JC Penney posts 4th straight big loss, sales drop

FILE - In this Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, file photo, a shopper drags her purchases past a line of customers waiting to pay at a J.C. Penney store, in Las Vegas. The mid-priced department store chain on Wednesday, Feb. 26. 2013. reported another much larger-than-expected loss in the fiscal fourth quarter and a nearly 30 percent plunge in revenue in the latest sign that shoppers aren't happy with the changes it's made in the past year. The results mark a full year of massive quarterly losses and revenue declines since J.C. Penney Co. began a turnaround strategy that included ditching most of its coupons and sales events in favor of everyday low prices, bringing in new designer brands such as Betsy Johnson and remaking outdated stores to give them an outdoor mall kind of feel. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)

FILE - In this Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, file photo, a shopper drags her purchases past a line of customers waiting to pay at a J.C. Penney store, in Las Vegas. The mid-priced department store chain on Wednesday, Feb. 26. 2013. reported another much larger-than-expected loss in the fiscal fourth quarter and a nearly 30 percent plunge in revenue in the latest sign that shoppers aren't happy with the changes it's made in the past year. The results mark a full year of massive quarterly losses and revenue declines since J.C. Penney Co. began a turnaround strategy that included ditching most of its coupons and sales events in favor of everyday low prices, bringing in new designer brands such as Betsy Johnson and remaking outdated stores to give them an outdoor mall kind of feel. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Boy, it just wasn't J.C. Penney's year.

The mid-priced department store chain reported another much larger-than-expected loss in the fiscal fourth quarter on a nearly 30 percent plunge in revenue in the latest sign that shoppers aren't happy with the changes it's made in the past year.

The results mark a full year of massive quarterly losses and revenue declines that miss Wall Street estimates since J.C. Penney Co. began a turnaround strategy that included ditching coupons and most of its sales events in favor of everyday low prices, bringing in hipper designer brands such as Betsy Johnson and remaking outdated stores.

The quarterly performance puts additional pressure on CEO Ron Johnson, the former Apple Inc. executive who was brought in a little more than a year ago to turn around the stodgy retailer that was losing money into a hip and profitable company that can compete with the likes of Macy's or H&M. In the past year since Johnson rolled out his plan, though, even once loyal customers have strayed away from the 1,100-store chain.

While acknowledging that Penney made some mistakes during a conference call with investors, Johnson said on Wednesday that Penney will start offering sales in stores every week ? about 100 of the 600 or so the chain offered each year prior to the turnaround plan. That's a step up in pace from the company's plan announced last month that it would start offering sales only during holidays and other key shopping periods throughout the year.

"Experience is making mistakes and learning from them, and I have learned a lot," Johnson said. "We worked really hard and tried many things to help the customer understand that she could shop any time on her terms. But we learned she prefers a sale. At times, she loves a coupon."

Teresa Cansell is one of those customers. She used to make the 45-mile trek from her farm near Leon, Kan., to a Penney store in Wichita about once a month. But since Penney started making changes last year, she's only been twice. And on her latest trip in December, she walked out empty handed because she couldn't find a leather jacket she wanted.

"I loved the old J.C. Penney. I liked the coupons," Cansell, 53, said. "I used to go to Penney every time I got them in the mail. I would buy a ton of stuff."

Penney's results show that other shoppers feel the same way. During the fourth quarter that ended Feb. 2, Penney's revenue at stores opened at least a year ? a figure the retail industry uses to measure of a store's health ? dropped 31.7 percent.

That's on top of hefty drops in the previous three quarters of 26.1 percent in the third, 21.7 percent in the second and 19 percent in the first. And it's steeper than the decline of 26.1 percent Wall Street had expected.

Penney, based in Plano, Texas, also widened its loss to $552 million, or $2.51 per share, up from a loss of $87 million, or 41 cents per share a year ago. Excluding charges related to restructuring and management changes, Penney's adjusted loss for the quarter was $427 million, or $1.95 per share.

Total revenue dropped 28.4 percent to $3.88 billion. Analysts had expected a loss of 23 cents on revenue of $4.08 billion, according to research firm FactSet.

Penney's results for the full year reveal just how much the company is struggling to shore up its business. For the fiscal year, Penney lost $985 million, or $4.49 per share, compared with a loss of $152 million, or 70 cents per share, in the year ended January 28, 2012. And the company's revenue fell nearly a quarter, or 24.8 percent, to $12.98 billion from the previous year's $17.26 billion.

"It's the worst performance I have ever seen by a company in one year," said Walter Loeb, an independent retail consultant.

Wall Street hasn't been any happier than Main Street with Penney's changes. On the news of its quarterly results, which were reported after markets closed, Penney shares fell about 9 percent to about $19 in after-hour trading. In total, investors, who initially sent Penney shares soaring 24 percent to about $43 after the company announced the everyday pricing plan in late January of last year, have pushed them down by about half since early last year.

It's a disappointing turn of events for Johnson, the mastermind of Apple's successful retail stores who took the top job at Penney in November 2011. A couple of months later, on Feb. 1 of last year, Johnson launched a new pricing that was designed to wean customers off the markdowns they'd become accustomed to, but that ultimately eat into profits.

He got rid of the nearly 600 sales Penney offered each year for a three-tiered strategy that lowered prices in the store by 40 percent, offered monthlong discounts on some items and periodic clearance events. He also got rid of the word "sales" from the company's marketing.

But customers weren't responding to the changes, so Johnson tweaked his strategy a few times, including bringing back the word "sale" in its marketing last spring. The latest change came this month when Penney began adding back more sales events and putting price tags on half of its merchandise to show customers how much they're saving by shopping at Penney.

In addition to those changes, Johnson has said that Penney is starting to see some positive results from its makeover of stores with sectioned-off shops that feature different brands. The company said the reception has been warm to the 10 mini-shops that it rolled out last fall, including those for Levi's brand and Penney's new JCP line of casual clothes.

Shops for Joe Fresh, which has brightly colored clothes, and a new home area featuring names like Jonathan Adler and Michael Graves will be launching this spring. Other brands will be unveiled in coming years.

But Johnson, who had previously said that the stores would be carved up into 100 mini-shops by the end of 2015, on Wednesday backtracked a bit. "The customer will dictate the timing," he said.

That's not the only thing Johnson said would be left up to the customer. When asked by an analyst whether he still vows to return to sales growth this year, a promise he has made repeatedly and reiterated last November, Johnson appeared to leave the door open. "Ultimately, our return to growth will be dictated by our customer," he said.

Still, the worry on Wall Street is that Johnson won't be able to turn around business fast enough to finance the transformation of its stores. In November, Penney said that it would end the latest fiscal year with $1 billion in cash. Penney winded up ending the year with $930 million in cash, which was better than analysts had feared but below the company's target.

Penney said Wednesday that it had short-term access to $3 billion in short-term capital to finance its multi-year transformation. And customers like Ricky Rodriguez, from Fort Worth, Texas, offer hope that Penney's turnaround plan will work.

"I feel like the guy section is getting more hip," said the 27-year-old who recently bought a dress shirt for $25 at Penney. "I've been going there every other week."

_______

Follow Anne D'Innocenzio at www.twitter.com/adinnocenzio

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-27-Earns-JC%20Penney/id-3b402df97a4641db8fc90b9a773869ae

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Green Blog: Ghostlike and Vulnerable, the Manta Ray Finds a Friend

On Sunday, 177 member nations will gather in Bangkok at the 16th Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species to decide whether to accord international protection to a growing roster of plants and animals.

If you were one of the species up for listing, it would be hard to find a better friend than Shawn Heinrichs.

Mr. Heinrichs, a conservationist and underwater filmmaker based in Boulder, Colo., has devoted much of the last four years to bringing attention to the plight of the manta ray, a bat-shaped sea creature that is facing increasing fishing pressures and that some say is threatened with extinction.

Working with the Hong Kong-based investigative photojournalist Paul Hilton, Mr. Heinrichs has documented the manta ray?s rapid decline throughout much of the world. Last year the two wrote ?a major report on how overfishing has decimated manta populations in Asia and elsewhere. The report, issued with backing from the conservation organizations Shark Savers and WildAid, showed that both manta rays and mobula rays were being driven to the brink with ?breathtaking speed.

The report cites growing demand from southern China, where ray gill rakers, used by the manta ?to filter food from the water, are marketed as a supposed cure for ailments ranging from chicken pox to impotence.

Commerce in gill rakers is poorly documented, but it is estimated that 90 percent of the trade takes place in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and India, with the vast majority of gill rakers then ending up in dry fish markets in the Chinese city of Guangzhou. The report puts the annual volume of sales of dried manta ray gill rakers at around 46,000 pounds, representing some 4,652 manta rays.

Manta rays are thought to be especially vulnerable to exploitation because they are slow to mature and have low reproductive rates. Female manta rays produce just one pup after a yearlong pregnancy and typically produce offspring only every two to three years. It is thought that they can live up to 80 years. The report galvanized conservationists, including the British billionaire Richard Branson, who lent his name and image to supporting manta rays soon afterward. But Mr. Heinrichs did not stop there.

As an underwater filmmaker who has shot documentary television for National Geographic as well as for conservation groups, he produced a short film about the manta ray trade called ?Manta Ray of Hope? that digs deep into the reasons ?that the manta ray is in such steep decline.

The video, while at times a sublime display of the manta ray?s grace and beauty underwater, can also be hard to watch. Mr. Heinrichs sails with local hunters who spear the animals with long metal barbs and then drag them ashore, where they are hacked to pieces and their gill rakers are removed and placed in baskets. In many cases, he said, the carcasses are cast back into the bloody water.

Mr. Heinrichs and Mr. Hilton then travel to the dry fish markets of southern China, where they find the gill rakers are being sold as a tonic in traditional medicine. Often they are cooked in a broth with seahorses and pipefish, a concoction that Mr. Heinrichs referred to as ?endangered species soup.?

In the film, manta ray gill rakers can be seen clumped together by the thousands in bags in the marketplaces that he and Mr. Hilton visited. Yet the market for manta ray gills is relatively new. ?Ten years ago the market for manta gills didn?t even exist,? said Susan Lieberman, director of international policy at the Pew Charitable Trusts. ?This is a new trend for tonic in Chinese markets.?

If the animals gain protection under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or Cites, their trade will have to be regulated by the countries from which they are exported. Shipments of manta gill rakers or other parts will require permits, and the exporting country will need to assure that hunting of the species is sustainable.

Conservation groups that have lent their support to protecting manta rays say there is a good chance that Cites will list the two known manta species ? the reef manta ray, or Manta alfredi, and the giant manta ray, or Manta ? ?as protected under an international treaty. Passage of the proposal, sponsored by Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador and supported by the United States, requires a two-thirds majority vote.

While giant manta rays gained protection in 2011 under the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals, conservation groups say that ?a Cites listing will establish broader protections. ?We?re hopeful because so many developing countries are on board this time,? Ms. Lieberman said.

Mr. Heinrichs hopes the film will help sway minds ?at the Cites meeting, which continues through March 14. But a listing remains far from certain, so he has redoubled his cinematic efforts to bring attention to the animal?s plight. This week he posted a new video to Vimeo called ?Mantas Last Dance.?

It is a strange but alluring mix of conservation message and performance art. Shot at night in Kona, Hawaii, and set to plangent music, it features Hannah Fraser, a dancer and mermaid model, who hovers beneath the ocean?s surface amid bright underwater lights as six-foot manta rays glide past like ghosts.

?Clearly this an animal to be loved and appreciated,? Mr. Heinrichs said.

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/ghostlike-and-vulnerable-the-manta-finds-a-friend/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Movie Franchises with Way Too Many Sequels

Now that Disney owns George Lucas?s Star Wars franchise, we already know that Episode VII is a done deal and that VIII and IX are coming unless something unexpected happens. It?s also quite likely that before long the series will see its tenth entry go into production, not counting the rumored spinoffs.

Even if I agreed with some hardcore purists that Star Wars should have ended after Return of the Jedi (I don?t), I certainly see why double digits are now a real possibility. The Star Wars universe is a rich one, and the potential for very cool stories that don?t involve tax disputes or a teenage Darth Vader is still great.

On the other hand, some franchises just don?t know when to quit. Obviously there is money to be made in bleeding dry what might have been fun or worthy concepts at one time, otherwise this article wouldn?t exist. But when a series reaches the point where even fans are asking ?really??, it?s probably time to close up shop. Here are seven such franchises.

#1. Leprechaun

The first Leprechaun movie was released in 1993, and is now more known for the fact that it was Jennifer Aniston?s first feature movie role than for anything else. But it did pull in $8.5 million on a modest budget of $900,000, so a sequel was inevitable. By the time the third installment rolled out in 1995, the franchise had moved to the mystical land of direct-to-video release, which meant the filmmakers clearly understood that the ceiling of audience interest had been reached.

Armed with the freedom of only having to appeal to their limited fan base, Leprechaun producers were free to explore strange new settings. That led to masterpieces like Leprechaun 4: In Space and Leprechaun: In the Hood, the latter of which holds a franchise-high 33% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Six Leprechaun movies have been released to date, and there are reported discussions to reboot the franchise with a seventh.

#2. Air Bud

You might think that one movie is enough to explore the world of a golden retriever that can play basketball, but you?d be wrong. Disney scored a relative success with the 1997 original ($23 million U.S. box office) and has pumped out four sequels since. And that doesn?t even include the direct-to-video?Air Buddies?spinoff series, which saw its sixth installment released in 2012.?But to be fair, Disney did mix things up in the sequels?by showcasing Bud?s uncanny ability to play soccer, baseball, and even volleyball. Woof.

#3. Bloodfist

Here is the first sentence of Wikipedia?s plot summary for the 1989 Roger Corman martial arts film Bloodfist, starring American kickboxing legend Don ?The Dragon? Wilson: ?The film opens with a man getting beaten by his opponent, then after the guy finds out the fight was rigged, decides to fight back. The opponent is dead on the floor, and the first guy is announced as the winner. On his way back to his home, he is killed by another man.?

Man, I?m already lost. Luckily I have eight ? count ?em, eight ? sequels to get my bearings in this face-smashing world of kicking, boxing, and (apparently) bloody fists. I?m already looking forward to watching the final installment, Bloodfist 2050, starring martial arts champion Matt Mullins. It takes place in a bleak, futuristic version of Los Angeles that bears a striking resemblance to the bleak, current version of Los Angeles.

Here?s some bonus Bloodfist 2050 trivia for you: the audience members from all the fight scenes is made up of every single person who saw Bloodfist VIII: Trained to Kill.

#4. Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th is the machete-wielding poster child for mainstream horror franchises that offer frighteningly?diminishing returns. Some might argue that A Nightmare on Elm Street or?Halloween?are at least equally guilty, but they actually managed to sneak in a few decent sequels here and there. I was a huge horror fan back in the day, and even I was done with Jason Voorhees by the time the ?80s were over.

The producers of Friday the 13th trotted out just about every horror plot clich??imaginable over the course of twelve movies, all built upon the firm foundation of a masked mass murderer slaughtering naked teenagers. Jason killed camp counselors. Jason killed people in 3-D. Jason killed people ?for the last time? (a promotional stunt first pulled with movie number four). Jason sat out for a movie and let someone else do the killing. Jason came back (again). Jason transformed from a run-of-the-mill psychopath into a supernatural force. Jason killed people in New York City. Jason killed people in space, and in the future. The only person Jason hasn?t killed is Kenny.

Finally, horror fan boys got their wish in 2003, when Jason squared off against Freddy Krueger in Freddy vs. Jason, which actually was fun. And then, of course, Jason killed people in a reboot.

#5. Puppet Master

I remember seeing the first Puppet Master film a long time ago and thinking it seemed like a sort-of clever take on Child?s Play. Except instead of a killer talking doll, it involved killer puppets. The idea that these tiny creatures could wreak such big havoc was neat. I enjoyed the movie and quickly forgot about it.

Well it turns out that not everyone forgot, because there are now ten of these things. I?m not even going to lie and pretend I?ve seen any of the sequels, but I might have to remedy that. After all, how can you go wrong with deadly puppets, sorcery, Egyptian mummies, demons, and Nazis? Oh, and you know who stars in the supposedly non-canon ninth film (Puppet Master vs. Demonic Toys)? Corey fucking Feldman, that?s who.

Here?s the trailer for the most recent entry, Puppet Master X: Axis Rising. Screw Captain America, when the chips are down and the Nazis are threatening our American way of life, I want the puppet with the tiny head and giant hands fighting by my side.

#6. Police Academy

All you need to know about the Police Academy series is that even Steve Guttenberg disappeared after the fourth movie, and Bobcat Goldthwait has?publicly?stated he wants nothing to do with the reported reboot. It?s a shame too, since the first movie was one of the better screwball comedies of the ?80s and the first few sequels have their moments. If I?m feeling really charitable I?ll say that they should have stopped with the fourth installment, Citizens on Patrol. Because once you cut a soundtrack with a rap number featuring the movie?s name, it?s time to stop. Seriously.

But no, we had to find out what happened when a metropolitan police force traveled to Miami Beach and Russia in the span of a few years. The box office returns kept dwindling but the films kept coming. However, not even the most masochistic producer would tackle an eighth movie after 1994?s Police Academy: Mission to Moscow made a whopping $126,247. No, I didn?t leave any numbers out. That?s about $11 million less than Cops & Robbersons made the same year.

The basic plot of any Police Academy sequel goes like this: Hacky exposition ? Michael Winslow makes sound effects with his mouth ? Tackleberry likes to shoot stuff ? the blonde officer has really big boobs ? hacky middle part ? Cmdt. Lassard bumbles around ? Capt. Harris screams at someone ? Hooks talks quietly then yells ? more mouth sound effects ? the end.

#7. Universal Soldier

The Universal Soldier series started behind the artistic eight ball, given that it featured B-list action stars Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren. Nevertheless, the first film performed respectably enough at the box office with a $36 million haul, making it the 40th highest-grossing movie of 1993. From there it gets confusing and a little sad. I?ll try to unpack it for you.

There are six Universal Soldier films in total. The first one was produced by Carolco Pictures, which went bankrupt in 1995. In the late ?90s two sequels followed ? Brothers in Arms and Unfinished Business ? which were released direct-to-video and meant as the precursor to a potential TV series. Neither starred Van Damme or Lundgren, and they?ve basically been ignored from a canonical standpoint.

The first ?official? theatrical sequel ? 1999?s The Return?? featured Van Damme and assorted other muscly men, but was a colossal flop. It had a production budget of $45 million but earned just short of $11 million domestically. So powerful was the stench from The Return that it was also ignored by the next sequel, 2009?s direct-to-video?Regeneration. In late 2012, Day of Reckoning was given a limited theatrical release but mostly screened through Video on Demand.

So if you?re keeping score, that?s three official Universal Soldier movies, three unofficial Universal Soldier?movies, and six Universal Soldier?movies that we all probably could?ve done without.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1926923/news/1926923/

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Police: Injuries in bus crash north of Boston

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, was briefly hospitalized due to her bipolar disorder, the actress' spokeswoman said on Tuesday after video emerged of Fisher giving an unusual stage performance. The video came from a show Fisher gave aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean last week, according to celebrity website TMZ, which posted the clip. The clip shows Fisher, 56, singing "Skylark" and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," at times appearing to struggle to remember the lyrics. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-injuries-bus-crash-north-boston-022949376.html

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Three injured in shooting at Ohio temple

By Becky Bratu, Staff Writer, NBC News

Two people are injured and a suspect is in custody following a shooting in the parking lot of a Mormon temple in Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday afternoon, NBC affiliate WCMH reported.

The shooting took place in the parking lot of the Columbus Ohio Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at about 4:45 p.m.

Columbus police told WCMH they have a male suspect in custody.

He and one of the victims were transported to Riverside Methodist Hospital in critical but stable condition, according to WCMH.

A second victim was taken to Mount Carmel Hospital West also in critical but stable condition.

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/26/17105967-three-injured-in-shooting-at-ohio-temple?lite

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Former US Surgeon General C. Everett Koop Dies at 96 - The Blaze

Former Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop. Image by Getty/AFP

(AP) ? C. Everett Koop, who raised the profile of the surgeon general by riveting America?s attention on the then-emerging disease known as AIDS and by railing against smoking, has died in New Hampshire at age 96.

An assistant at Koop?s Dartmouth institute, Susan Wills, said he died Monday in Hanover, where he had a home. She didn?t disclose his cause of death.

Koop wielded the previously low-profile post of surgeon general as a bully pulpit for seven years during the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.

An evangelical Christian, he shocked his conservative supporters when he endorsed condoms and sex education to stop the spread of AIDS.

He carried out a crusade to end smoking in the United States ? his goal had been to do so by 2000. A former pipe smoker, he said cigarettes were as addictive as heroin and cocaine.

Koop?s impact was great, although the surgeon general has no real authority to set government policy. He described himself as ?the health conscience of the country.?

?My only influence was through moral suasion,? Koop said just before leaving office in 1989.

By then, his Amish-style silver beard and white, braided uniform were instantly recognizable.

Out of office, he switched to business suits and bow ties but continued to promote public health causes, from preventing childhood accidents to better training for doctors.

?I will use the written word, the spoken word and whatever I can in the electronic media to deliver health messages to this country as long as people will listen,? he promised.

In 1996, he rapped Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole for suggesting that tobacco is not invariably addictive, saying Dole?s comments ?either exposed his abysmal lack of knowledge of nicotine addiction or his blind support of the tobacco industry.?

Although Koop eventually won wide respect with his blend of old-fashioned values, pragmatism and empathy, his nomination in 1981 met a wall of opposition from women?s groups and liberal politicians.

Critics said Reagan selected Koop, a pediatric surgeon from Philadelphia, only because of his conservative views, especially his staunch opposition to abortion.

Foes noted that Koop traveled the country in 1979 and 1980 giving speeches that predicted a progression ?from liberalized abortion to infanticide to passive euthanasia to active euthanasia, indeed to the very beginnings of the political climate that led to Auschwitz, Dachau and Belsen.?

But Koop, a devout Presbyterian, was confirmed after he told a Senate panel he would not use the surgeon general?s post to promote his religious ideology. He kept his word.

In 1986, he issued a frank report on AIDS, urging the use of condoms for ?safe sex? and advocating sex education as early as third grade.

He also maneuvered around uncooperative Reagan administration officials in 1988 to send an educational AIDS pamphlet to more than 100 million U.S. households, the largest public health mailing ever done.

Koop personally opposed homosexuality and believed sex should be saved for marriage. But he insisted that Americans, especially young people, must not die because they were deprived of explicit information about how the HIV virus was transmitted.

He became a hero to AIDS activists, who chanted ?Koop, Koop? at his appearances but booed other officials.

Koop further angered conservatives by refusing to issue a report requested by the Reagan White House, saying he could not find enough scientific evidence to determine whether abortion has harmful psychological effects on women.

Koop maintained his personal opposition to abortion, however. After he left office, he told medical students it violated their Hippocratic oath. In 2009, he wrote Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urging that health care legislation include a provision to ensure doctors and medical students would not be forced to perform abortions. The letter briefly set off a security scare because it was hand delivered.

Koop served as chairman of the National Safe Kids Campaign and as an adviser to President Bill Clinton?s health care reform plan.

At a congressional hearing in 2007, Koop spoke about political pressure on the surgeon general post. He said Reagan was pressed to fire him every day, but Reagan would not interfere.

Koop, worried that medicine had lost old-fashioned caring and personal relationships between doctors and patients, opened an institute at Dartmouth to teach medical students basic values and ethics.

He also was a part-owner of a short-lived venture, drkoop.com, to provide consumer health care information via the Internet. It made its initial public offering of stock in 1999, but expenses outstripped revenue and it was out of business by the end of 2001.

In July 2001, the company agreed to pay $4.25 million in cash to settle lawsuits filed by investors who claimed drkoop.com made false promises. Company officials did not admit wrongdoing.

Koop was born in New York?s borough of Brooklyn, the only son of a Manhattan banker and the nephew of a doctor. He said by age 5 he knew he wanted to be a surgeon and at age 13 he practiced his skills on neighborhood cats.

He attended Dartmouth College, where he received the nickname Chick, short for ?chicken Koop.? It stuck for life.

He received his medical degree at Cornell Medical College, choosing pediatric surgery because so few surgeons practiced it.

In 1938, Koop married Elizabeth Flanagan, the daughter of a Connecticut doctor. They had four children ? Allen, Norman, David and Elizabeth. David, their youngest son, was killed in a mountain-climbing accident when he was 20.

Koop was appointed surgeon-in-chief at Children?s Hospital in Philadelphia and he also served as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

He pioneered surgery on newborns and successfully separated three sets of conjoined twins. He won national acclaim by reconstructing the chest of a baby born with the heart outside the body.

Although raised as a Baptist, he was drawn to a Presbyterian church near the hospital, where he developed an abiding faith. He began praying at the bedside of his young patients ? ignoring the snickers of some of his colleagues.

?It used to be said in World War II that there were no atheists in foxholes,? he wrote in 1973. ?I have found there are very few atheists among the parents of dying children.

?This is a time when religious faith can see a family through trying circumstances.?

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/02/25/former-u-s-surgeon-general-c-everett-koop-dies-at-96/

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Bobby Brown: Prison Bound for Third DUI Arrest

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/bobby-brown-prison-bound-for-third-dui-arrest/

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New maps depict potential worldwide coral bleaching by 2056

Feb. 25, 2013 ? In a study published February 24 in Nature Climate Change researchers used the latest emissions scenarios and climate models to show how varying levels of carbon emissions are likely to result in more frequent and severe coral bleaching events.

Large-scale 'mass' bleaching events on coral reefs are caused by higher-than-normal sea temperatures. High temperatures make light toxic to the algae that reside within the corals. The algae, called 'zooxanthellae', provide food and give corals their bright colors. When the algae are expelled or retained but in low densities, the corals can starve and eventually die. Bleaching events caused a reported 16 percent loss of the world's coral reefs in 1998 according to the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network.

If carbon emissions stay on the current path most of the world's coral reefs (74 percent) are projected to experience coral bleaching conditions annually by 2045, results of the study show. The study used climate model ensembles from the upcoming Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Around a quarter of coral reefs are likely to experience bleaching events annually five or more years earlier than the median year, and these reefs in northwestern Australia, Papau New Guinea, and some equatorial Pacific islands like Tokelau, may require urgent attention, researchers warn.

"Coral reefs in parts of the western Indian Ocean, French Polynesia and the southern Great Barrier Reef, have been identified as temporary refugia from rising sea surface temperatures," said Ruben van Hooidonk, Ph.D., from the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS) at the University of Miami and NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. "These locations are not projected to experience bleaching events annually until five or more years later than the median year of 2040, with one reef location in the Austral Islands of French Polynesia protected from the onset of annual coral bleaching conditions until 2056."

The findings emphasize that without significant reductions in emissions most coral reefs are at risk, according to the study. A reduction of carbon emissions would delay annual bleaching events more than two decades in nearly a quarter (23 percent) of the world's reef areas, the research shows.

"Our projections indicate that nearly all coral reef locations would experience annual bleaching later than 2040 under scenarios with lower greenhouse gas emissions." said Jeffrey Maynard, Ph.D., from the Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de l'Environnement (CRIOBE) in Moorea, French Polynesia. "For 394 reef locations (of 1707 used in the study) this amounts to at least two more decades in which some reefs might conceivably be able to improve their capacity to adapt to the projected changes."

"More so than any result to date, this highlights and quantifies the potential benefits for reefs of reducing emissions in terms of reduced exposure to stressful reef temperatures."

"This study represents the most up-to-date understanding of spatial variability in the effects of rising temperatures on coral reefs on a global scale," said researcher Serge Planes, Ph.D., also from the French research institute CRIOBE in French Polynesia.

The researchers involved in the study all concur that projections that combine the threats posed to reefs by increases in sea temperature and ocean acidification will further resolve where temporary refugia may exist.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. R. van Hooidonk, J. A. Maynard, S. Planes. Temporary refugia for coral reefs in a warming world. Nature Climate Change, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1829

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/qPqev71g7Fs/130225122045.htm

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2013 Academy Awards Winners

The 85th Academy Awards are scheduled to take place on Sunday, February 24th in Los Angeles, and if you're looking for the winners, you've come to the right place. We'll be updating this article with each of the Oscar winners as they are announced, so if you don't have easy access to the telecast, be sure to check back here!

Best Production Design

• Sarah Greenwood (Production Design); Katie Spencer (Set Decoration) for Anna Karenina
• Eve Stewart (Production Design); Anna Lynch-Robinson (Set Decoration) for Les Mis?rables
• David Gropman (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration) for Life of Pi
• Rick Carter (Production Design); Jim Erickson (Set Decoration) for Lincoln
• Dan Hennah (Production Design); Ra Vincent and Simon Bright (Set Decoration) for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Best Sound Mixing

• John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia for Argo
• Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins for Lincoln
• Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes for Les Mis?rables
• Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin for Life of Pi
• Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson for Skyfall

Best Visual Effects

• Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson for Snow White and the Huntsman
• Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott for Life of Pi
• Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick for Marvel Avengers Assemble
• Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill for Prometheus

Best Short Film - Live Action

• Asad
• Buzkashi Boys
• Curfew
• Death of a Shadow
• Henry

Best Short Film - Animated

• Adam and Dog
• Fresh Guacamole
• Head Over Heels
• Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"
• Paperman

Best Documentary Short

• Inocente
• Kings Point
• Mondays at Racine
• Open Heart
• Redemption

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1926903/news/1926903/

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Celebs, Kimmel join forces in faux movie trailer

ABC

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

What do you do after the trailer for a movie you never made gets 20 million hits on YouTube? That's a question Jimmy Kimmel had to answer after his "Movie: The Movie" star-studded parody racked up huge numbers of clicks following its post-2012 Oscars premiere.

But he knew what had to be done: Make another one!

"When you have a big success in Hollywood, there's only one reasonable thing you can do, and that is is cheapen it with a sequel," he told his "Live!" audience Sunday night after the 2013 awards fest. Then he premiered ... "Movie: The Movie: 2V."

Yet again the world is in danger, and it's up to Kimmel to organize the forces of good to save everybody. But this time there's no meteor hurtling toward the planet -- instead, sexy, deadly vampires, mummies and leprechauns have unleashed the "sexpocalypse," and no one is safe. Kimmel plays the double-eyepatch-wearing leader of an "Avengers"-esque task force that is the Earth's only hope.

Here's what you can expect from the 7-minute-plus trailer:

• Jessica Chastain, watching the carnage, noting "Teenage girls and their weird moms don't stand a chance."
• Gerard Butler imitating Liam Neeson's fierce, family-saving character from "Taken."
• Brian Cranston playing the piano with his face.
• John Krasinski morphing into a crime-fighting crustacean. "It's shrimpin' time," he gloats.
• President Oprah Winfrey.
• Kimmel's nemesis Matt Damon, in a full-body motion-capture suit eating a sandwich, kind of.
• Amanda Seyfried singing and breakdancing in a "Les Miserables" dress.
• A giant Channing Tatum saving the world.
• Samuel L. Jackson toppling over an even more enormous Jenga game, also to save the world.

Yes, there's some swearing, but it's bleeped out. And, as Kimmel promises at the end of the video, Monday night's show will feature "a special behind-the-scenes look at the making of 'Movie: The Movie: 2V' for film buffs."

"Jimmy Kimmel Live!" airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on ABC.

Related content:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/02/25/17087344-jimmy-kimmel-returns-with-star-studded-movie-the-movie-parody-sequel?lite

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Source: http://forums.ferra.ru/index.php?showtopic=54650

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Video: LaHood defends president?s plan

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3032608/vp/50927780#50927780

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Horrifying crash at Daytona exposes risks to fans

Kyle Larson's car (32) gets airborne during a multi-car wreck on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/David Graham)

Kyle Larson's car (32) gets airborne during a multi-car wreck on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/David Graham)

Kyle Larson (32) goes airborne into the catch fence in a multi-car crash including Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88), Parker Kilgerman (77), Justin Allgaier (31) and Brian Scott (2) during the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Kyle Larson's car is on fire as he slides down the track with Regan Smith after being involved in a crash at the conclusion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Kyle Larson climbs out of his car after being involved in a crash at the conclusion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Track workers repair the safety fence along on the front grandstands, where Kyle Larson's car hit it on the final lap of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? The risks of racing extend beyond the drivers.

Fans can wind up in the danger zone, too.

A horrifying crash on the last lap of a race at Daytona International Speedway injured at least 30 fans Saturday and provided another stark reminder of what can happen when a car going nearly 200 mph is suddenly launched toward the spectator areas.

The victims were sprayed with large chunks of debris ? including a tire ? after rookie Kyle Larson's machine careened into the fencing that is designed to protect the massive grandstands lining NASCAR's most famous track.

"I love the sport," said Shannan Devine, who witnessed the carnage from her 19th-row seat, about 250 feet away. "But no one wants to get hurt over it."

The fencing served its primary purpose, catapulting what was left of Larson's car back onto the track. But it didn't keep potentially lethal shards from flying into the stands.

"There was absolute shock," Devine said. "People were saying, 'I can't believe it, I can't believe it. I've never seen this happen, I've never seen this happen. Did the car through the fence?' It was just shock and awe. Grown men were reaching out and grabbing someone, saying, 'Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!' It was just disbelief, absolute disbelief."

From Daytona to Le Mans to a rural road in Ireland, auto racing spectators have long been too close to the action when parts start flying. The crash in the second-tier Nationwide race follows a long list of accidents that have left fans dead or injured.

The most tragic incident occurred during the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans, when two cars collided near the main stands. The wreck sent debris hurtling into the crowd, while one of the cars flipped upside down and exploded in a giant fireball.

Eighty-three spectators and driver Pierre Levegh were killed, and 120 fans were injured.

The Daytona crash began as the field approached the checkered flag and leader Regan Smith attempted to block Brad Keselowski. That triggered a chain reaction, and rookie Kyle Larson hit the cars in front of him and went airborne into the fence.

The entire front end was sheared off Larson's car, and his burning engine wedged through a gaping hole in the fence. Chunks of debris from the car were thrown into the stands, including a tire that cleared the top of the fence and landed midway up the spectator section closest to the track.

"I thought the car went through the fence," Devine said. "I didn't know if there was a car on top of people. I didn't know what to think. I'm an emotional person. I immediately started to cry. It was very scary, absolutely scary. I love the speed of the sport. But it's so dangerous."

The fencing used to protect seating areas and prevent cars from hurtling out of tracks has long been part of the debate over how to improve safety.

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti lost close friend Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas in the 2011 IndyCar season finale, when Wheldon's car catapulted into the fencing and his head struck a support post. Since his death, IndyCar drivers have called for studies on how to improve the safety barriers.

Franchitti renewed the pleas on Twitter after the Daytona crash, writing "it's time (at)Indycar (at)nascar other sanctioning bodies & promoters work on an alternative to catch fencing. There has to be a better solution."

Another fan who witnessed the crash said he's long worried that sizable gaps in the fencing increase the chances of debris getting through to the stands.

"I've always thought the netting was very wide and pieces could fly through," said Lenny Brown, who was attending races at Daytona for the fourth time.

Among the most frightening accidents involving fans:

? In 1987, Bobby Allison's car lifted off the track at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama while running over 200 mph, careening into the steel-cable fence and scattering debris into the crowd. That crash led to the use of horsepower-sapping restrictor plates at Talladega and its sister track in Daytona, NASCAR's fastest layouts. As a result, the cars all run nearly the same speed, and the field is typically bunched tightly together ? which plenty of drivers have warned is actually a more dangerous scenario than higher speeds.

? That same year, at the Indianapolis 500, a fan was killed when struck by a tire that came off Tony Bettenhausen's car. The tire bounced off the front of Roberto Guerrero's car and flew to the top row of the grandstand.

? In 1998, three fans were killed and six others were injured in CART's IndyCar race at Michigan International Speedway when Adrian Fernandez crashed, sending a tire and other parts into the stands.

? The following year, three fans were killed at Charlotte Motor Speedway during an Indy Racing League event when debris from an accident flew into the stands. The track never held another IndyCar race.

? In 2009, Talladega was the scene of another scary crash during a NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Carl Edwards' car sailed upside-down into the front-stretch fence on a furious dash to the finish line, showering the stands with debris. Seven fans sustained minor injuries.

? In 2010 at a National Hot Rod Association event in Chandler, Ariz., a woman was killed by a tire that flew off Antron Brown's crashing dragster at Firebird International Raceway. The wheel bounced a couple of times and soared over the grandstands ? missing the bulk of the spectators ? before it hit the woman.

? Also in 2010, at an off-road racing event in the Southern California desert, a truck flew off a jump and landed on a group of spectators, sending bodies flying. Eight were killed, 10 injured. There also have been deaths at the Baja 1000 and Dakar Rally, the two most famous off-road races, though multiple-death crashes into the crowd like the one in the Mojave Desert are rare.

? Last year, in a rally car race in Ireland, a car went out of control on a rural road and crashed into a crowd of about 30 spectators, killing two people and seriously injuring seven. Witnesses said the car crashed through a fence and into the onlookers before coming to rest on its side beside a home.

At Daytona, workers scurried to patch up the damaged fencing and left little doubt that the biggest race of the weekend, Sunday's Daytona 500, would go on as planned.

Brown, who saw the crash from his 38th-row seat in the Petty grandstand, said he would be back in the same section for the season-opening Sprint Cup event. He has no qualms about his safety, sitting so high up, but said he would think twice about the seats he had for the race two years ago.

"The last time I was here, we were only about six rows up," Brown said. "I had even told some people before the crash, 'I would never sit that close to the track ever again.'"

But someone surely will ? mindful of the risks but eager to be among more than 100,000 fans cheering on stock car racing's biggest stars.

"Here we are, playing money to sit next to cars going 195 mph," Devine said. "We do it because we love it. That's what we expect."

___

Associated Press writer Jerome Minerva in Daytona Beach contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-23-NASCAR-Fan%20Accidents/id-bf9b9040418c440ea68802cc194933d3

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Michael Hogan: Oscar Pool: 5 Upset Picks That Could Help You Win On Sunday Night

Welcome to For Your Consideration, HuffPost Entertainment's weekly breakdown of all things Oscar. Between now and Feb. 25, 2013, executive arts and entertainment editor Michael Hogan and entertainment editor Christopher Rosen will chat about awards season and which films will make the most noise at the 85th annual Academy Awards.

Rosen: After five months of speculation both outlandish ("The Master" for Best Picture!) and not so outlandish ("Argo" for Best Picture!), the Oscars are one day away. All that's left is the tired cliche about the shouting. We've made our Oscar predictions already, so now it's time to help those loyal readers who find themselves participating in Oscar pools on Sunday night. (Print your ballot here.) Ahead, five left-field picks that could help you secure glory in the living room and the office.

Ang Lee, Best Director

Nobody knows what to do with this category, since the person who "should" win (Ben Affleck) got shut out in the year's most baffling snub. Conventional wisdom holds that Steven Spielberg will win, if only because (a) "Lincoln" has the most nominations and (b) Spielberg is the most famous director in the world. That explains his seemingly safe 83.4 percent chance of winning, according to HuffPost's Oscar Predictions Dashboard. But what I'm hearing is that Academy members have been turned off by the "Lincoln" camp's self-seriousness -- everything from the White House screening and the free DVD's for students to the stories about Daniel Day-Lewis staying in character for the duration of the shoot -- and would rather reward "Life of Pi" director Ang Lee for his groundbreaking technical accomplishment. No one else, the theory goes, could have conjured such gorgeous -- and profitable -- magic from a CGI tiger, a tank of water and an unknown, untested teenager. If you were going to make real money on Oscar night, this would be the place to do it. -- Michael Hogan

Robert De Niro, Best Supporting Actor

This category is supposed to be a two-man race between Tommy Lee Jones and Christoph Waltz, which is why De Niro only has an 8.7 percent chance of winning, according to our dashboard. And let's be honest: he probably won't win. But I'd say his chances are closer to 30 percent. If the lack of "Lincoln" love is as serious as it looks from where I'm sitting, Tommy Lee Jones is vulnerable. And although our friend Tom O'Neil tells us that the Academy has no trouble rewarding a supporting actor twice in a short time frame (it's just "supporting," after all!), I honestly think a lot of people are going to hesitate about giving Christoph Waltz another Oscar, especially when it's just three years after he played a similar role in "Inglourious Basterds." (To say nothing of the fact that this is basically only the second film anyone has ever seen him in; down, "Water for Elephants" fans! Down!) That leaves De Niro -- overdue living legend. Or does it? Election-data guru Nate Silver's model has Philip Seymour Hoffman and even Alan Arkin ahead of Bobby D. Basically, this thing is anyone's guess. -- M.H.

Roger Deakins, Best Cinematography

You win Oscar pools with below-the-line picks. (After all, everyone is going to have Daniel Day-Lewis winning Best Actor.) Which means it's time to meet Roger Deakins. The "Skyfall" cinematographer is one of the biggest rock stars in his field. He's shot some of the Coen brothers' best work ("No Country for Old Men," "True Grit," "O Brother Where Art Thou?" "The Man Who Wasn't There," "The Big Lebowski" and "Fargo" among others), some of Sam Mendes' best work ("Jarhead," "Revolutionary Road" and the aforementioned "Skyfall"), "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" and "The Shawshank Redemption." This is Deakins' 10th nomination in the category and with the exception of Janusz Kaminski and Robert Richardson, he might be the most well-known DP working in Hollywood. Of course, there's the problem: Deakins is up against both of those guys (Kaminski for "Lincoln"; Richardson for "Django Unchained") in the Best Cinematography category, plus Claudio Miranda, who is favored to win for "Life of Pi." Deakins has only a 5.2 percent chance of winning per our dashboard, yet I'm going all-in on Roger: "Skyfall" was pretty beloved by Hollywood (it has five total nominations), and rewarding someone who so deserves an Oscar in a year without a slam-dunk winner (despite the percentages) just feels right. -- Christopher Rosen

Greg P. Russell, Best Sound Mixing

As stated above, you win Oscar pools in the trenches. Greg P. Russell has 16 Oscar nominations to his name ... and zero wins. He's like Deakins on snub steroids! This year, Russell is nominated for "Skyfall," so the same theory about Deakins possibly winning seems to hold true here as well: The AMPAS loved "Skyfall" and Russell is due. Overdue. Over-overdue. "Les Miserables" is way out in front according to our dashboard, but if anyone can upset those plucky live singers, it's James Bond. -- C.R.

"Lincoln," Best Picture

Now, now, now. Conventional wisdom and statistical analysis has "Argo" flying away (one last time for that reference) with Best Picture. According to our Oscar Predictions Dashboard, "Argo" has a 94 percent chance of winning on Sunday night, owing to the fact that it won precursor awards from nearly every guild, while "Lincoln" was shut out. "Argo" is winning Best Picture on Sunday night, says everyone -- except what if it doesn't? What if "Argo" really is "Apollo 13," and "Lincoln" is "Braveheart." Or "Lincoln" is "Crash." Or "Lincoln" is "Shakespeare in Love." Some Oscar pundits have unfavorably compared "Argo" to those films -- it could be the weakest Best Picture winner since "Crash," which only won two other Oscars -- but what if it's "Lincoln" that plays spoiler? It could happen, if only because the AMPAS is a crusty institution and its members were clearly more infatuated with "Lincoln" than with "Argo," at least judging by nomination totals. ("Lincoln" leads all films with 12.) Maybe we've all be wrong. Maybe "Lincoln" is the consensus. Maybe it surprises on Oscar night. Las Vegas has "Lincoln" with 9:5 odds at winning Best Picture. Let's just say that number is enticing. -- C.R.

Don't rely on bloviating pundits to tell you who'll prevail on Hollywood's big night. The Huffington Post crunched the stats on every Oscar nominee of the past 30 years to produce a scientific metric for predicting the winners at the 2013 Academy Awards. Results here.

EARLIER:
Sept. 17, 2012: Has Harvey Weinstein Already Taken Over Oscar Season?
Sept. 24, 2012: Will 'Les Miserables' Dream A Dream Of Oscar Gold?
Oct. 1, 2012: Will 'Life Of Pi' Roar At The Oscars?
Oct. 8, 2012: Will 'Lincoln' Reach Higher Office?
Oct. 15, 2012: Is 'Argo' The Clear Front-Runner?
Oct. 22, 2012: Should 'The Hunger Games' Get Nominated For Best Picture?
Nov. 5, 2012: Can Denzel Washington Win Best Actor?
Nov. 13, 2012: Can 'Skyfall' Crash The Academy Awards?
Nov. 20, 2012: Has 'Lincoln' Become The Front-Runner?
Nov. 27, 2012: Is 'Zero Dark Thirty A Serious Contender?
Dec. 4, 2012: Reading The Critics Groups' Tea Leaves
Dec. 11, 2012: Predicting The Golden Globes
Dec. 18, 2012: Which Smear Campaigns Could Actually Work?
Dec. 24, 2012: Will Torture Debate Hurt 'Zero Dark Thirty'?
Jan. 1, 2013: Oscar E-Voting Causing Problems
Jan. 8, 2013: Oscar Predictions!
Jan. 15, 2013: Will The Golden Globes Affect The Oscars?
Jan. 22, 2013: Which Sundance Film Festival Debuts Could Impact The 2014 Oscar Race?
Jan. 29, 2013: Is 'Argo' The Front-Runner? (Yes)
Jan. 31, 2013: Who Will Win At The Academy Awards?
Feb. 4, 2013: Is 'Lincoln' Finished'?
Feb. 12, 2013: A Look At Best Documentary
Feb. 18, 2013: Can 'Silver Linings Playbook' Play Spoiler?

• Best Picture

  "Argo"

• Best Picture

  "Lincoln"

• Best Picture

  "Amour"

• Best Picture

  "Zero Dark Thirty"

• Best Picture

  "Silver Linings Playbook"

• Best Picture

  "Les Miserables"

• Best Picture

  "Life of Pi"

• Best Picture

  "Django Unchained"

• Best Picture

  "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

• Best Actor

  Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"

• Best Actor

  Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"

• Best Actor

  Hugh Jackman, "Les Miserables"

• Best Actor

  Denzel Washington, "Flight"

• Best Actor

  Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"

• Best Actress

  Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"

• Best Actress

  Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"

• Best Actress

  Naomi Watts, "The Impossible"

• Best Actress

  Quvenzhane Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

• Best Actress

  Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"

• Best Supporting Actor

  Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"

• Best Supporting Actor

  Robert De Niro, "Silver Linings Notebook"

• Best Supporting Actor

  Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"

• Best Supporting Actor

  Alan Arkin, "Argo"

• Best Supporting Actor

  Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"

• Best Supporting Actress

  Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"

• Best Supporting Actress

  Sally Field, "Lincoln"

• Best Supporting Actress

  Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"

• Best Supporting Actress

  Amy Adams, "The Master"

• Best Supporting Actress

  Jacki Weaver, "Silver Linings Playbook"

• Best Director

  Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"

• Best Director

  David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"

• Best Director

  Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"

• Best Director

  Michael Haneke, "Amour"

• Best Director

  Behn Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

• Best Animated Feature Film

  "Brave"

• Best Animated Feature Film

  "Frankenweenie"

• Best Animated Feature Film

  "ParaNorman"

• Best Animated Feature Film

  "The Pirates! Band of Misfits"

• Best Animated Feature Film

  "Wreck-It Ralph"

?

Follow Michael Hogan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/m1keh0gan

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-hogan/oscar-pool_b_2749298.html

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Help! Galaxy s3 fubar

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Help! Galaxy s3 fubar

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I updated CM10 on my AT&T Galaxy S3 to the 4.2.1 version from the 4.1.1 version and it worked fine except I lost all my contacts, so then I found out that I needed to flash Gapps, which I did but then as soon as I booted the phone it wouldn't load and kept telling me all the Gapps stuff has stopped working so then I made it to the settings screen and then reboot into recovery and reflashed the CM10 nightly and now the phone won't boot past the rotating CyanogenMod logo and recovery won't work and nor will download mode. I have no idea what to do and I am going nuts as I need the phone tomorrow. PLEASE HELP.

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Source: http://androidforums.com/t-galaxy-s3-all-things-root/692036-help-galaxy-s3-fubar.html

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Grief besets family of Pistorius' slain girlfriend

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, right, and his sister Aimee, left, are driven to a relatives home in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. Pistorius was released on bail and will return to court June, 4, 2013 to face charge a charge of pre-meditated murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. (AP Photo/Nelius Rademan-FOTO24-Beeld) SOUTH AFRICA OUT NO SALES. NO ARCHIVE, ONLINE OUT MAGAZINES OUT INTERNET OUT TV OUT

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, right, and his sister Aimee, left, are driven to a relatives home in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. Pistorius was released on bail and will return to court June, 4, 2013 to face charge a charge of pre-meditated murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. (AP Photo/Nelius Rademan-FOTO24-Beeld) SOUTH AFRICA OUT NO SALES. NO ARCHIVE, ONLINE OUT MAGAZINES OUT INTERNET OUT TV OUT

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius' uncle, Arnold Pistorius, speaks to journalists at the end of the bail hearing at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. Oscar Pistorius was granted bail in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Friday and will return to court June, 4, 2013 to face a charge of pre-meditated murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius' sister Aimee Pistorius looks on during his bail hearing at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. Pistorius was granted bail in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Friday. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

El atleta Oscar Pistorius aparece parado en el tribunal durante la audiencia de fianza por el asesinato de su novia Reeva Steenkamp el viernes, 22 de febrero de 2013, en Pretoria, Sud?frica. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Mike Steenkamp, the uncle of Reeva Steenkamp, centre, speaks to an unidentified man, holding a photo of Reeva, after her funeral in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is charged with the premeditated murder of Steenkamp on Valentine's Day. The defense lawyer says it was an accidental shooting. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Far from the courtroom drama that has gripped South Africa, the family of Oscar Pistorius' slain girlfriend has struggled with its own private deluge of grief, frustration and bewilderment.

The victim's relatives also harbor misgivings about efforts by the Olympian's family to reach out to them with condolences.

Pistorius, meanwhile, spent Saturday at his uncle's home in an affluent suburb of Pretoria, the South African capital, after a judge released him on bail following days of testimony that transfixed South Africa and much of the world. He was charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentine's Day, but the athlete says he killed her accidentally, opening fire after mistaking her for an intruder in his home.

"We are extremely thankful that Oscar is now home," his uncle, Arnold Pistorius, said in a statement that also acknowledged the law must run its course. "What happened has changed our lives irrevocably."

Mike Steenkamp, Reeva's uncle, told The Associated Press that the family of the double-amputee athlete initially did not send condolences or try to contact the bereaved parents, but had since sought to reach out in what he described as a poorly timed way. After Pistorius was released on bail in what amounted to a victory for the defense, Arnold Pistorius said the athlete's family was relieved but also in mourning "with the family" of Reeva Steenkamp.

"Everybody wants to jump up with joy," Mike Steenkamp said, speculating on the mood of Pistorius' family after the judge's decision. "I think it was just done in the wrong context, completely."

A South African newspaper, the Afrikaans-language Beeld, quoted the mother of Reeva Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, law school graduate and participant in a television reality show, as saying the family had received a bouquet of flowers and a card from the Pistorius family.

"Yes, but what does it mean? Nothing," June Steenkamp said, according to the Saturday edition of Beeld. She also said Pistorius' family, including sister Aimee, a somber presence on the bench behind the Olympian during his court hearings in the past week, must be "devastated" and had done nothing wrong.

"They are not to blame," June Steenkamp said. According to Beeld, she said she had hoped to plan a wedding for her daughter one day.

In an affidavit, 26-year-old Oscar Pistorius said he was "absolutely mortified" by the death of "my beloved Reeva," and he frequently sobbed in court during the several days during which his bail application was considered. However, prosecutor Gerrie Nel, suggested in a scathing criticism that Pistorius was actually distraught because his vaunted career was now in peril and he was in grave trouble with the law.

"It doesn't matter how much money he has and how good his legal team is, he will have to live with his conscience if he allows his legal team to lie for him," Barry Steenkamp, Reeva's father, told Beeld .

"But if he is telling the truth, then perhaps I can forgive him one day," the father said. "If it didn't happen the way he said it did, he must suffer, and he will suffer ... only he knows."

Barry Steenkamp suffered "heavy trauma" at the loss of his daughter and his remarks to the newspaper partly reflect how he is working through it, said his brother, Mike Steenkamp.

Steenkamp was cremated in a funeral ceremony on Feb. 19 in her family's hometown of Port Elizabeth on South Africa's southern coast. Mike Steenkamp delivered a statement about the family's grief to television cameras, at one point breaking down in tears.

The three-story house where Pistorius is staying with his aunt and uncle lies on a hill with a view of Pretoria. It has a large swimming pool and an immaculate garden.

Pistorius was born without fibula bones due to a congenital defect and had his legs amputated at 11 months. He has run on carbon-fiber blades and was originally banned from competing against able-bodied peers because many argued that his blades gave him an unfair advantage. He was later cleared to compete. He is multiple Paralympic medalist, but he failed to win a medal at the London Olympics, where he ran in the 400 meters and on South Africa's 4x400 relay team.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-23-Pistorius-Shooting/id-77a2c546ba9a46baa2e62fbb099b132f

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