Ferris wheel ride world record broken in Chicago

FILE - In this June 13, 2012 photo, visitors ride on the Ferris Wheel and Wave Swinger at Chicago's nearly century-old Navy Pier. Clinton Shepherd, park operations manager at the Navy Pier, rode the tourist spot?s Ferris wheel for more than 2 days over the weekend of May 18-19, 2013, bringing the world record for the longest ride to the birthplace of the amusement park favorite. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

FILE - In this June 13, 2012 photo, visitors ride on the Ferris Wheel and Wave Swinger at Chicago's nearly century-old Navy Pier. Clinton Shepherd, park operations manager at the Navy Pier, rode the tourist spot?s Ferris wheel for more than 2 days over the weekend of May 18-19, 2013, bringing the world record for the longest ride to the birthplace of the amusement park favorite. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)

CHICAGO (AP) ? A manager of Chicago's Navy Pier rode the tourist spot's Ferris wheel for more than two days, bringing the world record for the longest ride to the birthplace of the amusement park favorite.

Clinton Shepherd spent 48 hours, 8 minutes and 25 seconds riding Navy Pier's Ferris wheel over the weekend. Shepherd is park operations manager at Navy Pier.

He calls it "a very overwhelming experience," made easier by the support of friends, family and the city of Chicago.

Guinness World Records allowed him to have one five-minute break each hour. He played hours of videogames to stay awake during the ride, and watched James Bond and Batman movies. Supporters followed him on Twitter.

The first Ferris wheel was built in 1893 in Chicago for the World's Columbian Exposition.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-05-20-Ferris%20Wheel-Record%20Attempt/id-2d4d0086b1b042fbbe8b7220d322f1cd

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Mice and other critters land in Russia after 30 days in space; not all survive

Russia24 on Vesti.ru

Vladimir Sychov, deputy director of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems and the lead researcher for the Bion-M project, talks to reporters Sunday while others examine the "space ark" capsule in the background. Visit Vesti.ru to watch a Russian-language video, or click on the embedded video below.

By The Associated Press

MOSCOW ??A Russian capsule carrying mice, lizards and other small animals returned to Earth on Sunday after spending a month in space for what scientists said was the longest experiment of its kind.

Fewer than half of the 53 mice and other rodents who blasted off on April 19 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome survived the flight, Russian news agencies reported, quoting Vladimir Sychov, deputy director of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems and the lead researcher.

---

Sychov said this was to be expected. The surviving mice were sufficient to complete the study, which was designed to show the effects of weightlessness and other factors of spaceflight on cell structure, he said. All 15 of the lizards reportedly survived. The capsule also carried small crayfish and fish.

The capsule's orbit reached 575 kilometers (345 miles) above Earth, according to the news agencies. That's higher than the orbit of the International Space Station, which is currently at a maximum altitude of about 421 kilometers (262 miles).

Russian state television showed the round Bion-M capsule and some of the surviving mice after it landed slightly off course but safely in a planted field near Orenburg, about 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) southeast of Moscow.

"This is the first time that animals have flown in space for so long on their own," Sychov said in the television broadcast from the landing site. The last research craft to carry animals into space spent 12 days in orbit in 2007.

The mice and other animals were to be flown back to Moscow to undergo a series of tests at Sychov's institute, which is part of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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

Watch Vesti Russia24's Russian-language coverage of the "space ark" that returned to Earth.

More about animals in space:

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Despite controversies, Obama agenda marches on

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office.

"Absolutely not," Steven Miller, the recently resigned acting head of the Internal Revenue Service, responded Friday when asked if he had any contact with the White House about targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status for special treatment.

"The president's re-election campaign?" persisted Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif.

"No," said Miller.

The hearing took place at the end of a week in which Republicans repeatedly assailed Obama and were attacked by Democrats in turn ? yet sweeping immigration legislation advanced methodically toward bipartisan approval in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The measure "has strong support of its own in the Senate," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a member of the panel.

Across the Capitol, a bipartisan House group reported agreement in principle toward a compromise on the issue, which looms as Obama's best chance for a signature second-term domestic achievement. "I continue to believe that the House needs to deal with this," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, who is not directly involved in the talks.

The president's nominee to become energy secretary, Ernest Moniz, won Senate confirmation, 97-0. And there were signs that Republicans might allow confirmation of Sri Srinivasan to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, sometimes a stepping stone to the Supreme Court.

Separately, a House committee approved legislation to prevent a spike in interest rates on student loans on July 1. It moves in the direction of a White House-backed proposal for future rate changes to be based on private markets.

Even so, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said, "It's been a bad week for the administration."

Several Democratic lawmakers and aides agreed and expressed concern about the impact on Obama's agenda ? even though much of it has been stymied by Republicans for months already.

At the same time, Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., voiced optimism that the IRS controversy would boost the push for an overhaul of the tax code, rather than derail it. "It may make a case for a simpler tax code, where the IRS has less discretion," he said.

Long-term budget issues, the main flash point of divided government since 2011, have receded as projected deficits fall in the wake of an improving economy and recently enacted spending cuts and tax increases.

Even before Obama began grappling with the IRS, the fallout from last year's deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, and from the Justice Department's secret seizure of Associated Press phone records, the two parties were at odds over steps to replace $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts. In particular, Obama's call for higher taxes is a nonstarter with Republicans.

Other high-profile legislation and presidential appointees face difficulties that predate the current controversies.

Months ago, Obama scaled back requested gun safety legislation to center on expanded background checks for firearms purchasers. That was derailed in the Senate, has even less chance in the House and is unlikely to reach the president's desk.

Republicans oppose other recommendations from the president's State of the Union address, including automatic increases in the minimum wage, a pre-kindergarten program funded by higher cigarette taxes and more federal money for highways and bridge repair.

In a clash that long predates the IRS controversy, Senate Republicans seem intent on blocking Obama's nomination of Tom Perez as labor secretary. Gina McCarthy's nomination to head the Environmental Protection Agency is also on hold, at least temporarily, and Democrats expect Republican opposition awaits Penny Pritzger, Obama's choice for commerce secretary.

Rhetorically, the two parties fell into two camps when it came to the White House troubles. Democrats tended to describe them as controversies, Republicans often used less flattering terms.

Speaking on the Senate floor, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., accused the administration of fostering a "culture of intimidation." He referred to the IRS, the handling of the Benghazi attack and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' "fundraising among the industry people she regulates on behalf of the president's health care law."

Two days later, Camp, a 23-year veteran lawmaker, opened the IRS hearing by calling the agency's actions part of a "culture of cover-ups and intimidation in this administration." He offered no other examples.

Rep. Trey Radel, a first-term Florida Republican, said in an interview, "What we're looking at now is a breach of trust" from the White House.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California offered a scathing response when asked if the controversies would hamper Obama's ability to win legislation from the Republican-controlled House. "Well, the last two years there was nothing that went through this Congress, and it was no AP, IRS or any other (thing) that we were dealing with."

"They just want to do nothing. And their timetable is never," she said of GOP lawmakers.

Similarly, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave no ground on Benghazi, a dispute that increasingly centered on talking points written for administration officials to use on television after the attack last September in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

"It's obvious it's an attempt to embarrass President Obama and embarrass Hillary Clinton," he said of Republican criticism that first flared during last year's election campaign.

On a third front, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., resurrected legislation that would requiring a judge to approve subpoenas for news media communications records when investigating news leaks said to threaten the national security. It was a response to the FBI's secret, successful pursuit of Associated Press phone records in a current probe.

While Democrats counterattacked on Benghazi and parried on leaks, they bashed the IRS' treatment of conservative groups as improper if not illegal ? and warned Republicans not to overplay their hand.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/despite-controversies-obama-agenda-marches-142525880.html

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Fed has not lowered interest rates enough: Kocherlakota

By Ann Saphir

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve has not done enough to lower U.S. borrowing costs to boost economic growth, a top Fed official said on Friday, citing his outlook for overly low inflation and overly high unemployment over the next two to three years.

Since the Great Recession, workers and businesses are seeking safer assets, even as the supply of assets perceived as safe dwindles, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota told a group convened by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

"The increase in asset demand, combined with the fall in asset supply, implies that households and firms spend less at any level of the real interest rate ? that is, the interest rate net of anticipated inflation," he said.

The Fed has kept short-term interest rates near zero since December 2008, and has bought well over $2 trillion in Treasuries and housing-backed bonds to bring down long-term interest rates and stimulate spending and hiring.

"The (Fed) has still not lowered the real interest rate sufficiently in light of the changes in asset demand and asset supply that I've described," Kocherlakota added.

Kocherlakota is arguably the most dovish of the Fed's 19 policymakers since his sudden conversion last October, when he called for the central bank to pledge low interest rates until unemployment falls to at least 5.5 percent, a full percentage point lower than the threshold the Fed adopted late last year.

He reiterated that proposal in Friday's remarks, saying that the Fed's failure to say what it plans for rate policy once the jobless rate hits 6.5 percent is a "hole" in its evolving communications.

A second hole, he said, is the Fed's "vagueness" about how long it will continue to buy assets, currently at a pace of $85 billion a month. Clarity on what constitutes a substantial improvement in the labor market outlook - the Fed's stated milestone before it ends its bond-buying program - would make Fed policy more effective, he said.

Kocherlakota also pushed back hard against those, including some of his colleagues at the Fed, who warn that prolonged low interest rates lead to disruption of the financial system.

Low rates do lead to more volatility in asset prices, he said. But tighter monetary policy should only be used to rein in risks to financial stability if the benefits are clear.

And they are anything but, he argued.

"The gains from tightening related to improving financial stability are both speculative and slight," he said. "In contrast, the losses from tightening, in terms of pushing employment and prices even further below the Federal Reserve's goals, are both tangible and significant."

Unemployment, at 7.5 percent, is far above the 5.5 percent Kocherlakota says is normal.

Inflation by the Fed's favored gauge is running well below the U.S. central bank's target of 2 percent.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-not-lowered-interest-rates-enough-kocherlakota-174652546.html

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Avoid Financial Problems Now With These Tips - ProjectPB ? The ...

While your finances won?t impact others if you live alone, people with a family need to be much more careful with their money. This article offers several suggestions on money management.

When you are trying to save some money abroad, eat at local restaurants. The restaurants in hotels and tourist areas have ?tourist trap pricing,? which can be substantially higher than what locals pay. With this in mind, eat where the locals eat! You?ll find the most delicious and best priced fare in the area.

Stay tuned to the news in order to be aware of the global market. Americans typically ignore markets outside the United States, but they are especially important to note if trading currencies. Knowing about international news will help improve your strategy for the market.

TIP! Pay attention to trends when investing in forex. You need to know a lot of information, so you know how to sell high and buy low.

Don?t be fooled by claims that a company will repair your credit history. A lot of credit repair organizations will make broad, general statements about what they can do for you to clean up your credit. This isn?t accurate since what?s affecting your credit score is not identical to another person with credit issues. It?s simply not a case of ?one size fits all? when it comes to credit repairs, so there can be no guarantee of success.

The majority of new products include a warranty of between 90 and 360 days. If you are going to have a problem with your item, most likely it will occur during that time frame. An extended warranty is just a way to make more money.

Try using the automatic withdrawal plan at your bank so that you will automatically have money transferred into your savings account at regular intervals. This will help you pay yourself and start saving the money you need every month. This approach is ideal for anyone who expects to experience a special occasion in the near future.

Arrange an automatic withdrawal from checking to savings each month. This technique allows you to save a little money every month. By setting up a savings plan, you can save for a wedding or special vacation.

TIP! Your two largest purchases are likely to be the house you live in and your car. A huge factor of your budget each month will be not only the payments, but the interest rates of these things.

In most cases, automobiles and homes represent an individual?s most substantial purchases. It is important to set a large portion of cash aside for these expenses. You can pay them off faster if you add an extra payment or put any of your tax refund toward it.

You can save money by eliminating fast food stops for convenience. Fast food menus may seem cheap, but they really are not. Cooking at home with better quality ingredients produces better meals than you get at a fast food or carry out place, and also saves you a lot of money. You will also come to appreciate the art of cooking.

When items are on sale at the supermarket, you will not save money if you purchase more items than you can utilize. Stocking up on items you use regularly can save a lot of money, but only if you actually eat it all before it goes bad. Do not go overboard, then you will be able to enjoy a sale.

Holding a garage or yard sale can help one clear out some old items, as well as earning some extra cash. Those who make friends easily may be able to convince neighbors to let them sell their unwanted items for just a small fee. Using creativity, the possibilities are endless when it comes to garage sales.

TIP! If you eat less fast food or eat out less in general, you can save a lot of money. By buying the needed ingredients and cooking meals at home, one is going to learn to appreciate the effort that it takes to prepare a meal at home for oneself.

If somebody is thinking about getting something that costs too much they may want to ask their family to help them out. Pooling resources to make a purchase for the entire family, can help everyone save some cash.

Your money management may weigh more heavily on your mind if you have children. You can make your income go further and take better care of the people who rely on you by making use of good personal finance advice whenever you come across it.

Source: http://www.projectpb.net/blog/index.php/personal_finance/avoid-financial-problems-now-with-these-tips-3/

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Woman describes Berlusconi's 'bunga bunga' parties

Karima el-Mahroug's is escorted outside the Milan's Law court by two Carabinieri police officers after giving her testimony at the trial of three former Berlusconi aides accused with procuring her and other woman for prostitution, in Milan, Italy, Friday, May 17, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi's private disco featured not only aspiring show girls performing striptease acts as sexy nuns and nurses, but also dressed as President Barack Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor whom the billionaire media mogul has accused of persecuting him, according to the first public sworn testimony by the Moroccan woman at the center of the scandal. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Karima el-Mahroug's is escorted outside the Milan's Law court by two Carabinieri police officers after giving her testimony at the trial of three former Berlusconi aides accused with procuring her and other woman for prostitution, in Milan, Italy, Friday, May 17, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi's private disco featured not only aspiring show girls performing striptease acts as sexy nuns and nurses, but also dressed as President Barack Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor whom the billionaire media mogul has accused of persecuting him, according to the first public sworn testimony by the Moroccan woman at the center of the scandal. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Karima el-Mahroug's, right, flanked by her husband Luca Risso, is escorted outside the Milan's Law court by a Carabinieri police officer after giving her testimony at the trial of three former Berlusconi aides accused with procuring her and other woman for prostitution, in Milan, Italy, Friday, May 17, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi's private disco featured not only aspiring show girls performing striptease acts as sexy nuns and nurses, but also dressed as President Barack Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor whom the billionaire media mogul has accused of persecuting him, according to the first public sworn testimony by the Moroccan woman at the center of the scandal. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Karima el-Mahroug's is escorted outside the Milan's Law court by two Carabinieri police officers after giving her testimony at the trial of three former Berlusconi aides accused with procuring her and other woman for prostitution, in Milan, Italy, Friday, May 17, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi's private disco featured not only aspiring show girls performing striptease acts as sexy nuns and nurses, but also dressed as President Barack Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor whom the billionaire media mogul has accused of persecuting him, according to the first public sworn testimony by the Moroccan woman at the center of the scandal. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

FILE - In this July 28, 2011 file photo, then Lombardy region councillor Nicole Minetti sits in her office, in Milan, Italy. Karima el-Mahroug, a Moroccan woman at the center of a sex scandal involving former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, testified in Milan's courthouse, Italy, for the first time Friday, May 17, 2013 in the trial of three Berlusconi aides charged with recruiting her and other women for prostitution. El-Mahroug said one of the defendants, Nicole Minetti, had dressed up like a nun at a party at Berlusconi's villa outside Milan, and lifted her costume to show off her legs as she danced in the disco, which was outfitted with a lap-dance pole. El-Mahroug demonstrated from her seat how Minetti had raised her hemline. She said Minetti eventually took off her costume and was in just her lingerie. The trial is separate from one in which Berlusconi himself is charged with paying for sex with a minor and trying to cover it up. The three aides ? Emilio Fede, an executive in Berlusconi's media empire; Minetti, a former dental hygienist, showgirl and local politician, and talent agent Dario "Lele" Mora ? are accused of recruiting women for prostitution at the parties and abetting prostitution, including of a minor. They deny the charges. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, file)

Karima el-Mahroug's is escorted outside the Milan's Law court by a Carabinieri police officer after giving her testimony at the trial of three former Berlusconi aides accused with procuring her and other woman for prostitution, in Milan, Italy, Friday, May 17, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi's private disco featured not only aspiring show girls performing striptease acts as sexy nuns and nurses, but also dressed as President Barack Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor whom the billionaire media mogul has accused of persecuting him, according to the first public sworn testimony by the Moroccan woman at the center of the scandal. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

MILAN (AP) ? Silvio Berlusconi's private disco featured not only aspiring showgirls performing striptease acts as sexy nuns and nurses, but one woman dressed up as President Barack Obama and a prominent Milan prosecutor whom the billionaire media mogul has accused of persecuting him, according to the first public sworn testimony by the Moroccan woman at the center of the scandal.

Karima el-Mahroug's testimony Friday at the trial of three former Berlusconi aides accused with procuring her and other women for prostitution confirms a sexually charged atmosphere at the "bunga bunga" parties of the then-sitting premier. The trial is separate from the one in which Berlusconi is charged with paying for sex with a minor ? el-Mahroug when she was 17 ? and trying to cover it up.

El-Mahroug, now 20, said she attended about a half-dozen parties, using her nickname Ruby, and that after each, Berlusconi handed her an envelope with up to 3,000 euros ($3,900) in denominations of 500. She said she later received 30,000 euros cash from the then-premier paid through an intermediary ? money that she told Berlusconi she wanted to use to open a beautician salon despite having no formal training.

But she denied that Berlusconi had ever given her 5 million euros ($6.43 million). She said she told acquaintances and even her father that she was going to receive such a large sum "as a boast," but that it was a lie to make her seem more important.

The three Berlusconi aides ? Emilio Fede, an executive in Berlusconi's media empire; Nicole Minetti, a former dental hygienist, showgirl and local politician, and talent agent Dario "Lele" Mora ? are accused of recruiting women for prostitution at the parties and abetting prostitution, including of a minor. They deny the charges.

El-Mahroug has made carefully orchestrated statements to the media since the scandal broke, but has never publicly given sworn testimony. Both she and Berlusconi deny having had sex.

Dressed soberly with her hair pulled back, El-Mahroug said she first made contact with Berlusconi's inner circle when she participated in a beauty contest organized by Fede in Sicily when she was 16.

After that she made her way to Milan, hoping to find work. She said she tried to get work through another defendant's talent agency but didn't have proper identity documents, and wound up landing a job as a hostess in nightclubs, earning around 100 euros ($130) a night.

She frequently changed accommodation during that time, staying for periods of days with people whose names she no longer recalls.

Eventually, she ran into Fede at a restaurant, where she reminded him of his promise in Sicily to help her. Shortly thereafter, she was invited to a dinner party, at Berlusconi's villa outside of Milan.

She testified that she met the premier that night ? on Valentine's Day in 2010 ? and that he gave her an envelope of 2,000 to 3,000 euros ($2,600 to $3,900) as she was leaving, saying it was "a little help" and asking for her telephone number, which she gave him.

At that party, she said, she introduced herself as Ruby and told other guests a fake tale that she was Egyptian, that her mother was a famous Arab singer and that she was related to then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. She was 17 at the time but had passed herself off as being 23 or 24.

El-Mahroug confirmed Friday what other witnesses have testified previously: that at some of the soirees, young female party guests had dressed up like nuns and danced for Berlusconi and then stripped down to their underwear.

The parties took place in a disco in Berlusconi's villa equipped with a lap dance pole. El-Mahroug told the court that there was sometimes a singer who is close to Berlusconi at the parties, but most of the guests were young women. While she went home in a taxi alone the first night, other times, she testified, she slept in a guest room by herself. Since she only had the dress she was wearing, she was given a track suit in the morning to have breakfast, and sometimes stayed for lunch, leaving in the late afternoon.

El-Mahroug said Minetti, one of the defendants, had dressed up like a nun at that Feb. 14 party and lifted her costume to show off her legs as she danced in Berlusconi's in-house disco. El-Mahroug demonstrated from her seat how Minetti had raised her hemline. She said Minetti eventually took off her costume and was in just her lingerie.

She said another young woman dressed up alternately as Obama or a Milan magistrate who is leading the prosecution against Berlusconi in the sex scandal, donning a red wig and the black robes worn by magistrates in Italy.

"The girls who were dressed in costumes approached him in a sensual way as they danced. They raised their skirts," El-Mahroug testified. She added: "I never saw contact."

On the stand, El-Mahroug denied ever having acted as a prostitute, and repeated her denials that she ever had sex with Berlusconi.

However, when the presiding judge pressed her on wiretaps in which she appears to be referring to acts of prostitution, she said that her statements then were just "stupid things." It was the same phrase she used to explain away her statements that she was about to receive 5 million euros from the then-premier.

At one point, the judge admonished her that she was testifying at a trial aimed at ascertaining the facts, not appearing on a televised interview, when she appeared to criticize prosecutors, then backed down.

Prosecutors in Berlusconi's separate trial have said El-Mahroug's testimony is unreliable and are relying on her sworn statements. The defense had initially called her as a witness, but then changed its strategy and didn't call her. That trial is nearing a verdict and will reconvene May 24.

___

AP writer Nicole Winfield contributed to this report from Rome.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-17-Italy-Berlusconi/id-158878e4a6c94c369aea938ee0cb8770

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Access Hollywood section

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Is Midlife Crisis Taking a Toll on Your Marriage? | Relationships ...

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Midlife crisis has been the subject of many television series and films in popular culture. According to psychologists, it affects both men and women between 40 to 60 years. Says psychologist and relationship expert, Veena Suryakantha, ?At times when partners find it difficult to be with each other a coule of years after marriage, they mostly blame it on the lack of love. But the truth is that marriages down the line are often punctured by midlife crisis; and more often than not, couples fail to recognise it.?

What is it?
The term ?midlife crisis? was first identified by psychologist Carl Jung. He said the crisis was a natural part of the maturing process. It is a form of emotional transition during a couple?s life. For most partners, midlife crisis becomes very complicated and they do not know how to deal with it. This in turn leads to depression and brings about unhappiness, anger, boredom and lack of love in the relationship.

Ways to solve it
If you?ve suddenly stumbled upon a midlife crisis in your marriage, or know someone who is going through this phase ? be there to help. Dealing with this takes time and energy and often people fail to recognise the problem. There are many ways to cope with the crisis.

Psychologists say that one should treat midlife crisis as a transitional phase. In other words, it is important to view it as an opening for new opportunities and positive growth, instead of feeling guilty and depressed about it, which can aggravate the problem.

Stay calm
Though indeed it is a difficult time for you, remember that maintaining peace at this time will help solve the problem better. Says Suryakantha, ?When people have problems, they get very agitated about it. This in turn leads to hyperanxiety and tension. One must learn to keep calm during difficult times so that they can easily find out ways to tackle the problem.?

Communication is essential
It is extremely crucial for couples to communicate in times of crisis. Effective communication may help bridge the gap between the two of you. By corresponding with each other, you will be able to put across your opinion and know your partner?s point of view as well.

Confide in someone
Just as important as it is to communicate with your partner about it, sharing the problem with someone close to you will help you find ways to get out of the problem. Trust a friend or see a therapist. When going through this phase, reevaluating the matter is crucial.

Don?t give way to arguments
It is but natural for you to get angry at yourself or your spouse at this time, but you need to deal with the matter peacefully. Getting into a heated discussion or fight will just worsen the situation and you won?t find ways to deal with it.

Exercise and eat healthy
Exercising and following a healthy diet are important. Physical activity reduces tension and stress and ensures that you have the willpower to cope with problems better.

Did you know?
A statistical report states that 80 per cent of marriages that go through midlife crisis are able to survive it and lead a happy life together again

International musician Kim Gordon stated 'midlife crisis? was a normal end to their relationship
Members of alternative rock group Sonic Youth, Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore (husband and band-mate) ended their marriage in 2011. But recently, a year and a half after their separation, Gordon opened up to a magazine citing ?midlife crises? as the reason for calling it off. She was quoted saying, ?We seemed to have a normal relationship inside of a crazy world. And it ended in a normal way? midlife crisis, starstruck woman.?

Experts say midlife crisis lasts for about 3-10 years in men and 2-5 years in women (between the age of 40 to 60). A midlife crisis is caused by ageing itself, or ageing in combination with changes, problems, or regrets over work, spouse or lack of children.

Author: Meghna Mukherjee

Image courtesy: ?Thinkstock photos/ Getty images

?

Source: http://idiva.com/news-relationships/is-midlife-crisis-taking-a-toll-on-your-marriage/21518

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PFT: Vikings unveil plans for new fixed-roof stadium

AP

Whatever circumstances have led to former Detroit Lions wide receiver Titus Young to be arrested three times in a week, his father, Richard Young, doesn?t recognize the person he raised as a child.

According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Titus had spent Friday morning with his father prior to being arrested for the third time in a week. The pair had made a morning run to get doughnuts and coffee and returned back to Richard?s house in Los Angeles. Titus told his father he?d left his phone and asked for the key to retrieve it. Titus then took off and wound up back in jail.

?I hope they just forgive Titus because this ain?t none of Titus, it wasn?t none of his fault,? Richard Young said. ?I look at my son right now, I don?t see my son. That?s not my son. I know my son. Titus is not the boy I really raised, I?m saying the way he act, the way he intermix in society right now. He shut down, he look through you, it?s like he?s depressed.?

Titus was arrested on DUI charges last Monday and released from jail. He then was arrested again doing his best ?Gone in 60 Seconds? impression and trying to steal his car back out of the police impound lot. Then Friday he was arrested for a third time and charged with burglary, assault on a peace officer and resisting arrest.

Richard recalled a conversation with his son after his troubles with the Lions where Titus was struggling to figure out what was happening to him.

?He said, ?I just don?t feel good. I?m not myself, I don?t feel good, Dad. I don?t know what?s happening to me,? ? Richard said.

Titus was supposed to re-enter a program Monday for medical treatment when he was arrested and wound up in the medical facilities of the Central Men?s Jail in Santa Ana, Calif. instead.

?We want y?all to pray for the Young family,? Richard said. ?Ain?t nothing we can do, man, but pray. We just want Titus to get well, that?s all we?re doing right now. We ain?t thinking about football, we?re thinking about our son now because I don?t know what?s going on with him.?

Whether it?s through the legal system or through the efforts of his family, let?s hope Titus Young can get the help he desperately needs.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/14/vikings-unveil-plans-for-new-fixed-roof-stadium/related/

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Would a switch to Android rescue Nokia? Sadly, probably not

10:55 AM

With Nokia continuing to languish, investors have understandably become frustrated with CEO Stephen Elop. As we saw earlier this week, investors implored Elop to reconsider his decision to go exclusively with Windows Phone as Nokia?s?mobile platform despite the fact that it hasn?t at all helped the company boost its market share against rivals Apple and Samsung. Elop did nothing to ease investors? fears by stubbornly asserting that his only ?Plan B? was to make his Windows Phone ?Plan A? succeed. If Nokia?s fortunes don?t improve markedly by the end of the year, I can imagine shareholders ousting Elop and replacing him with someone who will branch out the company?s operating system portfolio to include Android.

But while it?s easy to simply say that a switch to Android would give Nokia a boost, as AllThingsD?s?John Paczkowski does, it?s very unlikely that releasing an Android-based Lumia would do much to change the company?s fortunes. The reason for this is pretty straightforward: Samsung is the only Android vendor that pulls a consistent and significant profit. The multitude of other Android vendors, from LG to HTC to Motorola, are lucky to make any money at all from the platform in a given quarter.

Now, if the HTC One does as well as HTC is hoping and helps the company?s earnings shoot upward, then I?ll have to reassess my thinking. But for the time being, it?s just very, very difficult to make money selling smartphones unless you?re one of the two biggest vendors in the world. That?s obviously a bad position to be in if you?re one of the smaller vendors and it?s not something you can admit to your investors without them tearing your head off, but it is reality.

Now, that?s not to excuse Elop?entirely from blame for Nokia?s current predicament. His obsession with giving carriers exclusives of devices that limit their exposure to wider audiences seems particularly daft, especially in an era when Apple and Samsung sell the exact same devices across multiple carriers. What?s more, Nokia?s system for naming its smartphones is just bizarre ? is the average person walking into a Best Buy going to know the difference between a Lumia 520, a Lumia 710, a Lumia 720, a Lumia 920 and a Lumia 928?

But none of these mistakes take away from the fact that Apple and Samsung have an iron grip on smartphone profits and that?s very unlikely to change until one or two of the smaller players exit the market all together.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheBoyGeniusReport/~3/paLwOpger5c/

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Rat Meat Sold as Lamb in China

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/rat-meat-sold-as-lamb-in-china/

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Chris Christie, Hillary Clinton to address Bill Clinton forum

LONDON, May 2 (Reuters) - Teams for Thursday's Europa League semi-final second leg between Chelsea and FC Basel at Stamford Bridge: Chelsea: 1-Petr Cech; 28-Cesar Azpilicueta, 2-Branislav Ivanovic, 4-David Luiz, 24-Gary Cahill, 34-Ryan Bertrand; 13-Victor Moses, 7-Ramires, 8-Frank Lampard, 17-Eden Hazard; 9-Fernando Torres FC Basel: 1-Yann Sommer; 15-Kay Voser, 16-Fabian Schar, 26-Gaston Sauro, 27-Markus Steinhofer, 20-Fabian Frei, 22-Mohamed Salah, 8-Geoffrey Serey Die, 33-Mohamed Elneny, 14-Valentin Stocker; 9-Marco Streller Referee: Jonas Eriksson (Sweden) (Reporting by Mike Collett, ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/chris-christie-hillary-clinton-address-bill-clinton-forum-200917932.html

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Dreadlocks banana guy gets Taiwanese animation treatment

Henry Gribbohm, the New Hampshire man who says he lost $2,600?his entire life savings?playing a carnival game that was "rigged," has become something of an Internet star. His story has gone viral thanks, in large part, to the stuffed banana he took home as a consolation prize.

The 30-year-old from Epsom, N.H., was playing a game called Tubs of Fun in which contestants toss balls into a tub, but the balls kept popping out. ?It?s not possible that it wasn?t rigged,? Gribbohm said. "You just get caught up in the whole 'I've got to win my money back.'"

Gribbohm lost $300, WBZ-TV reported, "went home to get $2,300 more and soon lost all of that as well."

Manchester police are investigating the incident, and New Hampshire-based Fiesta Shows, which produces the traveling carnival, is pulling Tubs of Fun for the time being.

?For once in my life I happened to become that sucker,? Gribbohm said, clutching his large, overstuffed banana with dreadlocks.

[Related: Man loses life savings on carnival game]

After Gribbohm's story aired, CollegeHumor.com launched a Facebook campaign offering to buy Gribbohm's stuffed banana for $2,600:

For every Facebook "Like" this post gets, we'll put 10 cents towards the cost of Henry's stuffed banana, and if we get to 26,000 Likes, we'll offer to buy Henry's banana for $2,600. If this post gets over 30,000 Likes, we'll offer to buy Henry's banana AND pay for the X-Box Kinect that he was originally trying to win.

So far, the post has 16,000 likes, or about 10,000 shy of the site's goal.

Meanwhile, Gribbohm's tale of woe has already been given the Taiwanese animation treatment, which includes a re-enactment of his fateful carnival outing:

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/dreadlocks-banana-life-savings-video-192118384.html

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North Korea sentences American to 15 years hard labor

By Ju-min Park

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea sentenced U.S. citizen Kenneth Bae to 15 years hard labor on Thursday for what it said were crimes against the state, a move that will likely see him used as a bargaining chip in talks with Washington.

Bae, 44, was born in South Korea but is a naturalized American citizen and attended the University of Oregon. According to U.S. media, he most recently lived in the Seattle suburb of Lynnwood.

A North Korean defector said Bae will likely serve his sentence in a special facility for foreigners, not in one of the repressive state's forced labor camps. More than 200,000 people are incarcerated in these camps, beaten and starved, sometimes to death, according to human rights groups.

Bae's sentencing comes after two months of sabre-rattling by Pyongyang that saw North Korea threaten both the United States and South Korea with nuclear war.

Former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson, who has made numerous trips to North Korea that included efforts to free detained Americans, in a statement said Bae's case should not become entangled in the current U.S.-North Korea impasse.

"Now that the sentencing and the North Korean legal process has been completed, it is important that negotiations begin to secure Kenneth Bae's release on humanitarian grounds or a general amnesty," said Richardson, who visited North Korea in January with Google Inc CEO Eric Schmidt.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who has traveled to North Korea before to try to free a detained American, has no plans to do so for Bae, Carter's spokeswoman said.

"President Carter has not had an invitation to visit North Korea and has no plans to visit," Carter's press secretary, Deanna Congileo, said in an email.

Bae is believed to be a devout Christian, according to human rights activists in South Korea, who say he may have been arrested for taking pictures of starving children, known as "kotjebi," or fluttering swallows.

He was part of a group of five tourists who visited the northeastern North Korean city of Rajin in November and has been held since then.

Some media reports have identified Bae as the leader of the tour group. NK News, a specialist North Korea news website, said he was the owner of a company called Nation Tours that specialized in tours of northeastern North Korea.

The reports could not be verified and North Korean state news agency KCNA did not list any specific charge other than crimes against the state, and used a Korean rendering of Bae's name, Pae Jun-ho, when it reported the Supreme Court ruling.

"North Korea has shown their intention to use him as a negotiating card as they have done in the past," said Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow at the Sejong Institute, a think-tank in Seoul.

Bae's sentence was heftier than the 12 years handed down to two U.S. journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, in 2009. It took a visit to Pyongyang by former President Bill Clinton to secure their release.

North Korea appears to use the release of high profile American prisoners to extract a form of personal tribute, rather than for economic or diplomatic gain, often portraying visiting dignitaries as paying homage.

According to North Korean law, the punishment for hostile acts against the state is between five and 10 years hard labor.

"I think his sentencing was hefty. North Korea seemed to consider his acts more severe," said Jang Myung-bong, honorary professor at Kookmin University in Seoul and a North Korea law expert.

North Korea is one of the most isolated states on earth. Its official policy of "Juche," or self-reliance, is a fusion of Marxism, extreme nationalism and self sufficiency centered on the cult of the ruling Kim family.

SEPARATE JAIL

Bae likely will not be incarcerated in one of the North's notorious slave labor camps, such as the one where defector Kwon Hyo-jin was locked up. There, Kwon said, prisoners were worked to death and often survived only by eating rats and snakes.

"If an American served jail together with North Korean inmates, which won't happen, he could tell them about capitalism or economic developments. That would be the biggest mistake for North Korea," said Kwon, a North Korean sentenced to one of its camps for seven years until 2007. He defected to South Korea in 2009.

"(Bae) would be sent to a correctional facility that only houses foreigners and was set up as a model for international human rights groups."

It was not known if Bae had been taken immediately to jail.

Ling, the journalist, told U.S. television that she was placed in a 5-by-6 foot (1.5-by-1.8 meter) cell when captured and then kept in a regular room afterwards.

Bae was given counsel by the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which has declined to comment on the case, as the United States does not have diplomatic relations with the North.

(Additional reporting by Christine Kim in Seoul and Paul Eckert in Washington; Editing by David Chance and Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-sentences-american-15-years-hard-labor-134445844.html

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Mobile ads help grow Facebook's 1Q revenue 38 pct.

Michael Goodwin, Senior Partner for HTC, displays an HTC First cell phone wit the new Facebook interface at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, April 4, 2013. The company says it is not building a phone or an operating system. Rather, Facebook is introducing a new experience for Android phones. The idea behind the new Home service is to bring content right to you, rather than require people to check apps on the device. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Michael Goodwin, Senior Partner for HTC, displays an HTC First cell phone wit the new Facebook interface at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Thursday, April 4, 2013. The company says it is not building a phone or an operating system. Rather, Facebook is introducing a new experience for Android phones. The idea behind the new Home service is to bring content right to you, rather than require people to check apps on the device. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A year ago, Facebook was just testing the waters of mobile advertising, causing plenty of headaches for investors ahead of its massive initial public offering.

It has since eased those worries.

On Wednesday the world's biggest social networking company said nearly a third of its advertising revenue came from mobile in the first three months of the year, helping to push total revenue up 38 percent to surpass Wall Street's expectations.

"They are making the transition to mobile faster than anyone anticipated," said Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia. "It seems like they are delivering."

Facebook Inc. said Wednesday that its net income was $219 million, or 9 cents per share, in the January-March period. That's up from $205 million, or 9 cents per share, in the same period a year ago, when it was still private.

Revenue grew to $1.46 billion from $1.06 billion, above analysts' expectations of $1.44 billion.

Excluding special items, mainly related to stock compensation expenses, Facebook earned 12 cents per share, matching the average of analyst expectations, according to FactSet.

Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook said that its mobile advertising revenue was 30 percent of its total ad revenue in the first quarter, amounting to $375 million. That's up from 23 percent, or $306 million, in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter ? the first time it disclosed such figures ? the company generated 14 percent, or $153 million, of its advertising revenue from mobile.

Investors had been worried about Facebook's ability to grow mobile revenue since before its initial public offering in May 2012. That's because although the number of people who access Facebook on smartphones and tablet computers has been growing quickly, Facebook didn't begin showing ads to those users until last year.

David Ebersman, Facebook's chief financial officer, said most advertisers did not specify that their ads be shown only on desktop computers or only on mobile devices, "rather they put their ads into our system and allow us to show the ads on whatever device where the ads will perform best."

Bhatia thinks Facebook will fare even better on mobile devices once Zuckerberg firms up its plan to make money from the growing audience checking into Instagram, a photo-sharing service that the company bought last year for $521 million. The analyst believes Instagram will play a bigger role in Facebook's business next year.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said the results are likely to quiet skeptics who doubted Facebook's ability to mine its growing mobile traffic for revenue. He was particularly impressed by the 23 percent increase in Facebook's mobile ad revenue, even though the company's overall ad revenue for the period dipped 6 percent from the final three months of last year.

"Their mobile business is probably bigger than any mobile business on the planet other than the (wireless telecommunications) carriers and Google," Pachter said.

Facebook started showing mobile advertisements in early 2012. In the third quarter of last year, the company generated 14 percent, or $153 million of its advertising revenue from mobile. In the fourth quarter mobile ads represented to 23 percent, or $306 million.

Research firm eMarketer says Facebook's share of the U.S. online advertising market is growing. This year, the company is expected to take a 6.5 percent share of U.S. online ad spending, up from 5.9 percent in 2012. Still, that figure is far behind Google Inc.'s 41.6 percent.

On the mobile front, eMarketer expects Facebook to take a 13.2 percent share of U.S. ad revenue, up from 9.5 percent in 2012, the first year it made any money from mobile ads. Though Facebook is No. 2, it is far behind Google in U.S. mobile advertising. EMarketer expects the online search leader to take a 54.7 percent share of U.S. mobile advertising revenue this year.

The company also grew its user base during the quarter. This has also been an area of some concern to investors amid chatter of "Facebook fatigue," especially among younger users, surfacing in recent months. But Facebook said its monthly user base grew to 1.11 billion accounts as of the end of March, up 5 percent from 1.06 million at the end of December.

The number of users who access Facebook every day, on average, grew 8 percent to 665 million in March, from 618 million in December.

Gartner Inc. analyst Brian Blau said the ongoing growth of daily users suggests that the service is a tough habit to break.

"The network remains in full force," Blau said. "You have to give them a lot of credit."

That doesn't mean there won't be concerns about some Facebook users, especially teenagers, migrating to other mobile applications and digital outlets to hang out with friends and share slices of their lives, said Forrester Research analyst Nate Elliott.

"There is always going to be something new in social," Elliott said. "The question is how much of it is a threat to Facebook? All Facebook can do is keep those users coming back and make money off those users. And Facebook seems to be doing both of those things reasonably well."

Instagram now has 100 million monthly users, up from 22 million when Facebook agreed to buy the company in April 2012.

Facebook's stock rose 12 cents to $27.55 in after-hours trading. The stock closed down 34 cents on Wednesday. It is up 3 percent since the beginning of the year compared with an 11 percent increase for the Standard & Poor's 500 index. Facebook went public on May 18, 2012, at $38 per share, a price it hasn't hit since.

__

AP Technology Writer Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-05-01-US-TEC-Earns-Facebook/id-41e79fb4b5f04f6e8928a5c1121b33ca

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Westboro Baptist Church to Protest NBA Playoff Games, Claims #GodH8sTheNBA

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/westboro-baptist-church-to-protest-nba-playoff-games-claims-numb/

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