Meteor Designs

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A US Airways flight to Los Angeles was diverted to Albuquerque after a passenger removed all of his clothing mid-flight, forcing flight attendants to cover him with a blanket before he was arrested, authorities said Wednesday.
Keith Wright, 50, of the Bronx in New York, was taken into custody by airport authorities after he disrobed while sitting in his seat in the back of Flight 705 on Tuesday evening, authorities said. The plane was carrying about 148 passengers from Charlotte to Los Angeles, the airline said.
Wright was unresponsive when a flight attendant asked him to put his clothes back on, said Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Albuquerque airport. "She asked him on more than one occasion to put on his clothes. She covered him with a blanket and he took that off," Jiron said.
Wright punched and kicked the flight attendant, who asked two off-duty law officers for help, according to a criminal complaint. A Los Angeles police officer and sheriff's deputy helped the flight attendant subdue and handcuff Wright before the flight landed, Jiron said.
Roger Finzel, an assistant federal public defender representing Wright, said he has not yet met with his client and had no information about the case other than what was in the complaint.
Wright told the FBI he is suffering from a bipolar disorder and had not taken his prescribed medication before leaving New York that morning, the criminal complaint said. Wright told the FBI he recalled nothing about the flight or his behavior, it said.
Wright had been seen dancing in a crowded boarding area before the flight, but when approached by Flight Service Supervisor Claudia Kearney, he told her he had drunk one beer. Kearney told the FBI she did not smell alcohol on him and determined he was well enough to travel, the complaint said.
US Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder could not confirm that Kearney worked for the airline.
Passenger Ginny Keegan of Detroit was sitting in the front of the plane, when there was commotion coming from the back. The people on the flight were notified of a violent passenger as the plane began to approach Albuquerque, but Keegan said no one was fearful.
"No one was really panicking. The flight attendants seemed to handle it very well," she said. Keegan said the man was "completely naked" as he was taken in handcuffs off the plane.
As the plane took off again, Keegan said the usual announcement to please fasten your seat belts came over the loudspeakers with a twist. The message included "a reminder to everybody to please keep your clothing on. It got a couple chuckles," Keegan said.
The flight attendants also were dealing with an unrelated onboard medical emergency at the same time, which exacerbated the situation, the FBI said. The aircraft was diverted because of the medical emergency, and Wright's actions were a secondary reason for the unplanned landing, the complaint said.
Wright is in federal custody on a federal charge of interfering with flight crew members and attendants. He is expected to appear in federal court in Albuquerque on Thursday.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) –
Abandoned by Michael Jackson after a humiliating child molestation trial in 2005, the late singer's Neverland Ranch could now become one of the biggest draws in the world as a memorial to the King of Pop.

Jackson's family has said there are no plans for a funeral or burial of his body at the ranch in central California after his death last week.

But the rural playground inspired by Jackson's alter-ego, Peter Pan, would remain an attraction in a region already visited by tourists, and it could rival Elvis Presley's Graceland as a future venue for his millions of fans around the world.

"Michael Jackson has worldwide appeal and probably a stronger fan base than even Elvis. Neverland is a lot larger than Graceland and Los Angeles is a major tourist destination already," said Roger Brooks, CEO of tourism company Destination Development International.

"Neverland embodied who Michael Jackson was -- the good and the bad. I think it could draw about one million visitors a year," Brooks told Reuters.

Los Angeles-based private equity firm Colony Capital bought the ranch in 2008 in a joint venture with Jackson when he went $24 million in arrears on his mortgage. Colony said "any discussion on the future of the property is premature."

But there has been a burst of activity around the ranch in recent days as fans gathered to mourn and place flowers at its iron gates, and TV pictures have shown moving vans and landscape workers going in and out of the property northwest of Los Angeles.

"If Elvis Presley has Graceland, Michael Jackson can have a place for him here at Neverland. And that's how I feel, and I hope it becomes a museum in memory of Michael," Amey Avila of nearby Solvang, California, told Reuters outside the ranch.

Graceland, the Memphis estate where Presley died in 1977, was opened to the public in 1982 and gets more than 600,000 visitors a year, according to Elvis Presley Enterprises, a subsidiary of CKX Inc.

The Presley business, including worldwide licensing of music rights, as well as Graceland and the Heartbreak Hotel, reported $11.7 million in operating income in 2008.

NEVERLAND SPIRIT VIOLATED

Jackson bought the 2,800-acre (1,133-hectare) Neverland ranch in 1988 and filled it with theme-park rides, a zoo, and statues of Peter Pan -- the fictional boy who never grew up.

It was there that Jackson hosted parties for local children and controversial sleepovers for young boys that prompted charges of child sexual abuse in 1993 and 2005.

But after a grueling 2005 trial and acquittal on child molestation charges, Jackson left Neverland, vowing never to return. He said its spirit had been violated by police raids looking for evidence.

Last year, auctioneers emptied the house of Jackson's furniture, toys, platinum records and its vast iron gates for an auction in April that was canceled at the 11th hour.

Many of those 1,400 items -- which included sequined costumes and Jackson's red gilded throne -- were thought to be among the belongings returned to Neverland this week.

"We removed everything -- the gates, the fireplaces, the chandeliers," said auctioneer Darren Julien, who spent three months at Neverland last year with the approval of the singer.

"It was still a magical place when we were given access to it. The outdoors was a little bit run down -- the rides needed maintaining. But on the inside, the rooms were exactly the way Michael left them in 2005," he said.

Brooks doubted the murkier associations of Neverland would deter potential tourists. "People are always curious. They want to see where things supposedly happened. Jackson had some of the most troubling times of his life at Neverland and he ran away from it, but that is part of the draw," he said.

(Editing by Sandra Maler)

Leather Bags

In British English, a purse is a small money container similar to a wallet, but typically used by women and including a compartment for coins, with a handbag being considerably larger; indeed, a purse is often kept in a handbag.

In the 16th century, handbags were made out of common materials. They were leather and fastened with drawstring on top. Large cloth bags were introduced and worn by travelers diagonally across the body.

A mechanical alarm clock was described by the Ottoman engineer Taqi al-Din in his book, The Brightest Stars for the Construction of Mechanical Clocks (Al-Kawākib al-durriyya fī wadh' al-bankāmat al-dawriyya), published in 1556-1559. It was capable of sounding at a specified time, achieved by placing a peg on the dial wheel. At the requested time, the peg activated a ringing device. In the same treatise, he described a mechanical astronomical clock called the "observational clock", which measured time in minutes. He made use of his mathematical knowledge to design three dials which showed the hours, degrees and minutes. He later improved the design of his observational clock to measure time in seconds in an astronomical treatise written at his Istanbul observatory of al-Din (1577-1580). He described his observational clock as "a mechanical clock with three dials which show the hours, the minutes, and the seconds." This was an important innovation in 16th-century practical astronomy, as previous clocks were not accurate enough to be used for astronomical purposes. He further improved the observational clock, using only one dial to represent the hours, minutes and seconds, describing it as "a mechanical clock with a dial showing the hours, minutes and seconds and we divided every minute into five seconds."

Clockmakers developed their art in various ways. Building smaller clocks was a technical challenge, as was improving accuracy and reliability. Clocks could be impressive showpieces to demonstrate skilled craftsmanship, or less expensive, mass-produced items for domestic use. The escapement in particular was an important factor affecting the clock's accuracy, so many different mechanisms were tried. Spring-driven clocks appeared during the 1400s, although they are often erroneously credited to Nürnberg watchmaker Peter Henlein (or Henle, or Hele) around 1511. The earliest existing spring driven clock is the chamber clock given to Peter the Good, Duke of Burgundy, around 1430, now in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum. Spring power presented clockmakers with a new problem; how to keep the clock movement running at a constant rate as the spring ran down. This resulted in the invention of the stackfreed and the fusee in the 1400s, and many other innovations, down to the invention of the modern going barrel in 1760.

http://www.timeclockstx.com/

The plant life available in a region affects the choice of material, which in turn influences the weaving technique. Rattan and other members of the Arecaceae or palm tree family, the thin grasses of temperate regions, and broad-leaved tropical bromeliads each require a different method of twisting and braiding to be made into an effective basket.

When material objects are given as gifts, in many cultures they are traditionally packaged in some manner. For example, in Western culture, gifts are often wrapped in wrapping paper and accompanied by a gift note which may note the occasion, the giftee's name, and the giver's name. In Chinese culture, red wrapping connotes luck.

Gourmet Gift Baskets

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) –
Congressman Henry Waxman, the powerful chairman of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee, has been hospitalized in Los Angeles after fainting in his district office, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

The 69-year-old veteran Democrat from Southern California collapsed on Tuesday, four days after spearheading House passage of landmark climate change legislation that was a major priority for President Barack Obama.

Waxman was chief sponsor of the bill, which bears his name and is designed to slash industrial air pollution blamed for global warming.

Waxman was not feeling well on Tuesday and after fainting was admitted to hospital for "routine testing," said a spokeswoman, Karen Lightfoot.

"He is feeling fine today and is in good spirits," she said in a brief statement.

Waxman, elected to Congress in 1974, took over this year as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over major environmental and energy legislation.

(Reporting by Laura Isensee; Editing by Steve Gorman and John O'Callaghan)

ATLANTA – Play-by-play announcer Bill Weber will not call the last two races of TNT's NASCAR coverage.
Weber wasn't in the booth for last weekend's race from New Hampshire Motor Speedway. TNT said Wednesday that Ralph Sheheen will again take his spot, working The Coke Zero 400 in Daytona and the LifeLock.com 400 from Chicagoland.
TNT did not give a reason for Weber's absence. In a statement Sunday about the New Hampshire race, the network said: "As this is a private issue, it's the policy of the company not to discuss personal matters involving our employees."

Self Employed Health Insurance

Gamblers can continue spending, buying more risk than they can afford to pay for. Insurance buyers can only spend up to the limit of what carriers would accept to insure; their loss is limited to the amount of the premium.

Certain life insurance contracts accumulate cash values, which may be taken by the insured if the policy is surrendered or which may be borrowed against. Some policies, such as annuities and endowment policies, are financial instruments to accumulate or liquidate wealth when it is needed. See life insurance.

The term became more well-known with the Mexican "muralista" art movement (Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, or José Orozco). There are many different styles and techniques. The best-known is probably fresco, which uses water-soluble paints with a damp lime wash, a rapid use of the resulting mixture over a large surface, and often in parts (but with a sense of the whole). The colors lighten as they dry. The marouflage method has also been used for millennia.

[edit] Significance of murals
Jataka tales from the Ajanta caves, c. 200 BCE - 600 CE

Nursery Decor

LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson was so distraught over persistent insomnia in recent months that he pleaded for a powerful sedative despite warnings it could be harmful, says a nutritionist who was working with the singer as he prepared his comeback bid.
Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse whose specialty includes nutritional counseling, said Tuesday that she repeatedly rejected his demands for the drug, Diprivan, which is given intravenously.
But a frantic phone call she received from Jackson four days before his death made her fear that he somehow obtained Diprivan or another drug to induce sleep, Lee said.
While in Florida on June 21, Lee was contacted by a member of Jackson's staff.
"He called and was very frantic and said, `Michael needs to see you right away.' I said, 'What's wrong?' And I could hear Michael in the background ..., 'One side of my body is hot, it's hot, and one side of my body is cold. It's very cold,'" Lee said.
"I said, `Tell him he needs to go the hospital. I don't know what's going on, but he needs to go to the hospital ... right away."
"At that point, I knew that somebody had given him something that hit the central nervous system," she said, adding, "He was in trouble Sunday and he was crying out."
Jackson did not go to the hospital. He died June 25 after suffering cardiac arrest, his family said. Autopsies have been conducted, but an official cause of death is not expected for several weeks.
"I don't know what happened there. The only thing I can say is he was adamant about this drug," Lee said.
Following Jackson's death, allegations emerged that the 50-year-old King of Pop had been consuming painkillers, sedatives and antidepressants. But Lee said she encountered a man tortured by sleep deprivation and one who expressed opposition to recreational drug use.
"He wasn't looking to get high or feel good and sedated from drugs," she said. "This was a person who was not on drugs. This was a person who was seeking help, desperately, to get some sleep, to get some rest."
Jackson was rehearsing hard for what would have been his big comeback — his "This Is It" tour, a series of performances that would have strained his aging dancer's body. Also, pain had been a part of his life since 1984, when his scalp was severely burned during a Pepsi commercial shoot.
Several months ago, Jackson had begun badgering Lee about Diprivan, also known as Propofol, Lee said. It is an intravenous anesthetic drug widely used in operating rooms to induce unconsciousness. It is generally given through an IV needle in the hand.
Patients given Propofol take less time to regain consciousness than those administered certain other drugs, and they report waking up more clear-headed and refreshed, said University of Chicago psychopharmacologist James Zacny.
It has also been implicated in drug abuse, with people using it to "chill out" or to commit suicide, Zacny said. Accidental deaths linked to abuse have been reported. The powerful drug has a very narrow therapeutic window, meaning it doesn't take doses much larger than the medically recommended amount to stop a person's breathing.
An overdose that stops breathing can result in a buildup of carbon dioxide, causing the heart to beat erratically and leading to cardiac arrest, said Dr. John Dombrowski, a member of the board of directors of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
Because it is given intravenously and is not the kind of prescription drug typically available from pharmacists, abuse cases have involved anesthesiologists, nurses and other hospital staffers with easy access to the drug, Zacny said.
In recent months, Lee said, Jackson waved away her warnings about it.

"I had an IV and when it hit my vein, I was sleeping. That's what I want," Lee said Jackson told her.

"I said, 'Michael, the only problem with you taking this medication' — and I had a chill in my body and tears in my eyes three months ago — 'the only problem is you're going to take it and you're not going to wake up," she recalled.

According to Lee, Jackson said it had been given to him before but he didn't want to discuss the circumstances or identify the doctor involved.

The singer also drew his own distinctions when it came to drugs versus prescription medicine.

"He said, `I don't like drugs. I don't want any drugs. My doctor told me this is a safe medicine,'" Lee said. The next day, she said she brought a copy of the Physician's Desk Reference to show him the section on Diprivan.

"He said, 'No, my doctor said it's safe. It works quick and it's safe as long as somebody's here to monitor me and wake me up. It's going be OK,'" Lee said. She said he did not give the doctor's name.

Lee said at one point, she spent the night with Jackson to monitor him while he slept. She said she gave him herbal remedies and stayed in a corner chair in his vast bedroom.

After he settled in bed, Lee told Jackson to turn down the lights and music — he had classical music playing in the house. "He also had a computer on the bed because he loved Walt Disney," she said. "He was watching Donald Duck and it was ongoing. I said, `Maybe if we put on softer music,' and he said, `No, this is how I go to sleep.'"

Three and a half hours later, Jackson jumped up and looked at Lee, eyes wide open, according to Lee. "This is what happens to me," she quoted him as saying. "All I want is to be able to sleep. I want to be able to sleep eight hours. I know I'll feel better the next day."

Lee, 56, is licensed as a registered nurse and nurse practitioner in California, according to the state Board of Registered Nursing's Web site. She attended Los Angeles Southwest College and the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Sciences in Los Angeles.

Comedian Dick Gregory, who knows Lee and her work, said he believes Jackson's insomnia had its roots in the pop star's 2005 trial on child molestation charges. Jackson's health had deteriorated so much that his parents called Gregory, a natural foods proponent, for help.

Gregory said Jackson wasn't eating or drinking at the time and, after he was persuaded by Gregory to undergo testing, ended up hospitalized for severe dehydration.

But Jackson obviously was healthy enough to withstand the level of medical scrutiny needed to insure him for the upcoming high-stakes London concerts, Gregory said. "That you don't trick," he said of the exams.

Lee, who has also worked with Stevie Wonder, Marla Gibbs, Reynaldo Rey and other celebrities, said she was introduced to Jackson by the mother of one of his staff members. Jackson's three children had minor cold symptoms and their pediatrician was out of town.

Lee said she went to the house in January, the first of about 10 visits there through April, and treated the children with vitamins. Michael, intrigued, asked what else she did and took her up on her claim she could boost his energy.

After running blood tests, she devised protein shakes for him and gave him an intravenous vitamin and mineral mixture — known as a "Myers cocktail," after Dr. John Myers — which Lee said she uses routinely in her practice.

"It wasn't that he felt sick," she said. "He just wanted more energy."

Lee said she decided to speak out to protect Jackson's reputation from what she considers unfounded allegations of drug abuse or shortcomings as a parent.

"I think it's so wrong for people to say these things about him," she said. "He was a wonderful, loving father who wanted the best for his children."

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner in Chicago and AP Television Writer David Bauder in New York contributed to this report.

Grill Gadgets

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A spokesman for Grammy winning country musician Ray Price says the singer is home in Texas recuperating after surgery to remove polyps from his colon.
Price's agent, Bobby Roberts, says Price was admitted to a hospital in his home state on June 22 for routine medical tests when a colonoscopy revealed a large number of polyps in the pre-cancerous stage.
Roberts says the surgery was successfully completed the next day.
He says the 83-year-old entertainer is alert and expects to be back on the road in a few weeks.
Price began his career in the 1950s as a honky tonk singer with hits like "Crazy Arms" and "Heartaches by the Number" Later, he moved in a pop direction with orchestration on hits such as "Danny Boy" and "For the Good Times."
(This version CORRECTS APNewsNow. corrects song title to to make it `Heartaches,' not `Heartache' and `Number,' not `Numbers.')

British Stock car racing is a form of Short Oval Racing. This takes place on shale or tarmac tracks in either clockwise or anti-clockwise direction depending on the class, some of which allow contact. Races are organized by local promoters and all drivers are registered with BRISCA and have their own race number. What classes exist depends on the promoter, so events in Scotland at Cowdenbeath can be very different from an event at Wimbledon Stadium in London.

Other international single-seater racing series are the A1 Grand Prix (unofficially often referred to as the "world cup of motorsport"), and the GP2 (formerly known as Formula 3000 and Formula Two). Regional series include Formula Nippon and Formula V6 Asia (specifically in Asia), Formula Renault 3.5 (also known as the World Series by Renault, succession series of World Series by Nissan), Formula Three, Formula Palmer Audi and Formula Atlantic. Domestic, or country-specific series include Formula Three, Formula Renault, Formula Ford with the leading introductory series being Formula BMW.

High Performance Driving

ATLANTA – Jimmy Rollins is back in Philadelphia's lineup after sitting out four straight games.
Rollins, hitting .211 after an 0-for-19 slump, returned as the Phillies' shortstop and leadoff hitter for Tuesday night's game against Atlanta.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said he hopes Rollins will "play the way he always has, like he has fun."
Braves shortstop Yunel Escobar missed his fourth straight start with a sore right hip. Center fielder Nate McLouth missed his third straight start with a sore hamstring. Each was in manager Bobby Cox's early lineup and took batting practice.
Cox said he gave McLouth one more day off even though the outfielder said he could play. Cox said Escobar "says he can't go."

WIMBLEDON, England – Her 19th consecutive victory at the All England Club already wrapped up, Venus Williams grabbed a seat and watched younger sister Serena win easily to reach the semifinals, too.
Afterward, Venus and Mom, Oracene Price, strolled out of Centre Court arm-in-arm, chatting and laughing.
Sure is fun to be a Williams at Wimbledon.
Five-time champion Venus beat No. 11-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 6-2, before two-time champion Serena defeated No. 8 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-2, 6-3, a pair of overwhelming performances Tuesday that moved the siblings closer to another all-in-the-family final at Wimbledon.
"They are both playing super-well. They're playing 'The Williams Way,'" their father, Richard Williams, said. "And when you're playing 'The Williams Way,' it's very difficult for anyone to touch you."
Particularly at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament, where a Williams has won seven of the past nine championships.
If No. 3 Venus gets by No. 1 Dinara Safina of Russia in Thursday's semifinals, and No. 2 Serena eliminates No. 4 Elena Dementieva of Russia, the siblings would meet Saturday in their second consecutive final at the All England Club and fourth overall.
It also would be the eighth all-Williams Grand Slam championship match; Serena leads 5-2.
"I would love it to be a Williams final," Venus said, "and so would she."
They are competitors, of course, but also form a team in many ways: The sisters are sharing a house during this tournament, practice with each other and have reached the women's doubles quarterfinals together.
"We've got it all figured out at this point," Venus said.
She is trying to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1991-93 to win three consecutive Wimbledon titles; Serena wants to add to the trophies she earned in 2002-03 by beating her sister in the finals.
At least one person has no doubt there will be a rematch Saturday.
"It will be. I'll go home because I can't watch," their dad said. "I think they both definitely make it to the final."
First things first. If the 19-year-old Azarenka and 20-year-old Radwanska represented up-and-coming opponents with little experience on the sport's grandest stages — neither has reached a Grand Slam semifinal — Safina and Dementieva are far more accustomed to playing significant matches.
On the other hand, they're not nearly as accustomed to winning them as the Williams sisters are, of course: Serena owns 10 major titles, Venus seven; Safina and Dementieva have zero.
Safina, who lost in the final at three of the previous five Grand Slam events, overcame 15 double-faults and wore down 41st-ranked Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1. Dementieva, twice a runner-up at major championships and a singles gold medalist at last year's Beijing Olympics, was never challenged by 43rd-ranked Francesca Schiavone of Italy and won their quarterfinal 6-2, 6-2.
Asked about her double-fault total, Safina replied with a smile: "15? I thought it was much more. Sometimes even I don't know what I'm doing with my serve."

As the younger sister of former No. 1 Marat Safin, who lost in the first round at what he vows was his last Wimbledon, Safina knows about sibling success. But after losing the French Open final a few weeks ago, she acknowledged cracking under the pressure of trying to win her first major.

Looking ahead to facing Venus, against whom she is 1-2, Safina said, "I cannot go on court thinking I lost already. No, definitely, I think I have a chance there."

Dementieva also sounded a brave tone, despite accumulating more unforced errors (18) than winners (13).

"I just want to see how tough I can be out there against her," said Dementieva, who lost to Venus in last year's Wimbledon semifinals and now takes on Serena. "Just looking for some good fight."

Radwanska and Azarenka failed to make things difficult for the Williams sisters, who were at their dominant best.

"Not perfect," Price said, "but pretty close." Radwanska was playing in her third Grand Slam quarterfinal, 27 fewer than Venus, and while she upset Maria Sharapova at the 2007 U.S. Open, a stunner of that magnitude never seemed a possibility Tuesday. Venus won the first five games and the last six, compiling a 29-6 edge in winners.

Pounding aces at up to 122 mph, Venus won 16 of 18 points on her serve in the first set on a steamy day, the temperature about 90 degrees and not a cloud overhead at Court 1.

"Her tennis is so powerful," Radwanska said. "Very hard to do anything."

It took all of 68 minutes, leaving Venus ample time to shower, change, do postmatch interviews and still make it into the guest box for Serena's match.

Azarenka hits the ball quite hard herself, letting out a grunt that sounds something like "Whoop!", but she couldn't keep up. She even felt compelled to clap after a couple of Serena's best strokes.

"She really showed the unbeatable Serena," Azarenka acknowledged.

Azarenka did break for a 3-2 lead in the second set, but Serena didn't let her win another game. When Serena smacked one last forehand winner, she jogged to the net, pumping her fists. Up in the stands, Venus stood and applauded.

"We definitely upped our level of game today," said Serena, who hit nine aces. "We had really tough opponents, so we had to."

On Thursday, two more opponents will try to slow a pair of sisters who began playing tennis twenty-something years ago in Compton, Calif., and have made the most famous grass courts in the world their personal playground.

One particular family will be hoping for an all-Williams final. One nation will be pulling for an all-Russian final.

Dementieva proposed a unique alternative, asking: "Can we play just two finals instead?"

___

AP freelance writer Sandra Harwitt contributed to this report.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Jaguars have traded receiver Dennis Northcutt to the Detroit Lions for safety Gerald Alexander.
The deal was finalized Tuesday after both players passed physicals.
Northcutt gives the Lions a veteran receiver opposite rising star Calvin Johnson.
Alexander, a second-round pick in 2007, gives Jacksonville depth in the secondary. He started 16 games as a rookie, but missed most of last year following a neck injury.
Northcutt, who has 364 receptions for 4,584 yards and 17 touchdowns, has been projected to start this season. But Jacksonville's three rookie receivers were impressive enough during offseason drills that Northcutt became expendable.

The foreign exchange (currency or forex or FX) market exists wherever one currency is traded for another. It is the largest and most liquid financial market in the world, and includes trading between large banks, central banks, currency speculators, multinational corporations, governments, and other financial markets and institutions. The average daily trade in the global forex and related markets currently is almost US$ 4 trillion.

Of the $3.98 trillion daily global turnover, trading in London accounted for around $1.36 trillion, or 34.1% of the total, making London by far the global center for foreign exchange. In second and third places respectively, trading in New York accounted for 16.6%, and Tokyo accounted for 6.0%.

Forex Alerts

DETROIT – Gunmen in a green minivan opened fire on a group of teenagers waiting at a bus stop near a Detroit school on Tuesday, wounding seven including three who were in critical condition, authorities said.
Five of the teens had just left Cody Ninth Grade Academy, where they were taking summer classes, when they were shot at the nearby bus stop.
The gunmen exited a vehicle and "asked for a person by name" before they "opened fire at the crowd," said Detroit Public Schools Police Chief Roderick Grimes. Detroit Police were looking for two suspects in a green minivan, said spokesman Rod Liggons.
The teenagers, four boys and three girls, range in age from 14 to 17 years old, Liggons said. Three of the teens were in critical condition, he said.
Another summer school student, 15-year-old Bria Wilson, said she was standing at the bus stop when she heard the gunfire. She said she was facing away from the shooters and ran away after the shots were fired. But she saw a 16-year-old male friend lying on the ground, bleeding.
"They were so close — it almost hit me," she said.
Schools spokesman Steve Wasko said there was "nothing that we're aware of at this time" linking the shootings with any fight or dispute at the school.
He said the shootings happened about 2:15 p.m., about 15 minutes after summer school students were dismissed for the day.
Imam Abdullah El-Amin, who co-owns the Numan Funeral Home near the intersection where the shooting took place, said drug-dealing, prostitution and "hopelessness" are common in the area, he said.
"It's terrible that these things are just laying there, festering, in society — time bombs waiting to happen," said El-Amin, a Muslim minister and candidate for Detroit City Council.
___
Associated Press writers Ben Leubsdorf and David N. Goodman contributed to this report.

The origins of the doctorate in particular dates back to the ijazat attadris wa 'l-ifttd ("license to teach and issue legal opinions") in the medieval Islamic legal education system, which was equivalent to the Doctor of Laws qualification and was developed during the 9th century after the formation of the Madh'hab legal schools. To obtain a doctorate, a student "had to study in a guild school of law, usually four years for the basic undergraduate course" and at least ten years for a post-graduate course.

This timetable is only approximate, however, as students in accelerated programs can sometimes earn a bachelor's degree in three years or, on the other hand, a particular dissertation project might take four or more years to complete. In addition, a graduate may wait an indeterminate time between degrees before candidacy in the next level, or even an additional degree at a level already completed. Therefore, there is no time-limit on the accumulation of academic degrees.

Site

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A unanimous Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Democrat Al Franken should be certified the winner of the state's long-running Senate race, paving the way for the former "Saturday Night Live" comedian to be seated after an almost eight-month fight.
The high court rejected a legal challenge from Republican Norm Coleman, whose options for regaining his Senate seat are dwindling, saying Franken is entitled to the election certificate he needs to assume office.
"We affirm the decision of the trial court that Al Franken received the highest number of votes legally cast and is entitled under (Minnesota law) to receive the certificate of election as United States senator from the state of Minnesota," the court wrote in its 5-0 ruling.
Franken's presence in the Senate would give the Democrats control of 60 seats, enough to overcome any Republican filibuster if they stay united.
Coleman, whose appeal hinged largely on whether thousands of absentee votes had been unfairly rejected by local election officials around the state, hasn't ruled out seeking federal court intervention. He has 10 days before the ruling takes effect in which to point out any errors related to the court's interpretation of law, facts or material questions in the case.
The court wrote that "because the legislature established absentee voting as an optional method of voting, voters choosing to use that method are required to comply with the statutory provisions."
They went on to say that "because strict compliance with the statutory requirements for absentee voting is, and always has been required, there is no basis on which voters could have reasonably believed that anything less than strict compliance would suffice."
The earliest Franken would be seated is next week because the Senate is out of session for the July 4 holiday, said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, whose signature is needed on the election certificate, has said repeatedly he would sign it if ordered to do so by the court, most recently in an interview Sunday with CNN. But the governor has been less clear on what he would do if the order was vague, and the court's ruling Tuesday said only that Franken was "entitled" to the certificate.
Reid said Pawlenty should respect the votes of his constituents and the court and seat Franken.
The election certificate also requires the signature of Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. Ritchie, a Democrat, said he views Tuesday's ruling as a direction to sign the certificate, and that he would do so "as soon as the governor issues it." He said he hasn't spoken with Pawlenty and wasn't aware that the governor was out of the state at a conference in Washington.
Coleman could bring a new lawsuit in federal court or petition the U.S. Supreme Court to examine the case. And he also could ask the Minnesota Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling.
But it's highly doubtful Coleman would be able to convince a federal court to overturn the Minnesota court's ruling, said Ohio State University election law expert Ned Foley.
"This is essentially, as a practical matter, the end of the road," Foley said.
Both Coleman and Franken, a former Saturday Night Live star making the leap from life as a liberal author and radio talker to the Senate, planned news conferences in Minnesota later Tuesday to address the ruling.
A spokesman for Pawlenty said he would issue a statement after Coleman's news conference.
Franken declared his candidacy more than two years ago, and he and Coleman have combined to spend $50 million in pursuit of the seat. That's more than double what it cost candidates in 2002, when Coleman won the seat that had been held by the late Paul Wellstone.
In the months since Election Day, both men have kept comparatively low profiles. After Coleman's term expired in January, he took a job as a consultant and strategic adviser to the Republican Jewish Coalition, a group that advocates in Washington on Jewish issues.

But Coleman also frequently appeared at the lower-court proceeding that handled his legal challenge, in contrast to Franken, who stayed away. Aside from some trips to Washington to meet with Reid and other Senate leaders, Franken has spent his time in private, saying he was studying issues to be prepared if seated.

The term costume can refer to wardrobe and dress in general, or to the distinctive style of dress of a particular people, class, or period. Costume may also refer to the artistic arrangement of accessories in a picture, statue, poem, or play, appropriate to the time, place, or other circumstances represented or described, or to a particular style of clothing worn to portray the wearer as a character or type of character other than their regular persona at a social event such as a masquerade, a fancy dress party or in an artistic theatrical performance.

The eyes are the most expressive part of the face. To enhance their features dancers should draw attention to and make their eyes appear larger. However, to maintain unity, the intensity of the eyes must be balanced with color and shape of the lips. The color of the lips needs to be complimentary to the skin color and costume (Art of Production 123).

French Maid Costume

Keurig Brewer

When coffee reached North America during the colonial period, it was initially not as successful as it had been in Europe. During the Revolutionary War, however, the demand for coffee increased so much that dealers had to hoard their scarce supplies and raise prices dramatically; this was partly due to the reduced availability of tea from British merchants. After the War of 1812, during which Britain temporarily cut off access to tea imports, the Americans' taste for coffee grew, and high demand during the American Civil War together with advances in brewing technology secured the position of coffee as an everyday commodity in the United States.

The type of grind is often named after the brewing method for which it is generally used. Turkish grind is the finest grind, while coffee percolator or French press are the coarsest grind. The most common grinds are between the extremes; a medium grind is used in most common home coffee brewing machines.[54]

The Persian Muslim doctor and chemist Avicenna (also known as Ibn Sina) introduced the process of extracting oils from flowers by means of distillation, the procedure most commonly used today. He first experimented with the rose. Until his discovery, liquid perfumes were mixtures of oil and crushed herbs or petals, which made a strong blend. Rose water was more delicate, and immediately became popular. Both of the raw ingredients and distillation technology significantly influenced western perfumery and scientific developments, particularly chemistry.

[edit] Animal sources

http://www.yournewfragrance.com/

PHILADELPHIA – A doctor accused of botching dozens of prostate cancer surgeries at a Veterans Administration hospital admitted Monday that he sometimes missed his target when implanting radioactive seeds, leaving patients with incorrect dosages.
But Dr. Gary D. Kao called the mistakes commonplace in aiming seeds at the walnut-sized prostate, which sits near the bladder and rectum, and he steadfastly refused to become a scapegoat for the scandal at the VA Medical Center in Philadelphia.
"Contrary to the allegations that I was a 'rogue' physician, ... I always acted in the best interest of the patients in delivering this important treatment," Kao, a radiation oncologist, testified at a Senate field hearing at the hospital, where he worked from 2002 to 2008.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has found that 92 of 116 men treated in the hospital's brachytherapy program received incorrect doses of the radiation seeds, often because they landed in nearby organs or surrounding tissue rather than the prostate. Kao performed the majority of the procedures under a VA contract with the University of Pennsylvania, where he was on staff.
Under questioning from Sen. Arlen Specter, Kao acknowledged that he never informed patients when he missed the prostate or delivered insufficient doses.
Kao, however, said the mistakes did not necessarily amount to substandard care that had to be reported to the NRC or other agencies.
"Brachytherapy was and still is an evolving field," he said.
Kao, 45, testified at the hearing voluntarily, albeit with a lawyer at his side. In a lengthy written statement, he said he earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University, did his radiation oncology residency at the University of Pennsylvania and has never been sued for malpractice.
Rep. John Adler, D-N.J., harshly questioned why he still had a medical license.
Rep. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa., seemingly defended Kao while questioning the long-term safety of the procedure, which thousands of men across the country have undergone in recent years.
Specter sought the middle ground, eliciting an apology and an awkward embrace from Kao to one of his alleged victims, the Rev. Ricardo Flippin.
Flippin, 68, of Charleston, W.Va., testified that he lost his job during five months he spent in bed, incapacitated, after Kao implanted seeds into his rectum instead of his prostate in 2005. The VA suggested he was suffering from hemorrhoids or constipation afterward, but an Ohio State University physician finally diagnosed the problem as radiation burn and surgically corrected it, Flippin said.
"Rev. Flippin, we should have, we can do better," Kao said. "I hope we have a chance to do better for you and your colleagues in the future."
Flippin said he would have chosen another treatment option, such as having his prostate removed, had he known the risks involved with the radiation seeds.
The brachytherapy program at the VA Medical Center in Philadelphia has been suspended. A review of 12 other VA hospitals where the procedure is performed showed a handful of problems, but none on the same magnitude. The NRC also said, based on reporting by doctors and the agency's own reviews, the problems at the Philadelphia hospital were far more frequent than U.S. hospitals overall.
Kao has stopped performing the surgeries and last week took a leave from the University of Pennsylvania.

Costumes also serve as an avenue for children to explore and roleplay. Children can dress up in various forms; for example characters from history or fiction like pirates, princesses or cowboys, common jobs like nurses or police officers, or animals such as those seen in zoos or farms.

The amount of make-up used on a dancer depends on the venue, lighting, and the distance of the audience. To enhance the dancer’s face and make it visible from a distance, the face’s bone structure should be emphasized, there should be a space between the eyebrows, and the eyes should stand out. The further away the audience is the bolder make-up required (Cooper 78).

French Maid Costume

A clock is an instrument used for indicating and maintaining the time and passage thereof. The word clock is derived ultimately (via Dutch, Northern French, and Medieval Latin) from the Celtic words clagan and clocca meaning "bell". For horologists and other specialists the term clock continues to mean exclusively a device with a striking mechanism for announcing intervals of time acoustically, by ringing a bell, a set of chimes, or a gong.[citation needed] A silent instrument lacking such a mechanism has traditionally been known as a timepiece. In general usage today, however, a "clock" refers to any device for measuring and displaying the time which, unlike a watch, is not worn on the person.

During the 15th and 16th centuries, clockmaking flourished, particularly in the metalworking towns of Nuremberg and Augsburg, and in France, Blois. Some of the more basic table clocks have only one time-keeping hand, with the dial between the hour markers being divided into four equal parts making the clocks readable to the nearest 15 minutes. Other clocks were exhibitions of craftsmanship and skill, incorporating astronomical indicators and musical movements. The cross-beat escapement[citation needed] was developed in 1585 by Jost Burgi, who also developed the remontoire. Burgi's accurate clocks helped Tycho Brahe to observe astronomical events with much greater precision than before.

Refurbished Time Clocks

NEW YORK – Repaying a student loan could soon be a little less painful.
Starting this week, anyone with a federal student loan can apply for a program, run by the Department of Education, that caps monthly payments based on income, and forgives remaining balances after 25 years. Those choosing to work in public service could have their loans forgiven after just 10 years.
Eligibility for income-based repayment (IBR) is determined by a person's income and loan size. A calculator at http://www.ibrinfo.org can help borrowers determine their eligibility for the plan, which becomes available Wednesday.
"It's a way to borrow for college without going to the poor house," said Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access & Success, a California-based nonprofit that runs the Project on Student Debt.
The program stems from the Education Department's College Cost Reduction and Access Act, signed in 2007, which authorized the creation of a new income-based repayment plan for both Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) and Direct Loan borrowers on all Stafford and graduate PLUS loans.
Monthly payments would amount to less than 10 percent of income for most of the estimated 1 million people expected to enroll, experts say. Payments would never exceed 15 percent of any income above about $16,000 a year (or 150 percent of the poverty level).
Those who earn less than $16,000 would not have to make any monthly payments.
The new payment option is intended to provide relief for those who earn modest salaries and struggle under the weight of student loans for years on end. By stretching repayment over a longer period, monthly payments are kept at a reasonable portion of income, though most people would not see any savings on the total cost of the loan.
IBR "can lower costs and provides light at the end of the tunnel" for such borrowers, said Asher of the Institute for College Access & Success. That gives borrowers greater financial flexibility to save for retirement, buy a home or even pay for their own children's education, she said.
The program isn't for everyone, however.
In some cases, accruing interest could push the cost of the loan higher. And since loans are likely to be paid off within 25 years, the loan forgiveness aspect of the program won't apply to most people. To save on interest costs, those who could afford to would be better served paying off loans faster, said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, which tracks the college financial aid industry.
If a salary jump eventually disqualifies a borrower for the capped monthly payments, they would still be responsible for the cost of the loan and the interest that accrued up to that point. Monthly payments still couldn't exceed what they would be under a standard 10-year repayment plan. Of course, borrowers could opt to pay off debts faster if they chose.
There are already some options for those who can't afford big monthly payments, such as long-term payment plans spanning up to 30 years. But eligibility requirements are stricter, and monthly payments can still be high.
The government also offers a program similar to IBR called the income-contingent repayment plan. That plan is not as lenient as the new one, however, with payments capped at 20 percent of income beyond 100 percent of the poverty level. And it's also only available for direct federal loans.
The new program will be available for direct federal loans, as well as federal loans administered through private lenders. Most of those enrolled in the income-contingent plan are expected to switch over to the new program.
Parent PLUS loans, the federal loans parents can take out to pay for their children's education, are not eligible for either payment plan.

It's rare to see Argentina's First Family convey political humility. But as President Cristina FernÁndez de Kirchner and her husband (and presidential predecessor) NÉstor Kirchner absorbed their startling defeat in Sunday's mid-term elections, they both offered unusual hints of contrition. "In a democracy, you win and you lose," said FernÁndez, after her Peronist party's congressional majority had vanished, leaving her to deal with a potentially hostile parliament over the last 2 1/2 years of her term. Kirchner, who resigned as the Peronists' leader after suffering a close but stunning loss in a congressional race, conceded that "in the coming days we'll all have to evaluate the mistakes that have been made."
Politicos all over Latin America will be scrutinizing those mistakes as well. The Argentine poll was a referendum on Fernandez's often confrontational leadership style - which voters and financial markets alike decided isn't all that well suited to rescuing South America's second largest economy from the ravages of a global recession. The FernÁndez-Kirchner comeuppance may well be taken as a first sign that the economic downturn is reining in the region's increasingly powerful presidents, especially the leftists who this decade have become a popular counter to U.S. political and economic hegemony in the Americas. (See pictures of the global financial crisis.)
FernÁndez, like her husband and their left-wing ally Hugo ChÁvez of Venezuela, is a combative populist who critics say is too dismissive of the legislative and judicial branches, which are still weak institutions in Latin America. Her Sunday setback "indicates that Latin America's hyperpresidentialist project, which was fueled by the economic boom, faces walls and obstacles now," says Javier Corrales, a Latin America expert who teaches political science at Amherst College in Massachusetts. Another factor is the exit of U.S. President George W. Bush, whose own bid for excessive presidential power wasn't exactly seen by Latin Americans as a model of democratic checks and balances. Today, the more collegial Obama presidency makes hyperpresidencies look less seemly. (See pictures of Barack Obama's family tree.)
Corrales is quick to note that the region's trend toward "superpresidencies," which includes conservative leaders like Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, "is far from over." But FernÁndez - who does little to discourage comparisons to Eva PerÓn, the glamorous and powerful Argentine First Lady of the 1940s and '50s known as "Evita" - has had her clout both at home and abroad diminished to the point that Argentine pundits are even discussing whether she might soon resign. While that's unlikely, the rest of her term promises to be a slog, and her husband's widely discussed plans to run for president again in 2011 suddenly seem a long shot. (Read: "Little Eva.")
FernÁndez's fall has been a steep one. Kirchner, elected in 2003, has been credited with nothing less than saving Argentina after its epic financial collapse of 2002. But he decided not to run for a second term in 2007, deferring instead to his wife, herself then a popular senator. Though critics claimed their plan was simply to alternate in power for 16 years, Fernandez won decisively and took office with a near 80% approval rating.
Within months, though, she was locked in acrimonious standoffs with everyone from farmers, who mobilized against her hikes in commodity-export taxes, to opposition leaders, who decried her efforts to nationalize private pension funds and her government's ties to a Venezuelan financial scandal. They also argued that Kirchner was still calling the shots from the presidential palace. Even her Vice President, Julio Cobos, last year cast the deciding Senate vote against her and for the farmers in a humiliating policy defeat.
FernÁndez, who like Kirchner hails from the provinces and butts heads with the Buenos Aires elite, insists she has simply tried to preserve the economic stability her husband had created and deliver it to a broader swath of the working class. But when she saw that her poll numbers had plunged below 30% - and realized moreover that the recession and rising crime statistics only stood to sink them further - she moved this year's midterm elections from October to June. Hoping to shore up the Peronists' prospects, Kirchner announced he would run for a congressional seat from Buenos Aires. (Read: "The Latin Hillary Clinton.")
Corrales says many Latin presidents are feeling a similar sort of panic. Earlier this year, ChÁvez saw plummeting oil prices threaten to undermine his socialist revolution, which has enfranchised Venezuela's poor but has also raised fears about authoritarian rule. ChÁvez rushed through a constitutional referendum last February that lets him run for re-election indefinitely. FernÁndez's midterm defeat, says Corrales, may have leaders like ChÁvez "asking if they should ease up on their ideological hard line or ramp it up to neutralize opponents before it's too late." In Honduras, a coup on the day of the Argentine vote forced leftist President Manuel Zelaya into exile. Zelaya's foes accuse him of presidential over reach.
Corrales says that coups are an "unacceptable" way for opponents to confront ambitious presidencies. But to keep her presidency relevant, FernÁndez, 56, will have to moderate her own political reach. Although Kirchner's Buenos Aires congressional slate lost to the more conservative opposition party, Union-Pro, he still gets a seat in the chamber of deputies because of proportional voting rules. But Union-Pro leader and billionaire businessman Francisco de NarvÁez told the Buenos Aires daily La NaciÓn that Kirchner "needs to step aside and let his wife be the nation's president and build some space for consensus." The president, he said, needs to read "these election results well." Other Latin presidents should, too.
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BAKER CITY, Ore. – Bill Fulton doesn't remember losing his wallet, but getting it back more than 60 years later helped him remember the past.
The leather stayed smooth and the zipper moved as easily as it did in 1946, when he apparently dropped the wallet behind the balcony bleachers in the Baker Middle School gym while cheering for the Baker High basketball team.
Fulton's Social Security card and a bicycle license for his job as a drugstore delivery boy were positioned in their respective compartments, apparently untouched since the year after World War II ended.
"After that long, my gosh, it stayed in good shape," Fulton, 78, told the Baker City Herald. "It's hard to believe."
A worker found the wallet — along with old homework, lost library books and a 1964 talent show program — while removing the bleachers for renovations on June 17. It was brought to Fulton's door the following day by Melanie Trindle, the Baker Middle School secretary.
"He was pretty much amazed," Trindle said. "He just kept saying, 'Thank you. Thank you so much.' "
The brown pine bleachers had been in place since the school opened in 1936.
Fulton said the recovery has led him to reflect on a life that took him to the Korean War and Berlin before a return to Baker City. He worked at Ellingson Lumber Company for 30 years until 1994.
"Where did all the time go?" Fulton said with a deep sigh. "It's hard to believe that the times have gone so fast."
___
Information from: Baker City Herald, http://www.bakercityherald.com/

Office Chairs

In the 1970s, ergonomics became an important design consideration. Today, office chairs often have adjustable seats, armrests, backs, back supports, and heights to prevent repetitive stress injury and back pain associated with sitting for long periods. Ergonomic chairs fit an individual's needs and provide support where the individual needs it.

The office chair was strategically designed to increase the productivity of clerical employees by making it possible for them to remain sitting at their desks for long periods of time. A swiveling chair with casters allowed employees to remain sitting and yet reach a number of locations within their work area, eliminating the time and energy expended in standing. The wooden saddle seat was designed to fit and support the body of a sitting employee, and the slatted back and armrests provided additional support to increase the employee’s comfort. Like modern chairs, many of these models were somewhat adjustable to provide the maximum comfort and thus the maximum working time.