbin Sherifi held without bond.
Sherifi, 21, was arrested last weekend after FBI agents tracked him to a Jan. 8 meeting in the parking lot of a Wilmington Food Lion grocery store with a government informant posing as the representative of a hit man. He is accused of paying the informant $4,250 toward the first killing while his mother waited nearby in a Honda minivan.
On Jan. 22, prosecutors said Sherifi met with the informant again, this time receiving fake photos that showed the blood-covered witnesses lying in a shallow grave and what appeared to be the man's severed head.
Officials say the plot to execute the witnesses was masterminded by Sherifi's imprisoned brother, Hysen Sherifi, 27. The older Sherifi was sentenced to 45 years earlier this month for his role in what prosecutors described as a conspiracy to attack the Marine base at Quantico, Va., and targets abroad.
An FBI agent testified Sherifi left the Jan. 22 meeting with the informant and went directly to the New Hanover County Detention Center. After a meeting with his brother that was monitored by the FBI, Sherifi was arrested as he was leaving the jail with the photos in his possession.
Also arrested was Nevine Aly Elshiekh, a 46-year-old special education teacher from Raleigh who the FBI served as a go-between for the Sherifi brothers and the confidential informant, providing an initial $750 payment for the killing. Her first court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 3.
Those targeted for death, according to the government, were three confidential informants who testified against Hysen Sherifi and his co-defendants during a lengthy terrorism trial that began in shortly after the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Hysen Sherifi and two other Raleigh men were found guilty of terrorism related offenses, while three other accused co-conspirators pleaded guilty.
During Friday's hearing, defense lawyer James Payne suggested that Shkumbin Sherifi may have believed that he was providing the money to pay for a lawyer for his brother's appeal and stressed that in hours of phone calls and meetings taped by the FBI he never directly ordered anyone to be killed.
Judge Jones said the government had probable cause to arrest Sherifi, questioning why anyone would hire a lawyer in a clandestine meeting held inside a car.
"We have an individual who was in a Food Lion parking lot giving someone $4,000," the judge said.
The Sherifis are naturalized U.S. citizens who emigrated from Kosovo in 1999 following a bloody sectarian war. On Friday, one of their three sisters took the stand as a character witness and asked the judge to let her brother go home. Hylja Sherifi, 24, said her younger sibling was a primary caregiver to their ailing father, who has lung cancer.
Shkumbin Sherifi has also volunteered as a youth soccer coach and is an aspiring songwriter, she said. Several of his rap songs are available online on a website intended to promote his music.
"He has a lot of passion," Hylja Sherifi said, a college student. She added that her family loves the United States.
"I have hope in the American government and support America," she said. "I supported my boyfriend when he was fighting in Iraq for 13 months."
The soldier she spoke of sat with the family in the courtroom, along with about 25 other people who made the two-hour drive from Raleigh to show their support for the defendant. Many were members of the Islamic Association of Raleigh, the city's largest mosque.
Farris Barakat, a 21-year-old college student who attended the hearing, said Elshiekh was his second-grade teacher at the mosque's school. At the time of her arrest, she was also teaching at a secular Montessori academy in suburban Morrisville. Elshiekh is charged with using interstate facilities for murder for hire.
Barakat stressed that he did not in any way support the type of violence of which the Sherifis are accused of plotting. Islam is a religion of peace, he said. However, he questioned whether an overzealous government was seeking to prosecute Muslims for terror offenses using questionable tactics, such as using paid informants with criminal records.
Hylja Sherifi echoed those sentiments, suggesting the full story had not been told in the courtroom.
Asked on the witness stand if any of the evidence presented Friday changed her positive view of her younger brother, she replied: "Not at all."
___
Follow AP writer Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck
DAVOS, Switzerland ? Leading finance chiefs sought to reassure anxious global business leaders on Friday that Europe is on track to solve its crippling debt crisis before it drags the world's economies down. Europe's top banker said investors, burned after trusting the region's governments too much, now trust them too little.
The finance chiefs said the picture in Europe has changed over the past two months as the European Central Bank has loaned billions of euros to fragile banks, indebted countries have pushed through convincing reforms and EU leaders have come near to building a closer fiscal union that would make their common currency stronger.
Several also signaled Friday that Greece is close to clinching a crucial debt-reduction deal with private bondholders ? a key element in Europe's efforts to stem a two-year debt crisis that is causing ripples around the globe. The crisis is a central topic at the World Economic Forum, a gathering of government and business leaders at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
"They're making progress on reforms, they're changing the institutions of Europe to put better discipline on fiscal policy," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. "You have three new governments doing some very tough things. You have an ECB doing what central banks have to do. You see them move to try to strengthen the financial sector."
Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, said a combination of actions ? including super-cheap, long-term loans to shaky banks on the continent and a couple of interest rate cuts ? have helped Europe avoid deeper financial trouble.
"We have avoided a major credit crunch, a major lending crisis," he said.
Draghi said borrowing rates would remain high "for quite a while" because bond markets are overestimating the risk involved in holding European government debt after years of underestimating it. But he called market pressure "the most potent engine for reform in different governments."
Geithner said the fate of the U.S. economy ? and by extension of the rest of the world ? hinges on Europe's debt crisis, along with potential tensions with Iran. He said the main piece of unfinished business for Europe is building a bigger fund to help troubled economies survive.
But while French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said that fund needs to be increased to calm markets, his German counterpart, Wolfgang Schaeuble, indicated that his government is not prepared to do so. Germany, as Europe's biggest economy, would face the biggest bill.
"We must not give the wrong incentives," Schaeuble said. "You can make any figure. It will not work if the real problems will not be solved."
Both, together with Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos Jurado and European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, agreed that the idea of issuing "eurobonds" backed jointly by all eurozone governments is a nonstarter for now. They didn't rule out the possibility that such bonds could be introduced once confidence in Europe's public finances is restored, with Guindos calling that a "final target."
Schaeuble said eurobonds would provide bad incentives by allowing debt-ridden countries to "spend money you don't have on the bill of others."
Many economists have said eurobonds are needed to solve the crisis as they could reduce the borrowing costs of heavily indebted countries by pooling them with bonds of stronger economies like Germany's.
Professor Nouriel Roubini, the renowned economist who predicted the financial crash of 2008, is one who thinks that eurobonds have to form part of a eurozone strategy to fend off the possibility of a breakup.
The eurozone "could be a slow-motion train wreck," Roubini said.
Europe has been grappling with the crisis ever since Greece conceded at the end of 2009 that its public finances were in far worse shape than previously thought. Greece remains at the epicenter of the crisis over two years later. Its borrowing costs remain too high for it to borrow in the markets so a second European-led bailout is in the offing.
The finance chiefs signaled Friday that a deal is at hand that could help ease some of the near-term tensions.
Greece has been negotiating with the a group representing banks and other lenders in the hopes that they will forgive half of Greece's debt in exchange for Greek assurances that it will pay back the other half without defaulting on its loans. The deal would also let Greece repay over a longer period at a lower interest rate ? negotiators have been trying to agree on what that rate will be.
Schaeuble said he is "quite optimistic" about a deal, while Rehn said he hopes a deal can be reached "if not today, maybe by the weekend."
Agreement between Greece and its creditors is needed before Europe and the International Monetary Fund agree to a second multibillion-euro bailout package.
At the heart of the problem is that the 17 countries that use the euro use a single currency but have different fiscal policies. That changes the nature of their debt, said Adair Turner, chairman of Britain's banking regulator the Financial Services Authority.
"That debt is more equivalent to the State of California debt than the U.S. federal debt," he said.
That's why all but one of the 27 EU countries ? the United Kingdom has refused to participate ? are discussing a closer fiscal union. On Monday, leaders meet in Brussels to work out the details of that new compact.
Schaeuble and Baroin noted that even the agreement in principle to forge closer ties has calmed markets since a December summit, as borrowing rates have dropped and stock markets have risen.
"It's amazing," Draghi said. "If you compare today with even five months ago, the euro area is another world."
The crisis threatens more than Europe: the U.N.'s refugee chief warned Friday that it is fueling conflicts around the world. Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press that rising food prices and growing unemployment are hitting those already at the bottom hardest, sparking conflict in places like South Sudan and exacerbating hotspots including Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia.
_____
Frank Jordans and Edith Lederer in Davos and David McHugh in Frankfurt, Germany contributed to this story.
COMMENTARY | A theme that President Barack Obama offered in the last election, and this election, is bipartisanship. President Obama would like nothing better than for the Republicans and the Democrats to work together to get American back on track.
On Tuesday night, he gave his final State of the Union address before the 2012 election. Once again, bipartisanship played a role. "One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names. Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn't matter. Just like it didn't matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates -- a man who was George Bush's defense secretary -- and Hillary Clinton, a woman who ran against me for president," as reported at the White House website.
But who was listening? Bottom line: Democrats who support the president want him to remain in office. Republicans want him out. There's no room for bipartisanship with these two separate agendas.
If Obama wishes to remain president, given the country's problems, he must convey strength. One of the biggest complaints that Democrats have had about the president is that he has oftentimes appeared like a puppet controlled by puppet masters. However, when Obama gave his final State of the Union address, we saw the toughness we came to know when he was battling for the White House in 2008. He was criticized as being inexperienced then. He's not inexperienced now.
There's two frontrunners battling for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Gingrich is not interested in "Kumbaya" moments with what he calls a "food stamp" and "Saul Alinsky" president. And neither, for that matter, is Romney.
If Obama hopes to stay in the White House, he needs to push his message of what he wants, whether the Republicans agree with him or not -- such as provide tax cuts for middle and working class Americans, strengthening security at our borders, supporting clean energy, support for same-sex marriage, removing the rest of the troops from Afghanistan, etc.
A "can't we all just get along" message sounds beautiful, but it won't work against a Gingrich or a Romney.
It's been a rough week to say the least for actress Demi Moore, and while rumors buzz in the wake of Demi's bout of "exhaustion," another question remains: Where has Ashton been throughout his estranged wife's health ordeal?
Details: Demi Moore To Be Treated for 'Exhaustion'
In the past few days, photos have surfaced of a seemingly carefree Kutcher partying in Brazil. While Ashton has stayed mum on the incident publicly, his return to Los Angeles seems to indicate that his trip has been cut short in order to pay a visit to an ailing Demi.
Earlier this evening, Kutcher landed at LAX around 8 p.m from S?o Paulo, Brazil, dodging questions from the press as he opted for a side exit, climbing into a black Mercedes before speeding off.
Demi Moore 911 Call Will Not Include Drug Details
On Monday the fire department responded to an emergency call from Demi's Benedict Canyon home. She was soon after hospitalized for "exhaustion."
Moore announced her split from husband Ashton Kutcher in November, telling ET, "As a woman, a mother and a wife, there are certain values and vows that I hold sacred, and it is in this spirit that I have chosen to move forward with my life."
Love Gone Bad: Ashton & Demi in Happier Times
Ashton is expected to return to Two and a Half Men in early February.
MESA, Ariz. ? Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer came to greet President Barack Obama upon his arrival outside Phoenix Wednesday. What she got was a critique. Of her book.
The two leaders could be seen engaged in an intense conversation at the base of Air Force One's steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time.
Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer, a Republican, said, "He was a little disturbed about my book."
Brewer recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir of her years growing up, and defends her signing of Arizona's controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes.
Obama was objecting to Brewer's description of a meeting he and Brewer had at the White House, where she described Obama as lecturing her. In an interview in November Brewer described two tense meetings. The first took place before his commencement address at Arizona State University. "He did blow me off at ASU," she said in the television interview in November.
She also described meeting the president at the White House in 2010 to talk about immigration. "I felt a little bit like I was being lectured to, and I was a little kid in a classroom, if you will, and he was this wise professor and I was this little kid, and this little kid knows what the problem is and I felt minimized to say the least."
On the tarmac Wednesday, Brewer handed Obama an envelope with a handwritten invitation to return to Arizona to meet her for lunch and to join her for a visit to the border.
"I said to him, you know, I have always respected the office of the president and that the book is what the book is," she told reporters Wednesday. She said Obama complained that she described him as not treating her cordially.
"I said that I was sorry that he felt that way. Anyway, we're glad he's here, and we'll regroup."
A White House official said Brewer handed Obama a letter and said she was inviting him to meet with her. The official said Obama told her he would be glad to meet with her again. The official said Obama did note that after their last meeting, which the official described as a cordial discussion in the Oval Office, the governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation between the president and the governor.
A new analysis has found that a substantial number of lung and colorectal cancer patients continue to smoke after being diagnosed. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study provides valuable information on which cancer patients might need help to quit smoking.
When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, the main focus is to treat the disease. But stopping smoking after a cancer diagnosis is also important because continuing to smoke can negatively affect patients' responses to treatments, their subsequent cancer risk, and, potentially, their survival. Elyse R. Park, PhD, MPH, of the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, led a team that looked to see how many patients quit smoking around the time of a cancer diagnosis, and which smokers were most likely to quit.
The investigators determined smoking rates around the time of diagnosis and five months after diagnosis in 5,338 lung and colorectal cancer patients. At diagnosis, 39 percent of lung cancer patients and 14 percent of colorectal cancer patients were smoking; five months later, 14 percent of lung cancer patients and 9 percent of colorectal cancer patients were still smoking. These results indicate that a substantial minority of cancer patients continue to smoke after being diagnosed. Also, although lung cancer patients have higher rates of smoking at diagnosis and following diagnosis, colorectal cancer patients are less likely to quit smoking following diagnosis.
Factors and characteristics that predicted continued smoking differed by cancer type. Lung cancer patients who continued smoking tended to have Medicare or other public health insurance, have a lower body mass index, have low emotional support, not have received chemotherapy, not have had surgery, have had prior heart disease, and have smoked a high number of cigarettes per day at some point during their lives. Colorectal cancer patients who continued to smoke tended to be male, have completed less education, be uninsured, not have had surgery, and have once smoked a high number of cigarettes per day.
"These findings can help cancer clinicians identify patients who are at risk for smoking and guide tobacco counseling treatment development for cancer patients," said Dr. Park.
In an accompanying editorial, Carolyn Dressler, MD, of the Arkansas Department of Health in Little Rock, noted that Dr. Park's research highlights the critical importance of physicians and other caretakers to address tobacco cessation, particularly at the time of diagnosis. "Most clinicians acknowledge the importance of addressing tobacco cessation in their patients; however, few do it," she wrote. "We know enough now to implement effective cessation programs to identify and help cancer patients quit at the time of diagnosis and support them to prevent relapse. By doing so, we maximize patients' response to therapy, their quality of life, and their longevity."
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Article: "A snapshot of smokers following lung and colorectal cancer diagnosis." Elyse Park, Sandra Japuntich, Nancy A. Rigotti, Lara Traeger, Yulei He, Robert Wallace, Jennifer Malin, Jennifer C. Pandiscio, and Nancy L. Keating. CANCER; Published Online: January 23, 2012 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.26545).
Editorial: "Oncologists Should Intervene." Carolyn M. Dresler. CANCER; Published Online: January 23, 2012 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.26538).
CANCER is a peer-reviewed publication of the American Cancer Society integrating scientific information from worldwide sources for all oncologic specialties. The objective of CANCER is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of information among oncologic disciplines concerned with the etiology and course of human cancer. CANCER is published by Wiley-Blackwell and can be accessed online at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cancer.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Many people continue to smoke after being diagnosed with cancerPublic release date: 23-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
A new analysis has found that a substantial number of lung and colorectal cancer patients continue to smoke after being diagnosed. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study provides valuable information on which cancer patients might need help to quit smoking.
When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, the main focus is to treat the disease. But stopping smoking after a cancer diagnosis is also important because continuing to smoke can negatively affect patients' responses to treatments, their subsequent cancer risk, and, potentially, their survival. Elyse R. Park, PhD, MPH, of the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston, led a team that looked to see how many patients quit smoking around the time of a cancer diagnosis, and which smokers were most likely to quit.
The investigators determined smoking rates around the time of diagnosis and five months after diagnosis in 5,338 lung and colorectal cancer patients. At diagnosis, 39 percent of lung cancer patients and 14 percent of colorectal cancer patients were smoking; five months later, 14 percent of lung cancer patients and 9 percent of colorectal cancer patients were still smoking. These results indicate that a substantial minority of cancer patients continue to smoke after being diagnosed. Also, although lung cancer patients have higher rates of smoking at diagnosis and following diagnosis, colorectal cancer patients are less likely to quit smoking following diagnosis.
Factors and characteristics that predicted continued smoking differed by cancer type. Lung cancer patients who continued smoking tended to have Medicare or other public health insurance, have a lower body mass index, have low emotional support, not have received chemotherapy, not have had surgery, have had prior heart disease, and have smoked a high number of cigarettes per day at some point during their lives. Colorectal cancer patients who continued to smoke tended to be male, have completed less education, be uninsured, not have had surgery, and have once smoked a high number of cigarettes per day.
"These findings can help cancer clinicians identify patients who are at risk for smoking and guide tobacco counseling treatment development for cancer patients," said Dr. Park.
In an accompanying editorial, Carolyn Dressler, MD, of the Arkansas Department of Health in Little Rock, noted that Dr. Park's research highlights the critical importance of physicians and other caretakers to address tobacco cessation, particularly at the time of diagnosis. "Most clinicians acknowledge the importance of addressing tobacco cessation in their patients; however, few do it," she wrote. "We know enough now to implement effective cessation programs to identify and help cancer patients quit at the time of diagnosis and support them to prevent relapse. By doing so, we maximize patients' response to therapy, their quality of life, and their longevity."
###
Article: "A snapshot of smokers following lung and colorectal cancer diagnosis." Elyse Park, Sandra Japuntich, Nancy A. Rigotti, Lara Traeger, Yulei He, Robert Wallace, Jennifer Malin, Jennifer C. Pandiscio, and Nancy L. Keating. CANCER; Published Online: January 23, 2012 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.26545).
Editorial: "Oncologists Should Intervene." Carolyn M. Dresler. CANCER; Published Online: January 23, 2012 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.26538).
CANCER is a peer-reviewed publication of the American Cancer Society integrating scientific information from worldwide sources for all oncologic specialties. The objective of CANCER is to provide an interdisciplinary forum for the exchange of information among oncologic disciplines concerned with the etiology and course of human cancer. CANCER is published by Wiley-Blackwell and can be accessed online at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cancer.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
PARIS (AP) ? France has handed over to New Zealand authorities 20 tattooed heads of Maori ethnic people once held in several French museums as a cultural curiosity.
French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand presided over a handover ceremony Monday at the Quai Branly museum in Paris. New Zealand's embassy said it involved the single largest group of Maori heads to be repatriated.
Since 2003, New Zealand has led an ambitious program of collecting Maori heads and skeletal remains from museums around the world so they could be properly mourned and buried according to tradition.
France long resisted handing over such cultural artifacts, but a law passed in 2010 eventually paved the way for the return of the heads.
'It's going to be pretty intense,' he promises MTV News at Sundance about the 'Bad' finale. By Josh Wigler, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston in "Breaking Bad" Photo: AMC
By now, "Breaking Bad" fans are well aware that Walter White (Bryan Cranston) is the danger. He blew the face off of an ingenious criminal drug lord in a dramatic seasons-long showdown. He secretly poisoned a little boy as a means to manipulating his on-again off-again business partner into helping him kill said drug lord. Ladies and gentlemen, make no mistake: four seasons deep, Walt has finally broken bad.
With only one season remaining before "Breaking Bad" closes the meth lab for good, it's anybody's guess how the saga of the cancer-stricken chemistry teacher-turned-murderous meth manufacturer will ultimately resolve itself. But there is one person who claims to know how the AMC drug thriller ends: Aaron Paul, the anything-but-"Bad" actor who stars on the show as reluctant drug slinger Jesse Pinkman.
"I know how it ends," Paul told MTV News at the Sundance Film Festival, where he's promoting the release of his new movie "Smashed." You wouldn't think Paul would spill any further details, but he proceeded to drop a bombshell bigger than the one that took out Gus Fring.
"Jesse dies," he deadpanned.
And just like Fring, our jaws dropped to the floor at the stunning revelation. But true to Pinkman's prankster ways, Paul immediately cracked up and cleared the air.
"No, no, no! He doesn't die! Or maybe he does," he continued ominously. "I don't know! Actually, I have no idea what's going to happen. But I'm excited to see [it play out]."
No matter how "Breaking Bad" reaches its conclusion, it will all come to an end one way or the other, sooner rather than later.
"[There are only] 16 more episodes, and then we're done," Paul said. "We start shooting at the end of March. I think it's going to be a full sprint to the finish, and it's going to be pretty intense."
The 2012 Sundance Film Festival is officially under way, and the MTV Movies team is on the ground reporting on the hottest stars and the movies everyone will be talking about in the year to come. Keep it locked with MTV Movies for everything there is to know about Sundance.
In case you forgot, both Pantech's new dual-core smartphone and waterproof tablet have arrived and Ma Bell's bundled the pair together to form some kind of middleweight Android tag-team. The price of a matching tablet and smartphone? Expect to pay $250 on contract, and you'll need plans for both the Element and Burst. Those feeling flush can grab the full details at the source.
A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. ? Front-runner Mitt Romney and his presidential pursuers enter the final full day of campaigning in a South Carolina GOP primary contest significantly altered from just 24 hours earlier.
The former Massachusetts governor is looking to fend off challenges to his fragile lead from more conservative rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. The entire field, including Ron Paul, scrambled for the shreds of support left by Texas Gov. Rick Perry who quit the race Thursday.
Perry's departure, a raucous Charleston debate and fresh reminders of Gingrich's tumultuous personal life promised to make the dash to Saturday's voting frenetic and the intra-party attacks increasingly sharp.
"I've been fighting for health reform, private sector, bottom-up ... for 20 years, while these two guys were playing footsies with the left," Santorum said of Romney and Gingrich during a heated debate exchange.
With Romney clinging to a narrow lead in South Carolina polls and Gingrich closing in, Santorum was aiming for the top tier. Paul was also a factor as the four remaining GOP hopefuls planned to scatter across the Palmetto State on Friday.
Romney, whose lead has shrunk in the race's closing days, planned stops along the coast, in the state's midlands and conservative north. Gingrich, gaining fast and buoyed by Perry's endorsement, was planning a half-dozen stops concentrating in the south, especially the heavily pro-military Charleston area.
Meanwhile, Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator seeking to consolidate conservatives, planned to rally supporters in four stops statewide, including the conservative upstate, the home of his evangelical base.
The libertarian-leaning Paul, whose support has slipped with his light campaign effort here, hoped to whip up his supporters with a six-city fly-around.
The GOP race spun wildly Thursday, beginning with news that Santorum had edged Romney in Iowa, a reversal of the first nominating contest more than two weeks past.
Perry, having struggled in vain to build support in his native South, quit and endorsed Gingrich. Gingrich, meanwhile, faced stunning new allegations from an ex-wife that he had sought an open marriage before their divorce. An aggressive debate punctuated the day.
Santorum played aggressor during the faceoff, trying to inject himself into what seemed increasingly like a Romney-Gingrich race after Perry's endorsement of his onetime rival.
"Newt's not perfect, but who among us is," Perry said in backing Gingrich. "The fact is, there is forgiveness for those who seek God and I believe in the power of redemption, for it is a central tenet of my own Christian faith."
Gingrich angrily denounced the news media for putting his ex-wife front and center in the final days of the race and spreading her accusations. "Let me be clear, the story is false," he said when asked at the opening of the debate about her interview.
Santorum, Romney and Paul steered clear of the controversy.
"Let's get onto the real issues, that's all I've got to say," said Romney, although he pointed out that he and his wife, Ann, have been married for 42 years.
Gingrich and Santorum challenged Romney over his opposition to abortion, a well-documented shift but a potent one in evangelical-heavy South Carolina.
Recent polls, coupled with Perry's endorsement, suggested Gingrich was the candidate with the momentum and Romney the one struggling to validate his standing as front-runner.
Gingrich released his income tax records during the course of the debate, paving the way to discussing Romney's. The wealthy former venture capitalist has said he will release them in April, prompting Gingrich to suggest that would be too late for voters to decide if they presented evidence Obama could exploit.
"If there's anything that's in there that's going to help us lose the election, we should know before the election. If there's not, why not release it?" Gingrich said. His effective tax rate, roughly 31.6 percent of his adjusted income, was about double what Romney told reporters earlier this week he had paid.
Gingrich grappled with problems of a different, possibly even more crippling sort in a state where more than half the Republican electorate is evangelical.
Marianne Gingrich told ABC's "Nightline" that her ex-husband had wanted an "open marriage" so he could have both a wife and a mistress. She said Gingrich conducted an affair with Callista Bistek, now his wife, "in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington" while she was elsewhere.
"He was asking to have an open marriage and I refused. That is not a marriage," she said in excerpts released by the network well ahead of the debate.
ScienceDaily (Jan. 19, 2012) ? A simple program involving color-coded food labeling and adjusting the way food items are positioned in display cases was successful in encouraging more healthful food choices in a large hospital cafeteria. The report from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers will appear in the March American Journal of Public Health and has received early online release.
"We found that labeling all foods and beverages with a simple red, yellow and green color scheme to indicate their relative healthiness led patrons to purchase more of the healthy and fewer of the unhealthy items," says Anne Thorndike, MD, MPH, of the MGH division of General Medicine, who led the study. "We also found that moving items around to make the healthy items more convenient and visible led to further improvement in the nutritional quality of items purchased."
The study authors note that most current point-of-purchase efforts to encourage more healthful food choices focus on labeling the calorie content of food, which will soon be required for many restaurants and food service vendors as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. However, calorie information is only useful if people read and comprehend it -- which requires understanding their own calorie needs, accurately estimating serving sizes, and having enough time to consider and act on the information provided. Studies by psychologists and behavioral economists also have noted that individuals tend to maintain their typical behavior patterns and are more motivated by actions with immediate, rather than long-term rewards.
In the MGH cafeteria, color-coded labels indicate the healthiest sandwich choices (green), along with those designated less (yellow) and least (red) healthy.
To find a simpler way to encourage more healthful food purchases, the research team -- including leaders of the MGH Nutrition and Food Service -- devised a two-phase plan. In the first phase, which began in March 2010, color-coded labels were attached to all items in the main hospital cafeteria -- green signifying the healthiest items, such as fruits, vegetables and lean meats; yellow indicating less healthy items, and red for those with little or no nutritional value. Signage in the cafeteria encouraged customers to consume green items often, yellow items less often, and to consider other choices for red items. All cafeteria cash registers were programmed to record and identify each purchased item as green, red or yellow; and additional nutritional information was made available in the cafeteria throughout the six-month study period.
For the second "choice architecture" phase, which began in June 2010, displayed food items were rearranged according to principles of behavioral economics. This phase focused on cold beverages, pre-made sandwiches and chips -- popular items likely to be purchased by customers who have little time to spend and may be more influenced by location and convenience. Cafeteria beverage refrigerators were arranged to place water, diet beverages and low-fat dairy products at eye level, while beverages with a red or yellow label were placed below eye level. The sandwich refrigerator was also arranged to put green items at eye level while red or yellow items were placed above and below. Racks of chips had yellow items at eye level and red items below, and additional baskets of bottled water were placed near stations where hot food was served.
At the end of the study period, sales of green items had increased significantly, while sales of unhealthy "red" items decreased. More specifically, during phase 1, sales of all red items decreased 9.2 percent -- with red beverage purchases dropping 16.5 percent -- while green item sales increased 4.5 percent, with a 9.6 increase in green beverages. In phase 2, red item sales dropped another 4.9 percent compared with phase 1, with beverages dropping by 11.4 percent; and while sales of green items decreased 0.8 percent in phase 2, sales of green beverages increased another 4 percent. A comparison with two satellite cafeterias where these measures had not been instituted revealed that these changes were much more pronounced in the cafeteria where the study was conducted.
"We believe this intervention was so successful because it was simple and easy to understand quickly. The labeling did not require any special skills and could be easily interpreted when a customer was in a rush," Thorndike explains. "The 'choice architecture' intervention was much more subtle and took greater advantage of the convenience factor. Any of these strategies could be easily translated to other food service environments." An assistant professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Thorndike adds that all elements of the program remain in place, with the color-coded labeling extended to other MGH food service locations, and future analysis is planned to see whether the observed changes are maintained over time.
Additional co-authors of the report -- which was supported by the National Center for Research Resources and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute -- are Lillian Sonnenberg, DSC, RD, LDN, and Susan Barraclough, MS, RD, LDN, MGH Nutrition and Food Services; Douglas Levy, PhD, Mongan Institute of Health Policy at MGH; and Jason Riis, PhD, Harvard Business School.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts General Hospital.
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Journal Reference:
Anne N. Thorndike, Lillian Sonnenberg, Jason Riis, Susan Barraclough, Douglas E. Levy. A 2-Phase Labeling and Choice Architecture Intervention to Improve Healthy Food and Beverage Choices. American Journal of Public Health, 2012; : e1 DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2011.300391
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
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January 29th, 2012 at 9:46 pm
I?m sorry, but where in this info graphic does it exactly tell you ?how to harness the power of Social Media?? It?s pretty, but doesn?t exactly tell me how to do this for my business. And, each vertical is different (say, automotive manufacturers vs. financial services)