Do you really need that deep freezer? Really?

The distinction between wanting an item and needing it is a key one. If you don't need something right away, it pays to be patient with your shopping.

When we were first considering a move into our current home, my wife and I made a list of things that we wanted to have in our home that we just didn?t have room for in our small apartment. One of the big items on that list was a deep freezer.

Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm

The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.

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We wanted one primarily because we often had offers of buying shares of venison or beef, where entire animals had been processed at a meat locker and the person was hoping to get back some of their investment by selling a quarter of the meat. Per pound, this was an incredible deal, but you would often have to deal with thirty or forty pounds (or more ? sometimes much more) of wrapped and processed meat.

We also wanted to take advantage of specific sales at the grocery store. For example, if a store has a sale on flash-frozen vegetables, we?ll often stock up on them.

As we moved into our current home, we had money set aside for buying a deep freezer, an amount based on the prices we could easily find at the time. We knew some of the specific models we wanted that had a good ?bang for the buck,? and we had the cash in hand. Time to buy, right?

Wrong.

The thing was that we didn?t immediately need that deep freezer. Yes, we wanted one and it was clear that over the long run such a freezer would save us money, but we weren?t pinned up against the wall with regards to the purchase.

This distinction between want and need is a key one. It is incredibly easy for people to decide that something useful that they merely want is actually more of a need ? something that they have to go out and purchase right away. I see it all the time with people in my social circle, and I even see it uncomfortably often in myself.

Holding back on those ?wants that seem kind of like needs? is essential for saving money.

What are you holding back for? The sale. There are many ways where you can find that item that you?re looking for at a much lower price than what you?ll see at your local department store or appliance store.

All we did is sit on this idea of buying a deep freezer for about two months. We watched the ads from the local hardware and appliance stores, waiting for a great price on one of the models we wanted. Eventually, we found it on sale at about a 35% discount, saving us quite a bit of money.

Even better, during that period, a friend of ours came up with a used deep freezer that he offered to give to us. We were strongly considering taking the item, even though we were a bit concerned about the fan motor in it, but we went for the discounted one instead.

We didn?t lose anything by waiting, but we gained about the third of the cost of our deep freezer.

This type of story repeats itself time and time again when you?re making any major purchase. The price you find today is likely to be easily topped if you exhibit a little bit of patience, and considering that the items that you?d do this with aren?t really essential to your day-to-day life, there?s no real drawback to waiting.

What kind of threshold should you have for pulling the trigger? For me, I usually try to wait for a price that?s at least 20% lower than the lowest regular price I found when I was initially searching for the item.

How long should you wait? This is really up to you. What I typically do is wait until I notice a continuous stream of possible uses for the item I was considering buying. Whenever I notice a use, I bump my threshold for buying closer to the lowest regular price until it becomes clear that the item is nearly a ?need? in terms of how we live our lives, then I?ll just go for the lowest-priced version I can find.

Patience is the key, and patience pays off time and time again.

This post is part of a yearlong series called ?365 Ways to Live Cheap (Revisited),? in which I?m revisiting the entries from my book ?365 Ways to Live Cheap,? which is available at Amazon and at bookstores everywhere.

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Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/8qdFOMzQ9jI/Do-you-really-need-that-deep-freezer-Really

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Syrian troops push back in fight on Damascus edges

Map locates violence in Damascus, Syria

Map locates violence in Damascus, Syria

This image from amateur video made available by the Ugarit News group and shot on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, purports to show a funeral in Damascus, Syria. The Syrian military launched an offensive to regain control of suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus on Sunday, storming neighborhoods and clashing with groups of army defectors in fierce fighting that sent residents fleeing and killed at several people, activists said. (AP Photo/Ugarit News Group via APTN) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL. TV OUT

Protesters shout slogans as they carry pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad and Syrian flags during a demonstration in front of the Russian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, to express gratitude for the Russian position in support of Syria. Russia has said it will use its Security Council veto to block any resolution threatening Syria with sanctions or lacking a clear ban on any foreign military interference. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian forces pushed dissident troops back from the edge of Damascus in heavy fighting Monday, escalating efforts to take back control of the capital's eastern doorstep ahead of key U.N. talks over a draft resolution demanding that President Bashar Assad step aside.

Gunfire and the boom of shelling rang out in several suburbs on Damascus' outskirts that have come under the domination of anti-regime fighters. Gunmen ? apparently army defectors ? were shown firing back in amateur videos posted online by activists. In one video, a government tank on the snow-dusted mountain plateau towering over the capital fired at one of the suburbs below.

As the bloodshed increased, with activists reporting more than 40 civilians killed Monday, Western and Arab countries stepped up pressure on Assad's ally Russia to overcome its opposition to the resolution.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and the British and French foreign ministers were heading to New York to push for backing of the measure during talks Tuesday at the United Nations.

"The status quo is unsustainable," Clinton said, saying the Assad regime was preventing a peaceful transition and warning that the resulting instability could "spill over throughout the region."

The draft resolution demands that Assad halt the crackdown and implement an Arab peace plan that calls for him to hand over power to his vice president and allow creation of a unity government to pave the way for elections.

If Assad fails to comply within 15 days, the council would consider "further measures," a reference to a possible move to impose economic or other sanctions.

Moscow, which in October vetoed the first council attempt to condemn Syria's crackdown, has shown little sign of budging in its opposition. It warns that the new measure could open the door to eventual military intervention, the way an Arab-backed U.N. resolution led to NATO airstrikes in Libya.

A French official said the draft U.N. resolution has a "comfortable majority" of support from 10 of the Security Council's 15 members, meaning Russia or China would have to use its veto power to stop it. The official said Russia had agreed to negotiate on the draft, but it was not yet clear if it would be willing to back it if changes were made.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with department rules.

The Kremlin said Monday it was trying to put together negotiations in Moscow between Damascus and the opposition. It said Assad's government has agreed to participate; the opposition has in the past rejected any negotiations unless violence stops.

Western countries cited the past week's escalation in fighting to pressure Moscow.

"Russia can no longer explain blocking the U.N. and providing cover for the regime's brutal repression," a spokeswoman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said, on customary condition of anonymity in line with policy.

The United Nations estimated several weeks ago that more than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria's crackdown on the uprising against Assad's rule, which began in March. It has been unable to update the figure, and more than 200 people have been killed in the past five days alone, according to activists' reports.

Pro-Assad forces have fought for three days to take back a string of suburbs on the eastern approach to Damascus, mostly poorer, Sunni-majority communities. In past weeks, army defectors ? masked men in military attire wielding assault rifles ? set up checkpoints in the communities, defending protesters and virtually seizing control.

Late Sunday, government troops retook two of the districts closest to Damascus, Ein Tarma and Kfar Batna, said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the London-based head of the Syrian Human Rights Observatory, which tracks violence through contacts on the ground.

On Monday, the regime forces were trying to retake the next suburbs out, pounding neighborhoods with shelling and heavy machine guns in the districts of Saqba, Arbeen and Hamouriya, he said.

At least five civilians were killed in the fighting near Damascus, according to the Observatory and another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees.

Regime forces also heavily shelled buildings and battled dissidents in the central city of Homs, one of the main hot spots of the uprising, activists said.

The Observatory reported 28 killed in the city Monday. The Local Coordination Committees put the number at 27.

The reports could not be independently confirmed. Syrian authorities keep tight control on the media and have banned many foreign journalists from entering the country.

The Syrian Interior Ministry, in charge of security forces, said Monday that its three-day operation in the suburbs aimed to track down "terrorist groups" that have "committed atrocities" and vowed to continue until they were wiped out. Damascus had remained relatively quiet while most other Syrian cities have slipped into chaos since the uprising began.

Regime forces, backed by tanks and armored vehicles, heavily outgun and outnumber the defectors, organized into a force known as the Free Syrian Army. However, the military can't cover everywhere at once, and when it puts down the dissidents in one location, they arise in another. The dissidents' true numbers are unknown.

The result has been a dramatic militarization of a crisis that began with peaceful protests demanding the ouster of the Assad family and its regime. The army defectors began by protecting protesters, but over the weeks they have gone more on the offensive.

The dissidents have seemed increasingly confident in hit-and-run attacks.

On Monday, they freed five imprisoned comrades in an assault on a military base in the northeastern province of Idlib, the Observatory and Local Coordination Committees reported. Other defectors attacked a large military checkpoint outside Hama, destroying several transport trucks and claiming to kill a number of troops, the two groups said.

Six government soldiers were killed in an ambush on their vehicles in the southern region of Daraa, the state news agency SANA reported. The Observatory reported two other soldiers and 10 defectors killed in fighting elsewhere.

Attackers also blew up a gas pipeline near the border with Lebanon, SANA reported, the latest in numerous attacks on Syria's oil and gas infrastructure.

Because of the upsurge in violence, the Arab League halted a month-old observer mission, which had already come under heavy criticism for failing to stop the crackdown. The League turned to the U.N. Security Council to throw its weight behind its peace plan, which Damascus has rejected.

The move resembles the turn of events before last year's NATO air campaign in Libya, when Western countries waited for Arab League support before winning U.N. cover for intervention.

But so far, there has been little appetite for a similar campaign in Syria. There is no clear-cut geographical divide between the regime and its opponents as there was in Libya, and the opposition is even more divided and unknown than it was in the North African nation. Syria is intertwined in alliances with Iran, Hezbollah and Palestinian militant groups, and borders Israel ? making the fallout from military action more unpredictable.

___

AP correspondents Bradley Klapper in Washington and Jamey Keaten in Paris contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-30-ML-Syria/id-568eb9126def4b6dacce19d6515873c4

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EU leaders seek growth as Greece crisis looms

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti speak together prior to a meeting at the European Council in Brussels ahead of the European Union leaders summit, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. European leaders were trying Monday to come up with ways to boost economic growth and jobs, which are being squeezed by their own governments' steep budget cuts across the continent. (AP Photo/Philippe Wojazer, pool) FRANCE MAGS OUT

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti speak together prior to a meeting at the European Council in Brussels ahead of the European Union leaders summit, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. European leaders were trying Monday to come up with ways to boost economic growth and jobs, which are being squeezed by their own governments' steep budget cuts across the continent. (AP Photo/Philippe Wojazer, pool) FRANCE MAGS OUT

British Prime Minister David Cameron, left, speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. European leaders will try to come up with ways to boost growth despite steep budget cuts across the continent when they meet in Brussels on Monday. The 27 heads of state and government will get a taste of the popular frustration with austerity and high unemployment as they try to get to the summit in a city paralyzed by strikes. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, and Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti speak together prior to a meeting at the European Council in Brussels ahead of the European Union leaders summit, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. European leaders were trying Monday to come up with ways to boost economic growth and jobs, which are being squeezed by their own governments' steep budget cuts across the continent. (AP Photo/Philippe Wojazer, pool) FRANCE MAGS OUT

Belgium's Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, left, speaks with Czech Republic's Prime Minister Petr Necas during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. European leaders will try to come up with ways to boost growth despite steep budget cuts across the continent when they meet in Brussels on Monday. The 27 heads of state and government will get a taste of the popular frustration with austerity and high unemployment as they try to get to the summit in a city paralyzed by strikes. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

British Prime Minister David Cameron, left, walks by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. European leaders will try to come up with ways to boost growth despite steep budget cuts across the continent when they meet in Brussels on Monday. The 27 heads of state and government will get a taste of the popular frustration with austerity and high unemployment as they try to get to the summit in a city paralyzed by strikes. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

BRUSSELS (AP) ? With another recession looming, European leaders on Monday met in Brussels to discuss ways to stimulate growth and create badly needed jobs, even as they drew up tighter spending limits to avoid a repeat of the crippling debt crisis.

Europe's debt crisis has put the continent and its leaders in an almost impossible situation. While they have to slash their deficits to reassure investors reluctant to lend to them, the debt crisis has also hammered the so-called "real economy," sending unemployment soaring. Many think that only government spending can restart growth.

While the 27 EU leaders meeting in Brussels will focus on walking the fine line between reining in spending and stimulating growth, the elephant in room is Greece.

Greece and its bondholders have come closer to a deal to significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed euro130 billion ($170 billion) bailout.

Negotiators for Greece's private creditors said Saturday that a debt-reduction deal could become final within the next week. If the agreement works as planned, it could help Greece avoid a catastrophic default, which would be a blow to Europe's already weak financial system.

But European officials are afraid that even that deal may not be enough to fix Greece's finances, with some blaming Athens for dithering in its austerity promises.

German officials over the weekend proposed that Athens temporarily cede control over tax and spending decisions to a powerful eurozone budget commissioner before it can secure further bailouts.

The idea proved immediately controversial ? both the European Commission and the Greek government refuted it ? to the point that German Chancellor Angela Merkel pulled back on the idea when she arrived in Brussels.

She said Europe had to support Greece in implementing promised austerity and reform measures, "but all that will only work if Greece and all other states discuss this together."

Luxembourg Prime Minister, and head of the group of eurozone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters as he entered the summit that Greece couldn't be singled out.

"I'm strongly against the idea of imposing the debt commissioner only to Greece, that's just not acceptable" neither for Greece nor the rest of Europe, Juncker said.

The negotiations in Greece are crucial because it is clear that Athens will never be able to pay off all of its debts, especially as austerity measures take their toll on its anemic economy. Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, cautioned against punishing Greece too severely.

"Greece needs an economic relaunch today and not in 2016," he told reporters on the sidelines of the summit. "So why not put together a stimulus package today instead of discussing another time a reduction in spending in a country that's in an economic depression?

He said that there are European funds for that kind of stimulus, but unlocking them has always posed a challenge.

The European Commission has proposed to summit leaders that euro82 billion in existing development funds be redirected toward countries in dire need of help to fix their labor markets.

Greece is not alone in facing slow growth and high unemployment. In Spain, for example, unemployment has soared to nearly 23 percent and closed in on 50 percent for those under age 25, leaving more than 5 million people ? or almost one out of every four ? out of work as the country slides toward recession.

Even countries in the so-called European "core" ? which are generally better off ? are suffering. The French government was forced Monday to revise down its growth forecast for the year from 1 percent to just 0.5 percent.

In fact, many now fear that Europe is on the verge of another recession, and leaders gathering Brussels said that spurring growth would be the focus of their talks Monday.

A draft of the summit conclusions, obtained by The Associated Press, proposes reducing barriers to do business across the EU's 27 states and giving better training to young people, who are particularly hard-hit by unemployment.

But it does not contain any new financial stimulus to boost growth, even though turning around Europe's economy would likely require more stimulus from governments, which are currently under pressure to cut ? rather than increase ? spending.

"We have to have balanced budgets and at the same time focus on growth and jobs," said Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark, which holds the rotating presidency of European Council. "It is possible to both at the same time and it is important to understand that these are two sides of the same coin."

The 27 heads of state and government got a taste of the popular frustration with austerity and high unemployment on their way to Monday's summit in a city paralyzed by strikes. Leaders had to fly into the military airport of Beauvechain 20 miles (30 kilometers) outside of Brussels after the city's main airport was shutdown by a 24-hour strike.

Belgium's three main unions joined forces in the walkout to protest national budgetary measures that have in part been imposed on the country by the EU. If the country hadn't met cost-cutting targets, financial sanctions would have been imposed.

Monday's strike has been mirrored in many other member states. Overall, 23 million people are jobless across the EU, 10 percent of the active population.

"Europe has to offer jobs, social protection and perspective for the future. Otherwise it risks losing the support of its citizens," said the strike manifesto of the ACV union.

___

Associated Press writers Don Melvin, Robert Wielaard and Raf Casert contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-30-EU-Europe-Financial-Crisis/id-2e0a24c13814470eab68c2bc10ad5e64

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Video: Romney-Gingrich war heats up

>> our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd joins me from our washington news room. it seems gingrich and romney see the path to the nomination is on this question of elect ability. who can face down barack obama in the general election . is that's what's driving this increasingly heated rhetoric we're hearing?

>> it seems to be driving romney 's numbers up. the number one issue, quality in our poll, elect ability. romney had even a bigger lead on gingrich on that one. yes, electability is driving this a little bit, particularly in florida . these big, larger states, unlike iowa and new hampshire, south carolina , where you get more of a chance to know niece candidates, in florida it's all about tv ads. that's been another advantage for romney . he's carpet-bombed the state in a way you can tell it's gotten under gingrich 's skin. the question i have, lester, what does gingrich do after florida if he indeed does lose? because there's an awful lot of space and time before he can get to a state that he has a good chance of winning.

>> we've seen the stop gingrich movement among mainline republicans. at the same time, tea party movements seem to be circling the wagons around gingrich . are we moving up to a day of reckoning in the republican party here?

>> reporter: not yet but i establishment really is nervous about this issue of romney not having more time to basically fix his general election problems. this process is not been good to him. he is upside down in his personal rating. a net negative right now. that's not good. he needs time to fuks that. gingrich clearly isn't going away. what we saw in new hampshire, sort of the revenge of the tea better and the anti-establishment, rallying around newt, don't be surprise tuesday me see that again. this thing is destined to go at least until mid-march. you've got southern primaries and gingrich is going to want to see if he can get some momentum back there and that's where i think the data party's going to try to carry him through. we'll see.

>> chuck todd in our washington

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46183163/

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Golden Globes trial exposes misleading negotiating tactics (omg!)

LOS ANGELES, Jan 27 (TheWrap.com) - Dick Clark Productions Chief Executive Officer Mark Shapiro had to admit in Los Angeles District Court late this week that he employed bluffs and half-truths to get NBC to agree to an $150 million deal to air the Golden Globes.

The practice is likely standard operating procedure in Hollywood, but copping to the ploys can not have been pleasant for Shapiro.

The deal is at the center of a legal scuffle between DCP and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the non-profit group behind the Globes, over who controls the rights to the broadcast of the highly-rated awards show. Marc Graboff, NBC's former business affairs chief, took the stand Friday morning, with testimony from CBS CEO Les Moonves expected next week.

The HFPA sued DCP and its parent company Red Zone Capital in November 2010, alleging that the company negotiated a new contract with NBC without their consent and that by failing to put the rights out for bidding by other networks, potentially cost them millions of dollars.

DCP claims that thanks to an amendment in its contract, the production company retains the rights to the broadcast every time it reaches a new deal with NBC. It also claims that it did not need the approval of the HFPA to extend the pact with the network.

Under questioning by HFPA attorney Linda Smith this week, Shapiro shied away from using the word "lie" or "mislead," but he did acknowledge that he led NBC executives to believe that he had HFPA's approval for the extension agreement.

Asked directly by Judge A. Howard Matz, at one point, if he had made false statements during negotiations with NBC, Shapiro said, "right."

He also claimed that he could hammer out a deal with NBC to air the awards pre-show, but said that he would need HFPA's approval before an agreement could be reached. He acknowledged that he told network executives that the HFPA was primarily interested in working out an extension of their deal before they tackled the issue of the pre-show.

Graboff told the court that NBC would not have done a deal for broadcast rights to the show if it had known that the HFPA was not being kept in the loop. But he also said if he had known that the organization was shopping the show to other networks -- as they apparently were trying to do with Moonves and CBS -- he would have tried to block a deal from taking place.

Moonves will likely emerge again during the course of the trial. The CBS chief is scheduled to testify next week -- although whether that testimony is given remotely via video conferencing or in-person is still the source of some debate.

HFPA Chairman Philip Berk met with Moonves in summer of 2010 to discuss the possibility of the Globes migrating to CBS, but DCP attorneys plan to argue that the lunch was in violation of its agreement with NBC. Under that pact, the HFPA was not allowed to talk to any third party about distributing the show until its deal with the network had expired.

The uncertainty around who would control the broadcast of the red carpet arrivals caused some friction. In a note, Graboff told Shapiro that DCP's reluctance to negotiate terms around the pre-show, while insisting that NBC immediately sign the extension agreement, "raises red flags for us."

As part of its justification for its "extensions clause," attorneys for DCP have argued that the HFPA was willing to give the production company broad rights to the program because its reputation was in tatters. The Golden Globes had been pushed off of the major broadcast networks for decades following a series of scandals involving their voting practices and allegations that Pia Zadora's husband had bought his wife an award by giving the group's members gifts.

Private correspondence that surfaced during the trial revealed Shapiro's unvarnished opinion of the controversial organization. In an email to William Morris Endeavor partner Ari Emanuel, Shapiro said that former NBCUniversal Chief Executive Officer Jeff Zucker understood the difficulty in dealing with the HFPA.

Wrote Shapiro: "Jeff knows these people are crazy."

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_golden_globes_trial_exposes_misleading_negotiating_tactics020345138/44334057/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/golden-globes-trial-exposes-misleading-negotiating-tactics-020345138.html

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Elisabeth R?hm?s Blog: Out with the Old, In with the New

In her latest blog, R?hm - mom to 3?-year-old Easton August with Ron Anthony - gets a 2012 wake up call when her fianc? suggests her resolution includes chucking the mom clothes!

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/VzfkUfsYDE8/

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Obama decries rising cost of college education (AP)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. ? President Barack Obama called Friday for an overhaul of the higher education financial aid system, warning that colleges and universities that fail to control spiraling tuition costs could lose federal funds.

The election year proposal was also a political appeal to young people and working families, two important voting blocs for Obama. But the initiative faces long odds in Congress, which must approve nearly all aspects of the president's plan.

Speaking to students at the University of Michigan, Obama said he was "putting colleges on notice" that the era of unabated tuition hikes is over.

"You can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can't stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down," Obama said on the final stop of a three-day post-State of the Union trip to promote components of his economic agenda.

Obama told the largely supportive student audience that the nation's economic future depended on making sure every American can afford a world-class education.

"In the coming decade, 60 percent of new jobs will require more than a high school diploma," he said. "Higher education is not a luxury. It's an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford."

The president first announced the outlines of the financial aid proposal during Tuesday's State of the Union address. His plan targets what is known as "campus based" aid given to colleges to distribute in areas such as Perkins loans or in work study programs. Of the $142 billion in federal grants and loans distributed in the last school year, about $3 billion went to these programs. His plan calls for increasing that type of aid to $10 billion annually.

He also wants to create a "Race to the Top" competition in higher education similar to the one his administration used on K-12 to encourage states to better use higher education dollars in exchange for $1 billion in prize dollars. A second competition called "First in the World" would encourage innovation to boost productivity on campuses.

Obama is also pushing for the creation of new tools to allow students to determine which colleges and universities have the best value.

Education secretary, Arne Duncan, said Friday that institutions of higher learning should get federal dollars based in part on their performance.

"Historically, we've funded universities whether or not they've done a good job of graduating people, whether or not they've done a good job of keeping down tuition," Duncan said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

Some in the higher education community are nervous that the Obama administration could be setting a new precedent in the federal government's role in controlling the rising costs of college.

The administration has already taken a series of steps to expand the availability of grants and loans and to make loans easier to pay back. During the State of the Union, Obama spelled out other proposals to make college more affordable, such as extending a tuition tax break and asking Congress to keep loan interest rates from doubling in July.

His administration has also targeted career college programs ? primarily at for-profit institutions ? with high loan default rates among graduates over multiple years by taking away their ability to participate in such programs.

But until now, the administration has done little to turn its attention to the rising cost of tuition at traditional colleges and universities.

The average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges last fall rose 8.3 percent and, with room and board, now exceed $17,000 a year, according to the College Board. Rising tuition costs have been blamed on a variety of factors, including a decline in state dollars, an over-reliance on federal student loan dollars and competition for the best facilities and professors.

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., a former education secretary, said the autonomy of U.S. higher education is what makes it the best in the world, and he's questioned whether Obama can enforce any plan that shifts federal aid away from colleges and universities without hurting students.

"It's hard to do without hurting students, and it's not appropriate to do," Alexander said. "The federal government has no business doing this."

___

Hefling reported from Washington.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

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Official: Iraq will take legal action over US raid (AP)

BAGHDAD ? Iraq will take legal action to ensure justice for the families of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians killed in a U.S. raid in Haditha seven years ago, a government spokesman said Thursday, after the lone U.S. Marine convicted in the killings reached a deal to escape jail time.

Residents in Haditha, a former Sunni insurgent stronghold of about 85,000 people along the Euphrates River valley some 140 miles (220 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad, have expressed outrage at the American military justice system for allowing Staff Sgt. Frank Wultrich to avoid prison.

"The Haditha incident was a big crime against innocent civilians," said Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for the Iraqi government. "We will follow up all legal procedures and judiciary measures" to seek justice in the case, he added.

Al-Moussawi did not offer specifics and the Iraqi Justice Ministry declined to comment.

Wultrich was convicted of a single count of negligent dereliction of duty. He faces having his rank reduced but he will not go to jail as a part of a plea agreement that ended his long-awaited manslaughter trial.

He has apologized for the loss of life, but has said his squad did not behave badly or dishonorably. He also has defended his order to raid homes in Haditha as a necessary act and acknowledged to instructing his men to "shoot first, ask questions later" after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine.

Wultrich's sentence Tuesday ended a six-year prosecution that failed to win any manslaughter convictions in one of the worst attacks on Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops during nine years of war. Eight Marines were initially charged in the case. One was acquitted and six others had their cases dropped.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq_haditha_marines

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'One Tree Hill': What Happened When Julia Left The Baby In The Car? (VIDEO)

Julian got a little too excited and a little too distracted when he got a call from a television series interested in possibly using his soundstage on "One Tree Hill" (Wed., 8 p.m. EST on The CW). When he returns home to share this great news with Brooke in advance of the meeting, she asks him to drop the baby off at daycare on his way.

The next scene of Julian has him picking up a bottle of scotch to celebrate when he gets a phone call. It's Brooke. "Hey, is everything okay?"

He says all is well, but she responds, "Well the day care called and said you never dropped Davis off." At this, Julian rounds the corner to find that the sirens he'd been hearing in the background was the emergency response to his vehicle. The windows are smashed -- did the first responders do this or did something worse happen? -- and a bed is being loaded into the ambulance.

Is this baby Davis? Someone else? Was the baby kidnapped? Did Jordan simply forget him in the car, or did something else happen?

Viewers will have to find out as the final season of "One Tree Hill" continues Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.

TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.

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MONDAY, JANUARY 23: "Gossip Girl"

1? of ?19

"Gossip Girl" (8 p.m. EST, The CW) "Clueless" writer/director Amy Heckerling makes her first foray into TV directing since 2005 for Blair's bachelorette party, as others scheme behind Queen B's back to make it a night to remember. After discovering the truth behind Chuck and Blair's car accident, Nate joins forces with a surprising ally to gather the evidence, while Serena and Dan pretend to be dating again to protect Blair's secret. "Gossip Girl" (8 p.m. EST, The CW)
"Clueless" writer/director Amy Heckerling makes her first foray into TV directing since 2005 for Blair's bachelorette party, as others scheme behind Queen B's back to make it a night to remember. After discovering the truth behind Chuck and Blair's car accident, Nate joins forces with a surprising ally to gather the evidence, while Serena and Dan pretend to be dating again to protect Blair's secret.

MONDAY, JANUARY 23: "Gossip Girl"

"Gossip Girl" (8 p.m. EST, The CW) "Clueless" writer/director Amy Heckerling makes her first foray into TV directing since 2005 for Blair's bachelorette party, as others scheme behind Queen B's back to make it a night to remember. After discovering the truth behind Chuck and Blair's car accident, Nate joins forces with a surprising ally to gather the evidence, while Serena and Dan pretend to be dating again to protect Blair's secret. "; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/one-tree-hill-julian-left-baby-in-the-car-video_n_1233005.html

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GPS uncovers possible Southwest quake risk

The U.S. Southwest isn't particularly known for its seismic activity, but the Rio Grande Rift, a series of faults and basins that runs from central Colorado south through New Mexico, is alive and stretching, new research shows.

Scientists had suspected the rift might be dead, but measurements of its movement varied widely and were riddled with uncertainties. Now, thanks to state-of-the-art GPS technology, geophysicists have found the rift is indeed extending ? just very slowly.

And of course, anytime a large chunk of the Earth's crust moves, the issue of earthquakes arises.

"There's certainly potential for earthquakes in this region," said Anne Sheehan, a seismologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder who co-authored the new study. "They would be very low-probability events but, like all earthquakes, they could have large consequences if they do happen."

Not dead, but not thriving
Sheehan began studying the region after noticing something odd in the mantle underlying the Rio Grande Rift. Studies had shown that seismic waves move through this part of the mantle very slowly, hinting that it could be quite hot. It could also mean that the overlying continental crust is spreading apart, Sheehan thought.

Using a large network of GPS stations ? nearly 300 sites ? her team monitored the rift's movement over four years. They found that the rift is in fact spreading very slowly, at a rate of about 0.1 millimeters per year.

"That's really pretty small," Sheehan told OurAmazingPlanet. "The rift is not dead, but it's not really thriving, either."

More surprisingly, the team found that the spreading isn't focused at the rift itself, but is spread across a span of more than 370 miles (600 kilometers).

"That wasn't what we expected, because the deformation at the surface has been along faults that are relatively narrow," said Henry Berglund, a geophysicist at UNAVCO who led the study. "Instead, we observed the deformation is likely much broader than that ? at least the width of the state of New Mexico."

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A real earthquake risk?
As for earthquake risks, Berglund explained, "It's not a predictive tool, but it does tell us that, if the deformation is broader, maybe we're more likely to have earthquakes in more places than we previously expected.?

There was a magnitude-5.3 quake near Trinidad, Colo., last August, and a larger earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 6.6 in north-central Colorado in 1882. A magnitude-5.5 quake shook Dulce, N.M., in 1966. Future quakes in the region could also fall in the magnitude-5 or -6 range, but likely not much higher, Sheehan said.

"We can't use this to say we expect to see a big earthquake anywhere in the region," Sheehan cautioned. "But a more worrisome aspect is that we don't really expect earthquakes here, so our building codes aren't as strict as they are in, say, California."

The team's findings appear in the January issue of the journal Geology.

? 2012 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46132907/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Dutasteride Is Seen to Curtail Cancer Left in Prostate

[unable to retrieve full-text content]A study suggests that dutasteride may slow or stop tumor growth in men who decide against surgery.

Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=e773e1c77b1439b06913f6fd446d80e6

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West displays Gulf military power to defiant Iran (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Military power near the strategic Strait of Hormuz could be bolstered by additional British forces, the country's defense secretary said Tuesday, as a defiant Iran shrugged off Europe's oil embargo and moved ahead with plans to hold naval exercises alongside the oil tanker shipping lanes it has threatened to block.

Tehran's bravado was in sharp contrast to the widening international pressures seeking to curb its nuclear program.

Australia became the latest country to shun Iranian oil, and the European Union's foreign policy chief traveled to Israel for talks certain to convey the West's belief that increasing economic isolation, rather than a push toward military action, is the most effective tool against Iran's leadership.

Iran also has accused Israel of masterminding a series of covert attacks such as a malicious computer virus designed to infiltrate uranium enrichment labs and targeted slayings of members of Iran's scientific community. Israel has made no direct comments on the claims, but dangled hints that clandestine operations are possible by Iran's many foes.

The EU on Monday joined Washington in backing sanctions targeting Iran's vital oil industry, which accounts for about 80 percent of its foreign currency revenues. The vote in Brussels came a day after a Western flotilla ? two British and French warships and the American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln's battle group ? entered the Gulf in a show of force against any Iranian attempts to disrupt the route for one-fifth of the world's oil.

Iran's commanders, meanwhile, are preparing their own message. Plans remain in place for the powerful Revolutionary Guard to send its maritime forces for maneuvers next month in the Strait, which is jointly controlled by Iran and Oman and has become the latest flashpoint for a potential military confrontation.

"Elements within the European Union, by pursuing the policies of the U.S. and adopting a hostile approach, are seeking to create tensions with the Islamic Republic of Iran," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Ali Asghar Khaji, a senior foreign ministry official, as saying. He called the EU decision "irrational."

But other Iranian officials claimed the sanctions would not work ? and could even benefit OPEC giant Iran by driving up crude prices.

"The oil embargo will lead to higher prices. Europe will be the loser and Iran will earn more because of high prices," Iran's oil ministry spokesman, Alireza Nikzad Rahbar, told state TV.

Iran also summoned the Danish ambassador in Tehran over the EU's oil embargo. Denmark currently holds the EU presidency.

In London, Britain's Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said his country was ready to strengthen its military presence in the Gulf if needed.

The U.S.-led convoy of warships now in the Gulf ? which included Britain's HMS Argyll frigate and France's frigate La Motte Picquet ? sent "a clear signal about the resolve of the international community to defend the right of free passage through international waters," Hammond told reporters.

"We also maintain mine-counter measures vessels in the Gulf, which are an important part of the overall allied presence there, and of course the U.K. has a contingent capability to reinforce that presence should at any time it be considered necessary to do so," he added, accusing Iran of working "flat out" to produce a nuclear weapon.

Iran insists its atomic program is only aimed at producing energy and research, but has repeatedly refused to consider giving up its ability to enrich uranium. The U.S. and allies fear it could use its stockpile to one day produce weapons-grade material.

Hammond declined to offer specific details on what forces are currently in the Gulf, but said it had about 1,500 Navy personnel in the region east of Suez, which includes the Middle East and Indian Ocean, and a Royal Air Force base in Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean.

Four anti-mine vessels are based out of Bahrain, which is also the base for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Britain also has two frigates ? including HMS Argyll ? three support ships, a survey vessel and one hunter-killer nuclear submarine in the region, the ministry said.

Last year, the U.K. created a Response Force Task Group ? drawn from a pool of warships and marines ? that can be deployed at short notice.

In Paris, French military spokesman Col. Thierry Burkhard said the French warship, which specializes in countering submarine attacks, has since separated from the British and American vessels, but remains on a "presence mission" in the Gulf.

France doesn't have plans to deploy more forces to the zone, said Burkhard, noting that France has a small base in the United Arab Emirates, which currently houses six Rafale warplanes and about 650 troops, including an infantry battalion.

The United States and allies already have warned they would take swift action against any Iranian moves to choke off the 30-mile (50-kilometer) wide Strait of Hormuz. The foreign minister from the wealthy Gulf state of Qatar ? which has close ties with the West and Iran ? called the waterway an international corridor that "belongs to the world."

"We hope the tensions over Hormuz disappear," Hamad bin Jassim told the Qatari newspaper Al-Arab.

But the primary objective of Western leaders appears to be waging an economic battle to weaken Iran's resolve.

In Israel, the EU's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton began a three-day visit with a public agenda dominated by the stalled peace effort with Palestinians. The Western efforts to squeeze Iran, however, could overshadow the talks.

Washington and its European allies appear to strongly favor the path of tighter sanctions and diplomatic pressures on Iran. Evidence of its impact ? a plummeting Iranian currency and Iran's Asian oil customers considering looking elsewhere ? are used to counter calls by Israeli hard-liners and others for possible military strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Ashton urged Iran to resume negotiations with world powers that broke off last year. Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak lauded the tighter European sanctions but appealed for even harsher measures.

"We think these are decisions in the right direction," he told reporters. "But it is very important to tighten them even more and add steps against the central bank and additional steps in order to force the Iranians to quickly reach a decision point of are they going to stop the military nuclear program or face the consequences of not stopping it."

In London, Australia's foreign minister, Kevin Rudd, said his country would join the EU's oil embargo though it was mostly a symbolic act since Australia imports very little Iranian oil. The 27-nation EU had been importing about 450,000 barrels of oil per day from Iran, making up 18 percent of Iran's oil exports.

Iran's Oil Ministry said the country can find new markets, though U.S. officials have been pressing Tehran's main Asian oil markets to turn away from Iran.

China ? which counts on Iran as its third-biggest oil supplier ? has rejected sanctions and called for negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. South Korea, which relies on Iran for up to 10 percent of its oil supplies, also has been noncommittal on sanctions.

Japan, which imports about 9 percent of its oil from Iran, has not made a decision on whether to reduce its imports. Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba told parliament Tuesday that Japan hoped to cooperate with the international community, but stressed the need to keep oil prices stable while making sanctions effective.

___

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers David Stringer and Meera Selva in London, Jamey Keaten in Paris and Josef Federman in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/ml_iran

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Spain sees strong demand in $3.3 billion debt sale (AP)

MADRID ? Spain successfully raised euro2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) in a short-term debt sale with strong demand and lower interest rates indicating growing market confidence in the new government's ability to handle its finances.

The Treasury sold euro1.4 billion ($1.82 billion) in three-month bills Tuesday with the average yield at 1.3 percent, down from 1.7 percent in the last such auction on Dec. 20.

It sold euro1.1 billion ($1.43 billion) in six-month bills at 1.8 percent, down from 2.4 percent.

Demand was nearly six times the amount offered.

Spain's borrowing costs have dropped since the conservative Popular Party won elections in November. The European Central Bank's injection of cheap money into the market and regular purchases of Spanish debt have also eased pressure.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_spain_financial_crisis

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Why play's the thing

While discipline and practice are crucial in life, we need play time to let creativity bloom, to imagine the impossible, to ask the 'what if' questions.

Only a Scrooge would frown on child?s play. Or to be more modern: only a Severus Snape. Sure, children can goof off for a while. But the age at which they are required to put away childish things, straighten up and fly right, and master the Hogwarts curriculum keeps getting younger and younger.

Skip to next paragraph

Standardized testing, helicopter parenting, a society obsessed with good colleges and successful careers ? there are plenty of reasons why time for make-believe and play-acting has been shrinking. In a new Monitor special report, Stephanie Hanes looks at overprogrammed childhood and the educators, parents, psychologists, and others who are trying to reverse the tide.

Stephanie is a veteran correspondent who has had demanding assignments for the Monitor in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world. Her interest in child?s play ? like her interest in the ?Disney princess effect? (see our Sept. 26, 2011, cover) ? was sharpened by her introduction less than a year ago to an important new journalistic source: Madeline Thuli Hanes Wilson.

Through the eyes of her daughter, Maddy, Stephanie says she has been seeing how modern childhood is too often torqued by commercialism and parental anxiety. ?I was looking at the books that I?m reading to her and realized that, wow, so many of them are selling products,? she says. That?s not unlike the rampant merchandise tie-ins to girlhood that Stephanie reported on earlier.?

At 11 months, Maddy already has an extraordinary number of organized activities she can take part in. Her favorites? ?When people are on the ground interacting with her,? her mom says.

Now, plenty of parents in developing countries would like the opportunity to expose their children to organized activities. And toys and games aren?t evil. They can make a kid feel enriched, boost skills, and familiarize youngsters with the technological world they are entering. But relentless scripting of child?s play has its drawbacks.

Free time and make-believe boost physical development, socialization, and ? most important ? the imagination. A huge amount of what we value as a civilization comes from the what-if side of us. While we must follow rules and recipes, train ourselves and test our skills, our artistic side needs time to wonder, improvise, and dream. Productive writers from Shakespeare to Charles Dickens, Dr. Seuss to J.K. Rowling, have coupled imagination with discipline. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart talked of musical ideas emerging when he was alone, sometimes when he was sleepless or taking a walk after a good meal. To muse and mull and eventually hear a symphony in his head, he said, ?is perhaps the best gift I have my Divine Maker to thank for.?

Mozart might have been the most overprogrammed child of the 18th century. Under his father?s tutelage, he was by the age of 5 adept at violin and keyboard, and composing and performing for European royalty.

?By today?s standards, he would have been locked and loaded for the Juilliard School since he was in diapers.?

It takes both imagination and discipline to produce works as original as ?The Magic Flute.? That winning combination is true not just of literature, music, and painting but of science as well. The scientific method is meant to prove or disprove a hypothesis. But the hypothesis ? the hunch, the what-if ? has to come from somewhere. Angels must be entertained.?

The great thing is that play needs little in the way of investment or accessories. It just needs freedom to happen. Even at 11 months, Maddy has all sorts of play options, says Stephanie. One of them is going out and looking at trees: ?We hold the leaves. This one is green. This one is brown. It doesn?t cost anything.?

John Yemma is the editor of The Christian Science Monitor.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/mjj3PQsqb-s/Why-play-s-the-thing

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Groundbreaking jazz manager John Levy dies at 99 (AP)

ALTADENA, California ? John Levy, the first prominent African-American personal manager in the jazz or pop music field, whose clients included Nancy Wilson and Ramsey Lewis, has died at age 99.

Devra Hall Levy posted on his website that her husband died Friday in his sleep at his home in Altadena, California, less than three months before his 100th birthday.

An accomplished bassist, the New Orleans-born Levy performed with such jazz greats as Stuff Smith, Billie Holiday, Erroll Garner and Billy Taylor in the 1940s before joining pianist George Shearing's original quintet. In the early 1950s, he became Shearing's full-time manager and later went on to form his own management agency, John Levy Enterprises Inc.

Levy's client roster over the years included more than 85 artists, including Wilson, Lewis, Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Betty Carter, Roberta Flack, Herbie Hancock, Shirley Horn, Freddie Hubbard, Ahmad Jamal and Abbey Lincoln as well as comedian Arsenio Hall.

In 2006, the National Endowment for the Arts recognized Levy as a Jazz Master, the nation's highest jazz honor.

___

Online:

http://www.lushlife.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_en_ce/us_obit_john_levy

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Rap is an overall winner, but loser at the Grammys (AP)

NEW YORK ? Since its beginnings in the 1970s, rap music has transformed from an underground, street-based sound to a definitive part of pop culture, transcending race and becoming one of the strongest ? and most prolific ? voices of today's generation. But at the Grammy Awards, rap has had a long-lasting losing streak in the top categories.

The hip-hop sound ? first recognized at the 1989 Grammys ? has garnered numerous prestigious nominations over the years, and for 10 of the last 14 years, rap acts have either led or tied for most Grammy nominations. But rarely will a hip-hop act win one of the show's top four honors ? album, song and record of the year, along with best new artist. Instead, rap acts tend to win rap awards.

50 Cent, who won his first and only Grammy two years ago, believes Grammy voters are out-of-touch and need a fresh outlook on what's going on in contemporary music.

"I think that the board is a lot older and they're conservative, so some of the content in the music is offensive on some level," said 50 Cent, who famously interrupted Evanescence's best new artist speech by walking onstage when he lost to the rock group in 2004. "There's a lot of people that don't accept that hip-hop culture is now pop culture."

This year, hip-hop leads the Grammys in nominations again, with Kanye West earning seven; it's his third year as the show's top-nominated act, and his fourth overall (he tied Mariah Carey and John Legend for most nominations at the 2006 Grammys). While his song "All of the Lights" is up for song of the year, his critically revered fifth album, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," didn't score an album of the year nomination, a shock to many. Even Jimmy Jam ? the chair emeritus of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences ? was surprised by West's snub.

"I think he's one of the genius artists, and I'm saying this as a person who's worked with Michael Jackson and Prince, so I don't throw that word around lightly," Jam said. "So, yes, I was surprised."

West's album with Jay-Z, "Watch the Throne," was also left out of the top album category; both CDs are nominated for best rap album.

Jay-Z, who once boycotted the Grammys because of the show's lack of love for hip-hop, says Grammy nominations are "cool," but he doesn't use the accolades as a barometer of his success.

"The Grammys and all of those other things, they're fine and it's a good way for everyone to get together amongst their peers and collect some trophies at the end of the night, but my whole thing is for the people, as long as the people accept it ? that's my real Grammy," Jay-Z said. "As long as it connects with an audience in a way."

But Steve Stoute, the former record executive who accused the Grammys of being irrelevant last year in a full-page advertisement in The New York Times after Eminem and Justin Bieber lost top awards, says there is a bigger problem. Stoute believes The Recording Academy doesn't have board members who understand hip-hop as a true art form.

"If (The Recording Academy) understood that, then (rappers) would be scoring technical points," he said. "They don't get the technical points."

In Grammy history, 14 hip-hop albums have received nominations for album of the year. Lauryn Hill has the distinction of being the first hip-hop artist to win album of the year for "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" in 1999, but the album, while featuring rap, was heavy on R&B. Hill also won best new artist that year, the second time a rap-based act had done so following Arrested Development's win in 1993. A rapper hasn't won the award since.

OutKast, the alternative, genre-bending hip-hop duo, followed in Hill's footsteps with an album of the year win in 2004 for the double disc "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below." It, too, was not strictly hip-hop, as Andre 3000 blended rock and even jazz for his half of the project.

But while there have been high-profile wins, what stands out more are the losses. No rapper has ever won record or song of the year, and both Eminem and West, each nominated three times, have failed to win the album of the year trophy in years where they appeared to be critical favorites.

At last year's Grammys, three of the five songs nominated for record of the year were rap smashes. Lady Antebellum's crossover hit, "Need You Now," ended up taking away the record and song of the year honors.

Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, the leader and drummer of the Roots, says the hip-hop community shares some of the blame for its losing streak. He says those in the genre aren't involved enough with The Recording Academy, its community and its events.

"We're not active members of (The Recording Academy) and I promise to take a more active role in that," said Questlove, who has won three Grammys. "I should definitely come and be more involved in that. It's taxing time-wise, but you know, I can either sit and complain ... or do something about it."

Jam says rap's losses are also a reflection of the Grammy membership, which he said is "traditionally very heavy" with members of the country, jazz and classical music worlds.

"We're a membership organization and the members vote. So, if the numbers of members who consider themselves of the hip-hop genre ... if those numbers are lower, then the results probably point to that fact," Jam said.

But Stoute, who is the author of "The Tanning of America: How Hip-Hop Created a Culture That Rewrote the Rules of the New Economy," had harsh words for Jam, a founding member of funk-soul band The Time and best known for producing multiple hits for Janet Jackson, Usher, Boyz II Men and more with partner Terry Lewis. Stoute and Jam had a conversation after last year's awards, and Stoute was upset that Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" wasn't up for song of the year: At the Grammys, a track is not eligible for that award if it contains a sample or if it's not an original piece of work; that disqualifies much of rap, which relies heavily on sampling ("Empire State of Mind" samples The Moments' "Love on a Two-Way Street").

Stoute said Jam should be helping hip-hop, and blasted the renowned producer.

"What he's doing is not right," Stoute said of Jam. "And if he's supposed to be the guy who understands urban music because of his famed career as a producer ... (and) if he's not going to be sensitive to the creativity around hip-hop, I am sorry, we're in trouble."

Jam, who was The Recording Academy's chairman from 2005 to 2009, says his goal was to diversify the Grammy community, and if people have an issue with traditional Grammy rules, they should demand a change.

"You can write a proposal," Jam said. "I hope ... people step up to the challenge rather than dismiss it, which is the easy thing to do.'"

Jam also said he helped bring forth the best rap song award at the 2004 Grammys, which honors rap tracks that contain samples. Jam also implemented a new rule in 2009 that allowed anyone nominated for a Grammy to bypass the regular application process and automatically be made a member for a year. He said he did it so that nominated acts would easily be involved in the organization the following year.

"If hip-hop is the most nominated, then they should be the best represented according to what I did," Jam said.

_____

Online:

http://www.grammy.com/

_____

Mesfin Fekadu covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/musicmesfin

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_en_mu/us_music_grammywatch_rap_s_losses

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Mosque prayer service in Nigeria after attacks

KANO, Nigeria (AP) ? The emir of Kano has led a prayer service asking for God to help end attacks by a radical Islamist sect across Nigeria's north.

The ceremony by the senior Muslim religious official was held Monday in the city of Kano, where more than 150 were killed in a series of coordinated attacks Friday by Boko Haram. The emir spoke only for one minute in a voice so soft those gathered inside the half-emptied mosque could barely hear.

Boko Haram means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north. The group has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-23-AF-Nigeria-Violence/id-8cf1e97e6062469c890f812fe5808b48

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Pets

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Source: http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/3209855/Pets/

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The Future of Air Travel: Now With Even Less Legroom [Video]

Southwest Airlines is completely retrofitting its planes in an effort to reduce costs and "protect the environment." Sounds great, except that the redesigned seats will take away some of the precious few comforts you had left in the air. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/g-Xt8c6Dj9U/the-future-of-air-travel-now-with-even-less-legroom

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Microsoft acknowledges Xbox 360 color space problem in last update, is working on a fix

While we found a lot of things to like in the last Xbox 360 dashboard upgrade, not everyone was happy after it finally rolled out in early December. We've received word from multiple owners who saw and reported color output problems since the beta began, and today Director of Programming Larry Hryb aka Major Nelson tweeted that the company is "aware of the color space issue w/ some Xbox video apps & are working on a fix". While that should take care of some issues, more recent reports also indicate problems with the HDMI output having HDCP authentication problems with certain TVs or receivers that blocks video output, as well as reports confirmed by Eurogamer that 1080p output appears to be downscaled to 720p internally. We're waiting for a response from Microsoft about these or any other issues and will let you know when we hear more. Let us know if you've noticed anything else in the new Xbox 360 update that needs tweaking in the comments below.

[Thanks, Vinny P, Brad R. and everyone else who sent this in]

Microsoft acknowledges Xbox 360 color space problem in last update, is working on a fix originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 20:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/microsoft-xbox-360-color-space-1080-hdcp-fix/

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