Liberty Newspost Mar-21-10

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Racial overtones at healthcare protest Bill Trott (Front Row Washington) Submitted at 3/20/2010 7:09:51 PM

The protests against healthcare reform took an ugly turn on Saturday. Black congressmen told reporters that demonstrators called them the N-word and one representative said he was spat upon.

“This is not the first time the congressman has been called the N-word and certainly not the worst assault he has endured in his years fighting for equal rights for all Americans,” said a statement from the office of Democratic Representative Emanuel Cleaver.

“That being said, he is disappointed that in the 21st century our national discourse has devolved to the point of name-calling and spitting.”

The statement said the man

suspected of spitting on Cleaver was quickly arrested by police but that the congressman would not press charges.

The confrontations came as Democratic House members were going to the Capitol to hear President Barack Obama rally members to vote for the

healthcare overhaul, which Democratic leaders predict will be passed in a House vote on Sunday. A crowd of at least 100 loud, sign-toting protesters gathered around the representatives.

“I heard people saying things today I have not heard since

March 15, 1960, when I was marching to try to get off the back of the bus,” Representative Jim Clyburn was quoted as saying on politico.com. “It was shocking to me.”

Representative John Lewis, who was severely beaten during a 1965 civil rights march, was among those harassed and called the N-word by protesters as they shouted, “Kill the bill,” according to The Washington Post.

“It was like a page out of a time machine,” Representative Andre Carson, who accompanied Lewis, told reporters.

Photo credit: Reuters/Mike Segar (Representative John Lewis in a file photo taken during the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver)

First child to receive stem-cell transplant surgery (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 3/20/2010 12:25:30 PM

A ten-year-old boy in Britain was the first child to undergo a stem-cell transplant. The boy received the scaffold of a windpipe from a dead donor.

His stem cells were injected in the windpipe before the transplant.

The procedure will trigger regrowth of a normal transplant without, hopefully, his body rejecting the windpipe. The ultimate goal is for regenerative growth from a patient’s own stem cells to reduce the need for transplant surgery.

Full story at Telegraph.

More on science.

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says she will vote for health bill (AP) 47 seconds ago 2010-0321T10:49:23-07:00

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Now President Obama must show he has the courage to take Israel on | Chris McGreal Chris McGreal (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk)

that the United Nations is a conspiracy against the Jewish state.

In all of this, the US emerges as Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:09:30 AM The US finally seems to be the least distrusted country by l o s i n g p a t i e n c e n o w t h a t far (Britain commands a much N e t a n y a h u ' s b e h a v i o u r i s lower level of confidence). endangering its troops Israelis recognise that they have Talk about Israel to all but its long counted on Washington to most severe critics in America pay a good chunk of their and whatever they say it's likely military budget and provide to be underpinned by an diplomatic cover for the assumption that the US is the illegalities of occupation.But Jewish state's best friend. that is a far cry from trust, and Doubts may emerge about Gaza w h a t t h e r e w a s h a s b e e n a n d s e t t l e m e n t s b u t a n y severely eroded since Barack criticism is invariably wrapped Obama came to power as in the assumption that the US America catches up with the has Israel's interests, particularly idea that Israeli government its security, at heart. It's not policies do not automatically surprising given that American equate with what is in Israel's politicians pledge their loyalty interests or the promotion of to the Jewish state over and peace. over, and mean it.

That distinction has finally They see things differently in burst forth with the crisis over J e r u s a l e m . I n a c o u n t r y settlement building in East p e r m e a t e d b y f e a r a n d Jerusalem, exposing how far insecurity, Israelis define the American political thinking has rest of the world not by loyalties already shifted and the depth of but by varying degrees of Israel's prime minister Binyamin distrust. You can hear it among N e t a n y a h u ' s f a i l u r e t o residents of Jewish settlements understand it. To the alarm of deep in the occupied territories some Israeli leaders, what they and in the cafes of liberal Tel regarded as a minor diplomatic Aviv: angst over the perception blunder in announcing yet more of a new wave of antisemitism ethnically exclusive housing in g r i p p i n g E u r o p e , t h e East Jerusalem has resulted not incomprehension over foreign only in unusually forceful condemnation of Israel's crimes criticism from Washington, but in Gaza, the common agreement t h e d i s t u r b i n g a n d

unprecedented assertion by the White House that Israeli policies are jeopardising American interests and even endangering the lives of US soldier fighting in the Middle East. In days, the Israeli government has seen itself repositioned from valuable US ally in the war on terror to where it really belongs – as the primary obstacle to peace.

It was always striking to watch the smugness with which Israeli politicians sold Americans the idea that the only issue in considering the conflict with the Palestinians was what Ariel Sharon called, with deeply rolling Rs, the "tehrroar". The ever-expanding Jewish settlements, the annexing of land, expulsion of Palestinians, the killings of Arab children, the crimes of occupation, were discarded as an irrelevance. No one in George Bush's White House cared to challenge Sharon on that.

In Israel, ordinary people almost seemed programmed to repeat the wearying mantra that all the Jewish state ever wanted was peace but that all it ever got in return was blood and killing.

That was a comfortable position for Israelis who, all too understandably at the height of the suicide bombings, found it difficult to reflect on why Palestinians might be blowing

themselves up. But the myth of the relentless search for peace was important to the efforts of Sharon and Netanyahu to ensure that Americans did not call them on policies that deliberately or not – mostly deliberately – sabotaged its ever-diminishing prospects. Nowhere was this more clear than over the ever growing settlements.

Israel's apologists would have the world believe that the construction of homes solely for Jews in the occupied territories had no impact on the peace process and that the issue would be resolved in final status talks.

But settlement construction is a litmus test of Israeli government intent because it is constantly changing the picture on the ground. The number of Jewish settlers in the West Bank has more doubled since the Oslo peace accords were signed in 1993. How is it possible to see that as anything but an attempt to preempt an agreement on Palestine's borders?

Watching Israel's barrier carve its way through Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem and the West Bank, its real intent was all too evident. The clues lay in the twists and turns that separated Palestinian villages from land then delivered up to Jewish settlers.

As the barrier went up, there

was barely a peep of protest from Washington.

But the ground has also shifted in America. The unconditional support for the Jewish state has been eroding in critical areas.

Nowhere is that clearer than among American Jews, many of whom stayed quiet for so long out of loyalty to the country of Israel and Zionism, even as they grew increasingly disturbed at what was being done in their name by the militarists in Jerusalem.

In Washington, a group of Jews broke the taboo against criticising Israeli policy and launched J Street, an organisation that believes Israel's security lies in a just peace with the Palestinians.

Founded by Jeremy Ben-Ami, a former domestic policy adviser to Bill Clinton with Israeli parents, it drew the backing of an array of community leaders, activists and academics. It reflects the doubts held by a significant proportion of American Jews about Jerusalem's militarist policies and, in particular, the deeprooted obsession with settlements. Those doubts were heard and shared in the White House. The government in Jerusalem has been slow to NOW page 11

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Memo to US: only fools rush in | Sarah Anderson Sarah Anderson (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk)

10 March that the administration is very close to having model treaty text.

Similar to the investment Submitted at 3/21/2010 8:00:01 AM If negotiators aren't careful, a c h a p t e r s i n U S t r a d e US-China investment treaty agreements, BITs give foreign could prove as explosive as investors the right to bypass currency manipulation or domestic courts and sue climate change governments in international US diplomats are no doubt arbitration tribunals. eager to find something – The United States has been at anything – on which the Obama limited risk of being the target administration and China can of such "investor-state" lawsuits agree. So perhaps it should because its 40 current treaty come as no surprise that they p a r t n e r s a r e n e a r l y a l l appear eager to make progress developing economies with little in the seemingly sleepy arena of investment in the US market. bilateral investment treaty (BIT) This lopsidedness has created a negotiations. one-way street in favour of US It's true these deals haven't corporations operating abroad. grabbed headlines in the past, The China negotiations could but if US officials aren't careful, c h a n g e a l l t h a t . C h i n e s e this one could become as investors have ploughed billions explosive as current redhot i n t o t h e U S e c o n o m y , issues with China, such as particularly in the financial c u r r e n c y m a n i p u l a t i o n , industry. Under a treaty based computer hacking, and climate o n c u r r e n t m o d e l s , t h e s e change. investors would have standing It was President Bush who to sue the US government over launched the US-China BIT breaches of a long list of host n e g o t i a t i o n s . T h e n l a s t government obligations.

November, Presidents Barack Of particular relevance to the O b a m a a n d H u J i n t a o China BIT is the obligation to a n n o u n c e d t h e y w o u l d provide foreign investors "fair "expedite" them. According to and equitable treatment." In Inside US Trade, undersecretary some cases, tribunals have of state Robert Hormats said on interpreted these vague terms to

mean that a government must provide a stable and predictable regulatory environment. On this basis, they have ordered governments to pay compensation to investors who claimed that changes in regulations or tax policies had made their investments less valuable.

At a time when our regulations have just failed to prevent the worst financial crisis in nearly 80 years, predictability should not be a top priority. And indeed, the Obama administration is pursuing reforms that would have been quite unpredictable two years ago and which would strike at least a short-term blow to some Chinese investments.

Take, for example, the nearly 10% stake in Morgan Stanley held by China Investment Corporation (CIC), a sovereign wealth fund. Recently, Goldman Sachs researchers estimated that proposed regulatory reforms could reduce Morgan Stanley's annual earnings by 15%.

President Obama's plan for a Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee could cost the firm $800m, they predict, while the proposed "Volcker rule" to prohibit proprietary trading by banks

could cost another $600m per year.

Could Chinese investors use a bilateral investment treaty to undermine such US financial reforms? Legal experts are divided. Some argue that a provision in current US treaties gives sufficient protection against claims related to financial stability measures.

Others, such as Professor Robert Stumberg, director of the Harrison Institute for Public Law at Georgetown University, disagrees, pointing to language in the same provision that arbitrators could interpret as a self-cancelling loophole.

If the ambiguity isn't fixed, investors could file their claims before a tribunal and let the commercial arbitrators decide. If the government lost, they'd have two choices: repeal the reform or pay off the foreign investors.

Neither option would be a winner with the American public.

Last year, I served on an advisory committee representing business associations, labour unions, environmental groups, and other investment experts which unanimously recommended that the administration conduct a legal

How gaming can make the world a better place (Holy Kaw!)

Jane McGonigal of the Institute of the Future explains how

gaming can make the world a better place.

More on gaming.

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analysis of this matter. Nine of us went further to call for a whole new approach to BITs, including the replacement of the investor-state dispute mechanism with a governmentto-government one. It's our view that the current system simply gives foreign investors – including US corporations operating abroad – way too much power.

Negotiators need to keep in mind that BITs are like straitjackets, with rules locked in for a minimum of 20 years.

With US leaders struggling to fix our broken financial system, this is no time to rush into a deal we'll be stuck with for decades to come.

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Revealed: Labour’s cash for influence scandal (Top stories from Times Online)

gang” of colleagues on behalf of clients. Among those she named were: Jacqui Smith, the former Submitted at 3/21/2010 9:05:14 AM home secretary; Hazel Blears, A FORMER Labour cabinet t h e f o r m e r c o m m u n i t i e s minister has boasted about how secretary; and Harriet Harman, h e u s e d h i s g o v e r n m e n t the deputy leader of the Labour contacts to change policies in party. favour of businesses.

The interviews were part of a Stephen Byers, former trade joint investigation by The and transport secretary, was Sunday Times and Channel 4’s secretly recorded offering Dispatches programme in which himself “like a sort of cab for 13 Labour MPs and seven hire” for up £5,000 a day. He Conservatives were approached. also suggested bringing Tony The disclosures will raise Blair to meet clients. questions about the relationship H e w a s a m o n g s e v e r a l between the large number of politicians recorded by an MPs leaving parliament next undercover reporter posing as a month and their contacts who company executive looking to remain in government. It comes hire MPs for lobbying work. after David Cameron, the The others included: Conservative leader, last month - Patricia Hewitt, a former said that lobbying was the next health secretary, who claimed political scandal waiting to she helped to obtain a key seat happen. on a government advisory group Byers, who held three cabinet for a client paying her £3,000 a portfolios from 1998 to 2002, day. gave specific examples of how - Geoff Hoon, the former he claimed he had changed defence secretary, offered to government policy by lobbying lead delegations to ministers his cabinet friends. and told the reporter that he was He claimed to have struck a looking to turn his knowledge secret deal with Lord Adonis, and contacts into “something the transport secretary, last year that frankly makes money”. He on behalf of National Express, said he charged £3,000 a day. which he said was seeking to - Margaret Moran, the Luton jettison a loss-making East MP who was forced to pay back Coast rail franchise without £22,500 in expenses, boasted penalties. Byers said: “We that she could ring a “girls’ agreed with Andrew ... he would

be publicly very critical of National Express” as long as he agreed terms which favoured the company. The decision to terminate the franchise in July last year left a burden on the taxpayer of hundreds of millions of pounds.

Byers also claimed he could use his friendship with Lord Mandelson, the business secretary, as his “trump card” to squash government plans that did not suit his clients.

On one occasion Byers says he phoned Mandelson to put a stop to “massively bureaucratic” food labelling regulations after he had been contacted by Tesco. “Peter got it delayed and then got it amended,” Byers said. He also boasted he could get confidential information from Downing Street and could help firms which were pricefixing to get around the law.

On Friday Byers issued a statement saying that he had “exaggerated” his claims and had retracted them the day after the meeting in an email. Tesco denied any deal.

Lord Adonis and National Express denied there was any deal. However, a source close to Richard Bowker, who was chief executive at the time, said that the Byers version given to the undercover reporter was “pretty accurate”.

Hewitt offered a service helping clients to influence legislation.

“If you’ve got a client who needs a particular regulation removed, then we can often package that up [for a minister],” she said.

On Friday Hewitt issued a statement saying she was offering to do the work only after she left the Commons. “I am always willing to give advice to companies who have something positive to offer our country,” she said.

Hoon revealed that he had already been offered a chairmanship of a foreign defence firm for an “embarrassing” amount of money. While making clear that he did not want a job that was predominantly lobbying, he offered to find out information on the defence policy from civil servants and said he would introduce fee-paying clients to ministers.

On Friday a lawyer for Hoon said his comments had been misrepresented and he denied ever offering to give confidential information.

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Bangladeshi man beheaded to redden bricks (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news) Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:02:36 AM

Published: 5:02PM GMT 21 Mar 2010 Four suspects were arrested for murdering the 26-year-old bricklayer in a remote town in northern Bangladesh on the instructions of the brick-field's owners, said Golam Sarwar Bhuiyan, a local police chief.

"They said the owners were unhappy as the brick-field was not producing reddish bricks despite enough heating. A fortune teller then suggested that the brick-field needed a human sacrifice," he said.

Police were searching for the owners and the fortune teller, he added.

Red bricks are in huge demand in Bangladesh's countryside as the colour is seen as proof the bricks have been baked properly.

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US Democrats predict historic health bill will pass (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news)

would clamp down on the insurance industry and make forecast savings of $1.3 trillion over the next 20 years In the hours before the vote, Submitted at 3/21/2010 9:50:45 AM Published: 4:50PM GMT 21 House Democratic leaders were Mar 2010 still trying to nail down Democratic leaders in the commitments from a handful of House of Representatives members, some of whom predicted that a rare Sunday remained concerned about the session will produce one of the abortion issue. most significant legislative " T h e r e a r e s t i l l m e m b e r s triumphs in decades: passage looking at it and trying to make of a landmark bill to overhaul up their minds," House the U.S. health care system to Democratic leader Steny Hoyer provide coverage to millions of said on NBC television's "Meet people who currently lack it. the Press" in the hours before President Barack Obama, who the vote. He added that the campaigned on a platform of holdouts numbered in "the low change, has made health care single digits." reform his top domestic priority "We think there are going to be and the defining issue of his 216-plus votes when we call the first year in office, setting off a roll," Hoyer said, enough to tumultuous debate that has left ensure the measure's passage. the country deeply divided.

Republicans attributed the If passed, the reform is likely to caution to public controversy be judged alongside the boldest over the plan, which played acts of presidents and out in angry protests at the Congress in domestic affairs. doorstep of the Capitol during While national health care has the House of Representatives' long been a goal of presidents rare weekend session. stretching back decades, it has The last-minute holdouts gave proved elusive, in part because the House vote scheduled self-reliance and suspicion of a S u n d a y a m e a s u r e o f strong central government suspense, despite the Democrats' remain strong in the U.S. optimism. House Democratic The House of Representatives Caucus Chairman John Larson is due to vote on a bill that stopped just short of declaring

victory.

"We have the votes now — as we speak," Larson said on ABC's "This Week."

Republicans remain resolutely opposed to the legislation and warned they will make Democrats pay dearly in the fall elections when control of Congress is at stake if the fiercely debated measure becomes law. Republicans contend the plan amounts to a government takeover of health care that will lead to higher deficits and taxes.

"The American people don't want this to pass. The Republicans don't want this to pass. There will be no Republican votes for this bill," Rep. Eric Cantor, the House's second-ranking Republican, told ABC. With Obama's emotional appeal from Saturday ringing in their ears, House Democratic leaders prepared for three showdown votes when they convene at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) and begin voting an hour later.

Democrats need 216 votes to pass each one. With all 178 Republicans and at least two dozen Democrats vowing to vote no, the legislation's fate lay in the hands of the few

Democrats who remained uncommitted ahead of Sunday's vote.

The United States is alone among developed nations in not offering its citizens comprehensive health care, with nearly 50 million Americans uninsured.

Although the bill before Congress does not provide universal health care, it should expand coverage to about 95 percent of Americans. It would require most Americans to carry insurance with subsidies for those who can't afford it, expand the government-run Medicaid program for the poor, and create new marketplaces where self-employed people and small businesses can pool together to buy health care.

The 10-year, $940 billion measure represents the biggest expansion of the social safety net since Medicare and Medicaid were enacted in the 1960s to provide governmentfunded health care coverage to the elderly and poor.

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Onion: New Relationship Book Reveals Presence of Shapeshifters (Little Green Footballs)

[Video]

30 dumb inventions (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 3/20/2010 2:37:00 PM

For every brilliant, revolutionary invention, there are about a million that just don’t quite have the same effect.

Here is Life’s great compilation of thirty dumb inventions. See a few below: The yodel meter, 1925. It measures the pitch of the human yodel, and it encourages the most annoying act a human can perform.

The baby cage, 1937. In a highstorey home, women have no gardens, or qualms about putting their child in a box dangling over a busy street.

The cigarette holder built for two, 1955. Because who said lung disease wasn’t romantic?

See all thirty questionable contraptions at Life.

Get your weird on with more oddities.

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Union boss attacks BA ‘spin’ of more than 1,000 staff breaking strike (Top stories from Times Online) Submitted at 3/21/2010 6:16:00 AM

BA today insisted that more cabin crew than expected had turned out to defy the three-day strike.

It said that 1,157 cabin crew had ignored the first day of the stoppage yesterday and reported for duty. It added that it had reinstated flights this morning and was flying almost 50,000 passengers to destinations around the world.

However, the Unite union, whose members have gone out on strike in a bitter dispute over changes to working practices, insists that most staff have refused to work on BA aircraft.

Tony Woodley, the joint general secretary of the union, said: “Contrary to the spin from [BA] about this strike collapsing, only five cabin crew have broken ranks and 80 have gone sick.”

Mr Woodley today wrote to BA cabin crew, congratulating them on their “magnificent” support for the strike, which is due to be

followed by a four day walkout from next Saturday. He urged them to “stay strong, be brave, don’t be intimidated”.

Negotiations between BA and Unite broke down last week when Willie Walsh, the head of BA, tabled a last-minute deal that was dismissed as “derisory” by the union’s leadership.

Heathrow bore the brunt of the disruption today, the second day of the strike. Scores of BA jets were grounded at its engineering depot. BA's main passenger terminal, T5, was quiet as the company operated its limited schedule.

There were no queues, as BA sent e-mails and text messages to passengers on more than 1,000 flights that have been cancelled this weekend warning them not to turn up at the airport.

Many of the flights that were operating arrived early, having avoided the usual air traffic control delays at what is usually a highly congested airport.

Striking cabin crew members manned picket lines at four points around the airport

perimeter.

They waved the red flag of the Unite union but the atmosphere was decidedly Middle England, rather than militant Labour. “I am from Henley-on-Thames.

My Mum won't be pleased," one air hostess said.

A senior cabin crew purser, with 26 years at BA, said: “No one wants to be here. We want to be working but we feel we have nothing else to lose.”

The Tories have pounced on the strike, accusing Gordon Brown of failing to act and Labour of being under the thumb of Unite, the party’s largest financial backer. In Conservative billboard posters unveiled on Saturday the Prime Minister is pictured in a pilot’s uniform above the slogan “Gordon’s doing sweet BA”.

Unions around the world have promised to support Unite in its dispute. However, BA said this morning that none of its flights had been disrupted overseas.

It said in a statement: “Our contingency plans are continuing to work well on Sunday morning around the

world. There has been no evidence of industrial action at any overseas airport directed at British Airways flights. Our planned schedule of departures at Heathrow and Gatwick is also continuing to work well.”

BA has warned that any employees who go on strike will have their travel perks withdrawn. At present staff pay just 10 per cent of normal fares to travel standby on BA flights.

Unite will today appeal directly to the BA board to intervene in the dispute. “I am now appealing to the BA chairman and sensible members of the board to use their influence, put passengers first, and return to the negotiating table for the good of everyone,” Mr Woodley said.

“It is quite obvious this strike is in no one’s interest. We need a negotiated settlement.”

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Tea Partiers Threatening Violence? Where?

(Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:16:00 AM

Right here. These signs were at

yesterday’s sparsely attended demonstration in Washington DC. And yes, that’s Barack Obama

from a donkey’s ass.

(Hat tip: Gus 802.) with a Hitler mustache emerging

How to work less and do better (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 3/20/2010 2:04:00 PM

Think pulling all-nighters in your office, bringing work home with you, and never releasing that clutch of death on your Blackberry is the only way to succeed in your job? Wrong.

According to a recently published Harvard Business Review study, that ‘always on’ work ethic is probably doing you more harm than good.

Working more efficiently and taking designated time off each week can actually improve your attitude in the office, your dialogue among team members, and it can also help spark new innovative processes.

Learn how to work less and do better at Open Forum.

Lifehacks make like easier.

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Park Ji Sung returns United to the summit (Top stories from Times Online)

Ferguson fielded what looked a conservative line-up, keeping Dimitar Berbatov on the bench Submitted at 3/21/2010 8:40:03 AM and picking Wayne Rooney Sir Alex Ferguson has struggled alone in attack in front of fivein recent battles with Rafael man in midfield - a formation B e n i t e z b u t t h i s v i c t o r y similar to Liverpool's. provided decisive vindication of The formation required the t h e M a n c h e s t e r U n i t e d energetic pair of Darren Fletcher manager's tactical acumen. and Park Ji Sung to support Aiming to avoid a fourth Rooney, which they did with s t r a i g h t d e f e a t a g a i n s t much industry but limited Liverpool, Ferguson's side subtlety. Nonetheless, those looked much the superior from three combined for the winning the moment they were forced to goal when Rooney fed Fletcher fight back after Fernando on the right flank and Park met Torres had scored with an the Scottish international's excellent fifth-minute header. outswinging cross with a strong In a victory that puts United top diving header. of the Premier League and Torres had put Liverpool ahead severely dents Rafael Benitez's with a clinical header after five hopes of Champions League minutes. Cutting inside his qualification, the host side m a r k e r , t h e f o r w a r d r o s e outpassed their opponents and superbly to meet Dirk Kuyt's were far more incisive in attack. cross after the Dutchman had As they have occasionally of been released down the right late, they wobbled in defence flank by Steven Gerrard. b u t w e r e r e p r i e v e d b y United quickly cancelled out Liverpool's proligacy in front of the advantage once Javier goal.

Mascherano fouled Antonio

Valencia as he ran into the penalty area. With the Argentinian booked, Rooney converted the rebound after Jose Reina had saved his spot kick.

Ferguson had expressed sympathy with Benitez's situation at Liverpool before the game but he showed no understanding for his counterpart's frustrations when they confronted one another after the goal.

Benitez was annoyed because Mascherano's challenge appeared to begin outside the box - replays, though, suggested the official was right - while Ferguson had protested that the player was not sent off.

Park had a good chance to put United ahead 12 minutes later when he was left unmarked in the penalty area and Antonio Valencia found him with an outswinging cross. The Korean, however, directed a soft header wide.

As United took control and Liverpool sat deep, Torres was

booked for a foul on Park despite the Spaniard's suggestion that his opponent had dived. Jamie Carragher was similarly incredulous - without apparent justification - when he was yellow-carded for a foul on Rooney on the edge of the box shortly before the interval. The forward's weak free kick was easily saved.

A moment later, Gerrard found Torres in a goalscoring position but the Spaniard squandered possession with an unusally poor touch, just as he did with an excellent chance shortly before the end.

Unmarked by the penalty spot, Torres was deceived by a bad bounce and scooped the ball into the air. Yossi Benayoun intervened but headed lamely at Reina to ensure United had the victory they deserved.

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Obama's In the House (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 3/20/2010 12:49:21 PM

President Obama is about to address the House of Representatives about health care reform; you can watch live over the web at this page on CSPAN.

SXSW Scenes: Hot Dogs, Hare Krishna and Rock Lewis Wallace (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 3/20/2010 2:33:00 PM

Characters of every stripe fill the streets of Austin, Texas, during the annual South by Southwest music festival. Oh, and there are some bands, too.

Eddie Lampert Might Want to Choke Someone Gary E. Sattler (BloggingStocks)

coupon offering went viral for Kmart. The bad news is that it wasn't supposed to.

Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:10:00 AM Cue the face-palms as Filed under: Management, executives for Sears Holdings C o n s u m e r E x p e r i e n c e , Corp. ( SHLD), parent of Marketing and Advertising, Kmart, decide the best method Sears Holdings (SHLD) for damage control after at least The good news is, an Internet o n e K m a r t s t o r e m a n a g e r

allegedly accused a customer of fraud when attempting to use

what appeared to be, or should have been, a legitimate store coupon.

Continue reading Eddie Lampert Might Want to Choke Someone Eddie Lampert Might Want to Choke Someone originally appeared on BloggingStocks on

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British girl killed by car on Florida beach Haroon Siddique (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk)

centre of the car. Everyone panicked. Everyone started screaming."

The Florida highway patrol said Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:19:45 AM Ellie Bland, 4, in fatal accident Ellie was struck by the car and on Daytona beach while on that people had shouted for the holiday driver to stop as the four-yearA four-year-old British girl on a old lay in front of the vehicle. family holiday died after being But after coming to a halt, the hit by a car on a Florida beach at driver appeared to panic. "For the weekend. an unknown reason, the driver Ellie Bland, from Nottingham, panicked and hit the accelerator was walking hand in hand with instead of the brake," police her great-uncle on Daytona said. beach when she was struck by a Ellie died instantly. The driver car just before 3pm on Saturday, was named as 66-year-old according to the Daytona Beach Barbara Worley, from Elberton, News Journal.

Georgia. No arrests have been T h e g r e a t - u n c l e , J o h n made but police said charges Langlands, 53, told the paper were pending. The car had been that Ellie had walked a step travelling in the beach's travel ahead of him when suddenly the lanes below the 10mph speed car, a silver Lincoln, was limit before the accident, "barrelling down" on them, according to the highway patrol. giving him no time to pull her Paying tribute to Ellie, out of the way.

Langlands said she was "a H o l l y H a r d i n g , 1 8 , w h o princess". "She was beautiful," witnessed the accident from her he told the Journal. Her greatcar, said: "She darted into the aunt Karen Langlands, 44, said lane of traffic. She was hit in the the girl had struggled through

medical issues including a heart murmur and digestive tract problems. "She was a quiet little girl," she said. "She'd play in activities at nursery, but she'd rather go off and read a book or a newspaper."

Ellie was on her sixth trip to Florida, accompanied by her five-year-old sister, her greataunt, great-uncle and family friends. Her relatives had planned to take her to Disney's Magic Kingdom yesterday.

Ellie's parents were not on holiday with her and learned of their daughter's death by phone back in England, the Journal reported.

Warm weather had attracted crowds to the beach on Saturday and beach umbrellas were used to shield Ellie's body until it could be removed from the scene.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We can confirm the death of a British national in Florida on 20 March. The next of kin have been informed and we are

providing them with assistance."

Driving on Daytona beach is described as a tradition dating back to the early days of the automobile. Motorists have to pay for a permit during the high season and are advised to watch for pedestrians, sunbathers and wildlife. Many people are opposed to the practice because of the safety risk and Ellie's death is likely to intensify calls for a ban.

The highway patrol said it was not unheard of for people to be hurt by cars on the beach. The Journal said it was Florida's first beach traffic death for 14 years.

• Florida • United States

Palm Can Still Win: Here Are Five Things They Need To Do John C Abell (Wired Top Stories) Submitted at 3/20/2010 10:34:00 AM

Palm tanked after turning in a dismal 3Q earnings report driven by bad smartphone sales.

The good news? The phone is becoming just an app on a smart, portable device. The disruptive contours of that smart, portable device is still in flux, and about to get buffeted again by the release of Apple’s iPad in about two weeks. This is still anybody’s game — heck, if even Google is worried about the next Google, why can’t Palm be the next Palm?

Haroon Siddique guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Deadbeat Stock #6: Amgen (AMGN) Michael Shulman (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 3/21/2010 1:00:00 PM

Filed under: Amgen Inc (AMGN), Stocks to Sell A lot of investors think Amgen( AMGN) is a great next-

generation biotech company.

Wrong. Amgen was a decent last-generation biotech company.

It's terribly managed outfit living on EPO drugs for dialysis and oncology patients. True, it more) drug, Neupogen, but it has a billion dollar (actually could be subject to generic

competition in the United States from TEVA within two years.

Continue reading Deadbeat Stock #6: Amgen (AMGN) Deadbeat Stock #6: Amgen (AMGN) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see

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Iceland prepares for second, more devastating volcanic eruption (Top stories from Times Online)

one kilometre-long fissure.

The original fear was that the volcano had erupted directly Submitted at 3/21/2010 9:49:00 AM underneath the Eyjafjallajokull Iceland is preparing for an even glacier, which could have more powerful and potentially caused glacial melt, flooding destructive volcano after a and mudslides. Instead, the small eruption at the weekend v o l c a n o b l e w i n b e t w e e n shot red-hot molten lava high Eyjafjallajokull and the larger into the sky.

Myrdalsjoekull glacier.

About 500 people were safely However, the danger is that the evacuated from the land close to s m a l l v o l c a n o i s j u s t t h e the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, beginning and that it will which is around 120 kilometres trigger the far more powerful (75 miles) southeast of the volcano of Katla, which nestles c a p i t a l , R e y k j a v i k . T h e beneath Myrdalsjoekull. country's two airports were “That has to be on the table at closed for most of the day and the moment," Dave McGarvie, transatlantic flights re-routed to senior lecturer at the Volcano avoid the risk of ash blocking Dynamics Group of the Open v i s i b i l i t y a n d d e s t r o y i n g University, said. “And it is a engines. much nastier piece of work.”

After circling the spectacular Icelanders agree. "This could eruption in a Civil Defence trigger Katla, which is a vicious a i r c r a f t , F r e y m o d u r volcano that could cause both Sigmundsson, a geophysicist, local and global damage," Pall concluded that the immediate Einarsson, from the University danger was receding and that of Iceland, said. the lava was flowing along a Tremors around Eyjafjallajokull

were first recorded in early March, but precise prediction of volcanic eruption is difficult, even with the high-tech equipment available to Icelandic geologists.

Now that it has happened the only basis for prediction is history — and that does not look good.

"Eyjafjallajokull has blown three times in the past thousand years," Dr McGarvie told The Times, "in 920AD, in 1612 and between 1821 and 1823. Each time it set off Katla." The likelihood of Katla blowing could become clear "in a few weeks or a few months", he said.

Iceland is built on a volcanic rock on the Atlantic's midoceanic ridge and it has grown used to eruptions. The southern village of Vik, close to the current eruption, has for centuries had an escape plan in which everybody runs up to the church, which is built on high

ground. They know that if Katla erupts flooding will follow.

The island's worst eruption in modern times was in 1783, when the Laki volcano blew its top. The lava shot to heights of 1.4 kilometres and more than 120 million tonnes of sulphur dioxide was released into the atmosphere.

A quarter of the island's population died in the resulting famine and it transformed the world, creating Britain's notorious "sand summer", casting a toxic cloud over Prague, playing havoc with harvests in France — sometimes seen as a contributory factor in the French Revolution — and changing the climate so dramatically that New Jersey recorded its largest snowfall and Egypt one of its most enduring droughts.

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Five Best Offline Backup Tools [Hive Five] Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/21/2010 9:00:00 AM

Online backup has many benefits—safety from local catastrophe, storage on professionally maintained servers, etc.—but economy, control, and 100% guaranteed privacy aren't among them.

Check out these five popular tools for making safe and sound local backups. More »

Deadbeat Stock #5: Merck (MRK) Michael Shulman (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 3/21/2010 11:00:00 AM

Filed under: Merck and Co (MRK), Stocks to Sell This declining company lost

patent protection for its statin, Zocor. It has replaced some of these sales with three new drugs, but, in reality, they cannot make up for the lost revenue from Zocor.

Merck's( MRK) revenues are stagnant and the company has a

very weak pipeline. Even if health care reform adds more patients, it will also bring increased pressure to cut prices.

Continue reading Deadbeat Stock #5: Merck (MRK) Deadbeat Stock #5: Merck

(MRK) originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Barack Obama confident he has votes to pass healthcare bill Ewen MacAskill (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk)

Obama was last week reported to have told a meeting of Hispanic members of Congress that the fate of his presidency Submitted at 3/21/2010 8:19:46 AM Democrats claim to have won depended on passage of the bill. over doubters to pass landmark Reform had been the main plank legislation to ensure coverage of his domestic policy on the for 95% of Americans campaign trail.

Democratic party leaders The debate has been divisive, predicted they finally have the spawning the growth of the antivotes in the bag to pass the establishment Tea Party. health reform bill later today, All 178 Republicans promised giving Barack Obama the first to vote against the reform in the major triumph of his presidency House, where the Democrats and offering Americans near have an overwhelming majority. universal coverage.

But there is a bloc of Democrats The goal of universal healthcare who were reluctant to support coverage has eluded Obama's the bill, either because of the predecessors for more than a costs of reform, estimated at century. $940bn (£626bn), or because Congressman John Larson, they objected the possibility of c h a i r m a n o f t h e H o u s e public funding for abortion.

Democratic caucus, said the Passage by the House virtually party had the 216 votes needed ensures the bill will become to pass the bill, which has been law. But it has to go back to the debated for more than a year Senate this week for further and has several times looked as votes. The Democrats, who have if it might collapse.

59 votes in the 100-member After days of lobbying by the chamber, only require a majority Democratic leadership and an of 51. impassioned plea to Democratic The bill will expand healthcare members of Congress yesterday t o a f u r t h e r 3 2 m i l l i o n

by Obama, Larson told ABC Americans, giving the country News: "We have the votes now 95% health coverage. as we speak."

It would require most

Americans to carry insurance with subsidies for those who can't afford it, expand the government-run Medicaid programme for the poor, and create new marketplaces where self-employed people and small businesses can pool together to buy healthcare.

In Obama's emotional speech to Democrats on Capitol Hill yesterday,he said: "I know this is a tough vote," adding that he also believed "it will end up being the smart thing to do politically".

"It is in your hands," Obama said. "It is time to pass healthcare reform for America and I am confident that you are going to do it tomorrow."

• US politics • Barack Obama • Obama administration • United States Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

Anna Nicole Smith estate loses court appeal over billionaire's will (World news: United States | guardian.co.uk)

against the latest ruling, possibly to the supreme court, on different issues than those it first Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:01:30 AM considered.

Court of appeals backs Houston "It really is a unique decision," jury that said J Howard Marshall Richland said. "We have to take was mentally fit when he wrote it farther." will leaving nearly all his state The younger Marshall's widow to his son and nothing to Smith and two sons said they hoped The Texan billionaire who the legal battle was close to married Anna Nicole Smith in ending. "Our only wish would the last year of his life never be that Pierce were here to see intended to leave her any part of his vindication," the family said his fortune, a federal appeals in a statement. court has ruled.

The decision – if it is upheld – The ninth US circuit court of is bad news for Smith's exappeals backed a Houston jury boyfriend Larry Birkhead and that said J Howard Marshall was their three-year-old daughter, mentally fit and under no undue Dannielynn. pressure when he wrote a will The child was named Smith's leaving nearly all his $1.6bn heir in 2008 after she died at the (£1bn) estate to his son, E Pierce age of 39 of a drug overdose at a Marshall, and nothing to Smith. Florida hotel.

Friday's ruling was the latest Birkhead and lawyer Howard K development in a 15-year battle. Stern were placed in charge of Smith, who died in 2008, Smith's estate. Neither returned claimed Marshall had promised calls seeking comment. her more than $300m • Anna Nicole Smith The battle between Smith and • United States Marshall started in a Houston probate court and continued to guardian.co.uk© Guardian the US supreme court, outliving News & Media Limited 2010 | the two combatants. It may Use of this content is subject to reach the high court again. our Terms & Conditions| More Kent Richland, a lawyer for Feeds Smith's estate vowed to appeal

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Pakistan looks to British diplomatic help for EU free trade deal (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news) Submitted at 3/21/2010 9:48:25 AM

by Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Published: 4:48PM GMT 21 Mar 2010 Officials said that Pakistan was struggling to cope with the cost of fighting alongside the West against the Taliban while billion pound aid packages "were not having an impact".

Its diplomats have sought British support as the country targets three key concessions from EU leaders at the meeting in April.

Pakistan hopes to gain a three year deal on duty and quota free exports to the EU, a status that was granted to Pakistan in 2002 but expired in 2005. The concession would boost the country's all important cotton industry - the largest employer and was estimated to be worth $10 billion (£6 billion) a year when it was last extended.

In the long-run Pakistan hopes

for a Free Trade Agreement with Europe. Officials want the summit to set a start date for negotiations. Pakistan is the only country in South Asia that does not have free trade agreeement with the world's biggest trading bloc and claims its exporters suffer disproportionately as a result.

Lastly Pakistan officials want the EU to target its aid packages to improve conditions in conflict -scarred areas of the country.

Douglas Alexander, the International Development secretary, acknowleged this month that aid should be better targetted to support reconstruction in the frontier provinces next to Afghanistan where the army has waged an offensive against Taliban infiltration. Mr Alexander said Britain would provide £20 million for short term support for displaced people, construction of temporary schools and quick impact projects such as rebuilding bridges.

European assistance to Pakistan

is however dwarfed by American spending in the region. Richard Holbrooke, Washington's envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan last week signalled a "major intensification" of its support for Pakistan by launching a $1.5 billion five year plan to improve conditions in Pakistan.

He said: "The United States is supporting Pakistan as it seeks to strengthen democratic institutions, as it seeks to foster more economic development, expand opportunities, deal with its energy and water problems, and defeat the extremist groups who threaten both Pakistan's security and stability in the larger region, and American national security as well.

"We do not think that the money is moving as fast as we'd like it to."

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NOW continued from page 2

grasp the significance of J Street because for so long many American Jews declined to voice their doubts out of loyalty.

Buoyed by the certainty that it was irrelevant, Netanyahu dismissed the group as antiIsraeli and his foreign ministry snubbed a delegation of visiting members of the US congress sponsored by the Jewish organisation.

It was a mistake because it only confirmed in the minds of some in Congress and the administration that Israel will only move when pushed.

Recent events have confirmed that view as Netanyahu finally begins to understand the consequences of his mistake and climbs down, agreeing to a series of American demands aimed at kick-starting negotiations and putting the latest settlement plans on hold.

It's a start, but Netanyahu is not a courageous leader nor an honest one. He pays lip service to a peace agreement but, like Sharon, spent the 1990s sabotaging attempts to reach agreements with the Palestinians and denouncing Israeli leaders who sought peace as traitors or worse. Netanyahu has still to

Revenge! [StreetView] Jack Loftus (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/21/2010 12:00:00 PM

The other day we learned a

Google StreetView car buzzed (or was buzzed by?) a well-fed seagull. Today, it would seem one of his countrymen decided

Google StreetView- Thanks, Eric] More » to repay the favor. With poop. [

11

commit himself to a genuinely independent Palestinian state.

He will not do the right thing for the right reason.

Some in the US administration are straining at the leash to finally take him on and show him the way after continual humiliation of the US president.

The question is whether Obama himself is now finally up for the fight.

Chris McGreal was the Guardian's Middle East correspondent for much of the last decade. He is now based in Washington.

• Israel • United States • Foreign policy • Binyamin Netanyahu • Barack Obama Chris McGreal guardian.co.uk© Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions| More Feeds

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Labour MPs plan to join Commons strike on Budget Day (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news) Submitted at 3/21/2010 9:39:48 AM

Published: 4:39PM GMT 21 Mar 2010 Labour MPs have been instructed by one of the country’s largest unions not to cross a picket line at Westminister when Alistair Darling outlines his budget on Wednesday, in support of industrial action by civil servants.

A number of MPs are planning to shut down their Commons offices in solidarity with the strikers and those who take part in the action will join members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) on a boat trip down the Thames.

More than 250,000 PCS members are taking part in a

second round of strikes on Wednesday to protest against curbs on redundancy payouts that the Government says will save £500,000 of public money.

A two-day civil servants’ strike a fortnight ago hit many essential public services including courts and immigration checks.

Labour has been embroiled in a row over its links to Unite, the union behind a crippling round of walkouts by BA cabin crew this month. The union has given Labour nearly £11 million in cash donations since it was formed in 2007.

The MPs' plans to support the PCS strike came to light in a leaked email sent

by John McDonnell, the Labour chairman of the PCS all-party parliamentary group.

“There will be picket lines at Westminster and we would ask

MPS not to cross in solidarity," he wrote.

“We will also be taking a boat up the Thames past Parliament on the day which will be suitably equipped to generate media interest for our members’ case."

The Conservatives have condemned the decision by some Labour MPs to go on strike. Mark Pritchard, the Tory MP, said: “MPs should be servants of their constituents and not servants of militant unions. Any MP who fails to turn up for work should have their pay docked and the Speaker should be called upon to investigate.”

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Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:18:00 AM

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Trey Thoelcke (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 3/21/2010 12:00:00 PM

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, Tiffany and Co (TIF), General Mills (GIS) The coming week will bring late-season earnings reports from Best Buy Inc. ( BBY), ConAgra Foods Inc. ( CAG), Oracle Corp. ( ORCL) and Walgreen Co. ( WAG), all of which are expected to post earnings and revenue growth, according to analysts surveyed

by Thomson Reuters. Below is a closer look at a few other companies reporting this week for which expectations are high.

In the three months that ended in January, Williams-Sonoma( WSM) saw strong holiday sales, declared a quarterly dividend, and announced the retirement of its CEO. Analysts expect the San Francisco-based home products retailer to report that cracked software, or other fiscal fourth-quarter earnings illegal content more than doubled from the Comments(optional): Report same period of last year to $0.74 Cancel per share. Revenue for the Five Filters featured article: period is expected to be 6.2% Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Five future MacBook must-haves (CNET News.com)

The Week in Preview: Eye on General Mills, Tiffany, Williams-Sonoma and more

higher to $1.1 billion. For the full year, the forecast calls for earnings of $0.81 per share (+56.8%) on $3.1 billion in revenue (-8.3%). WilliamsSonoma earnings results have been better than expected in recent quarters -- beating consensus estimates by more than 200% in the third quarter.

Continue reading The Week in Preview: Eye on General Mills, Tiffany, Williams-Sonoma and more The Week in Preview: Eye on General Mills, Tiffany, Williams-Sonoma and more originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Toyota shareholders sue over fallen stock price (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 3/21/2010 8:14:26 AM

MIAMI – Toyota shareholders incensed over a sudden drop in the Japanese automaker's stock price are heading to court with lawsuits claiming company executives deliberately misled investors and the public about the depth of accelerator problems in millions of its vehicles.

At least three proposed classaction lawsuits filed by Toyota investors say the company gave false initial assurances that the sudden acceleration problem was a simple matter of floor mats trapping gas pedals, helping prop up the stock price.

The shareholder cases are part of an avalanche of potentially costly lawsuits against Toyota over the acceleration issue, including those filed by crash victims and their families and those brought by Toyota owners contending their vehicles are worth far less because of the recalls.

The investor lawsuits say Toyota spread misleading information through press releases, conference calls with stock analysts and TV interviews to assure stockholders and the public that the accelerator problem was easily fixed or might be the driver's fault.

Instead, the lawsuits contend, top Toyota executives have

known for nearly a decade that faulty electronic throttle controls caused vehicles to sometimes careen wildly out of control but covered it up to protect the company's reputation for safety — and its stock price. The company has not issued any recalls involving flaws in the electronic throttles and has repeatedly denied they are the problem.

Shares rose from just over $75 on Oct. 5, the day of the floor mat recall, to above $90 on Jan. 21, when Toyota announced another recall — over gas pedals it says can stick in certain conditions.

After that, the stock price fell, dropping 16 percent as of early March. Shares have since rebounded somewhat, closing Thursday at $79.34, but some investors say the recovery did not prevent them from losing potentially millions of dollars as the stock was dropping.

Since the sticky pedal recall in late January, Toyota's total market capitalization has fallen 13 percent to $135.87 billion.

Toyota declined comment because the cases are pending in court. The company has repeatedly denied its electronic throttle controls are to blame for sudden acceleration.

In the lawsuits, the shareholders are asking a judge to certify a "class" of plaintiffs that would represent all Toyota shareholders in the U.S. who

held company stock on specific dates. If Toyota is found liable, damages could easily run into the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.

The shareholder lawsuits are pending in federal court in California, the location of Toyota's North American headquarters.

In one of the lawsuits, Toyota stockholder Harry Stackhouse of Richboro, Pa., contends the company "misled investors by failing to disclose that there was a major design defect in Toyota's acceleration system, which could cause unintended acceleration."

"This drop removed the inflation from Toyota's securities prices, causing real economic loss to investors who had purchased securities," said Stackhouse, who said he bought 40 shares in late 2009 just as the accelerator problems became more widely known.

Stackhouse and the others filing suit — shareholders from Ohio and Tennessee_ did not return several telephone calls seeking comment. All three investors filed sworn statements that they did not buy the shares as an excuse to sue the company.

To win damages, the investors must be able to prove Toyota made misleading statements about an issue that would have a "material" effect on its bottom line, said James Cox, a Duke University law professor who

specializes in corporate and securities law. And they must show Toyota had a duty to disclose the truthful information.

"They clearly win on the materiality issue. This is going to be a matter that hits Toyota square in the eye," Cox said.

"But the mere fact that you didn't disclose it isn't necessarily fault. It's whether you have a duty."

John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University, said there has to be strong evidence of fraud.

"Stupidity or gross negligence is not enough, and a defense by Toyota that they were surprised about the extent of the problem can be anticipated," Coffee said.

In one of the best-known recent auto product liability cases, Ford prevailed over investors who claimed the company made misleading statements about the safety of the popular Explorer sport utility vehicle prior to a massive tire recall prompted by a series of rollover crashes. A federal judge ruled in December 2001 that although some of the company statements amounted to "corporate puffery," Ford could not accurately foresee the impact of the recall when the statements were made.

"Companies are under no duty to disclose predictions that are not substantially certain to hold," wrote U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow of Detroit,

whose ruling was upheld on appeal.

But some shareholder lawsuits claiming corporate wrongdoing have produced huge payouts to investors: • In 2008, financial institutions were forced to cough up $7 billion for about 1.5 million shareholders of collapsed energy giant Enron Corp., following claims the banks and accounting firms took part in the fraud that kept Enron's stock prices artificially high.

• Former Worldcom directors, major investment banks and auditing firm Arthur Andersen paid more than $6 billion to investors in the wake of a huge fraud that sent the former telecommunications company's boss, Bernard Ebbers, to jail for 25 years.

Despite those successes for investors, Cox said Toyota would probably fight any settlement because investor class-action cases are notoriously difficult to win. In part, that's because Congress in 1995 made it more difficult for investors to dig into a company's documents to find damning evidence in the early stages of a case.

"They have to allege enough facts that management was acting purposely with reckless disregard," Cox said. "The courts give management an TOYOTA page 15

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Snowmobiles, ATVs, lobster boats used for census (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

to look forward to. And I'm not sure if the people will want to be bothered, but hopefully they'll PORTLAND, Maine – Census be cooperative." workers are using snowmobiles, One woman rode horseback to airplanes, all-terrain vehicles — get to homes for the 2000 even lobster boats — to visit the census, said Rick Theriault, most far-flung, hidden-away manager of the Census Bureau's dwellings when counting the Bangor office for this year's nation's populace. census. In Alaska, dog sleds are Hand-delivering 2010 census used. questionnaires in the bush of "We do whatever it takes to get Alaska, Maine's North Woods the job done," Theriault said. and other isolated regions isn't In all, 10-question census forms as simple as strolling up a front are being delivered to 134 walk to a suburban home. To get million residences in the United to the more remote homes, States and Puerto Rico. census workers might fly over Census forms were mailed last mountains or onto far-removed week to 90 percent of the islands, four-wheel it through homes, about 120 million of forests and contend with deep them. Census workers are s n o w , b o n e - c h i l l i n g visiting the other 10 percent in temperatures and wildlife on the person to deliver the forms in move. areas that don't have regular In Maine, census workers will mail service or "city-style" begin delivering forms this addresses to receive mail. week by whatever means it But only two places — much of takes — ATV, snowmobile, Alaska and Maine's North cross-country skis or snowshoes Woods— have been designated — to get to those hard-to-get-to b y t h e C e n s u s B u r e a u a s places. requiring special travel "You don't now what you're arrangements to reach remote going to find," said Danielle locations.

Forino, who will use her ATV to Those rural and sparsely get to hunting, fishing and populated areas, which contain logging camps in the wilds of less than 1 percent of all U.S. far northern Maine. "And I households, have irregular mail definitely anticipate coming service and often cannot be across a lot of wildlife; the bears reached by car. are coming out so we have that Those people, like everybody Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:24:43 AM

else, still have to be counted.

Census officials in January kicked off the start of Census 2010 in one of those remote communities, the Inupiat Eskimo village of Noorvik, Alaska. To reach Noorvik, U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves and other census officials flew to the village and then rode by dog sled to a local school for a launch ceremony.

Often, it's the weather conditions — extreme cold, high winds, blizzards — that make the going tough.

The weather is cooperating so far this year in Alaska, but that wasn't the case a decade ago when storms made it hard for census workers to get in and out of places.

"Ten years ago there were a number of (census workers) who were stranded for more than a week," said Ruben Del Valle of the Census Bureau's Alaska office.

Forino, who lives in Fort Kent, Maine, along the Canadian border, is a crew leader overseeing other census workers in northern Maine.

Her workers will drive 4-wheeldrive pickup trucks and Jeeps down dirt or gravel logging roads until they become impassable because of either snow or mud caused by the thaw, she said. At that point,

they'll get on snowmobiles or ATVs or put on snowshoes or skis to complete their work.

In some ways, it's like a treasure hunt.

For the 2000 count, a Maine census worker rode his ATV 15 miles and then walked another 5 miles to get to a backwoods camp — where he was surprised to find people living, at that time of year, where the snow can still blow.

Once arriving at these remote destinations, census workers get down to real purpose of their journey. They'll question the residents and fill out the confidential census forms that'll be returned to their office.

They'll also update census address and map information.

Nationwide, about 1 in 10 people may not participate in the population count, with many saying they see little personal benefit from the government survey or have concerns that it may be intrusive, according to a Pew Research Center poll released last week.

Those concerns might be greater for people living off the beaten path. For some of them, there's a good reason why they live far from civilization: They don't want to be disturbed.

Theriault, though, remains optimistic.

"A lot of these 'survivalists' and

stuff are constitutionalists," Theriault said. "The census is outlined in the Constitution and most people — not all, but most — want to participate for that reason."

Along Maine's long ragged coastline, census workers have challenges beyond the wooded wilderness. They also have to check housing units on many of the state's hundreds of islands.

Workers will get to the 15 yearround island communities by ferry or airplane. To check out others where people have summer camps and homes, census takers have been known to hire local boat owners, including lobstermen, or even use canoes.

"Anywhere there's a building, we have to verify if they live there," said Terry Drake, who is responsible for the census along much of Maine's coast as manager of the bureau's office in Augusta. "If they could live there, then we have to check." ___ O n t h e N e t : http://2010.census.gov/2010cens us/ Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Fargo's fight against flooding nears its climax (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News)

As they waited for the crest, Fargo residents turned their attention to cleaning up the FARGO, N.D. – A weeklong d e b r i s i n l o w - l y i n g fight against flooding neared its neighborhoods where more than climax in Fargo on Sunday, with a million sandbags held back miles of sandbags and clay dikes waters. expected to hold back the The calm mood stood in stark bloated Red River at its crest contrast to last year, when with room to spare. floods along the north-flowing City officials and residents Red River sparked a last-minute were on the brink of declaring frenzy of sandbagging that victory and ready to move out of brought life to a halt and forced flood fighting mode. They thousands to evacuate. hoped for mostly dry weather to This year, residents in Fargo speed the river's fall by week's and neighboring Moorhead, e n d . T h e f o r e c a s t w a s Minn., were confident as the cooperating, with only a small river completed a rise driven by chance of rain in sight on the spring thaw of a thick Tuesday evening. snowpack: On Sunday, they Still, Fargo Mayor Dennis walked the dog, went jogging Walaker warned residents not to and headed to church. begin dismantling sandbag dikes Fargo resident Terry too soon.

Ziegelmann spent Sunday "It doesn't take much to bounce morning leisurely reading the us back," Walaker said. "The paper and eating a bagel at a river goes up at two to three Moorhead coffee shop less than times what it goes down at." a block away from the river.

The river continued inching "I don't see the nervousness in upward early Sunday toward an people you would normally see expected crest that afternoon of when you talk flood," said 19 feet over the flood stage, Ziegelmann, who has lived in followed by a quick and steady the area since 1972. "We were drop. That was good news to prepared this year. In a day or residents of North Dakota's t w o , t h e w a t e r w i l l s t a r t largest city, who worried that receding and life will get back the Red could stay at its crest for to normal." s e v e r a l d a y s , s t r a i n i n g Another Fargo resident, Philip temporary levees and sandbag Schmaltz, 77, noticed far fewer dikes. people were trying to get a view Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:03:46 AM

of the rising Red from the bridge linking Fargo and Moorhead this year.

"Last year, more things were going wrong that right," he said while walking across the bridge.

"This year, more things are going right."

Flooding this year has been limited mostly to areas just along the Red River in Fargo and Moorhead, where 3-feethigh piles of sandbags have prevented the water from reaching homes. Some yards, bike paths and sports fields have flooded — but without major damage.

North Dakota Air National Guard airmen wearing camouflaged uniforms and bright orange lifejackets said they found no major problems during their patrols of temporary dikes in Fargo on Sunday.

Staff Sgt. Wayne Baumbach, 23, who is a student at North Dakota State University in Fargo, said he missed part of his spring break because of the flood — but he didn't mind.

"I would be nice if the community would not have to go through this again but if they need us we'll come again," he said.

In rural areas outside Fargo, more widespread overland flooding from the Red River's smaller tributaries submerged

several farm fields and washed out a few roads. On Saturday, the Coast Guard said it helped 10 people in rural areas including five people in a disabled boat who were towed to a car waiting at the shore.

None were in any immediate danger.

Officials here said they were better prepared for this year's floods than the ones in 2009.

Thousands of volunteers filled and placed sandbags and the Army Corps of Engineers built dozens of clay dikes. After the preparations were largely complete, the National Weather Service lowered its crest prediction several times as below-freezing temperatures slowed the melting of snow and skies were free of major rain storms.

Though Walaker had cautioned against celebrating too early, he was among the city officials handing out cigars at a meeting Saturday. They were told to wait until after Sunday's crest to light them. ___ Associated Press Writers James MacPherson and Jim Suhr contributed to this report.

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TOYOTA continued from page 13

awful lot of discretion in disclosing a problem."

The automaker is also being sued by hundreds of Toyota owners seeking compensation for lost value of their cars and trucks in proposed class-action lawsuits likely to top $3 billion in possible damages. The company also faces a series of wrongful death and injury lawsuits from crashes linked to accelerator problems.

A hearing is scheduled next week in San Diego on whether to consolidate the dozens of Toyota owners' class-action lawsuits before a single judge.

The investors' cases are separate from that proceeding. ____ AP Auto Writer Dan Strumpf in New York contributed to this story.

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US House set for key health vote (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:39:05 AM

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President Obama: "Don't do it for me, don't do it for the Democratic Party, do it for the American people" Senior Democrats say they are confident they have enough votes to pass landmark healthcare reform legislation in the US House of Representatives.

The House has opened a session which will culminate in a vote on measures to give healthcare to 32m more Americans.

Top Democrats, including President Barack Obama, have spent days working to get the 216 votes needed to pass it.

Democratic House Caucus leader John Larson said: "We have the votes. We are going to make history today."

Democratic Majority Leader Steny Hoyer also told the NBC news network he was confident the party had sufficient votes to pass the measure.

It comes a day after Mr Obama visited Capitol Hill to rally support among party members, saying: "Let's get this done."

Among those Democrats reportedly won over by the party leadership is Representative Bart Stupak, one of a group who

had threatened to vote against the bill because of concerns it would allow federal funding of abortion.

The Republicans are unanimously opposed to the legislation, which they say is unaffordable and represents a government takeover of a large part of the country's economy.

Senior House Republican Mike Pence told CNN he was doubtful the Democrats did have the votes needed to approve the bill and said his party would do whatever it could to prevent its passage.

Eric Cantor, the second-ranking Republican in the House, told ABC: "The American people don't want this to pass. The Republicans don't want this to

pass. There will be no Republican votes for this bill."

The House will hold three votes - one on a Senate version of a health reform bill, one on a package of changes that would be made to that bill and one on the rules that will govern the debate.

If all three are passed, Mr Obama will be able to sign the legislation into law.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid assured House lawmakers on Saturday he had the "commitment of a significant majority" in the Senate to ensure the package of changes the House wants to its bill will pass there.

The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says that whatever

and December.

The usual procedure would be for two versions of legislation to be combined into a single bill for President Obama to sign into law.

But after Senate Democrats lost the 60-seat majority required to defeat a filibuster by Republicans, Democratic leaders decided to use a controversial procedure to ensure the bill's passage.

Under the plan, the House will vote on a package of reconciliation "fixes" amending the Senate bill.

The Senate will then be able to make changes in a separate bill using a procedure known as reconciliation, which allows happens, this will be a budget provisions to be significant day in American approved with 51 votes - rather than the 60 needed to overcome politics.

Either healthcare will be blocking tactics. significantly reformed, he says, According to Congressional or reform will be kicked into the Budget Office, the final version long grass for perhaps decades of the Democrats' healthcare to come - which could have all plan will cut the federal deficit kinds of budgetary implications by $138bn over 10 years. for the future, as the US cannot The non-partisan body said the afford to continue on its existing proposed legislation would cost about $940bn over a decade. track.

If passed, the reforms will The reforms would increase deliver on Mr Obama's top insurance coverage through tax domestic priority by providing credits for the middle class and insurance to some 32 million of expansion of the Medicaid the Americans who currently programme for the poor.

If approved, they would lack coverage. represent the biggest change in Deficit reduction The House of Representatives the US healthcare system since and the Senate adopted different HOUSE page 17 versions of the bill in November

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HOUSE

Iran leader rebukes US 'plotting'

continued from page 16

the creation in the 1960s of Medicare, the government-run scheme for Americans aged 65 or over.

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(BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 3/21/2010 9:45:01 AM

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has used a televised Iranian New Year address to accuse the US of plotting against the country.

He said the US government could not "talk about peace and friendship and at the same time plot and plan sedition".

His words come a day after President Barack Obama sent a new year video message to Iranians saying Washington's offer of dialogue still stood.

However, the Iranian leader did not refer directly to Mr Obama's message.

In his address in the northeastern city of Mashhad, broadcast on state TV, Ayatollah Khamenei said the US might have been making friendly overtures but its policies showed its intentions were different.

"Eight months after the elections they took the worst possible stance," he said. "The president called those rioters and saboteurs 'civil rights activists'."

Washington has criticised the Iranian authorities for cracking down on protesters in a series of large-scale clashes following a

disputed presidential election last June.

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US President Barack Obama: "Our offer of comprehensive diplomatic contacts and dialogue stands" In his video message, Mr Obama said the Iranian government had "chosen to isolate itself" but that the US still wanted justice and dignity for Iranians, and less internet censorship.

"Even as we continue to have differences with the Iranian government, we will sustain our commitment to a more hopeful future for the Iranian people." he said.

It was the second such recording sent by the US president for the festival of Nowruz, a 12-day holiday celebrating the beginning of the New Year on the Persian calendar.

Last year he became the first US leader for decades to reach out directly to Iran's people and

government, offering a "new beginning" in US-Iranian relations.

But since then, Mr Obama's offers of engagement over Iran's nuclear ambitions have been largely spurned, and US efforts to impose new sanctions have been slow to find wide support from UN members.

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Star Birthdays This Week: March 21 - 27 (ETonline - Breaking News)

Which celebs are celebrating a birthday this week? See all the

pictures to find out!

17

Bind Paper Into a Booklet With Just Some Clever Folds and Cuts [Crafts] Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/20/2010 3:00:00 PM

Making little notebooks has an endless supply of uses, whether it be for multi-page greeting cards or small scrapbooks.

Here's how to bind the pages together without the need for staples, clips, tape, or glue, courtesy of DIY weblog Instructables. More Âť

18

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Novell rejects Elliot takeover bid as 'inadequate' (CNET News.com) Submitted at 3/20/2010 6:59:00 PM

Novell has rejected an unsolicited $2 billion takeover bid from Elliot Associates, the business software provider announced in a statement Saturday.

"Our board of directors has concluded, after careful consideration, including a review of the proposal with its independent financial and legal advisers, that Elliott's proposal is inadequate and that it undervalues the company's (Holy Kaw!) the deal wasn’t sweet enough, franchise and growth prospects," the company will be paying the Novell said.

Submitted at 3/20/2010 2:17:57 PM selected couple £18,000 for their In a March 2 letter to Novell's board of directors, Elliot--a New If you’re a newlywed not quite ‘troubles’. ready to settle into the nine-to- Of course to enter, you’ll have York-based hedge fund that five routine just yet, you might to convince your significant want to consider applying for a o t h e r t o p a r t i c i p a t e . B u t ‘honeymoon tester’ position. something tells me that won’t be Pete Cashmore (Mashable!)

Yes, a travel company is a tough sell. seeking to send one lucky Read all about it (including Submitted at 3/20/2010 10:37:41 PM couple on a six-month tour of how to apply) at The Telegraph. the world’s most romantic and Looking for a job? We can Sunday, March 21st (a few hours from now on the West exotic destinations to review help.

Coast) marks Twitter’s 4th things like hammocks, cocktails, Photo credit: Fotolia sand quality, outdoor waterfall Permalink| Leave a comment » birthday— exactly four years since Twitter co-founder Jack showers—you get the idea. As if Dorsey sent his first Tweet and, along with Evan Williams and

Travel agency seeks 'honeymoon tester'

already holds an 8.5 percent stake in Novell--offered to acquire the company for $5.75 per share in cash. That price was 21 percent higher than Novell's closing stock price the day the offer was made.

In its letter to Novell shareholders, Elliott argued that Novell needs a lifeline because the "company's effort to shift away from its legacy division through acquisitions and new strategies has largely failed."

Translation by CNET blogger Matt Asay: Novell has struggled to meaningfully use its growing Linux business to prop up its declining legacy businesses.

The fund's offer sent Novell's stock up 28 percent as investors hoped for a better bid.

In its statement Saturday, Novell said its board is committed to enhancing value for Novell stockholders and will explore alternatives including a return of capital to stockholders through a stock repurchase or cash dividend, strategic partnerships and alliances, joint ventures, and a sale of the company. The company added, however, that a future agreement or transaction cannot be assured.

Novell shares closed at $5.64 on Friday.

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Happy Birthday Twitter!

Biz Stone, started a phenomenon.

Last month, Twitter hit 50 million Tweets per day, and last summer it was announced that

“Twitter” would enter the Collins English Dictionary.

What birthday message do you have for Twitter? Let us know in the comments. [via The Next Web] Reviews: Twitter Tags: birthday, trending, twitter

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19

What does Google really know about advertising?

(CNET News.com) Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:34:00 AM

Google has been following me around lately.

I'm not sure if I've made one inadvertent comment too many about my liberal lords and masters, but whichever Web page I happen to visit in order to seek some temporary respite from my complicated life, there I find an ad suggesting I should buy a Nexus One. Actually, it's hard to call these things "ads." They're little pictures of the Nexus One. Some have no message to speak of. Others enjoy lines such as "it's ultra-light." This is a line I associate most closely with cigarettes, so I don't know whether Google wants to get me into the habit of thinking about the Nexus One every 5 minutes, but somehow I haven't yet inhaled.

I'm told the Nexus One is an abject failure. Or not.

Apparently, Google said it only expected to sell 150,000 of these precious devices. Apparently, the company is walking a terribly fine line between upsetting carriers right now or upsetting carriers in the future.

How admitting that you're going to upset them in the future doesn't upset them right now, I'm not sure.

The idea, supposedly, behind Nexus One was that Google merely wanted to show us the

future: phones that could work with any carrier and didn't require you to be beholden.

Right now, though, it doesn't want carriers to throw prima donna hissy-fits and refuse to enjoy the multifarious benefits of the Android system.

So, um, Google wants us to believe that it put out a phone that it hoped wouldn't sell too well so that the carriers wouldn't get upset? This is the company that is supposedly so fearless that it is even prepared to niggle Steve Jobs so much that he might actually swear and issue lawsuits? This is the company

that wants to be the dominant player in every single vaguely technological and informational category?

If it doesn't want to sell too many Nexus Ones, why is Google following me around the Web all the time? Might I offer a small thought? Is it possible that Google isn't very good at advertising?

I know you'll tell me I must have been at the dessert wine.

This, after all, is the company that makes 97 percent of its vast, infernal profits from advertising.

Please, please, put down the baseball bat and take a seat.

Have some dessert wine yourself. Google makes its money not from advertising that creates demand but from advertising that directs demand.

It does it brilliantly. It has used its brain power to extraordinary effect. But it's a very rational brain power.

Creating demand for many products, though, isn't rational.

It never was. And, until we finally reach the robot phase of our development, it never will be. Palm Pre seems to be a lovely example of a phone that might be terribly good but for which demand simply wasn't

created at the emotional level.

And we see what has happened there.

I hate to mention Apple, but don't its products always seem to engender excitement?

Excitement is an emotion.

People talk about an Apple formula. It's anything but.

Sometimes, the word "magic" is appropriate. It is not a word one associates so readily with Google.

Google has shown it rarely understands, appreciates, or even takes account of the WHAT page 23

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Yelp for Business: 4 Steps for Success Samuel Axon (Mashable!)

about what you’re offering to the community. Here are a few basic tips for successfully This post originally appeared leveraging the tools Yelp offers on the American Express OPEN you for the benefit of your local F o r u m , w h e r e M a s h a b l e business. 1. Fill Out Your regularly contributes articles Business Info Completely about leveraging social media Customers refer to Yelp a n d t e c h n o l o g y i n s m a l l business pages to learn about a business. business before going out to For local small businesses, v i s i t i n p e r s o n . I f t h e Yelp isn’t just an option — it’s a information on the Yelp page is necessity. People in urban incomplete, they’re likely to centers use it to choose where to move on to a competitor that go to dinner, where to buy provides more details simply c l o t h e s , a n d w h e r e t o b e because they’ll better know entertained. Users decide where what to expect and are less and how to spend their money likely to be surprised, be using Yelp, so if your business disappointed or have their time is local, you need to curate your wasted.

Yelp page.

The administration page for If your business has been business owners offers a slew of around long, you probably fields and choices for sharing already have a page; you’re just information to make it easy for not holding the reins yet. You’ll users to know exactly what to want to step in and take control expect. If you provide the of it as soon as possible, because information they’re looking for, using it correctly can bring you they’re more likely to become new business and prevent any reliable, paying customers. So negative word of mouth from fill out as much information as hindering your growth and you can, and keep it up to date. success.

2. Respond Constructively to Claiming or creating your Yelp Customer Reviews business page is easy; just fill Last Spring, Yelp gave business out a couple of online forms and owners the ability to respond to answer a quick, automated negative reviews, either to phone call. It takes less than five privately make apologies to minutes. Once you’re signed up, reviewers or publicly correct you’ll have access to tools that misinformation. Don’t skimp on will help you engage your using this feature because customers and spread the word you’re afraid of making things Submitted at 3/20/2010 3:14:42 PM

never heard of your business will see them there. They’ll even find you in search results.

The more of these offers and announcements you make, the more likely it will be that Yelp users will discover your business, so come up with creative ways to draw people in, worse; it can turn a bad situation then share the news. 4. Display around. Dissatisfied customers Yelp Badges on Your Website will often give you a second or Blog look if you communicate to Yelp provides badges that you them that you value their input can embed on your business’s and are making changes to website or blog that show that improve your business. you’re on Yelp and engaged Yelp published an easy-to-use with your community. They’ll guide to constructive user even tell visitors how many review responses on its website. positive reviews you’ve had.

It includes examples of how not These badges give potential to respond to user reviews and customers the impression that how best to. Some of the tips are you have existing satisfied obvious, but some of them customers vouching for you, so aren’t. They’re worth a look, as they’ll be more likely to trust is my colleague Josh Catone’s you with their business. The recent post, “ How to Deal with badges also act as links between Negative Feedback in Social your Yelp page and your other Media.” 3. Make Offers and online outreach efforts. People Announcements Regularly can click a badge to read Yelp allows you to share r e v i e w s o r g e t m o r e s p e c i a l o f f e r s a n d information. If a satisfied announcements not just with the customer visits your site or blog, people who visit your page, but the badge might lead that person with members of the larger to leave his or her own positive community who might not even review. Is Advertising on Yelp know about your business. Worth it?

When you create an offer or You may also choose to announcement on Yelp, it advertise on Yelp. It costs appears in the offers and between $300 and $1,000 per announcements directory for month — it’s kind of like a your city. People who have premium account — but there’s

a chance that you’ll increase your exposure if you opt in, because you’ll appear at the top of the list when users perform a search related to your business.

There are a few other benefits as well. For example, you’ll be able to feature one good review of your choosing at the top of the list on your business page.

You still can’t edit, move or delete other reviews, though.

It’s difficult to measure exactly how much these premium benefits will help you; it depends on a number of factors unique to your business and your city. More business resources from Mashable: - HOW TO: Make Your Small Business Geolocation-Ready - Web Entrepreneurship: Does the City You Live in Matter?

- Google Buzz: 5 Opportunities for Small Businesses - 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence - HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy Image courtesy of iStockphoto, LisaInGlasses Reviews: Yelp, iStockphoto Tags: business, geo-location, List, Lists, MARKETING, small business, social media, social networks, yelp

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21

5 Brilliant iPhone Apps for Baseball Fans Amy-Mae Elliott (Mashable!)

virtual idea of what’s happening at the park with MLB’s blow-by -blow Gameday updates.

Attention baseball fans, the date The app also offers scores and that is no doubt etched in your stats, as well as some in-game brain — the start of the 2010 highlights and a video library Major League Baseball Season that’s searchable by both player — is fast approaching. To get and team. If you really can’t you ready for April 4 (when the stretch to that $15, then a free Boston Red Sox will take on the “lite” version (MLB.com At Bat reigning World Series champion Lite) offers real-time MLB New York Yankees at Fenway scores, schedules, news and Park) we’re pitching you five standings — but no audio or handpicked iPhone apps that video — that will keep you will hit a home run with informed through to the end of baseball fans.

2010 World Series.

If you are partial to America’s Cost:$14.99 2. FanGraphs national sport — and let’s face Baseball it, it’s almost unpatriotic not to If you’re the type of fan that be — then these apps are an can rattle off ground ball to fly absolute must for your iPhone or ball ratios and stolen base iPod touch. However, in case percentages like Rain Man we’ve struck out and missed any reciting phone numbers, then of your faves, then do let us quite simply you will love this know in the comments below. 1. app. Claiming to offer the most MLB at Bat 2010 detailed player statistics Although criticized for its $15 available on an iPhone app, price tag, MLB’s official iPhone FanGraphs will let you look app is a great all-rounder for back and analyze every major fans, and an even better option player in baseball history, as for fans that have a paid-up for well as look forward with live MLB.TV because, with portable win probability graphs based on a c c e s s t o y o u r M L B . T V game data for the 2010 season. account, you can watch live Favorite players can be tracked streaming games on the go. As with full, live box scores that with last season’s offering, link through to past stats, every anyone can use the app to listen play can be analyzed to see how live to games, as well as get a it impacts the game, and there’s Submitted at 3/20/2010 3:11:31 PM

with all their quirks and characteristics.

Cost:$0.99 4. iScore Baseball Scorekeeper If you consider a baseball scorebook will set you back $5 at the absolute minimum (and more if you buy it at the park) e v e n u p - t o - d a t e a d v a n c e d then the $10 price tag for this fielding metrics via FanGraph’s app does not seem quite so “Ultimate Zone Ratings.” steep. There are a dearth of 99 Cost:$2.99 3. Ballpark Envi cent alternatives available in the It could be argued that the App Store, but for looks and an stadium is as much a character intuitive interface (the app in baseball as the opposing w o r k s o n a n “ i n t e r v i e w ” t e a m s o r t h e c r o w d . A premise asking you for all the celebration of the nation’s data it needs to build a complete ballparks is offered in one neat picture of the game) the iScore little app — Ballpark Envi — Baseball Scorekeeper is the spanning baseball’s geography champ. as well as its history from Shibe As well as appealing to those P a r k t o t h e n e w Y a n k e e hardcore fans that like to sit and Stadium. Browsable by team, or score every game, this is also a

by American and National good option for those new to League, every current Major baseball scorekeeping – you League baseball stadium is don’t have to learn all the detailed with stadium pics and abbreviations and symbols and slide shows, seating charts iScore offers a full set of tutorial (super useful for booking videos to get you using the app tickets) as well as the ability to like a pro. see the park’s location on a map.

Cost:$9.99 5. Baseball Whether you want to glimpse FanMisery.com Index Apps Dodger Stadium’s wavy roofs If you want to keep your on the outfield pavilions or the favorite Major League Baseball orange foul poles of the Mets’ team in your pocket then new Citi Field this app will give FanMisery.com offers an Index you an insider glimpse of App for each and every MLB America’s amazing ballparks team. Working on the basis that

being a fan is in fact misery (the agony of defeat and all that jazz) the apps make sure you are kept as absolutely up-to-date as possible with a comprehensive set of stats, opinions and news drawn from national and local papers, broadcast media and blogs.

One nice touch is that if a blog or news source you follow isn’t currently included in the indexing, the developer (Discover Motion) will add it in for you on request — just the kind of helpful option that warms the cockles of an iPhone owner’s heart.

Cost:$2.99 each More iPhone resources from Mashable: - 10 Essential iPhone Apps for Runners - 10 Best iPhone Apps for Dog Lovers - Top 10 iPhone Apps as Judged

by Mashable Readers - 10 Fun iPhone Apps for Beer Lovers - Mashable’s New iPhone App: Download Today!

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, spxChrome Reviews: Fangraphs, iStockphoto Tags: Baseball, iphone, iphone apps, Lists, sports

22

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4 Ways Non-Profits Can Use Google Buzz Geoff Livingston (Mashable!)

Submitted at 3/20/2010 6:03:57 PM

Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on causerelated work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007.

Despite some initial flaws, Google Buzz continues to show promise as a social marketing platform. It has a significant (though somewhat latent) user base, with an increasing number of loyalists who swear by it.

When a green field lies before you, so does opportunity. Some non-profits stand to gain from being part of the early Buzz adopter community. Whether a cause needs to further the dialogue with a tech-savvy crowd, or is attracted to the functionality of Gmail integration, Buzz does bring some new capabilities to bear.

Here are four great uses for Buzz in cause-based activity. 1.

Manage Public Conversations Better A useful feature of Google Buzz is its public threaded conversation stream. This format has significant advantages over Twitter’s disjointed @reply conversations

and hashtag-based threads, as well as Facebook’s often high privacy walls.

“We’ve been looking at using Buzz to have public conversations about Mothers Fighting for Others‘ work with an orphanage in Kenya,” said Jeff Turner, President of Zeek Interactive. “We want to be able to facilitate a consistent thread of conversation, but we want it to be more public and open than Facebook or[Google] Wave would allow. With Buzz, we feel like we can maintain a clear stream of thought around a topic, and at the same time, do it in a public forum where someone we might not be able to envision being interested could join in.” 2. E-mail Integration Means Better Workflow Non-profits could use Buzz to manage workflow across a group. This can be useful for an organization with project teams spread across multiple offices or in the field. With e-mail integration, it saves the organization from having to set up a separate account with another private conversation tool like Basecamp.

“An example would be to set up

intelligently blend workforce conversations between younger and older, or tech-savvy and entrenched members of their teams. Crossing the streams may enable better communications.

“Google Buzz allows users to publish private streams to specific contact groups,” said Buzz as a private group for a John Haydon, a non-profit social project team, large or small,” media strategist. “This is a s a i d S h i r e e n M i t c h e l l , a perfect way to include staff Washington D.C.-based digital members who don’t use social activist. “Twitter updates, blog media in important real-time posts, and other related content conversations, especially during that has an RSS feed can be news-worthy events like the connected to individual [Buzz] earthquake in Haiti.” 4. Geoaccounts tracking topics related Location Adds a New Element to the project. The team can When Google launches a social make comments and select network, it brings more to bear “like” to provide a consensus of than your average start-up. interest on each update. This Consider the ability to integrate would keep the team updated on geo-location with Google Maps news, topics and content for any i n t o y o u r s o c i a l n e t w o r k existing issue-driven social activity. People can see social m e d i a c a m p a i g n o f t h e activity on the fly. organization. [It's] sort of a mini “ F a s t f o r w a r d t o a c a u s e crowdsourcing of the team.” 3. m a r k e t i n g c a m p a i g n l i k e Finally Connect to “Unsocial” Starbucks’ partnership with Users Product RED,” said Joe Waters, Another interesting aspect of author of the Selfish Giving Buzz’s workflow and e-mail blog. “Buzzing about the latest integration is the use of a system campaign to a really large that blends 2.0 functionality audience with geo-location with a 1.0 system. Non-profit features [enabled] lets people m a n a g e r s c a n u s e t h i s t o see in real-time all the people

[talking] about the campaign in their area — especially in densely packed areas in New York where [Starbucks] are practically right across the street from each other.

“In short, Buzz can potentially broadcast a cause marketing campaign to a much larger audience than say Twitter. And the geo-location feature, if it takes off, can give a program a real-time, tangible quality that can’t be replicated on another [social media] platform.” More social media resources from Mashable: - The Science of Building Trust With Social Media - Why Sex-Ed Remains a Challenge for Social Media - 3 Ways Educators Are Embracing Social Technology - How Twitter in the Classroom is Boosting Student Engagement - HOW TO: Prepare for Disasters Using Social Media Reviews: Basecamp, Facebook, Gmail, Google Buzz, Google Maps, Twitter Tags: collaboration, Google, google buzz, non-profits, nonprofits, social good, social media, social media marketing

Nomura loses co-head of investment banking in Asia (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/21/2010 5:16:58 AM

Another key Nomura executive has quit the Japanese bank, in a move which highlights the challenges it faces to build a top

-tier global investment bank.

Colin Banfield, Nomura’s cohead of investment banking for Asia Pacific, is to join

Citigroup, according to people PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, familiar with the matter.

Term Extraction.

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WHAT continued from page 19

emotional level of your average human. Ken Auletta, author of "Googled," managed to get the company's co-founder Sergey Brin to admit that the company lacks "emotional intelligence."

Emotional intelligence is the heart of advertising that creates demand.

The launch of Google Buzz, for example, was a failure of advertising, as much as it was a failure of aforethought. Google communicated Buzz so badly, with such little consideration for real people's minds and lives, that a backlash became inevitable.

Similarly, with Nexus One, it's hard not to retain the notion that Google had no communication strategy. Consider what you felt when Google came out with this cell phone: it was a cell phone.

It was made by Google. It seemed to be well reviewed.

Cool, huh?

This is all very rational. It isn't enough. What a great advertising campaign can do is to create a fascination that rises far above any rational attribute of a product. It's hard to do.

Sometimes, it doesn't work. It's maddening, frankly. And Google has very little experience in the process of

creating such a campaign, never mind in the judgment required to choose what the campaign should entail.

In many ways, there's no reason to assume Google should know how to do this. When you think of Google's commitment to research and rationality, a powerful, emotional campaign would have had virtually no chance of emerging, even if some Googlie could create one.

Web meets phone? Isn't that the iPhone?(Credit: Screenshot: Chris Matyszczyk/CNET) This is the company that discusses 41 shades of blue until it's 41 shades of blue in the face.

That might produce efficiency of some kind. It won't produce magic. Who can forget the parting words of Google visual designer leader Douglas Bowman, after he walked out to join Twitter last year: "I won't miss a design philosophy that lives or dies strictly by the sword of data."

It's interesting how, in certain small areas, Google has tried to create advertising that brings with it some kind of emotional attachment. There was the Super Bowl ad, so sweetly dubbed by CEO Eric Schmidt as a "video."

It was perhaps the first time that

Google has used a mass arena to curry emotional favor. But what did it sell--at least in theory?

Search. Something that really doesn't need to be sold.

Then there were the U.K. subway billboards selling Chrome. Again, a valiant, groping, uncertain attempt to emotionally engage a more mass market through communication.

It may well be that, one day, all retail will exist only online. And Google has succeeded so well without having to advertising any of its wares. But its wares, until now, were virtual, not physical.

The Nexus One, of all products, screamed out for emotional attachment. Here was a category in which look, feel and image count for a lot. Yet by sticking to its online-only model of sales, the company didn't put it in enough people's hands and didn't inspire people at the emotional level to want it in their hands. Was this because Google really, really didn't want to sell too many Nexus Ones, or because the company doesn't have the knowledge, the confidence, the judgment, or the process to create something to make that happen?

Google is great at many things.

This doesn't mean it's great at everything. The commercial world is full of products that might have wonderful characteristics, but terrible advertising. There are many products with wonderful distribution, but terrible advertising. It takes inspired creative people, risk, judgment, investment and a feel for people's minds and souls to create a campaign that attaches itself to people's hearts and then slips a little lower into their pockets.

Google could have chosen to inspire people with the astounding, indispensable machine that is the Nexus One. It didn't. Was it really because it didn't want to sell too many? Or might it have been because it didn't know how? And if Google really didn't want to sell too many Nexus Ones, why does it keep asking me to buy one?

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Ben Folds Plays Chatroulette Live in Concert [VIDEO] Pete Cashmore (Mashable!)

Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:12:07 AM

Singer-songwriter Ben Folds visited the random video chat site Chatroulette during a recent live concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, playing improv piano tunes about the people he was connected with.

The piece, titled “Ode to Merton”, is inspired by the improv piano player “Merton” who sprung up on the chat site earlier this month.

Is this the start of a trend, or the peak of a fad? Ben Folds Plays Chatroulette “Merton” Piano Improv on Chatroulette Tags: ben folds, chatroullette, improv, Piano

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App Store payola, and what it means for the app ecosystem Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/21/2010 9:00:00 AM

Filed under: App Store Earlier this week, Wired posted a story about what they call "App Store Payola" -- the practice of sites that solicit cash payments (or other compensation) in order to expedite or publish app reviews.

This isn't anything new. Ever since the App Store first went online, there have been sites that have offered developers a chance at the spotlight in return for behind-the-scenes payment.

Apparently, it is still going on, and Wired's piece takes a good look at what's under the table.

It should go without saying, but for the record: TUAW isn't involved in this practice, and never has been. We will use promo codes for reviews rather than buying the apps directly, but a promo code doesn't guarantee a review and it definitely doesn't influence our stated opinions on the products we cover. Informally, our

editorial team gives a thumbs up to the OATS standard, although TUAW hasn't officially joined the sites promoting the 'code of conduct' for app reviews.

Nevertheless, this is an interesting issue. My main question actually revolves around whether or not this practice actually "works" for the developer -- do devs who pay the $25, or whatever these "Reviews R Us" sites are charging, actually see returns in their product's sales or downloads?

We know (based on detailed reports from multiple developers) that apps we review or mention here often see boosts in sales and performance in the App Store. We presume that's due in part to the fact that we don't do "payola" -- our readers trust us to post about worthwhile apps, and thus give their business to the ones we cite. Do these App Store review sites that are charging for their services see the same effect? Are these developers that are pouring $25

into "Joe's Review Shack" for an "expedited review" getting their money back in sales and/or downloads?

If they are, something is wrong -- either there's just not enough trusted outlets for apps out there, or even the App Store just isn't big enough for its own

are enough trusted reviewers and enough good films that you have the option to pick and choose the ones you like, paying attention to reviewers you agree with. But it does work in the case of old-school radio, where you only had one station to choose from, and you listened to (and bought) whatever songs they played.

Of course the first question is whether these sites work or not.

If the $25 invested in one of these payola sites actually pays off for an app that clearly doesn't deserve it, then there might be a bigger issue with the App Store ecosystem as a whole.

TUAW App Store payola, and what it means for the app d e m a n d . I f p e o p l e a r e ecosystem originally appeared downloading and buying apps o n T h e U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e just because they see them Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 21 mentioned anywhere (even on a Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please site that they can't trust), then see our terms for use of feeds. maybe there just aren't enough Read| Permalink| Email this| quality apps to go around. Comments Payola doesn't work in the case of film reviews, because there

Conservative Party Backs Ex-Rep. Lazio for NY Gov (Newsmax - Politics) Submitted at 3/20/2010 1:06:18 PM

Leaders of the state Conservative Party are giving their critical backing for governor to former Rep. Rick Lazio (LA'-zee-oh).

The endorsement came Saturday at a meeting of the Conservative Party in Brooklyn.

State Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long says the Republican Lazio won the vote by a 5-to-1 margin.

Lazio is a former congressman

from Long Island who lost badly to Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2000 Senate race.

He faces challenges for the Republican nomination from conservative Democrat Steve Levy (LEE'-vee) and Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino (pal-

uh-DEE'-no).

No Republican has won statewide office in New York without the Conservative Praty endorsement. Š Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not

be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Apple preps 2010 school field trips Sang Tang (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 3/21/2010 12:00:00 PM

Filed under: Education Apple, through the Apple II, served as the gateway to computing for me; my third grade classroom had two Apple IIs neatly tucked away in metallic lock cases. With them, I was exposed to word processing, printing and, most importantly, Carmen Sandiego.

Education is deeply ingrained in the Apple ethos. During his keynote at Macworld 1997 -where he made his return -Steve Jobs, in a not so understated way, said that "Apple is the largest education company in the world" and that this provided the company "an incredible foundation...and legacy to build off of." This legacy lives on, as Apple, through its retail stores, offers a variety of mediums to teach kids about and expose them to computing and content creation.

Last week, Apple opened up spring registration for field trips to its retail stores. Breaking with the tradition that students are to

page. From my checks of various stores in California, there were no upcoming workshops scheduled at this time.

Lastly, there's Apple Camp.

Like Apple Youth Workshops, Apple Camp is geared toward younger audiences (8 to 12 yearolds). Campers get to make movies, put together iPhoto photobooks, and compose songs at the Apple Store. At the end of the day, their keepsakes include a spiffy free t-shirt and a DVD of their creations. The Apple Camp site is currently not up, but Apple says that it will open up registration beginning in May. To learn more about Apple's bring apples to their teachers, class act.[hat tip to The Loop] those up to 12th grade can youth programs, visit the Apple Apple provides a way for Field trips to the Apple store p a r t i c i p a t e , A p p l e Y o u t h Youth Program site here. teachers to their students to the are offered every fall and spring, Workshops are geared toward a TUAW Apple preps 2010 Apple...store, that is. During and registration is currently younger crowd and toward school field trips originally these field trips, K-12 students o p e n f o r w e e k d a y e v e n t s specific applications. Kids ages appeared on The Unofficial can create a variety of digital February 22 through May 1. 6 to 13 can participate in Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, masterpieces: a photo album Apple states that field trips are workshops in which they can 21 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. using iPhoto, an edited video limited to 25 students (if you work on photos, music, movies, Please see our terms for use of using iMovie, or a song in have more, you can make and even presentation skills. feeds.

GarageBand, among them. arrangements with the store), Y o u c a n c h e c k w h i c h Read| Permalink| Email this| When complete, students can and can last anywhere from an w o r k s h o p s t h a t a r e b e i n g Comments showcase their creations with hour to 90 minutes. offered at a particular retail store others in the store. Now that's a Unlike field trips, in which at the Apple Youth Workshop

Bake Homemade Cheese Crackers (Fishy Smiles Not Included) [Cooking] Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/21/2010 8:00:00 AM

Everyone loves Goldfish crackers, it's just a fact of life—but if you'd like to look

like you did more than just go to the grocery store (but actually do little else), try this recipe for

light, delicious cheddar crackers. More Âť

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PhotoNest: your Twitter stream, in pictures

At long last, the Plastiki sets sail (photos)

Brett Terpstra (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

(CNET News.com)

quitting the app and starting it again logged me in automatically without a hitch, so Submitted at 3/21/2010 11:00:00 AM I assume it's a small bug that Filed under: iPhone will be squashed in the next I just tried out PhotoNest, a update. cool new way to view just the The app will also let you post images posted to your Twitter photos (with a tweet) to your stream. It picks up just the Twitter account, and you can photos, and presents them in a filter your view based on slide format, captioned with the favorite contacts. PhotoNest is tweet they were posted with. available on the App Store for You can quickly flick through $1.99US. If your Twitter friends and see what your friends are up post a lot of photos (and people to (based on the photos they with iPhones tend to), it's a fun post). way to keep up and worth Given that Twitter doesn't have checking out. a genuine photo-posting TUAW PhotoNest: your mechanism, this seems like a The only trouble I ran into with Twitter stream, in pictures grand idea to me. I've done PhotoNest was a login issue: originally appeared on The something similar to collect and when I mistyped my password U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g expand just the links posted to on the first try, it gave me an (TUAW) on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 my stream, but this app does a error and took me back to the 11:00:00 EST. Please see our great job of pulling photos login screen. After that, though, terms for use of feeds. posted with multiple services a correct password just kept Read| Permalink| Email this| and presenting them in an easy- landing me back at that screen Comments without any message. However, to-navigate format.

rods onboard, so at least some of their food, in theory, will come from the sea.

SAUSALITO, Calif.--At 9:30 Among the inspirations for the a.m. PDT Saturday, precisely on project, in addition to bring time, the Plastiki, a "boat made attention to the way humans are of 12,000 plastic bottles" and treating our environment, is the the brainchild of banking heir Kon-Tiki expedition, Thor David de Rothschild, set sail Heyerdahl's 1947 trip across the from a berth here in this town Pacific in a boat that was a just north of the Golden Gate reproduction of an Inca raft.

Bridge.

In keeping with tradition, the The Plastiki is not just the Plastiki will pay even more world's first boat made buoyant homage to Heyerdahl. Among by discarded soda bottles. It's the six crew members is Olav also a statement about the Heyerdahl, Thor's grandson. world's garbage problem, and Here, the Plastiki is seen as it the fact that most plastic bottles has just sailed underneath the are thrown away rather than Golden Gate Bridge and heads recycled. for the Pacific. Its journey has The intent is to sail the boat just begun.

11,000 nautical miles from Photo by Daniel Sausalito to Sydney, Australia. T e r d i m a n / C N E T It is carrying about 1,000 liters Five Filters featured article: of water, meaning the crew will Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: have to stop from time to time to PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, resupply. But they have fishing Term Extraction.

Submitted at 3/20/2010 12:18:53 PM

Frank Zappa Marvel Comics Ad, 1968 (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 3/20/2010 10:55:59 AM

One of the reasons I’m visiting family this week is to determine the value of a trove of 1960s era comic books that my mom kept in a sealed wooden crate for more than 40 years. My brother

and I have been amazed at the almost new condition of a lot of the books.

And here’s an interesting bit of 60s trivia; in a few issues of some of the Marvel comics, we’ve discovered the following advertisement for Frank Zappa’s new album, “We’re Only In It Mothers of Invention and their For the Money.” I’d totally

forgotten about this one.

This ad was in Daredevil #38, from March 1968. Check out the condition of this book; it looks like it just came off the rack in a store.

Probably the most valuable book we’ve found so far is this one: X-Men #1. Even in its

somewhat beat-up state, it’s still worth quite a bit of money.

(Certainly more than 12 cents.)

The interior is completely intact, the inks are still bright, and the paper is only slightly yellowed.

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Build Your Own Camera Crane for Super Steady Video [Weekend Project] Whitson Gordon (Lifehacker) Submitted at 3/20/2010 4:00:00 PM

Even if you have steady hands, taking video from very high or low angles can often be a struggle. Luckily, with just about $25 worth of materials, you can make your own camera crane for steady shots at any altitude. More Âť

Apple leads the App Store race with 170,000 apps Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

apps than Apple publicly states it has because AppShopper updates its numbers on a daily basis. As of today's count, Submitted at 3/20/2010 8:00:00 PM Filed under: iPhone Silicon AppShopper says Apple has Alley Insider has posted an approved 198,924 apps with interesting chart that shows the 171,722 available to download. total number of apps available The discrepancy between the across various mobile platforms. numbers accounts for apps that As you can see from the chart, either the developers or Apple Apple's iPhone leads the pack have removed from the App by a longshot with 170,000 apps Store. Apple officially states according to AppShopper.com. that it currently has 150,000 AppShopper typically lists more apps.

A distant second after Apple's App Store is Google's Android Marketplace with 30,000 apps.

RIM's Blackberry trails with only 5,000 apps, while Palm has a paltry 2,000. Windows Phone 7 Series Applications were announce a few days ago with a limited number of developers signed on. Of course, these numbers don't take app quality into account at all (100,000 fart apps is still just a bunch of junk), but clearly in terms of

available downloads, Apple has a huge lead.

TUAW Apple leads the App Store race with 170,000 apps originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple's iPad ad goes viral Michael Grothaus (The Filed under: Apple, iPad APPLE'S page 28 Unofficial Apple Weblog Apple's "Meet iPad" ad, which

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APPLE'S continued from page 27

debuted during the Oscars, became the second-most viewed viral video ad last week.

Michael Learmonth, writing for AdAge, points out that "Apple has had a YouTube channel since 2005, but only recently started using it. In the past, they'd focused on driving views on Apple.com, but for the iPad, they allowed the video to be embedded across the web, and views were distributed across 100 different placements."

Those 100 different placements totaled a cool 2.5 million "Meet iPad" ad views last week. The only ad that beat "Meet iPad" was E*Trade's popular "Milkaholic" Superbowl ad, which had increased views due

to interest from Lindsay Lohan filing suit against E*Trade claiming the ad was a parody of her. "Meet iPad" was produced by the TBWA/Chiat/Day ad agency.

TUAW Apple's iPad ad goes viral originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

Neofonie WePad Named Using MS Word Find-and -Replace Tool [Tablets] Jack Loftus (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/21/2010 2:00:00 PM

I realize comparisons to another "Pads" are unfair, especially given the Tablet Wars I just invented by saying Tablet Wars c o m p l i m e n t / j o k e f r o m i t s haven't even officially started, creators at Neofonie? More » but surely the WePad's name is some kind of backhanded

E-reader News Edition

This Week's Top Downloads [Download Roundup] (Lifehacker)

Integrates Gmail into Linux Desktops(GNOME-based Linux) There are work-arounds to set Gmail as a default mail • StreamTransport Grabs Hulu app in Linux, but they don't V i d e o s f o r O f f l i n e cover right-click file sending Viewing(Windows) It may not and complex mail links. Gnome stick around that long once the Gmail does a much better job of powers that be find out, so if integrating Gmail. downloading and watching Hulu • Remote Potato Streams videos offline could help you Windows 7 Media Center Video out, grab StreamTransport. The to Your Browser, Adds Remote tricky little app provides full- Control(Windows 7) Remote quality captures of streaming Potato is a free application that shows and movies. integrates with Windows 7 • ExtensionFM Is a Very Cool Media Center, allowing you to Browser-Based Music Library, watch and schedule recorded and We've Got Invites(Chrome) video from the comfort of your Chrome extension ExtensionFM browser, no matter where you automatically collects MP3s are. from sites you visit and adds • MusicBee is a Powerful, Easy them to a browser-based library - t o - U s e M u s i c within the extension, allowing Manager(Windows) Despite the you to find all sorts of cool, new many great media players out music without cluttering up your there, MusicBee earns itself a local library until you buy them. spot high on the list with super • NetBalancer Prioritizes tagging, managing, browsing, N e t w o r k T r a f f i c b y ripping, syncing, and converting Application(Windows) Ever powers, all on top of an intuitive wish you could guarantee your interface familiar to any iTunes BitTorrent download didn't user. choke your streaming YouTube • W e a t h e r B a r I n t e g r a t e s video-or vice versa-but don't Weather Forecasts with the feel like setting up Quality of Windows 7 Superbar(Windows Service rules on your super- 7) Like to keep the eye on the router ? NetBalancer shapes weather but never been too keen b a n d w i d t h a l l o c a t i o n s f o r on sidebar gadgets or system different apps on your PC. tray apps? WeatherBar is a • G n o m e G m a i l T i g h t l y simple app that puts the weather Submitted at 3/20/2010 5:00:00 PM

in your Windows 7 taskbar, offering quick access to the forecast.

• TestDrive Virtualizes BrandNew Ubuntu Builds for Easy Testing(Ubuntu) Want to try out the latest build of the next Ubuntu release with almost no hassle at all? TestDrive is a oneshot tool that downloads, virtualizes, and keeps daily Ubuntu builds up to date.

• Etacts Adds Contact Info, Social Networking, and Handy Statistics to Your Gmail Sidebar(Chrome/Firefox) If you ever thought previously mentioned Xobni looked cool, but you prefer Gmail to Outlook, free Gmail plug-in Etacts adds many of the same features. You get social information, conversation history, and advanced sending preferences right in your Gmail sidebars.

• LastHistory Graphically Visualizes your Last.fm History Through Time(Mac) Just when you thought you couldn't possibly need more statistics on your music listening habits, free Mac app LastHistory comes along and graphically analyzes your Last.fm logs, over time, while also integrating with other Mac apps like iPhoto and iCal. More »

Politics/ Gadgets/

E-reader News Edition

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Calif. Gov's Race Sets Spending Record (Newsmax - Politics) Submitted at 3/21/2010 2:51:35 AM

SAN FRANCISCO – The California governor's race is on track to be the most expensive nonpresidential election in U.S. history, sparking a debate over money and influence that could become the campaign's defining issue.

Republican front-runner Meg Whitman, the billionaire former CEO of online auction house eBay Inc, will likely face off in November against Democrat Jerry Brown, a former governor and career politician backed by labor unions with many millions of dollars in potential contributions at their disposal.

The race so far pales in comparison to the $1 billion 2008 presidential contest. But Whitman has said she is prepared to spend $150 million, enough to top the $148 million spent eight years ago in the New York gubernatorial election won by incumbent Republican George Pataki.

The National Institute on Money in State Politics ranks the 2002 New York race as the most expensive state-level U.S. contest yet, and no congressional campaign comes close.

Whitman's benchmark would also eclipse billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 2009 $108 million self-funded campaign.

"This is going to be a record.

There is no question about that," said Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, who sees voters' antiincumbent sentiment in California playing out against a historical state bias against wealthy candidates. The current governor, Republican Arnold Schwarzenneger, is barred by term limits from re-election.

Whitman has already poured $39 million of her own funds into her campaign, while state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, her rival for the Republican nomination, has sunk $19 million of his personal wealth into the race.

Voters are still making up their minds. A television advertising blitz by Whitman has helped propel her to a 49-percentage point lead over Poizner and turned her double-digit deficit against Brown into a 3percentage point lead in the latest Field Polls.

Brown, who was California governor from 1975 to 1983 and is now state attorney general, has about $14 million cash on hand. That would seem to put him a distinct disadvantage, lacking the deep pockets of his Republican foes and limited by state caps on the amount he can raise from individual donors.

But California campaign finance laws allow unlimited contributions to independent committees, giving Democratic

Party stalwarts, such as unions concerned about possible pension fund overhauls under a Republican governor, plenty of room to spend.

Two unions top a list of 15 organizations, including energy companies, casino-operating Indian tribes and business groups that together spent $1 billion on ballot initiative campaigns, candidate support and lobbying in the past 10 years, according to the state's Fair Political Practices Commission.

"At the end of the day, even with contributions and the amount of money Meg will be able to raise, the resources will be about even," said Whitman spokesman Tucker Bounds, a contention the Brown campaign rejects.

MONEY MESSAGES The money has already become part of the message. Whitman emphasizes her success in business and said she would not take a salary as governor.

Brown says he needs the salary after devoting himself to a lifetime of public service.

Those narratives feed into what some analysts see as the thematic choice being presented to voters -- an outsider with fresh ideas versus a maverick insider with the experience to carry out much-needed government reforms.

Questions surrounding the use, abuse and raising of funds are

shaping negative campaign ads.

Whitman's campaign accuses Brown of ceding control to organized labor and circumventing campaign finance law by relying on union dollars and activism to bolster his campaign. At a recent union gathering, he was videotaped declaring: "We're going to attack whenever we can, but I'd rather have you attack. I'd rather be the nice guy in this race."

That, says Whitman's camp, is illegal coordination. "You have the candidate telling third-party groups to fund other third-party groups on his behalf," Bounds said.

Brown's spokesman, Sterling Clifford, called such accusations of campaign finance transgressions ridiculous -- and turned the focus to Whitman's money.

"She'll say anything in her attempt to crown herself nominee and then buy the general election," he said. Š 2010 Reuters. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

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Digital Storm's Davinci workstation gets down with Core i7-980X, Quadro graphics Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 3/21/2010 1:57:00 PM

Creative professional. Hear that much? If that's how this all-toostructured world views you, you just might be due a new rig -particularly if you're thinking of stepping into 4K territory.

Digital Storm is offering up a rather unique solution in its Davinci, which opts for a 3.33GHz Core i7-980X Extreme Edition (yeah, that new Intel chip) instead of a more traditional Xeon. You'll still get an NVIDIA Quadro FX 1800 (768MB) GPU, 12GB of DDR3 memory, Windows 7 Processional and one of the nicer liquid cooling systems that we've seen, which may or may not be enough to sneak a little Crysis in between edits. Too bad the base price base rings up at $4,995, but look, that next indie film you're producing is totally hitting it big.

Digital Storm's Davinci workstation gets down with Core i7-980X, Quadro graphics originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Hot Hardware| Email this| Comments

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ReadWriteWeb Events Guide, 20 March 2010 Admin (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 3/20/2010 11:30:00 AM

In the next few weeks, the ReadWriteWeb events guide will take you from New York City, to San Francisco, to Portland, Oregon. Along the way you'll find a conference on search engine strategies, a showcase for startups, an indepth look at the freemium business model, and a day filled with of social media case studies.

How do you like your events calendar? As a world map? As an iCal (and Google Calendarimportable) file? You can also import individual events using the link beside each entry.

Know of something cool taking place that should appear here?

Let us know in the comments below or contact us.

Sponsor 22 – 26 March 2010: New York City Search Engine Strategies New York Conference & Expo Go beyond search at Search Engine Strategies New York.

Learn the newest trends, strategic action plans, and technology that industry leaders are employing today. Our experts will trace the natural evolution of search exploring topics such as: digital asset optimization, mobile application development, transition from search to discovery and more.Book your pass today.

Enter RWW15 to save 15% off the registration. Sessions include: • Digital Asset Optimization • Deep Dive Into Analytics • Augmented Reality: It's a Brave New World • Bringing SEO In-House: The Pros and Cons • Advanced B2B Search Marketing • Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues 23 March 2010: San Francisco, California S.F. Beta 4.0 After a long winter's hiatus, S.F. Beta is back, for its forth year straight! Join hundreds of founders, investors, developers, and technologists for a lively evening of demos, drinks, conversation, and new connections. Early bird tickets are available, and they're going fast. Register now for discounted admission. As always, we feature startup demos all night. This time around, the theme is Search & Discovery. If you're building the next Google (or the next Google acquisition), we want you here!

Email cperry@sfbeta.com for more info.

26 March 2010: San Francisco, California Freemium Summit The first Freemium Summit is a one day event focused on exploring what it takes to succeed under the freemium

business model. Across all segments of the media landscape, entrepreneurs and executives are pioneering models that combine a free offering with a premium, paid offering. This hybrid business model is one of the most exciting areas of business model innovation impacting the world of media and the Freemium Summit will explore the most important topics on the minds of leading practitioners.

Confirmed Speakers: Toni Schneider, Automattic (WordPress); Matt Brezina, Xobni; Aaron Levie, Box.net; Phil Libin, Evernote; Tom Conrad, Pandora; Drew Houston, Dropbox; Ranjith Kumaran, YouSendIt; Ben Chestnut, Mailchimp; Lance Walley, Chargify; Isaac Hall, Recurly; and Lincoln Murphy, Sixteen Ventures.

March 29, 2010: Portland, Oregon Social Fresh Portland The social media conference for marketers, Social Fresh is not

about concept, but focused purely on case studies from the front lines. Learn what social media can really do for business bottom lines. Over the course of the day, you'll hear from 35 speakers from companies like Intel, Ford, Comcast, Nike and many more, as well as keynote Peter Shankman. Register now and use coupon code RWW15 for 15% off.

4 April 2010: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania ConnectNow TEDx CMU is an independently organized TEDx event that will be held on April 4th, 2010 at Carnegie Mellon University and will feature a full day of talks by prominent speakers as well as recorded videos from past TEDTalks.

Confirmed speakers include Jonathan Fields (author, blogger and entrepreneur), Stacey Monk (founder of Epic Change, a startup nonprofit), Chase Jarvis (photographer, director and social artist) and Nathan Martin (CEO of Deeplocal, an innovation studio in Pittsburgh).

The theme of the event is "Fearless", and we are inviting speakers from cross-disciplinary backgrounds to talk about their experiences, and tell us a little about what inspires them to be fearless in the pursuit of goals.

We hope to spark discussions and foster connections between participants, encouraging

aspiring individuals to follow their dreams and make a difference. The event is free to attend, and the application deadline is March 21, 2010.

For more information about the event, visit tedxcmu.com or email info@tedxcmu.com. You can also find TEDx CMU on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

7 – 9 April 2010: Sydney, Australia ConnectNow ConnectNow brings together international specialists and thought leaders in social media, emerging technologies and their intersection with business.

Learn how the realtime web, location based services, augmented reality, ubiquitous computing and personalised services are changing marketing and communications.

Understand the importance of trust in relationship marketing and what is "social currency".

For more info email info@connectnow.net.au.

13 – 15 April 2010: Dallas, Texas PubCon South PubCon, the premier search and social media conference, features the industry's biggest names and key players shaping the future of the Web. PubCon South will include cutting-edge panel sessions exploring tracks dedicated to search, social READWRITEWEB page 32

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Check Out the Companies That Make ReadWriteWeb Possible Admin (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 3/21/2010 11:00:00 AM

Our readers know ReadWriteWeb as the blog that's ahead of the technology curve.

Our sponsors know us as that, too. Once a week we introduce our sponsors to our readers and let them know a little more about who they are and what they do. You can say thanks to the companies that make ReadWriteWeb happen by tweeting them (see the link below each sponsor) or following them using our Twitter list.

Interested in being a ReadWriteWeb sponsor? Our readers are smart, tech-savvy decision makers; 40% have a graduate degree or PhD, and over 45% play a key role in information technology purchasing decisions. More than 1 million people on Twitter follow us to stay abreast of the latest Web technology trends from around the globe. To find out more about our sponsor packages, visit our advertising page or email our COO. Sponsor Skip to info about: Tableau: Data visualization | Crowd Science: Demographic data | Medill School of Journalism: Digital journalism programs | Mashery: API management services | Rackspace: Cloud computing experts | Sproutbox: Start-up investors | Aplus.net:

Web hosting | Clickatell: SMS provider |.Me: Domain Registrar | Conduit: Customized components | MyDomain.com: Domain registrar | Toopia: Our iPhone app developer Tableau Tableau Public is a free service that lets anyone publish interactive data to the web in interesting and compelling graphs. Download Tableau Public and in minutes, you can create interactive graphs, dashboards, maps and tables from virtually any data and embed them on your website or blog in minutes. Anyone can do it. You don't need to be a programmer or hire one - no language to learn, no plug-ins, no API. Your blog or website will stand out with colorful, interactive data visualizations.

Bloggers using Tableau Public are averaging 3 times more reader comments.

And, once on the web, anyone can interact with your graph and the data. They can re-embed your work, download the data, or create their own visualizations. Check out our gallery to see some of the cool graphs bloggers have created.

Or learn how in our 5 minute video.

Thank Tableau on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Crowd Science Crowd Science gives online publishers reports on the

publishing, or by videography for the small screen. Maybe you are an experienced professional looking to renew and retool your multimedia skills. You can find your niche in Medill's graduate journalism program.

Thank the Medill School of Journalism on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Mashery demographics and attitudes of Mashery is a platform for Web t h e i r a u d i e n c e . W e a t services, allowing companies to ReadWriteWeb have signed up m a n a g e t h e i r A P I s u s i n g to this new service, because Mashery's expertise. At the demographic data is something "Business of APIs" conference, we've struggled to get in the Mashery CEO Oren Michels past. It's important for any explained to the audience that online business to know their while APIs are a technology, audience, so Crowd Science is a their use is a business decision. welcome addition to the stats He went on to say that Mashery armory that most of us in the has helped customers such as Internet biz use.

WhitePages.com, Thumbplay, Sign up to get demographic Compete.com, and Calais. data from Crowd Science.

Check out the white paper " Thank Crowd Science on Five steps to scaling your T w i t t e r f o r m a k i n g business development using R e a d W r i t e W e b p o s s i b l e . Web services" to discover how Medill School of Journalism you can use APIs for your T h e M e d i l l S c h o o l o f business.

Journalism at Northwestern You can find out more about University offers programs that APIs and their business use at combine the enduring skills and www.mashery.com. values of journalism with new Thank Mashery on Twitter for techniques and knowledge that m a k i n g R e a d W r i t e W e b are essential to thrive in a digital p o s s i b l e . world. You might have a Rackspace passion for creating finely Rackspace is one of the world's crafted prose, or for telling largest hosting providers, but it's stories using visual tools. Maybe also competing in the cloud you are invigorated by the computing arena. Rackspace possibilities of interactive Cloud Hosting offers a suite of

services which combines a scalable web and application hosting platform (Cloud Sites) with a cloud storage solution (Cloud Files) and on demand server instances (Cloud Servers). The addition of SliceHost a popular cloud computing and hosting provider and JungleDisk, a favorite online backup service that supports Cloud files, makes the Rackspace Cloud a powerful cloud hosting solution.

Explore Rackspace's hosting and cloud computing solutions.

Thank Rackspace on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Sproutbox SproutBox is an elite team of product developers, creatives, and business experts that invest their talent full-time in start-ups.

SproutBox's new approach to venture capital has helped launch several successful companies including: CheddarGetter, a subscription billing and analytics tool; ScheduleThing, an online scheduling and reservations app; and Squad, a web-based collaborative code editor.

To apply for start-up funding or find out more information visit sproutbox.com.

Thank Sproutbox on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

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media and affiliate marketing, an intensive professional search and social media training program, and some of the world's top keynote speakers.

PubCon South at Dallas will also hold a one-day, two-track slate of intensive educational training programs led by some of the industry's most respected search professionals. The event takes place at the Richardson Conference and Civic Center.

Register here.

16 April 2010: Mountain View, California Under the Radar: Cloud Under the Radar: Cloud is must -attend event for dealmakers and heads of IT from large enterprises, SMBs, service providers, carriers and media companies who are responsible for helping their companies leverage new technology and innovation in the fast-evolving IT ecosystem. Join us for the 15th Under the Radar conference, featuring a handpicked selection of the world's most innovative cloud startups among 350 top tech, media, telcom and finance executives.

For ticket and more information, v i s i t http://undertheradarblog.com.

16 – 17 April 2010: Royal Oak, Michigan FutureMidwest FutureMidwest is the region's largest technology and knowledge conference. Founded

by Adrian Pittman, Jordan

Wolfe and Zach Lipson, FutureMidwest is the fusion of two successful conferences held in Michigan in 2009 - the Module Midwest Digital Conference and TechNow. Both conferences highlighted how technology and digital tools have dramatically changed the way we do business and the effect this transition has had on companies. FutureMidwest kicks things up a notch with presentations, group breakout sessions, relationship-building opportunities and influencers who are taking action to redefine business in the digital age. Register here.

April 19, 2010: St. Louis Missouri Social Fresh St. Louis The social media conference for marketers, Social Fresh is not about concept, but focused purely on case studies from the front lines. Learn what social media can really do for business bottom lines. Over the course of the day you'll hear from 35 speakers from companies like Ford, Best Buy, Scottrade, Hardees, CMT and many more.

Register now and use coupon code RWW15 for 15% off.

19 – 21 April 2010: San Francisco, California DrupalCon DrupalCon is the premier conference focused on Drupal, the award-winning open source content management framework that is galvanizing social

publishing and web development today. For a registration fee of $195, attendees get three full days of sessions led by the best and brightest Drupal experts.

Drupal has been downloaded over 2 million times since its inception, and project growth has doubled annually for several years. Drupal is used to deliver a wide variety of application types including blogs, wikis, community networks, digital media portals, and web content publishing and management.

26 April 2010: San Francisco, California Future of Money and Technology Summit The Future of Money & Technology Summit will bring together the best and brightest thinkers around money, including visionaries, entrepreneurial business people, developers, press, investors, authors, solution/service providers, and organizations who work where cash and commerce collide. We meet to discuss the evolving ecosystem around money in a proactive, conducive to dealmaking environment. Featured speakers include Jolie O'Dell from ReadWriteWeb, as well as representatives from Wells Fargo Bank, Kiva, SharesPost, Jambool, Founders Fund, Outright.com, SoftTech VC, and many more.

Use discount code "rww" to get

10% off registration.

7 May 2010: Mountain View, California ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit 2010 The ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit 2010 will be an exploration of the latest Mobile development trends - both the technology and the emerging business applications. Get ready to explore, think and create the future of Mobile with the brightest in the industry, your peers! As in our last Summit, The Real-Time Web, the ReadWriteWeb Mobile Summit is an unconference.

An unconference is a participant driven conference where the agenda is created on the day, in real-time and discussions are lead by conference participants. Read about the history of unconferences.

We will have two main tracks at this Summit - Development and Business - so the Summit will be of interest to managers, marketers, developers, innovators, entrepreneurs and thought leaders alike. Here's a sample of some of the topics we'll explore in both of these tracks.

• Geo-location services- what can you do using location as a platform?

• Commerce & Marketing- as more and more consumers use smartphones, how can

businesses utilize this channel?

• Content, Publishing & Recommendations- the technologies and best practices.

• Mobile Social Networkinghow to tap into communities on mobile devices.

• Internet of Things- the emerging opportunities from sensor and RFID data.

• Augmented Reality- the technology and business applications of AR. • Native App vs. Browser Based- Including iPhone, Android, RIM, Palm, Windows Mobile and Symbian.

Click here to register now, or to become a sponsor, or to help shape the conference.

11 May 2010: San Francisco, California FinovateSpring FinovateSpring 2010 will again showcase the most cutting-edge financial and banking technology innovations to Silicon Valley and the world.

With Finovate's signature mix of short, fast-paced onstage demos (no slides are allowed) from handpicked companies and intimate networking time with their executives, this conference packs a ton of unique value into a single day.

Come see the cutting edge of banking and financial technology and network with hundreds of the leading READWRITEWEB page 34

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Aplus.net offers a variety of services relating to Web hosting, including shared hosting, Web design, marketing and online advertising services, search engine optimization, ecommerce solutions, and domain registration.

You can register for Aplus.net here.

Thank Aplus.net on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Clickatell Clickatell has over 22,000 customers utilizing our service from small mom & pop outfits to large Fortune 500 companies including Avaya, Oracle, Shell, Barclays, BP, CNN, BBC and more. Here's why you should trust us to mobilize your business: Our SMS gateway offers you wider coverage than any other SMS provider delivering messages to 600 network operators in 200 countries. Our gateway is not limited to SMS text messaging.

You can also send a number of other message types including Ringtones, VCards, Binary, EMS, Unicode, Flash SMS, WAP Push, and more.

Clickatell offers you direct connectivity to its core SMS gateway platform via a number of APIs (application

programming interfaces) including; HTTP(internet post), SMPP, FTP, XML, SMTP(email to SMS), SOAP and COM Object. Each API has full documentation with sample code where applicable. Learn more about Clickatell here.

Thank Clickatell on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. .Me .Me is a Top Level Domain of a small, south-east European country of Montenegro, which restored its independence in 21st century. Due to its unforgettable meaning and truly personal tone, most of the registration restrictions have been cancelled.

Some of the prominent tech and advertising savvies recognized TLD's potential and grabbed their .Me domain name. In less than 20 months 360.000 domains were registered by people from 200 different countries.ME is perfect for " yourname.me" blog or " yourname@surname.me" email address.

It is also widely used as a callto-action domain ( notify.me, retwt.me) and as a social (YouAnd.Me) or community network (Missouri.Me, Oklahoma.Me). One may also choose to send a cool personal

message (WillSheMarry.Me). In addition, some of the biggest companies recognized its branding potential and started using .ME for various purposes.

Check out Facebook (Fb.Me), Wordpress (Wp.Me), USA Today (USAT.Me), Universal Pictures (Despicable.Me) or Zappos.com (Zapp.Me). It seems that some countries are luckier than others when it comes to domain names. Are you lucky enough to grab your own .ME? Thank .Me for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

Conduit Conduit enables Web publishers to distribute their offerings both directly and through its global network of 220,000 publishers and their 100 million users. The Conduit platform is a powerful marketing tool that allows you to offer the best of your site through a custom App or Community Toolbar, send desktop alerts to your users, and much more.

The Conduit platform opens a new world of content sharing.

Your site visitors can add your content right to their browser by clicking on a branded 2go button that you place on your site. You can also share your

content in the Conduit Marketplace, where all the publishers and users in the Conduit network can grab it.

The platform has been adopted by major brands such as Fox News, iWin, Major League Baseball, TechCrunch, and Travelocity, as well as thousands of small and medium organizations in 120 countries.

If you would like to Conduit your website, go to www.conduit.com.

Thank Conduit on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. MyDomain.com MyDomain is a leading ICANN -accredited provider of domain name registration and online business solutions. For over 10 years, MyDomain has offered low-cost domain names and free domain services including complete DNS management.

Today, sub-$10 domains without the constant upsells you'll find at some competitors are the norm at MyDomain.

MyDomain's complete range of solutions include Web hosting and VPS hosting, email, SSL Certificates and more.

Toopia Nicolas Koenig is the developer who made our beautiful iPhone app a reality. He runs an iPhone development shop from the

Netherlands called Toopia.

Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone or iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location. The RWW app lets you read us on the go, follow us on Twitter, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and browse at your leasure using Read it Later and Instapaper.

Download the ReadWriteWeb iPhone application here.

Thank Toopia on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible.

The companies above pay our rents or mortgages and we appreciate it. We hope you'll stop by their sites and see what they've got to offer.

Have you got a smart company that could use some more visits by the sophisticated readers of a blog like ReadWriteWeb's?

Drop us a line and let's talk.

Thanks to all our sponsors and our readers for your support!

Discuss

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financial executives, venture capitalists, press, industry analysts, bloggers and fintech entrepreneurs. Early bird registration rates are available.

May 17 2010: San Francisco, California SF MusicTech Summit The SF MusicTech Summit will bring together 700-plus visionaries in the music/technology space - the best and brightest entrepreneurs, developers, investors, service providers, journalists, musicians and organizations who work with them at the convergence of culture and commerce. We meet to discuss the evolving music, business and technology ecosystem in a proactive, conducive-to-dealmaking environment. Enter the discount code "rww" to get 10% off.

25 – 27 May 2010: Denver, Colorado Glue Glue is the only conference devoted solely to exploring the problem-sets facing architects, developers and IT professionals in a "post-cloud" world. Glue focuses on the APIs and protocols (Twitter, Facebook, Websockets, PubSubHubBub, XMPP), formats and standards (RDF/Linked Data, JSON, Microformats, HTML5), platforms and providers (Amazon, Rackspace, Google

App Engine, Salesforce.com, Eucalyptus), Identity Protocols (OAuth/WRAP, SAML, OpenID, SPML) emerging NoSQL data models (Cassandra, CouchDB, MongoDB, Riak, HBase), and other mechanisms that are building the post-cloud world.

ReadWriteCloud will be blogging live from Gluecon and C l o u d C a m p , a n d ReadWriteWeb's Alex Williams will be moderating the "Managing Complexity in the Cloud" session. Please join us May 25-27 in Denver, Colorado.

ReadWriteWeb readers can receive 10% off of registration by using the code "RWW12".

15 – 16 June 2010: New York City Corporate Social Media Summit The Corporate Social Media Summit is a two day conference focused exclusively on how big businesses can take advantage of social media to enhance their marketing/comms strategy.

Featuring: • Practical and relevant insights from peers who have already used social media successfully • 20-plus corporate speakers(including PepsiCo, Whole Foods, Dell, McDonald's, General Motors, Citi, Johnson & Johnson),• Best practice, benchmarks and

practical next steps you can use to take advantage of social media in your business • A tightly-focused agenda with 14 in-depth, practical workshops giving you knowledge on only the most critical business issues surrounding corporate use of social media

integrated cloud computing and SaaS into their working practices • Learn from the key players offering cloud and SaaS services • Evening networking party for all attendees

5 October 2010: New York City FinovateFall S a v e $ 4 0 0 i f y o u q u o t e FinovateFall will return to RWW400 when booking. Book Manhattan on Tuesday, October here.

5 to showcase dozens of the 29 – 30 June 2010: London biggest and most innovative C l o u d C o m p u t i n g W o r l d new ideas in financial and Forum banking technology from T h e 2 n d a n n u a l C l o u d established leaders and hot Computing World Forum is the young companies. The Fall perfect event to learn and event is the original and largest d i s c u s s t h e d e v e l o p m e n t , Finovate and features a single integration, adoption and future day packed with our special of cloud computing and SaaS. blend of short, fast-paced Building on the success of the onstage demos (no slides are 2009 show, this two day a l l o w e d ) a n d i n t i m a t e conference and free-to-attend networking time with top e x h i b i t i o n w i l l p r o v i d e a executives from the innovative focused platform for the global demoing companies. cloud and SaaS industry. Show FinovateFall is a unique chance highlights include: to see the future of finance and • Co-located with CloudCamp banking before your competition London and find the edge you need in • Co-located with Green IT today's market. Early bird conference registration rates are available.

• Free-to-attend exhibition with Download this entire events seminar and scenario theatre calendar in iCal format. Discuss • Free-to-attend evening awards presentation • Hear from leading case studies on how they have

SQL Injection License Plate Hopes to Foil Euro Traffic Cameras [Imagecache] Joel Johnson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/21/2010 12:18:59 PM

Who knows if this little bit of database wizardry would actually cause the traffic camera's picture-parsing computer to drop a table? Even if it doesn't it's covered up his actual license plate. [ See Also] More »

Aquapod Bottle Launcher: You know, for kids John Biggs (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/21/2010 7:17:12 AM

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I was just outside trying to shoot a water rocket I bought at a science museum, recalling the heady days I once spent shooting a similar rocket into the air when I was a young lad.

Sadly, the poorly built rocket failed and the pump started just sucking in water, leading me to the Internet for solace.

The sweet Internet doth offer succor, friends, in the form of the Aquapod Bottle Launcher.

While you could just make your own water rocket out of a water and some piping, this $24.99 kit allows you, with the aid of a soda bottle and bicycle pump, to become a mini Goddard in your own back forty.

The Aquapod is the most exciting and safest bottle launcher available. This

intriguing hobby toy requires no assembly and is ready to launch with the addition of a regular 2liter plastic soda bottle and an ordinary bicycle pump. The Aquapod has a florescent orange futuristic one piece design that captures the eye instantly.

Not only does the Aquapod launch a bottle up to 100 feet in the air, but no other launcher out there has a built in safety valve that releases pressure at 60psi in order to keep everyone safe from overpressurizing the entire system.

Just fill a 2-liter plastic bottle half with water and secure it over the white launch tube upside down. Using any ordinary pump, pressurize

the Aquapod through the valve stem until the check valve inside the front leg releases pressure and water.

Then, stand back with the strap in your hand that is attached to a 15 foot string and give a short, quick tug on the string to launch the bottle high into the air.

The Aquapod is built with high quality thick durable plastic and is designed to last.

The Aquapod is also available in bulk in case you want to start your own hamster space program.

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Line 6 iPhone Peripheral is for MIDI Masters Onthe-Go [Apps] Jack Loftus (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/21/2010 1:00:00 PM

Does the iPhone need a mobile MIDI app? Irrelevant question, self, because it has one now, regardless of need or want. portable option for MIDI mixers C a l l e d t h e L i n e 6 M I D I on the move. More Âť Mobilizer, it's a low power,

Line 6 peripheral brings MIDI and iPhone closer than you ever expected Ross Miller (Engadget) Submitted at 3/21/2010 8:56:00 AM

It's no amplifier substitute, but Line 6 has come up with something potentially even better for the budding songwriter buried deep within your rhythmic veins. The MIDI Mobilizer for iPhone and iPod touch is an app-based peripheral

that lets you record, playback, store, and transfer MIDI sequences and parameters using the MIDI Memo Recorder software. While it does sound convenient in theory, we'll have to wait until we can try the dongle out for ourselves. At this point in time, price of the Mobilizer is TBD and the Spring 2010. As for the recorder release date is the ever-vague app, it's currently available on

iTunes free of charge, although it's more or less useless without the complementary hardware.

For now, you'll just have to settle with living vicariously through the promo video, after the break.

[Thanks, Fred] Continue reading Line 6 peripheral brings MIDI and iPhone closer than you ever

expected Line 6 peripheral brings MIDI and iPhone closer than you ever expected originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 08:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Synthtopia, Vetaville| Line 6, iTunes| Email this| Comments

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Three for 3D: ESPN 3D adds Home Run Derby, Sky 3D launches 4/3, AcTVila makes the jump this summer Best Buy now hawking Viliv’s wares Richard Lawler (Engadget)

this season(plus the Coca Cola league playoff finals) and demo Submitted at 3/21/2010 6:29:00 AM reel for all non-footy hours of Three continents, three more the day. Bringing the focus back milestone announcements for home, ESPN 3D has scheduled 3D. First up is Sky TV, which, the first event it will produce with or without 15,000 or so flat and air itself, the MLB Home screens from LG, is officially Run Derby on July 12, a day launching its Sky 3D channel a f t e r l a u n c h i n g w i t h t h e around the Man. U/Chelsea SA/Mexico World Cup game. game on April 3. Already have a Other events officially on deck 3DTV and Sky's "top channels (the plan for the first year is still a n d H D p a c k ? " C a l l t h e about 85) include several c o m p a n y w i t h d e t a i l s f o r college basketball tournaments activation, while everyone else and the ACC Championship checks to see if their local pub is football game in December. Last a m o n g t h e t h o u s a n d p l u s but not least is Japan, already already signed up to receive the h o m e t o a t l e a s t o n e 3 D six live 3D matches slated for network, which will soon have

access to even more over the cross-manufacturer AcTVila video on-demand service.

Clearly, the only logical thing to do is to keep that "3D will never take off" comment macro keyed up, it will be getting a lot of use over the next few months.

Three for 3D: ESPN 3D adds Home Run Derby, Sky 3D launches 4/3, AcTVila makes the jump this summer originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 06:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Sky, ESPN, acTVila| Email this| Comments

Star Jones Undergoes Heart Surgery (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/20/2010 6:21:00 PM

Star Jones is recovering from heart surgery.

A rep for the television personality tells ET, "On

Wednesday, March 17th, a preplanned cardiac surgery was performed on Star Jones. This recent surgery is a follow-up to the thoracic surgery she had 30 years ago.

"The procedure was successful

and she is recovering well with her family. Star is grateful for everyone’s thoughts and prayers," the rep concludes.

Matt Burns (CrunchGear)

The $579 S7 will be available with a $50 instant rebate if the buyer signs up for a Sprint MiViliv makes some hot, little Fi or Overdrive hotspot. That’s portables. That’s a fact. The of course a nice offer, but the X70 and S5 touchscreen along slightly more expensive $649 S7 with the S7 convertible netboo k features a built-in unlocked 3G are among the best in their modem allowing owners to poprespective niche markets. But in any ol’ activated SIM card for previously the products were mobile hotspot-free Internet only available from online connectivity. retailers, which of course limits As of writing it doesn’t seem their visibility from a whole that any Best Buy locations have segment of potential customers. the portables in stock, but Starting Monday though, Best YMMV. Give your local store a Buy shoppers will be able to quick minute or two before pick up the products in store and bothering computer associates online. There will even be an about when they will be getting instant rebate available on the their first Viliv shipments. [ n o n e - 3 G m o d e m - e q u i p p e d Best Buy] models.

Submitted at 3/21/2010 8:24:03 AM

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Ben Folds Takes Chatroulette on Stage with "Ode to Merton" [Chatroulette] Joel Johnson (Gizmodo) Submitted at 3/21/2010 12:40:56 PM

I've probably seen Ben Folds live a dozen times. And except for the time where he actually got so pissed at people yelling "Freebird!" that he actually played the whole thing, I've never once been bored. More Âť

JVC ships Bluetooth-packin', geotagging Everio GZ-HM550 camcorder Darren Murph (Engadget)

camcorders go, it's one of the better specced models on the Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:41:00 AM market, touting a 10.6 A h , s p r i n g t i m e . A i n ' t i t megapixel CMOS sensor, 32GB beautiful? So beautiful, in fact, of inbuilt storage, an SD / that you're apt to want to capture S D H C e x p a n s i o n s l o t , a n the flowers blooming and the integrated Bluetooth module kids playing around you, which (for controlling the camera's is probably why JVC finally play, zoom and record functions decided to ship the Everio GZ- via cellphone) and geotagging HM550 that it announced back support when used with a at CES. As far as handheld compatible BT phone. Oh, and

users can even sync up a Bluetooth headset in order to monitor the recorded sound or input voice recordings. You'll also get 1080p recording, a 16x zoom and the ability to snag 9 megapixel stills, all for the low, low price of $799.95. Go ahead -- step your YouTube game way up.

Continue reading JVC ships Bluetooth-packin', geotagging

Everio GZ-HM550 camcorder JVC ships Bluetooth-packin', geotagging Everio GZ-HM550 Video: The $113.5 camcorder originally appeared million F-35B Lightning on Engadget on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:41:00 EST. Please see II can float in the air for our terms for use of feeds. a little bit Permalink| JVC| Email this| Nicholas Deleon Comments (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/20/2010 11:30:13 AM

VIDEO: page 38

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There’s a certain amount of pride in seeing a country pump out something like the new F35B Lightning II fighter jet. At $113.5 million per aircraft, it’s about as far away from the meaning of the word “inexpensive” as possible. It makes you think, well, if we can afford things like that, why can’t we afford things like this? But, whatever. The entire purpose of this post is to watch a legitimately exciting video. So, let’s!

The very first test flight of the aircraft happened yesterday, and lasted 14 minutes long. (Yes, there’s a certain irony in finding out about the latest American military technology in the British press.) That works out to

$8.1 million per minute in the air. Granted, that’s a horrible way of looking at the aircraft, but it’s a fun stat nonetheless.

The F-35B Lightning II has been in development since 2001, and it was originally promoted as an affordable option to keeping old birds like the F-16 and F-10A in the air.

The marines will start using the jet, if all goes according to plan, in December, 2012.

And now I’m off to play Battlefield: Bad Company 2, using more terribly expensive weapons to beat up Kirilenko.

Why is this gorgeous backpack Japan -only?

Devin Coldewey (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/20/2010 5:37:14 PM

Hello, my name is Devin, and I’m a bagaholic. I can’t get enough. Despite getting my hands on such awesome and varied backpacks as the Mamba Shift, the Soyuz, and the Vandal, not to mention those sweet things from Acme Made back in the day, I can’t help but lust after the latest book-andlaptop receptacle. This time, unfortunately, the rascals have made it only available in Japan.

Curses!

I think what attracts me about this thing is those twin steel buckles. As practical as Velcro is, buckles are awesomer, especially when they’re

metallic. I must have some magpie in me, because anything shiny like that just entrances me.

In addition to being limited to Japan, this sucker costs a mindblowing ¥48,825 — over $500, over at Beauty & Youth.. This is why my handlers don’t let me loose in Tokyo with a credit card. I have to be kept on a leash and given quarters, which I save up to spend on gyudon at Yoshinoya. Shameful, I know — but savory. [via High Snobiety and Doobybrain]

McLaren MP4-12C: We live in a world where $225,000 cars are considered ‘affordable’ Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear) Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:00:53 AM

Watch out, Nicholas writing about cars, there’s bound to be errors! (No different from anything else, really.) It’s the McLaren MP4-12C, a £150,000 ($225,000) supercar that McLaren is actually positioning

as “affordable.” I mean, an Xbox 360 Arcade SKU is “affordable,” maybe even a fancy gaming mouse when you consider what they do… Oh, I know who would consider this supercar affordable: people who play for Manchester City.

The British supercar made its drivers Lewis Hamilton and f a n c y d e b u t y e s t e r d a y , Jenson Button. Supposedly it’s surrounded by Formula One the UK’s answer to the Ferrari

458—Italian, of course.

It can go 0 to 60mph in 3.4 seconds. I believe that’s an

impressive number.

The exterior is one single piece of carbon fiber. That’s the new “cool” material, right, carbon fiber? You hear about it all the time on Top Gear.

There’s no video of it in action, unfortunately. Someone call The Stig, or Matt. Whoever’s available.

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T-Mobile's HTC HD2 gets purchased and unboxed early (video) Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 3/21/2010 12:21:00 PM

T-Mobile's not officially selling its world-beating HD2 until Wednesday, but if you've a Walmart nearby and hankering to get HTC's latest and greatest a few days early, it might be worth a trip out. JDMiPhoner managed to score one from his local Wally World a full four days early, and he's been kind enough to unbox it, boot it up and give us a few first

impressions on video. Is it really worth a couple of Benjamins with Windows Phone 7 Series just a few months away? Head on past the break if you'd care to

be reminded of just how painful it is to know that this WinMo 6.5-packin' gem won't ever be upgradable(natively, anyway) to WP7S.

[Thanks, Andrew] Continue reading T-Mobile's HTC HD2 gets purchased and unboxed early (video) T-Mobile's HTC HD2 gets purchased and unboxed early (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 12:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: Rosie O'Donnell Planning to Return to Daytime TV (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/21/2010 9:05:00 AM

Rosie O'Donnell is planning to come back to daytime television as host of a new syndicated talk show, according to a report.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, O'Donnell is teaming with TV veterans Dick Robertson and Scott Carlin.

The show is being planned for a possible launch in fall of 2011, which is the same time that Oprah Winfrey's long-running talk show will end.

What's On Tonight: 'Life,' 'Family Guy,' 'Jamie Oliver', 'Breaking Bad' Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

• NBC has a new'Dateline' at 7, followed by new episodes of'Minute To Win It,' and'The Here's tonight's TV lineup (all Celebrity Apprentice.' times Eastern).

• FOX has two new episodes of'Til Death' at 7, then new • At 7, ABC has Figure episodes of'The Simpsons,' 'The Skating, followed by new Cleveland Show,' 'Family Guy,' episodes of'Extreme Makeover' and'Sons of Tucson.' and'Desperate Housewives' and • At 8, Food Network has a the series premiere of'Jamie new'Challenge,' followed by Oliver's Food Revolution.' new episodes of'Ultimate • CBS has a new'60 Minutes' at Recipe Showdown' and'Iron 7, then new episodes of'The Chef America.'

Amazing Race,' 'Undercover • Discovery, Animal Planet, Boss,' and'Cold Case.'

Green, and TLC have the series Submitted at 3/21/2010 12:03:00 PM

• Style has a new'Ruby' at 8.

• At 9, A&E has the season premiere of'Gene Simmons' Family Jewels,' then the series premiere of'Kirstie Alley's Big Life.'

• HBO has a new episode of'The Pacific' at 9, followed by a new'How To Make It In America.'

• At 10, AMC has the season premiere (two episodes) of'Life' premiere of'Breaking Bad.' • History Channel has a new'Ax starting at 8.

• Nickelodeon has a new'Dora Men' at 10.

• At midnight, Cartoon the Explorer' at 8.

Network has a new'Aqua Teen

Hunger Force.'

• At 12:30AM, Cartoon Network has a new'Tim and Eric's Awesome Show, Great Job.' Check your local TV listings for more.

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What's On Tonight: 'MTV Spring Break,' 'Survivors,' 'The Dish'

New Pic: Jesse James Keeps a Ring on It

Bob Sassone (TV Squad)

(ETonline - Breaking News)

Submitted at 3/20/2010 12:09:00 PM

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• CBS has NCAA Basketball all night.

• WE has a'Golden Girls' marathon all night.

• At 7, Disney has'Handy Manny.'

• Cartoon Network has a new'Bakugan' at 7.

• At 8, FOX has a new'Cops.'

• TCM has'Lawrence of Arabia' at 8.

• HGTV has a new'Divine Design' at 8.

• At 8:30, Nickelodeon has a new'True Jackson, VP,'

followed by a new episode of'The Troop.'

• At 9, FOX has a new'America's Most Wanted.'

• CNBC has a new'Suze Orman Show' at 9.

• MTV has'Spring Break 2010: Fist Pumpin' Top 20 with Jersey Shore' at 9.

• Also at 9: BBC America has a new episode of'Survivors.'

• At 10, CBS has a new'48 Hours Mystery.'

• Fine Living has the series premiere of'Freakiest Foods' at 10.

• There's a new episode of'The Dish' on Style at 10.

• At 11, FOX has a new'Wanda Sykes Show.'

• At midnight, Cartoon Network has a new'Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.'

Check your local TV listings for more.

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NBC Renews 'Days of Our Lives' Allison Waldman (TV Squad)

has been renewed for another year.

That means that this November, If you been keeping track of the NBC and 'Days' will be able to daytime ratings, you probably celebrate 45 years on the air. In noticed that'Days of Our Lives' making the announcement, has been on an upswing. NBC Marc Graboff, Chairman, NBC noticed. In fact, after a shaky Entertainment and Universal year in which the threat of Media Studios, said, "'Days of cancellation hung over their our Lives' continues to be a going through its 45th season. n e c k s l i k e t h e S w o r d o f favorite of the daytime audience 'Days' has shown year-to-year Damocles,'Days of Our Lives' and we are thrilled to keep it i n c r e a s e s i n k e y f e m a l e Submitted at 3/20/2010 11:02:00 AM

Submitted at 3/20/2010 1:14:00 PM

Sandra Bullock's husband Jesse James was spotted out in Huntington Beach, Calif. on Friday sporting what's believed to be his wedding ring, amid reports that he's been unfaithful

to his Oscar-winning wife.

On Thursday, James broke his silence regarding the rumors of his marital infidelity and apologized for the "grief" he said he's caused Bullock and his children.

See pics of the couple over the years.

Police Called to Sandra Bullock and Jesse James' Neighborhood (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 3/20/2010 2:02:00 PM

Just in to the ET news desk: A rep for the Orange County Sheriff's Department tells us police were dispatched to Sandra Bullock and Jesse James' neighborhood on Saturday.

The police rep says authorities responded to an alleged incident demographics and remains both in the area that involved two relevant and fresh creatively." individuals in a car reportedly Continue reading NBC Renews yelling to someone inside a 'Days of Our Lives' residence. Members of the press Filed under: Industry, OpEd, were found at the site.

Daytime, Pickups and No arrests were made.

Renewals, Ratings, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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Tom Cruise Scores a Fresh Kill for Scientology, and Other Horror Stories [Gossip Roundup] Maureen O'Connor (Gawker)

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Health Care Is Going to Pass Today [Finally] Maureen O'Connor (Gawker) Submitted at 3/21/2010 1:12:55 PM

Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:15:30 AM

His cousin is officially a Scientologist—but terrified of being associated with Tom. Lady Gaga's sister trains to take Come and get your Sunday the stage. Bombshell McGee gossip. More » sells stripper videos. Phil Spector gets beat up in prison.

Disney Bans Fake Boobs from Pirates [Boobs]

House Dems " have the votes now" and it's scheduled for tonight. Even abortion foe Bart Stupak is ready to vote 'yes.' irrelevant except as a platform Expect Republicans to go for venting. More » apeshit during today's floor debates, which are officially

Coyotes Refuse to Lose Bruce Ciskie (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/21/2010 3:00:00 AM

Filed under: Blackhawks, Coyotes, Western, NHL Videos Sellouts have been rare at Maureen O'Connor (Gawker) Jobing.com Arena this season.

Submitted at 3/21/2010 12:40:23 PM NYT Accidentally Posts Right-Wing Bloggers Wins, however, have not.

Nasty Editor Note About Demand Apology From Saturday night, the two If this catches on, half of Wedding Announcement Lawmakers Called combined for an amazing night Hollywood's females will fall into poverty. Casting for their [Oops] 'Nigger' By Tea Partyers of hockey in the desert. The Phoenix Coyotes overcame a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean, -shoot jiggle tests to check.

[Idiots] Maureen O'Connor (Gawker) pair of two-goal deficits, then Disney specifies that fake More » Ravi Somaiya (Gawker) Submitted at 3/21/2010 11:07:39 AM got a Radim Vrbata goal in the breasts are not permitted, and shootout to top the Chicago actresses will be subjected to pre Submitted at 3/21/2010 12:36:07 PM Oops! A partially edited version Blackhawks 5-4. It is the eighth of Danielle Cohen and Jonathan Yesterday a bunch of Tea Party straight win for the Coyotes, Segal's wedding announcement anti-healthcare protesters called who are suddenly just one point made it onto the internet today, b l a c k a n d g a y l a w m a k e r s out of the Pacific Division lead full of {cq}'s and desperation 'nigger' and 'faggot'. Today the and two points behind Chicago o v e r h o w t o d e s c r i b e a r i g h t - w i n g b l o g s w a n t a n for the top spot in the Western housewife. More » apology — from the lawmakers, Conference. to the protesters. More » The amazing resiliency of this Phoenix outfit came to the forefront again Saturday.

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NCAA Tournament Diary: Day Three (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 3/20/2010 1:00:38 PM

Getty Images Ali Farokhmanesh celebrates Northern Iowa’s victory over Kansas, the first time a top seed hasn’t gotten through the tournament’s opening weekend since 2004.

The Journal’s Geoff Foster anchors coverage of the first day of NCAA tournament secondround play. Get all the latest NCAA news and scores here.

4:39 pm | Pregame | by Geoff Foster This tournament has been a ruthless, bracket-eating monster, where no favorite is safe. So itâs no surprise that just one game into Saturday and we already had a big upset. St. Maryâs of California sent home No. 2 seed Villanova. Veteran leader Scottie Reynolds capped a miserable tournament as he was ice-cold again on Saturday, going 2-for 11 from the field.

On the other side of the court, Omar âEnterâ Sahman was more or less unstoppable underneath the basket with 32 points, seven rebounds and a decisive block at the end of the game. Best early highlight of the day: Mickey McConnell shooting a rainbow three that banked off the backboard and gave the Gaels a three-point lead with 1:16 left in the contest.

Whether or not he called âbankâ is unclear. That shot was

the nail in the coffin for Villanova, which had a forgettable month.

Today, we will look at all three late-afternoon games. In New Orleans, Old Dominion is trying to become the latest team from the Colonial Athletic to cause bracket havoc as they take on the No. 3 seed Baylor team that struggled with Sam Houston State in the first round. ODU loves to play, grind-it-out ugly basketball where it keeps its opponent somewhere around 50 points (12 times this year they have held their opponents to 50 or fewer). These types of teams are the live-bloggerâs best friend because we have more time to craft our witticisms.

Baylor has a solid backcourt of Tweety Carter and LaceDarius

Dunn. In terms of quality of names, this is possibly the greatest backcourt ever; in terms of basketball, they are pretty good too as both average over 15 points a game. ODUâs greatest strength is its ability to force turnovers, averaging 14.2 a game. So if the Bears can hold onto the ball, they will probably take control of the game.

In San Jose, No. 11 seed Washington takes on No. 3 New Mexico, in a game which has a lot of upset potential. In fact, the Huskies are favored to win the game in Vegas, so technically itâs an upset if New Mexico wins.

(That basically summarizes this tournament so far.) Versatile New Mexico superstar Darington Hobson, also known as "Evan Turner

lite", is cleared to play after undergoing an X-ray that showed no breaks in his wrist.

Look for the Lobos to try and control the pace; they have won 41 straight games when they hold their opponents to fewer than 60 points.

In Oklahoma City, No. 1 Kansas is trying to reach the Sweet Sixteen for the 27th time and the fourth year in a row.

The Jayhawks hardly looked dominant over Lehigh on Thursday, and now they face a better version of Lehigh in Northern Iowa. Ali Farokhmanesh (whose name is definitively not a live-bloggerâs best friend) carried the Panthers over UNLV, draining a long three pointer with 4.9 seconds left that capped the victory. The

Panthers are big and physical (they have a seven-footer Jordan Eglseder who likes to clog up the middle) and many different guys who can drain the three.

Teams like that donât go down quietly.

5:09 pm | Tennessee 40, Ohio 28; 18:03 left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster Ohio appears to be transforming back into a pumpkin versus Tennessee, down 12 points with the second half just underway. Unlike the game versus Georgetown, they have missed a shot today.

5:10 pm | Butler 44, Murray State 38; 7:02 left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster Murray State had a small lead NCAA page 43

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versus Butler at the half, but the Bulldogs have gone on a 9-0 run and are now up by six.

This is a vintage round two, mid-major duel; I expect it comes down to some late heroics.

5:11 pm | Butler 46, Murray State 38; 5:59 left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster Gordon Hayward uses his body to force a dribble-drive home and now Murray State needs a timeout to think about things.

5:14 pm | Butler 47, Murray State 43; 5:22 left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster Offensive foul after the drive

by Donte Poole, basket counts but Butler goes back to the other end to shoot free throws. Thatâs a bizarre rule. Initially it looked that the basket was going to get waved off.

5:15 pm | Murray State 48, Butler 47; 4:05 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Murray State with a steal, and Canaan buries a three on the other end. They are now up by one.

5:17 pm | Murray State 48, Butler 47; 3:38 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Hayward botches an easy layup and the Racers have the ball back with a one-point lead.

The announcers have repeatedly suggested Murray State has ânothing to lose.â Nothing to lose except the game, their dream of reaching the Sweet Sixteen and achieving

the greatest sports moment in their schoolâs history, that is.

5:20 pm | Tennessee 50, Ohio 45; 12 minutes left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Ohio with a three and that game is back in reach for the Bobcats.

I may have been a bit premature on my pumpkin claim.

5:22 pm | Murray State 50, Butler 48; 2 minutes left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster We have been reminded that this is the biggest moment in these young menâs lives. How do they know that? The cliché police have just been alerted.

Butler hits one of two free throws and is within two.

5:23 pm | Murray State 50, Butler 50: 1:28 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster All tied after Mack drills a midrange jumper. Get the oxygen tanks ready, Racer fans.

5:28 pm | Butler 53, Murray State 50; 26 seconds left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster After B.J. Jenkins misses a three-pointer, Ronald Nored makes a drive and one! Butler can go up by three with a free throw. All nylon. Itâs within one possession as Murray St. calls a timeout.

5:29 pm | Butler 53, Murray State 50; 21 seconds left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster Sheldon Mack picks up a foul and sends Miles to the line for two shots; they are in the double bonus.

5:30 pm | Butler 53, Murray

State 52; 21 seconds left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster He hits both, one-point game.

5:31 pm | Butler 54, Murray State 52; 21 seconds left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster Murray State is trying to force a steal with the press and they foul Hayward. Heâs going to the line for two shots. He hits the front end, and we have a timeout so that everyone in San Jose can breathe.

5:35 pm | Butler 54, Murray State 52; Final | by Geoff Foster Howard (not Hayward, those two names are far too similar) misses the second free throw.

On the other end, Canaan has the ball knocked loose and thatâs it, they never got a shot off. The Murray State dream has just ended. Butler keeps dancing....

5:38 pm | Tennessee 65, Ohio 52; 6:58 left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster The Volunteers are solidly in control of this one. Ohio seems like they used up all their magic in their first game in Providence. Bruce Pearl is without the orange sports coat today. Orange tie, yes. The coat must be at the dry cleaners.

5:43 pm | Tennessee 71, Ohio 60; 5:11 left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster Iâm still amazed that this team beat Georgetown so soundly.

Speaking of Georgetown, my DC-based mother-in-lawâs bracket had them winning the

championship. Needless to say, I donât think sheâs winning the pool.

I have Kansas. Iâm risk-taker; thatâs just who I am.

5:49 pm | No. Iowa 10, Kansas 2; 18:00 left, 1st Half | by Geoff Foster We are underway in Oklahoma City. Seven-foot center Jordan Eglseder has already sunk a three and two-point jumper, flagrantly showing off his versatility. Another possession later and Moran buries a three. The Panthers have fired out of the gates with a 10-0 run.

5:54 pm | No. Iowa 12, Kansas 9; 15:39 left, 1st Half | by Geoff Foster You get the sense Aldrich and Eglseder are going to be battling all day inside. Xavier Henry sinks a three-point jumper; two possessions later Marcus Morris drives one home, and Kansas quickly ends that run.

5:55 pm | ODU 0, Baylor 0; Pregame | by William Snyder Even the 80s hair metal blasting over the PA system can't mask the fact that this is not the title fight in New Orleans today. The Kentucky fans are still enjoying the vices of Bourbon Street.

About 200 Baylor fans are stacked behind the team's bench and maybe 100 ODU faithful are here. Tip time.

5:58 pm | No. Iowa 14, Kansas 9; 14:00 left, 1st Half | by Geoff Foster

Northern Iowa has never faced a No. 1 ranked team, and a Missouri Valley team hasnât beaten a No. 1 since JFK was president.

6:01 pm | Baylor 10, ODU 1; 17:33 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Under three minutes in and Baylor looks like they deserve their 3 seeding...Of course, ODU look like they deserve to be an 11th. 10-1. ODU's sole point came on a free throw.

Meanwhile Baylor is dissecting ODU's defense by drawing out players and then dumping the ball into the post.

6:02 pm | Baylor 10, ODU 3: 16:02 left, 1st Half | by Geoff Foster As we keep an eye an eye on Northern Iowaâs upset bid.

Letâs switch to New Orleans. Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn have combined for 10 points in the early going for Baylor. I just checked with my wife, and itâs official: my first two children will be named Tweety and LaceDarius.

6:04 pm | Northern Iowa 17, Kansas 12; 11:59 left, 1st Half |

by Geoff Foster The Panthers are 6 of 10 from the field so far; they will need to everything to fall to stay in this one. Again though, this a team that is used to dominating their competition. They put together 29 wins this year, not a NCAA page 44

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shabby resume.

6:08 pm | Baylor 20, ODU 6; 12:24 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Sitting next to Baylor's Executive Associate AD, Todd Patulski, on press row and he pointed out that Baylor was picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 this season. But three victories over Texas and a strong finish in the conference has them looking like a potential Final Four contender.

6:11 pm | Baylor 20, ODU 8; 11:31 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder A TV timeout will help ODU bandage the hemorrhaging.

Geoff's right, with names like Tweety and LaceDarius putting up stats like they do, they deserve to be namesakes.

They're even getting the few UK fans who have abandoned the Hurricanes, Grenades and Daiquiris on their feet. Stellar work so far.

6:14 pm | No. Iowa 22, Kansas 19; 8:35 left, 1st Half | by Geoff Foster Between Egleseder, Ahelegbe, and Farokhmanesh, Northern Iowa would be a solid No. 1 overall seed in the spell-check bracket. Speaking of Farokhmanesh, he hits another Dan Marjerle-style three from way outside. Tyrel Reed makes a three of his own on the other end 6:16 pm | Baylor 27, ODU 15; 8:22 left, 1st Half | by William

Snyder Not a good sign for the ODU loyal to see Baylor's 6-foot-10 forward Anthony Jones attempting (and making) a three -pointer.

6:18 pm | No. Iowa 28, Kansas 23; 8:35 left, 1st Half | by Geoff Foster Farokhmanesh again with a three. That was after Eglseder hit his second of the game. The announcers inform us that the seven-footer had one on the year before this game.

I think is safe to say anyone on the floor will sink an open look if they have to.

6:23 pm | Northern Iowa 31, Kansas 24, 4:07 left, 1st Half |

by Geoff Foster This is the part of the game where everyone expected the Jayhawks to take over. But we are still waiting...

Farokhmanesh again! He is unconscious! (Not literally, that would be a serious matter.)

6:25 pm | Baylor 31, ODU 20; 4:51 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder LaceDarius is delivering serious airmail. He's been on the receiving end of three alleyoops in the first 15 minutes.

ODU's keeping it close enough not to be a rout, yet, but it's starting to feel like a 1 vs. 16 game instead of the second round.

6:27 pm | Northern Iowa 33, Kansas 26; 2:59 left, 1st Half |

by Geoff Foster

A sweet alley-oop from Taylor to Marcus Morris. But on the other end, Morris picks up his second foul.

6:30 pm | by Geoff Foster Baylor is the only thing in Dukeâs way from a Final Four return. The Selection Committee clearly decided to be all the injured (Purdue), slumping (Villanova), and just plain bad teams (Louisville) in one region.

Dukeâs region.

6:35 pm | Baylor 34, ODU 26; 2:21 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Back from the last TV timeout of the half. Baylor got cocky trying to heave up another alleyoop, but the long arms of Carter for ODU messed up the delivery. Carter gets fouled on the return end and sinks one of two from the line. ODU cuts it to eight and then Baylor misses an easy dunk. Momentum shift?

Cinderella finding her dancing shoes? Oooh, that sounds like Dickie V. My apologies.

6:37 pm | Washington 28, New Mexico 21; 7:25 left, 1st Half |

by Geoff Foster A three-point play by Abdul Gaddy and the Huskies have a seven-point lead in this one, another upset in the making.

When will it stop? We need order!

6:42 pm | Baylor 38, ODU 28; Hafltime | by William Snyder Last-second floater from Tweety Carter sends Baylor to the locker room with a 10-point

lead. Not bad, but still close enough for Old Dominion to make a run. They'll have to learn to rebound first, though.

Baylor is owning them on the boards.

6:43 pm | Washington 34, New Mexico 23; 4:42 left, 1st Half |

by Geoff Foster Lorenzo Romar decides to keep Isaiah Thomas on the floor with two fouls and he quickly buries two threes. Smart move.

6:46 pm | Baylor 38, ODU 28; Hafltime | by William Snyder Order in the court, Geoff says, and I agree. With Washington roughing up New Mexico, it's apparent the seeds mean nothing this year. The Pac-10 was supposed to be a pushover while the Big East was going to be unstoppable. Oops. I guess the only consistency is that the midmajors are wild cards. St. Mary's is moving on while ODU might be packing up and heading home.

6:46 pm | Washington 34, New Mexico 25; 4:42 left, 1st Half |

by Geoff Foster Hobson has been very quiet in this one. Have to wonder if heâs playing injured. Â Thomas and Pondexter are getting it done, especially in transition.

Just to clear this up straight away: Washingtonâs Quincy Pondexter is no relation to Arnold Poindexter from Revenge of the Nerds.

6:52 pm | Baylor 38, ODU 28; Hafltime | by William Snyder

Poor Wake Forest...Not only do they have to play the tournament favorite, but UK fans are fired up after the halftime show included a video clip on the scoreboard of Christian Laettner crushing their hopes and dreams with his last-second shot in the 1992 regionals. Whoa buddy are they angry now.

6:53 pm | Washington 34, New Mexico 25; 3:58 left, 1st Half |

by Geoff Foster Like I said earlier, the oddsmakers liked the Huskies in this one, so we shouldnât be so shocked. However, I do agree that itâs hard to believe the Pac10 could go 3-0 after all the flak they took this season for being largely terrible.

Also, the WCC is quietly 3-0 as well. Thatâs a conference that people thought didnât think deserved multiple bids. Itâs a West Coast uprising!

6:54 pm | Baylor 38, ODU 28; Hafltime | by William Snyder Oh boy, who's ready for the stat sheet? Anyone? Bueller?

Bueller? Baylor shot 66.7% from the three-point line. That's a hot hand for the long ball.

Meanwhile ODU only managed 28.6% from the arc and 35.7% for overall field-goal percentage. What's cooler than being cool? Ice cold.

6:56 pm | Washington 41, New Mexico 29; 3:58 left, 1st Half |

by Geoff Foster NCAA page 45

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Elston Turner hits a three and gets the foul (he misses the free throw). Turner hit four threes in the last game; heâs red hot.

7:00 pm | Baylor 38, ODU 28; Start of 2nd Half | by William Snyder Metallica's Enter Sandman brings us back to the action. To win, ODU needs to first, makes some shots and second, stop Baylor's perimeter game.

Baylor, on the other hand, needs to keep on keepin' on.

7:00 pm | Washington 44, New Mexico 32; Halftime | by Geoff Foster Turner again for three points, from the exact same spot. Heâs doing all this off the bench.

Coach Romar is one half from his third Sweet 16 appearance with the Huskies. I predicted Washington to get romped by Marquette in the first round.

Iâm a regular soothsayer.

7:01 pm | Northern Iowa 42, Kansas 32; 15:23 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Oh by the way, Northern Iowa is still winning by 10 over Kansas. Pretty standard.

7:05 pm | by Geoff Foster Iâve watched too many of those bizarre UPS ads with the longhaired cartoonist this weekend. I find them weirdly hypnotic and Iâm beginning to feel as if that man is my friend.

7:06 pm | Baylor 38, ODU 35; 17:56 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Well, well, Keyon Carter has

ODU within three after leading a quick 7-0 run to start the half.

Upset time in New Orleans?

Baylor wants a full timeout as another mid-major rears its head. Game on.

7:07 pm | Northern Iowa 42, Kansas 35; 14:23 left, 2nd half |

by Geoff Foster Sherron Collins finds Xavier Henry, who hits a highly contested three. This might give Kansas some momentum, they certainly need it.

7:08 pm | Baylor 38, ODU 37; 16:40 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Baylor turns it over right out of the timeout and ODU answers with a thunder dunk from Frank Hassell. No buckets yet this half for Baylor and, oh, as I type Baylor turns it over again.

Kansas isn't the only Big 12 team sweating.

7:10 pm | Baylor 40, ODU 37; 15:47 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Hey, Geoff, you gotta watch the games live. My media timeouts include cheerleaders and t-shirts from that t-shirt gun thingy. No UPS ads. No CBS theme song either. (And Baylor finally got their first bucket, a dunk from Mr. Udoh. First name Ekpe.)

7:11 pm | Northern Iowa 47, Kansas 35; 14:23 left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster Kansas canât do anything inside. I guess this team is slightly bigger than Lehigh.

They also just committed their

12trh turnover of the game.

Freshman Jake Koch takes advantage of the turnover and hits a three! Thatâs 15 points off KU turnovers for No. Iowa - Kansas has four points off Panther turnovers.

KU wisely calls a timeout to discuss how this utter disaster is happening. I just heard the sound of a remote going through a television in Lawrence.

7:12 pm | Northern Iowa 47, Kansas 39; 11:37 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster I spoke (typed?) too fast, Northern Iowa coughs up the ball in their end and KU gets four quick points.

7:13 pm | by Geoff Foster For the record, I keep my own personal t-shirt gun on my desk.

I just fired one at my wife who is watching Lost on the couch.

7:16 pm | Northern Iowa 50, Kansas 39; 11:03 left, 2nd half |

by Geoff Foster Kerwin Dunham answers with a layup and the foul. The Panthers refuse to let Kansas go on a run. Is this really happening?

7:17 pm | Baylor 45, ODU 39; 14:16 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder ODU's run was short lived. A three by Tweety Carter has Baylor up six. Now the refs are earning the fans' ire after two rough calls against both teams.

And there's another touch foul.

More whistles than construction workers at a fashion show.

What? No good?

7:17 pm | by Geoff Foster By the way, Udoh won the Ryan Mallet Award this year for "Best Player to Leave Michigan and Do Really Well on Another Team While Michigan Remains Pathetic." ( I went there...tear) 7:18 pm | Baylor 45, ODU 45; 13:04 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder We're tied! Darius James drops a three for ODU. The team from ol' Virginny is hot behind the line this half.

7:23 pm | ODU 49, Baylor 47; 12:21 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Doth my eyes deceive me?

ODU takes the lead on a pair of free throws and Kansas continues to lag behind Northern Iowa. Will the Earth's polarity shift later tonight? Is it 2012 already? Maybe the Mayan prophecy of the end times was off by two years.

7:24 pm | Northern Iowa 52, Kansas 45; 7:58 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Aldrich with a nice hook shot.

But he just hobbled off the court after trying to get a rebound on the other end and is now on the bench with his face in a towel. BAD sign.

Some good news, the Panthersâ threes arenât falling anymore.

7:28 pm | Northern Iowa 54, Kansas 45; 6:54 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Farokhmanesh has missed five

in a row from deep. We are still awaiting news on Aldrichâs injury. If Kansas does survive, that injury could be devastating.

By the way, Washington is up by 14 in the second half, I guess a No. 11 beating a No. 3 is no longer newsworthy.

7:29 pm | Northern Iowa 54, Kansas 49; 5:30 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Markieff Morris had a threepoint play. And then Marcus Morris adds another free throw on the next possession. Here comes Kansas.

7:30 pm | ODU 53, Baylor 52; 8:49 left, 2nd Half | by Willian Snyder Back from a TV timeout and ODU hits a layup. The two teams are swapping baskets. If only Kansas wasn't drawing attention away from this game.

It's tight.

7:31 pm | Northern Iowa 56, Kansas 53; 4:30 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Kansas is now getting it done in the half-court, They are scoring on every possession here as Northern Iowa is holding on for dear life.

7:36 pm | Baylor 56, ODU 55; 6:37 left, 2nd Half | by Willian Snyder Not only is his name Tweety, but the 5-foot-11 guard is sporting an old school, J.R. Reid flat top. Hey, you can pull off bold statements when you run a NCAA page 46

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tight floor offense. He dishes to Dunn, who makes a sweet finger roll lay-up to put Baylor ahead by a point.

7:37 pm | Northern Iowa 59, Kansas 53; 3:38 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Johnny Moran hits a huge three! On the other end, Collins clanks one off the rim. He is doing his best impression of Scottie Reynolds from earlier today: heâs 0-for-4 from downtown, 3 for 13 from the field and he has only gotten to the line once.

7:38 pm | Washington 55, New Mexico 36; 14:22 left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster New Mexico has left the arena and is already on a bus home.

The Huskies have pulled five drunk guys out of the crowd and are now playing them.

7:39 pm | Northern Iowa 59, Kansas 56; 2:38 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Two quick steals and Kansas is right in it. Northern Iowa canât escape their own end because of the press. Henry misses the front end of a one-and-one, and the Panthers have it back.

7:42 pm | Northern Iowa 61, Kansas 56; 2:38 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Offensive rebound by Koch after a missed three. And he hits both. Collins gets an offensive foul on the next possession. The announcers can no longer tell the Koch brothers apart; neither can I.

7:43 pm | Baylor 65, ODU 61; 4:07 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Big, slow, and unmarked.

Baylor's 7-footer, Josh Lomers, has been hitting shots under the basket and getting fouled. Too bad he can't convert on the and1. He's put Baylor ahead by four and we're getting to the home stretch. Is that Kansas game over yet, Geoff?

7:44 pm | Northern Iowa 63, Kansas 58; 1:07 left, 2nd Half |

by Geoff Foster Koch (one of them) grabs another offensive rebound and slams it home. A couple Jayhawk free throws later and it's back to a five-point game.

Oh boy, this one is nuts.

7:46 pm | Baylor 70, ODU 62; 2:36 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Tweety Carter took over the offense, setting up a three by LaceDarius Dunn and then driving for a simple layup. He's put Baylor up by eight and they look to be back in control. ODU opts for the full timeout. Not sure a couple of minutes on the bench getting reamed by the coach is the cure.

7:47 pm | Northern Iowa 63, Kansas 62; 42 seconds left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster Marcus Morris gets to line and hits both. KU got it back after the press baffled the Panthers again. They have no idea how to inbound the ball; it's killing them.

Just as I type that, they turn it over again on the next inbounds pass. Wow. KU is on a 6-0 run after Collins puts it home. Onepoint game 7:50 pm | Northern Iowa 66, Kansas 62; 30 seconds left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster They break the press and Farokhmanesh hits the three rather than working the clock.

He didn't need to take that shot at all, in fact, it was probably a terrible decision. But he was wide open and figure why not.

GUTSY! Offensive foul on the other end.

Back to the Panthers!!

7:52 pm | Northern Iowa 67, Kansas 64; 6 seconds left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster Kansas has to foul. And Ahelegbe hits one of two. On the next possession, KU manages a couple offensive rebounds and brings it back to a three-point game.

7:52 pm | Baylor 72, ODU 64; 1:05 left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder Giant journeyman Josh Lomers fouls out, but his rebounds and points might have iced it for Baylor. Hassell makes 1 of 2 for ODU. Time is short and so is ODU's season it looks like.

7:55 pm | Northern Iowa 69, Kansas 67; Final | by Geoff Foster That's it. Every bracket in the country is officially busted.

Farokmananesh hit both free throws at the very end when it

counted. What a heroic performance for Farokmananesh and the Panthers.

This tournament has gone from mere madness to criminally insane.

7:56 pm | by William Snyder With Kansas' loss does this mean the President's bracket is busted? Well, at least he has the health-care vote tomorrow...

7:58 pm | Baylor 74, ODU 68; 20 seconds left, 2nd Half | by William Snyder This one's on ice. Tweety and LaceDarius, that's all you need to know. They ran the offense and pulled Baylor away down the stretch.

7:58 pm | by Geoff Foster I believe that is the first No. 1 to not make it out of the first weekend since Kentucky lost to UAB in 2004. Bonkers.

8:00 pm | Baylor 76, ODU 68; Final | by William Snyder Well, now that the pesky Kansas game is out of the way we can focus on the main match.

Baylor got a scare but managed the win. Next up for them, St. Mary's. Before the UK vs Wake Forest game starts, I'll be in the parking lot burning my bracket.

Wait a second, I'm in New Orleans, maybe I can use a little voodoo to repair the damage.

8:01 pm | by Geoff Foster The irony is that the Midwest was supposed to be the region of death. But with Georgetown and Kansas losing, there must be a lot of happy people in

Columbus, Ohio.

As a Michigan guy, if there's one thing I can't stand, it's a lot of happy people in Columbus, Ohio.

8:04 pm | by William Snyder I hear that. Of course my I grew up in N.C. with a family of former UNC athletes.

Everything about this year hurts.

Now for round two, my mother is from Kentucky and my dad went to biz school at Wake. I guess that makes me impartial.

8:07 pm | Washington 78, New Mexico 59; 3 minutes left, 2nd Half | by Geoff Foster This game is still going on even though New Mexico is now at the airport and going through security.

No. 3 losing? Big deal.

8:27 pm | Pregame | by William Snyder Take two for a number-one seed. Kentucky is looking to cruise -- as they're favored to do -- over the Demon Deacons from Wake Forest. No sign of Ashley Judd yet, which seems to be what everyone on press row is really curious about.

8:29 pm | Pregame | by William Snyder While we go through the lineups here (biggest cheers for UK's star frosh, John Wall), I just noticed that BYU has jumped out to a 7-0 lead over Kansas State. What is in the water?

NCAA page 52

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NCAA Tournament Diary: Day Four (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 3/21/2010 7:25:47 AM

Getty Images Syracuse’s Wes Johnson goes in for a dunk to score two of his 15 first-half points.

Guest bloggers Pete McEntegart and Jonah Keri anchor coverage of the NCAA tournament’s fourth day. Get all the latest NCAA news and scores here. Feel free to email us with questions or comments.

12:05 pm | Pregame | by Jim Chairusmi Courtside at HSBC Arena. The first chants of "Let's go Orange" are heard. A bit subdued as the crowd is still streaming in.

Strange that the game most people are in town to see gets the early tipoff.

12:14 pm | Pregame | by Pete McEntegart Syracuse and Gonzaga are just about to tip off in Buffalo as the Orange will try to avoid becoming the second No. 1 seed to go down in the second round.

But that's a mere appetizer for what's coming the rest of the day.

Starting at 2:20 ET, there will be a slate of four games starting at 10-minute intervals. I'll be with you until the end of that slate, or until I lose my mind.

Not that those are mutually exclusive. Somewhere late in those games, Jonah Keri will take over for the rest of the day.

So let's go, shall we?

12:18 pm | Syracuse 6, Gonzaga 6; 16:31 left, 1st Half |

by Pete McEntegart Wes Johnson has all the offense for Cuse with two 3-pointers.

He's also missed two shots. He certainly isn't afraid to let it go.

12:21 pm | Gonzaga 13, Syracuse 10; 14:17 left, 1st Half | by Jim Chairusmi With Arinze Onauku out, it's clear that Gonzaga is trying to get the ball inside to center Robert Sacre. Syracuse freshman center Dashonte Riley looks overmatched. For the Orange, Wes Johnson with 8 of the team's 10 points, has come out looking for his shot.

12:23 pm | Gonzaga 13, Syracuse 10, 14:17 left, 1st Half | by Pete McEntegart SU's Johnson will try to

complete a three-point play from the line when we return from the TV timeout. Bulldogs have thus far had good success on the offensive boards. That's in part because Orange coach Jim Boeheim sat center Rick Jackson immediately after he picked up his first foul.

Boeheim's treating Jackson with kid gloves due to the injury of fellow big man Arinze Onuaku.

12:26 pm | Syracuse 15, Gonzaga 13; 13:17 left, 1st Half | by Pete McEntegart Scoop Jardine's 3 puts Cuse in front. Gus Johnson tells us the crowd isn't booing, they're saying "Scoop." Though it's unclear if any fans can match Johnson's excitement level. He gets FIRED UP! 12:31 pm | Syracuse 22,

Gonzaga 17; 11:13 left, 1st Half | by Jim Chairusmi If there's any Gonzaga fans in the arena, they certainly aren't visible. The only visible nonorange in the arena is the halffilled West Virginia section.

Every Zags basket is followed by silence.

12:32 pm | SU 22, GU 17; 11:13 left, 1st Half | by Pete McEntegart Orange roll into TV timeout hitting four-of-nine from downtown thus far. I miss the old SU mascot with the giant Orange head. Is he (she?) still around?

12:36 pm | SU 22, GU 21; 8:58 left, 1st Half | by Pete McEntegart Elias Harris just missed two FTs for Gonzaga, but that's

almost beside the point as he drew the third foul from Jackson, who has to take a seat.

Jackson had picked up his second foul on the previous offensive possession, and when Harris grabbed an offensive board, Jackson bumped him.

Now Jackson will likely sit the rest of the half in favor of green freshman DaShonte Riley.

12:40 pm | SU 27, GU 21; 7:56 left, 1st Half | by Jim Chairusmi Pete: Otto the Orange is indeed courtside. Did a couple of tumbles during the last time out break.

12:41 pm | SU 27, GU 21; 7:56 left, 1st Half | by Pete McEntegart Orange rally without Jackson to NCAA page 49

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Minnesota Twins closer Joe Nathan to miss season with elbow injury ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:30:45 AM

• Email • Print • Comments '); document.write(''); } else if ( show_gigya ) { document.write('• '); document.write(' '); function showShareUI(){ var H = {APIKey:"2_B48MVBl19K9C Qj72UVrAqLh7VSAyZDfMkcl kt8foSSRaAbdWu36H_N3Ky_ ERWhDG", enabledProviders: "facebook,twitter", cid:"ESPN.Story"}; var I = n e w gigya.services.socialize.UserAct ion(); var A = {}; I.setUserMessage(""); if (jQuery(":header:first").length > 0 ) { I.setTitle(jQuery(".article").find( ":header:first").text()); } else { I.setTitle(decodeURIComponent ("Twins\'%20Nathan%20to%20 miss%20season%20with%20elb ow%20injury")); } I.setLinkBack("http://sports.esp n.go.com/mlb/spring2010/news/ story?id=5015108"); if (jQuery("#videoInfo").length > 0 ) {

I.setDescription(jQuery(".article p:not(div.beta-opt p):first").text()); } else { I.setDescription(jQuery("p:first" ).text()); } if (jQuery(".article .image, .headshot").length > 0) { var theimage = (jQuery(".article . i m a g e , .headshot").find("img").attr("src ")); I.addMediaItem( { type: 'image', src: theimage, href: 'http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/s pring2010/news/story?id=50151 08' }); } A.userAction = I; gigya.services.socialize.showSh areUI(H,A); return false; } } ESPN.com news services FORT MYERS, Fla. -Minnesota Twins closer Joe Nathan will miss the 2010 season because of a right elbow injury that will require surgery.

Nathan, who leads the major leagues with 246 saves since 2004, made the decision after playing catch with Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson for 10 minutes on Sunday.

"It didn't go like we hoped," Nathan said. "We knew it was a long shot, but I think this will clear my head. There definitely was no gray area. It was definitely on the dark side. We know now that we're going to need to go in and have some surgery done and get this thing

taken care of." “ I just kept throwing, and it became clear that it was an injured elbow. It was getting harder and harder. It became clear that it didn't feel good.”-Twins closer Joe Nathan Nathan hopes to have Tommy John surgery within two weeks to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He was injured on March 6 during a 20-pitch outing in a spring training game against the Boston Red Sox. The 35-year-old right-hander signed a $47 million contract two years ago that guarantees him $11.25 million both this season and next. The Twins have a $12.5 million option for 2012, with a $2 million buyout.

Nathan has set his sights on returning at the start of the 2011 season.

"I'm very confident," he said.

"I've talked to the doctors. The percentages of coming back are very good. You never want to say 100 percent, but it's pretty close to being 100 percent of the time."

Nathan went 2-2 with a 2.10 ERA and a career-best 47 saves last season.

The in-house relievers likely to replace Nathan include Jon Rauch, who has 26 big league

saves, the most of any Twins pitcher besides Nathan. Other possible candidates are Matt Guerrier, Jesse Crain, Jose Mijares and Pat Neshek.

Since hurting the elbow two weeks ago, Nathan had tried strengthening the muscles around the joint, hoping to pitch through the injury. But the throwing session confirmed his worst-case scenario.

"It started out well," Nathan said. "Everything felt good at the beginning. I didn't want to go super intense but enough to where it was along the lines of playing a normal game of catch.

"I got out to about 60 or 70 feet and started feeling a little bit of stiffness. I wasn't sure if it was from the forearm or from the elbow. I just kept throwing, and it became clear that it was an injured elbow. It was getting harder and harder. It became clear that it didn't feel good. I don't have a number on what I threw, but it wasn't very long. It was probably only a few minutes of playing catch when I started feeling stiff."

Nathan said he would rehabilitate from the surgery in Minnesota.

"I think it will help me get through this thing and at least be a part of the team a little bit," he said. "I'm very comfortable in

Minnesota. We have a house there, and my family would like it. Obviously, I would like to help out whoever is thrown into that role."

There has been speculation that the Twins might call on lefthanded starter Francisco Liriano to become the team's closer.

Manager Ron Gardenhire said Saturday that he's told Liriano he's a starter. But he didn't completely dismiss the possibility of making a change.

"We brought [Liriano] in our office to clear the air with him and tell him he's a starter, honestly, until we decide if we want him to close or anybody else," Gardenhire told reporters on Saturday, after Liriano threw three scoreless innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. "We told him, 'You're a starter. We're getting you ready to start the season as one of our starters, Frankie.' And that's all it is, and if there is any decision made otherwise, we would go talk to him or anybody else we decided to do that with before we talked to anybody else."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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take their biggest lead heading into the TV timeout. Cuse is 5of-10 from deep. Who needs big men anyway?

12:42 pm | SU 27, GU 21; 7:56 left, 1st Half | by Jim Chairusmi Full disclosure. I'm a Syracuse grad and over the years, there had been consideration of modernizing Otto the Orange and make him a more intimidating mascot. The idea to make him a lion (Orange Pride) or wolf (Orange Pack) was even considered. I'm glad the movement has been shelved. I like Otto.

The school did change its nickname from Orangemen to just Orange a few years ago.

12:44 pm | SU 31, GU 21; 6:43 left, 1st Half | by Pete McEntegart Bulldogs call time as Johnson hits a deep 2 from straightaway.

SU now on a 9-0 roll.

On a completely unrelated note, the leaders of the LA Marathon are passing within about four miles of my couch as I write this. I hope they'll be able to catch the afternoon games.

12:47 pm | SU 31, GU 21; 4:49 left, 1st Half | by Jim Chairusmi An airball from DaShonte Riley as the shot clock winds down.

Halftime can't come soon enough for Syracuse.

12:49 pm | SU 31 GU 26 SU; 4:23 left, 1st Half | by Pete McEntegart Steven Gray hits his second trifecta of the day to pull

Bulldogs within five. On the last two SU possessions, Riley tossed up an airball and traveled. Hmm, maybe there's a reason this kid has barely played this year. Now SU's Triche hits one of two FTs and we'll go into the under-four TV timeout with a 32-26 count.

12:50 pm | SU 32, GU 26; 3:59 left, 1st Half | by Jim Chairusmi Although I'm partial to anything Orange, the Gonzaga cheerleaders are so far winning the pep-squad battle on points.

Some very impressive lifts, pyramids and jumps.

12:55 pm | SU 41, GU 28; 1:48 left, 1st Half | by Jim Chairusmi Another three by Wes Johnson.

If Dick Vitale were watching, he's be yelling that Wesley Johnson is a PTPer. 12:56 pm | SU 41, GU 28; 1:28 left, 1st Half | by Pete McEntegart Johnson's 3 caps yet another 90 Cuse run and Gonzaga needs a TO, bay-bee. (Sorry, I slipped into Dickie V there). Orange snared two straight steals to help key the spurt.

1:00 pm | SU 46, GU 30; 35.4 seconds left, 1st half | by Pete McEntegart Orange are rolling as Brandon Triche (nephew of former Cuse star Howard) hits a deep 3 after canning a layup off a beautiful feed by Riley. I've also been a little too tough on the latter, who has a steal in addition to that great pass in the last few

moments. To continue with the Dickie V theme (and where did that come from?), maybe Riley's a Diaper Dandy after all.

1:03 pm | SU 46, GU 30; 35.4 seconds left, 1st Half | by Jim Chairusmi Pete, you're out on the West Coast. Do you think a noon eastern time tipoff, plus playing 150 miles from Syracuse's campus are just to big an obstacle?

1:05 pm | SU 47, GU 32; Halftime | by Jim Chairusmi An impressive first half by Syracuse, especially having to play the last nine minutes of the half with Rick Jackson on the bench with three fouls. The partisan crowd stands and applauds as the Orange leave the court.

1:09 pm | Syracuse 47, Gonzaga 32; Halftime | by Pete McEntegart Zags tip one in at that buzzer but that only means SU's halfending run was 15-4 rather than 15-2. Orange look every bit a No. 1 seed, i.e. more Kentucky than Kansas in yesterday's terms. Jim makes a good point that the Bulldogs are today facing a 9:10 a.m. tip-off according to their body clocks on a court that's a 120 miles or so from SU's campus. Ouch.

The Zags have probably been in Buffalo since Wednesday, but it's a tough assignment nonetheless. But they better wake up in a hurry if they want

to make this a game.

1:10 pm | Syracuse 47, Gonzaga 32; Halftime | by Jim Chairusmi With the game at the half, here's a little funny anecdote.

Syracuse is a basketballobsessed school and town, especially as the football team has struggled in recent years.

But not every person with a Syracuse connection follows March Madness that closely. I got the following email from a friend who relayed this tale to me when I said I was in Buffalo to watch the Orange.

"I was on the phone with a customer service girl. She was really helpful so we started exchanging some small talk. I cracked a joke and she giggles a bit, the pressure is off, the professionalism eases, she asks me who I have in my bracket. What!?! I had to ask her if SU was still in it. She said yes, she has them winning it all. I said, "Oh good. Then yes, I am rooting for 'Cuse."

1:26 pm | 53-34 Syracuse; 18:37 left, 2nd half | by Pete McEntegart Andy Rautins (son of former SU stud Leo) hits two straight 3s. It doesn't seem the Zags focused on defending the perimeter at the half. Or if they did, it hasn't helped so far.

Cam Janssen and PierreLuc LetourneauLeblond's Marathon Bout Kevin Schultz (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/20/2010 7:49:00 PM

Filed under: Blues, Devils, NHL Fights, NHL Videos On Saturday the St. Louis Blues beat the New Jersey Devils by a low key score of 1-0 in a hohum non-conference game that usually wouldn't garner too much attention outside of the team's respective cities. But thanks to Cam Janssen and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond- say that five times fast -- there is a two-and-a-half minute highlight that hockey fans are going to have to check out.

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Signs emerge of Joe Mauer-Minnesota Twins talks heating up Buster Olney (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:46:10 AM

• Email • Print • Comments '); document.write(''); } else if ( show_gigya ) { document.write('• '); document.write(' '); function showShareUI(){ var H = {APIKey:"2_B48MVBl19K9C Qj72UVrAqLh7VSAyZDfMkcl kt8foSSRaAbdWu36H_N3Ky_ ERWhDG", enabledProviders: "facebook,twitter", cid:"ESPN.Story"}; var I = n e w gigya.services.socialize.UserAct ion(); var A = {}; I.setUserMessage(""); if (jQuery(":header:first").length > 0 ) { I.setTitle(jQuery(".article").find( ":header:first").text()); } else { I.setTitle(decodeURIComponent ("Signs%20emerge%20of%20M a u e r Twins%20talks%20heating%20

up")); } I.setLinkBack("http://sports.esp n.go.com/mlb/spring2010/news/ story?id=5015185"); if (jQuery("#videoInfo").length > 0 ) { I.setDescription(jQuery(".article p:not(div.beta-opt p):first").text()); } else { I.setDescription(jQuery("p:first" ).text()); } if (jQuery(".article .image, .headshot").length > 0) { var theimage = (jQuery(".article . i m a g e , .headshot").find("img").attr("src ")); I.addMediaItem( { type: 'image', src: theimage, href: 'http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/s pring2010/news/story?id=50151 85' }); } A.userAction = I; gigya.services.socialize.showSh areUI(H,A); return false; } } By Buster Olney ESPN The Magazine Archive There are strong indications that the Minnesota Twins and All-Star Joe Mauer are gathering momentum in their negotiations for a long-term contract that would keep the

catcher anchored to his hometown team for the foreseeable future.

Mauer's agent, Ron Shapiro, was seen at the Fort Myers, Fla., airport early Sunday afternoon, near the Twins' spring training facility, amid signs there has been progress in the talks.

The working parameters of the deal were not known, but the expectation within the industry was that Mauer was in line for a contract of eight to 10 years, worth $20 million-$25 million annually.

Mauer is generally regarded as the American League's best player, and he may be baseball's most coveted player, given his unique set of skills. Mauer, who turns 27 next month, already has won three batting titles and two Gold Glove Awards, and last year, he began to hit for power, as well, posting a 1.031 OPS (combined on-base percentage and slugging).

If there is a late snag late in the negotiations with the Twins and no deal is concluded before the start of the season, then the next round of substantive talks

probably wouldn't take place until later this season.

If Mauer were to go unsigned throughout the season and become a free agent in the fall, he would probably be the most coveted free agent since Alex Rodriguez reached free agency after the 2000 season. Numerous big-market teams could become involved in the bidding, including the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, White Sox, Angels, Cubs and Mariners.

But all along, Mauer -- taken as the Twins' No. 1 overall in the same year Mark Prior was eligible for the draft -- has indicated a desire to remain with the Twins, in his hometown of St. Paul, surrounded by family and friends. And barring a lastminute hold-up, it appears he will reach an agreement that will allow him to play his entire career for the Twins.

Shapiro has also represented two other stars who played their entire careers with one team -the Twins' Kirby Puckett, and the Orioles' Cal Ripken.

The Twins' signing of Mauer to a long-term deal would be

Merkel damps bail-out expectations (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/21/2010 4:55:10 AM

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has warned against causing further alarm in the

international capital markets by raising “false expectations” of a eurozone bail-out package for the debt-strapped Greek government.

In a Sunday morning interview on German radio that appears to

put her at odds with José Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Manuel Barroso, president of PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, the European Commission, she Term Extraction. insisted that no money has been asked for by Greece, and no decision had been taken.

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widely hailed within the industry, at a time when there are growing concerns about the disparity between teams like the Yankees and Red Sox, and teams that generate less revenue, like the Rays, Athletics and Twins.

Assuming a Mauer deal is completed, a major challenge for the Twins -- who have evolved from a small-market team into a club with a midrange budget -- is how they can compete while paying one player such a high percentage of their payroll.

The Rockies made a similar investment in Todd Helton during the last decade, and while Helton has performed well during the course of the contract, his high salary has restricted Colorado's ability in making other moves.

Buster Olney is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine.

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Report: Pittsburgh Steelers coach Stanford Takes Heed of Mike Tomlin concerned about Upsets, Cruises in allegations against Ben Roethlisberger Opener ESPN.com news services (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/21/2010 9:50:04 AM

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n.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=501 4558"); if (jQuery("#videoInfo").length > 0 ) { I.setDescription(jQuery(".article p:not(div.beta-opt p):first").text()); } else { I.setDescription(jQuery("p:first" ).text()); } if (jQuery(".article .image, .headshot").length > 0) { var theimage = (jQuery(".article . i m a g e , .headshot").find("img").attr("src ")); I.addMediaItem( { type: 'image', src: theimage, href: 'http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/ne ws/story?id=5014558' }); } A.userAction = I; gigya.services.socialize.showSh areUI(H,A); return false; } } ESPN.com news services Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin isn't hiding his anxiety about the sexual-assault allegation against quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

"I'm highly concerned for our franchise and for Ben personally," Tomlin told the NFL Network after arriving in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday for the NFL meetings, which start Monday.

The police in Milledgeville,

Ga., are still investigating a 20year-old female college student's accusation against Roethlisberger.

"My concerns are many," Tomlin said, "but I think at this time it's kind of appropriate to watch these things and let these things run their course. I think it would be inappropriate for me to have strong feelings one way or another with the investigation being ongoing and so forth. Like everyone else, you watch these things unfold."

The woman accused Roethlisberger, 28, of sexually assaulting her in a Georgia nightclub earlier this month.

Roethlisberger also faces a lawsuit filed last July by a woman who says he raped her in 2008 at a Lake Tahoe hotel and casino, an allegation he strongly denies.

Roethlisberger, who was not in custody, has not been criminally charged in either case and has claimed counter-damages in the lawsuit.

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Michelle Smith (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/20/2010 7:10:00 PM

Filed under: Stanford, Women's Basketball PALO ALTO, Calif.

-- It was definitely not Harvard.

If Stanford felt like it had demons to exorcise -- the whole "last time the Cardinal was a No. 1 seed was back in 1998 when they lost to Harvard thing -- they took care of that Saturday night at Maples Pavilion.

No unprecedented upset here, just a 79-47 win over 16thseeded UC Riverside.

Super sophomore Nneka Ogwumike put on a show for the strong crowd of more than 5,800 who came to the Cardinal's home court to see a first-round game. She finished with 19 points and 11 sky-high rebounds and even one ridiculous spin move to the basket in transition that got an official to admit they were wrong.

Ogwumike was called for traveling on the second-half

play and she said the referee came up to her later and said she thought she got it wrong.

"No hard feelings. It's just one call," Ogwumike said.

Asked whether the official might have made the call because women aren't supposed to make that kind of mid-air spin and kiss-the-ball-off-theglass kind of play, she responded with a smile.

"I didn't even know I could do that."

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8:34 pm | WFU 4, UK 0; 18:57 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder WFU fans are outnumbered somewhere in the vicinity of, oh, 200-1, but even with a strong UK presence, the arena is half empty (half full for the optimist readers). And it's game time. Wake makes quick plays inside and Wall picks up an early foul.

8:43 pm | WFU 10, UK 7; 15:53 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Wake is not shying away from going inside and they seem to have UK's big man, DeMarcus Cousins on his heels. Lucky for the Cats, Wall knocks down a three to keep it tight. But at the first media timeout the only rhythm is coming from the pep bands. Both teams look a little off-kilter.

8:44 pm | UK 12, WFU 10; 14:03 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder It was nice while it lasted.

Darius Miller comes full-force out of the timeout to hang 5 quickly and put UK up two. The pace is picking up, but still no

rhythm. It's sloppier than Bourbon Street on a Sunday morning.

8:50 pm | UK 19, WFU 19; 11:39 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder UK is working for the highlight reel and Wake is working to stay in it. For every thunderdome dunk (Patrick Patterson had one off a Bledsoe foul-shot miss) or slick three-pointer, Wake is answering with gritty baskets of their own. All level almost half way through the first.

8:55 pm | UK 22, WFU 19; 9:30 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder A brick to lay the foundation.

Ishmael Smith had a fast break and set up for a monster slam, but hammered it hard off the back rim. Wake's gotta convert if they want to add another 1seed scalp to the pile.

8:59 pm | UK 24, WFU 19; 9:03 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder Wake takes a full timeout to cool the hot hands of UK's guards, and that gave me a chance to check the BYU vs

Kansas State score. What is going on in the world? BYU is up seven late in the first half. A lower seeding seems like the best path to victory.

9:16 pm | UK 36, WFU 26; 3:39 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder UK is bringing the pain now.

But the post game is getting rough for both teams. Despite the elbows and audible slaps, the refs are waving play on.

9:22 pm | UK 44, WFU 28; 1:39 left, 1st Half | by William Snyder The rout is on. UK's offense is being aided by constant shot blocking. I don't think a Wake shot has graced the rim for several minutes.

9:33 pm | UK 44, WFU 28; Halftime | by Editor And that concludes our Day 3 live blog. Please come back tomorrow for our Day 4 live blog, which starts around 12 p.m. ET before the GonzagaSyracuse game. Good night!

Democrats confident of healthcare victory (Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 3/21/2010 9:17:55 AM

Democratic leaders in the US House of Representatives said on Sunday they believe they will have the votes to pass landmark

healthcare overhaul legislation, President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.

Asked whether the party has the 216 votes needed to pass the bill over unified Republican opposition in the House, Representative John Larson,

who heads the House Democratic Caucus, told CNN “We've got the votes.“ Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Kentucky Is Tourney's New Top 'Cats Terrance Harris (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 3/20/2010 6:51:00 PM

Filed under: Kentucky, Wake Forest, ACC, SEC, NCAA Tournament - East Region NEW ORLEANS -- For a moment Saturday night, Kentucky coach John Calipari considered the question of his Wildcats now being the team to beat NCAA tournament in the wake of the stunning fall of overall No. 1 Kansas.

Calipari grinned a little behind the microphone and before delivering a carefully thought out response. No one has ever accused Calipari of being the most sincere guy and his "Who, us?" postgame eloquence did little to change that perception after Kentucky's 90-60 rout of Wake Forest.

"I don't know if we are the

overwhelming favorite," said Calipari, who is in first year with the Wildcats but he's no stranger to making NCAA tournament runs with loaded teams. "Everyone was picking us to lose today with this being a tough game. They were also saying we'd be the first No. 1 out.

"So how do they change those talking heads overnight. With one game? Come on."

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Chicago White Sox closer Bobby Jenks gets good news from calf MRI Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 3/21/2010 10:06:29 AM

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GLENDALE, Ariz. -- White Sox closer Bobby Jenks expects to be ready for the season opener after an MRI on his right calf revealed no structural damage.

Jenks missed his turn to pitch on Saturday because of irritation. He expects to throw a bullpen session on Monday and figures "a few days rest should knock it out." He has a 37.80 ERA in two spring outings.

Jenks says there's "no doubt about it" that he'll be ready for the opener against Cleveland on April 5.

The calf has been an issue for Jenks since last season, when he missed the final 11 games and finished with 29 saves.

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Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is greeting Spring with open arms Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/20/2010 11:30:00 PM

Happy first day of Spring, everyone! Let's all take a moment to bid farewell to Winter, unless you live in certain parts of the Midwest, where Winter is apparently still all the rage. While there's nothing inherently wrong with Winter, we feel it lacks the inherent positivity of the current season. Also, Spring's associated with better stuff, such as Spring cleaning, Spring break. Spring rolls, and, of course, Coily the Spring Sprite.

Below are our seven favorite gaming related webcomics from this past week. Check them out, then vote for your favorite after the jump! If we missed out on any notable strips, drop a link in

the comments section!

The Future is The Past(Virtual Shackles) Caged(Sidescroller) A Final Fantasy XIII(Penny Arcade) Malpractice(Awkward Zombie) Shoulders(Brawl in the Family) Sibilance(VG Cats) Hindsight is 29RX20(Monday Night Crew) Continue reading Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is greeting Spring with open arms Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is greeting Spring with open arms originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Australian mature game detractor Michael Atkinson stepping down Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/21/2010 11:00:00 AM

Rock Shock Jayhawks, Kansas Bows Out Brett McMurphy (FanHouse Main)

UNI's 7-foot, 280-pound center, grabbed his extra, extra, really extra large jersey, and thrust the Submitted at 3/20/2010 6:27:00 PM words "Northern Iowa" toward Filed under: Kansas, NCAA the sky as a reminder to where Tournament, N C A A they were from.

Tournament - Midwest Region Northern Iowa 69, Kansas 67: OKLAHOMA CITY -- Kansas Rock, Shock Jayhawks. sophomore Marcus Morris fell The NCAA tournament's No. 1 to his knees. Senior guard overall seed and the nation's No. Sherron Collins, realizing that 1 ranked team for the majority h i s K U c a r e e r w a s o v e r , of the season has been playing collapsed near an empty Kansas all season with the No. 1 bull's bench. eye on its back. It finally caught On the other end of the Ford up to them Saturday night in one Center's court, purple clad of the biggest upsets in NCAA Northern Iowa players hugged tournament history. and celebrated. Jordan Eglseder, The Jayhawks were outplayed

all night, but nearly pulled off a comeback from 12 points down in the second half before falling short.

"You operate under duress, you operate under pressures the whole year that a lot of teams don't operate under because of where we were ranked and expectations," Kansas coach Bill Self said. "And to put ourselves in a position that we were in, they don't come around every year.

"You got to make the most of those opportunities when you're granted them. That's probably what stings the most."

South Austrailian Attorney General Michael Atkinson, the gentleman almost singlehandedly responsible for preventing the nation from adopting an R18+ rating for games, is stepping down from the front bench. The controversial figure will remain on the Australian parliament until the 2014 elections, but is stepping down from his position to bring in some fresh blood from the Labor party. "I think there are talented people on the

Labor backbench who deserve a go," Atkinson explained.

There's no telling whether the new A.G. will share Atkinson's position on the outright banning of mature games, but judging by the cornucopia of tips we received from overjoyed Aussies last night, there's plenty of room for hope.

Australian mature game detractor Michael Atkinson stepping down originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cut a rug with Red Steel 2's enemies in the latest trailer Ben Gilbert (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/20/2010 9:30:00 PM

Well sure, the baddies from Red Steel 2's "Enemies" trailer aren't quite dancing, per se, but there is quite a bit of fancy footwork going on -- not to mention tons of other stuff getting cut, as you might imagine. From the adorably named "Katakara" to the not so subtly named "Ninja," it seems that Red Steel 2 is full of flamboyantly exaggerated personalities, all of which are ready to put a sword or bullet through you at a moment's

notice. Oh, and if you were wondering how your foes will stop your combination of bullets and sword charging full speed at them, you'll want to pay extra close attention at the end there (spoilers: they handle it like jedi).

Gallery: Red Steel 2 (Wii) Cut a rug with Red Steel 2's enemies in the latest trailer originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 21:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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John Mauldin (The Big Picture) Submitted at 3/20/2010 1:22:11 PM

March 20, 2010

By John Mauldin O Canada The Threat to Muddle Through Back to 1971 The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars GDP = C + I + G + Net Exports An Optimistic New Venture, San Diego, and New York If the Chinese allowed the

Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands dev diary demoes Wii version's features Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/21/2010 1:00:00 PM

renminbi to rise, would that make the USA better off? That is the contention of a cabal of critics from Senators to Nobel laureates. Paul Krugman wants to see a 25% tariff on Chinese goods. Today we examine that THREAT page 56

Wondering how Ubisoft's upcoming Wii iteration of the timeless royal platformer, Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, will implement the system's decreasingly unique control scheme? Wonder no further -just past the jump, you'll find pre-orders on the "Dojo Edition" the first installment in a series of of SSFIV, which retails for a developer diaries for the game, crisp $79.99. Yes, that's double which shows off the motionthe price of the standalone game controlled powers at your -- however, the standalone game disposal, as well as the title's won't make you the envy of all light co-op mechanics. Man, if the folks at your local workout New Super Mario Bros. Wii center. We think that notoriety almost tore your family apart, would be worth the extra cash. we can't imagine what PoP's Capcom taking pre-orders on shenanigans will be capable of. exclusive 'Dojo Edition' of Continue reading Prince of SSFIV originally appeared on Persia: Forgotten Sands dev Joystiq on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 diary demoes Wii version's 19:30:00 EST. Please see our features terms for use of feeds.

Prince of Persia: Forgotten Read| Permalink| Email this| Sands dev diary demoes Wii Comments version's features originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 21 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Capcom taking preorders on exclusive 'Dojo Edition' of SSFIV Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 3/20/2010 7:30:00 PM

The Threat to Muddle Through

55

So, what would you imagine to be included in a special edition version of Capcom's upcoming pseudo-expansion pack, Super Street Fighter IV? Perhaps a FightStick emblazoned with the personas of the game's new characters? That's a pretty good guess, but the correct answer was, of course, a USB flash drive, a gym bag, a head band, a Dudley T-shirt and an aluminum water bottle. Sorry! You were so close.

Capcom recently began taking

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idea, and look at the real problems that we face. If only it were so easy. The numbers just don’t add up. The fault, dear Brutus… O Canada But first, and quickly, and in keeping with the spirit of the recent Olympics in Canada, I want to let my Canadian readers know that I am excited to announce a new Canadian partner, Nicola Wealth Management, based in Vancouver. Why Nicola Wealth Management? I have spent some time getting to know them and have come to have a great deal of trust in and respect for John Nicola (President) and his team.

In my opinion, they are one of the premier wealth management firms in Canada. Further, they are as committed to helping you find high-quality investments, including absolute-return strategies, as I am.

If you are from Canada, get started now by going to www.accreditedinvestor.ws and signing up, and I will make sure one of the team at Nicola Wealth Management will call and qualify you to receive our Accredited Investor Communications.

And of course, if you are in the US, Latin America, Europe, or South Africa, and if you are an accredited investor (basically a net worth of $1 million or more), you can go to that link and I will have one of my partners in those areas contact

you about the various absolutereturn strategy funds that are available to you. (In this regard, I am president of and a registered representative of Millennium Wave Securities, LLC, member FINRA.) The Threat to Muddle Through I have pretty well laid out over the past decade that I think the US will Muddle Through what promises to be a period of below -trend growth and a long-term secular bear market. It will not be pleasant or fun – there will be a lot of pain – but we will get through the coming crisis (note: I think the Big One is still in our future). That is what we do in a more or less free-market world.

But, as I wrote 7 years ago and have written since, there is one caveat that turns me from a Muddle Through-er into a real doom and gloom type, and that is the threat of protectionism and trade wars. As in SmootHawley, which made the Depression into something much worse than it should have been.

Yet that is the prescription that Paul Krugman is advocating. In a commentary in Sunday’s New York Times(“ Taking on China“), he called for an across the board 25% tariff on Chinese goods: “In 1971 the United States dealt with a similar but much less severe problem of foreign undervaluation by imposing a temporary 10 percent surcharge

on imports, which was removed a few months later after Germany, Japan and other nations raised the dollar value of their currencies. At this point, it’s hard to see China changing its policies unless faced with the threat of similar action – except that this time the surcharge would have to be much larger, say 25 percent.”

Krugman doesn’t think the Chinese can really retaliate by dumping their hoard of dollars.

He points out: “It’s true that if China dumped its U.S. assets the value of the dollar would fall against other major currencies, such as the euro. But that would be a good thing for the United States, since it would make our goods more competitive and reduce our trade deficit. On the other hand, it would be a bad thing for China, which would suffer large losses on its dollar holdings. In short, right now America has China over a barrel, not the other way around.”

I probably shouldn’t take on a Nobel Laureate who got his prize for his work on trade, but this truly scares me. People pay attention to this nonsense, including the five Senators, led

by Schumer of New York, who want to start the process of targeting China.

First, the Chinese have got to be wondering what they have to do to make these guys happy. In 2005 they were demanding a

30% revaluation of the Chinese yuan. And over the next three years the yuan actually rose by 22% at a gradual and sustained pace. Then the credit crisis hit, and China again pegged their currency. From their standpoint, what else were they to do?

Force their country into a recession to appease our politicians?

They responded by a massive forcing of loans to their businesses and governments and huge infrastructure projects.

Kind of like our stimulus, except they got a lot more infrastructure to show for their money. It remains to be seen how wise that policy was, and how large the bad (nonperforming) loans will be that came from that push – just as there are those (your humble analyst included) who do not think the way we went about the stimulus plan in the US was the wisest allocation of capital.

But the reality is that the Chinese will do what is in their best interest. I wrote in 2005 that the yuan would rise slowly over time. The political posturing of Schumer, et al., was counterproductive then, and it still is now.

My prediction? The Chinese will begin to allow the yuan to rise again sometime this year, just as they did three years ago, because it will be to their advantage. A stronger yuan will act as a buffer to inflation,

which they may face due to the massive stimulus they created.

They are going to need some help in that area. But it will be 5 -7% a year, so as not to create a shock to their export economy.

Not 25% at one time. And at some point they will allow the yuan to float against the dollar.

They know they will have to get the currency status they want. As an aside, are we going to put a tariff on every country that pegs their currency to the dollar? That is a whole lot of countries. Back to 1971 By the way, let’s go back to the 1971 that Krugman mentions. The Japanese yen was around 350 to the dollar. They revalued by 10%. Oh goody, salvation for the US. The yen is now at 90, and the Japanese are still producing massive trade surpluses, about half the size of Chinese surpluses, with less than one-tenth of the people.

That is an almost 75% devaluation, and yet the world keeps buying Japanese products.

Why? Because they make good stuff we all want. The Chinese could raise the value of the yuan by 25% over the next year and they would still run a surplus, because like the Japanese, they make good stuff we want at prices we like. Would their surplus still be as high? No. Because a 25% increase in prices would mean that we THREAT page 57

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could afford less of what they sell. But of course it would also give them wider profit margins, which would help hold their trade surplus up.

And it would also introduce inflationary increases in our imports and higher prices for lower-income families. Yes, a 25% tariff is such a smart idea that it took a Nobel laureate to think it up.

What Krugman argues is that we should pay more for Chinese goods, so that we will buy less of their goods. As if we wouldn’t buy the same goods from Vietnam or Brazil or Pakistan, if those goods were cheaper than Chinese goods. For the life of me, I can’t see how substituting goods from foreign countries other than China helps our trade deficit.

Are we going to start targeting the currencies of every nation that runs a surplus with us?

What about Europe? And Great Britain? Their currencies are dropping against the dollar, in the case of England rather precipitously. Are they pursuing mercantilist policies, Senator Schumer [in reference to his recent scandalous press conference]? What happens when the euro goes to parity against the dollar (and it will!) because the Europeans are having trouble getting their act together? Are we going to demand they force the euro to rise? Tell the ECB to raise rates

and shove the whole euro area into an even worse recession?

Do you think Japanese businessmen believe the yen is too strong, and we should make the dollar stronger against the yen? What are we going to do in three years when the yen is at 150 on its way to 300 because Japan is getting ready to hit the wall, due to their massive government deficits? Accuse the Japanese of mercantilism and try and force them to revalue the yen?

Maybe Canada should put a 25% tariff on US goods, because their dollar has risen by almost 40% against ours in the last few years. That would teach us a lesson. It would also destroy trade and a very good relationship.

It is a dicey damn world we live in. We are coming to the end of the debt super cycle, as I have written elsewhere in this letter.

It is a very perilous time. Things are going to be hard enough.

We have a huge problem with deleveraging and controlling our fiscal deficits, not just in the US but in the entire developed world. Starting trade wars is the absolutely worst possible thing to do. For the US to even suggest that such a policy is reasonable is the worst possible kind of message. Where are the adults in the administration?

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars But in ourselves, that we are

underlings.

Let’s look at the actual trade deficit. This past month it rose to $40 billion, but that is down from the $70 billion it was only a few years ago. Over half that deficit is oil and energy. The Chinese “deficit” fell to a fouryear low.

Trade deficits actually matter in a deleveraging cycle. Let’s go back to the Outside the Box I sent you a few weeks ago from Rob Parenteau and review. “… if we divide the economy into three sectors – the domestic private (households and firms), government, and foreign sectors – the following identity must hold true: Domestic Private Sector Financial Balance + Fiscal Balance + Foreign Financial Balance = 0 “Note that it is impossible for all three sectors to net save – that is, to run a financial surplus – at the same time. All three sectors could run a financial balance, but they cannot all accomplish a financial surplus and accumulate financial assets at the same time – some sector has to be issuing liabilities.”

As Rob noted, this is an “identity” equation. It is always true for all nations. In order for the US or any nation to be able to see both its government and private sectors reduce their leverage or deficits, the country must run a trade surplus.

Let’s look at the implication of

that equation. Most everyone in the US (other than Paul Krugman and his fellow uberKeynesians) think that reducing the federal deficit would be a good thing. And the private sector is busy reducing its leverage and “deficits” as well.

But if we really want to reduce the government and private deficits at the same time, we have to be able to run a trade surplus.

Those numbers must ALWAYS add up to zero. The US trade deficit is due to a lack of savings in the US. No one is forcing us to buy goods from abroad. If we saved more and bought less we would have a trade surplus. It’s really that simple.

Another implication. And a rather sobering one. For the US to continue to run such massive government fiscal deficits, either the private sector is going to have to massively increase its savings or we will have to reduce the trade deficit by buying less goods and energy, or some combination of the two.

There is no other option. And if the savings of the private sector are funneled into government debt, then that crowds out private investment. And it is private investment that produces jobs. GDP = C + I + G + Net Exports The above equation is another identity equation. It says that Gross Domestic Product is equal to total Consumption

(consumer and business) plus Investments plus Government Spending plus Net Exports (which in the case of the US is a deficit and in the case of Germany or China is a surplus).

We are going to examine this in great detail in the coming weeks, as there are serious implications for the economy contained within these simple terms.

But for our purposes today, if you play with the above equation a little you find that savings is equal to investments.

But if the government “dissaves” or runs a deficit, that means that savings have to go to cover the government deficit, which means there is less for investment. And it is investment that produces jobs.

Krugman and the Keynesians are right in this regard. If consumption falls, as it does in recession, then a corresponding increase in “G” helps offset that drop. But Keynes assumed that in good times government would run surpluses. It seems that we forgot that part.

What Greece is learning, as will all nations, is that you cannot increase “G” in an unlimited fashion. There is an end to the ability of governments to get investors to lend them money.

That level is different for different countries, but the work of Rogoff and Reinhart (which THREAT page 58

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we have looked at extensively in previous letters) clearly shows that at some point, and generally rather dramatically, markets lose confidence in the government’s ability to pay, and the game stops.

Let’s assume (and here I put on my optimist hat) that the US decides that reducing our deficit over time is a good thing. Fiscal conservatives get into Congress and we reduce the deficit by (say) $200 billion a year for five years, with a growth in revenues, so that the budget deficit is less than the growth in nominal GDP. The first identity equation says that to do so we must either increase savings or reduce the trade deficit or some combination. If we use all our savings to cover the government deficit, then we have nothing left for private investment. And yes, it is not quite that simple, as we could use already accumulated savings, but over the medium run, large government deficits will crowd out private investment, the engine of job growth.

As we will see in a few weeks, reducing “G” (government deficits) in the short run is a hit to GDP. There is no question about that. But in the medium run (we no longer have the luxury of the long run) running massive deficits, as we are now, will mean that we, too, will become Greece. As will much

of Europe and Japan if deficits are not brought under control.

It is not a question of pain or no pain. We are going to have the pain. The question is whether we take it in small doses or all at once. Slow growth, or a depression?

Part of that process that we MUST address is getting the trade deficit down, as we need that money for handling the deleveraging process.

A rational energy policy that gets us off foreign oil as quickly as possible must be enacted.

Senator Schumer, if you are so worried about deficits, why not demand that we drill for oil offshore on the continental shelf, where we know there are massive deposits? And why not aggressively encourage the use of natural gas in the medium term for transportation? Nuclear energy?

And why are we not aggressively doing as many open-trade agreements as we can? Columbia and Korea have been done, and it would open up those markets for our exporting businesses. Yes, they get a shot at us, but I will bet on the home team. Our exports are growing every month. It seems, Senator, that you oppose all those policies. But simple accounting demands that we reduce the trade deficit, and tariffs are the worst possible way to try to do so, and won’t work. And the possibility of a trade war and

the real damage to our export sector? I really get alarmed.

Instead of bashing China over their currency valuations, let’s challenge them where it would make a difference, on opening up their markets to our products and businesses more than they already do. Seriously, if we did impose a tariff on Chinese goods, US consumers would just switch to goods from other countries. It would be meaningless. But if we could sell more to them?

If we are going to put our fiscal house in order in the US, we are going to have to get a handle on our trade deficit. The operative word is “our.” Not Chinese deficits. They are not responsible for what we choose to buy.

When we look into our economic mirror, we must confess, “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” We can’t borrow our way out of a debt crisis, Paul. At some point, we just have to get on with it.

One last thought. The whole world cannot run a trade surplus. Someone must actually consume. Germany and Japan are also running huge surpluses.

Many of the problems in the peripheral European countries are because they are running trade deficits. Would not the rational extension of Krugman’s and Schumer’s ideas mean that we also target Germany and Japan? The world is out of

balance, and getting it back will not be easy, and certainly not easier if we all pursue beggarthy-neighbor policies. An Optimistic New Venture, San Diego, and New York Let me express my thanks to ProFunds, Rydex/SGI, Trust Company of America, and Ceros for sponsoring the CMG Advisor Forum that I hosted along with good friend Steve Blumenthal of CMG. There was a good crowd (about 70) of advisors and brokers from all over the country, and we finished the day at my house for Texas BBQ. If you are an advisor or a broker (or an investor) and want to see the outstanding platform of traders Steve has assembled, then go to http://www.cmgfunds.net/public /mauldin_questionnaire.asp and they will get in touch with you.

Just for the record, I am helping to start a new software company. I will write about this later, but I think there is a large opportunity in new-media and mobile software, and I have persuaded an experienced executive in the industry to start a new venture with me. I will be providing the money and nothing much else, as what I know about software is limited.

But I am convinced after a lot of research and discussion that there is an opportunity.

And that is how recovery happens. Someone sees an opportunity and takes a chance.

Some of them work out. Most of them don’t. Believe me, I know. Yet, if all goes well we could create a dozen jobs this year. Not a lot, I know, but it all adds up.

And what I saw in Cincinnati simply amazed me. A whole new mega-health-care business will be born in the next few years. I will give you more on that later.

The world is not ending. It is changing and adapting.

I will be in San Diego twice in April, once for my conference, which is now sold out, and again for Rob Arnott’s annual conference. In between I will be in New York for a speech and an appearance/interview with Steve Forbes, which should be fun.

I will be a panelist in the inaugural “America: Boom or Bankruptcy?” summit to be held in Dallas on March 26. There will be five of us, presenting problems (plenty of those!) and possible solutions. This promises to be a no-holdsbarred, full-throttle event. It should be a ton of fun. Details at www.fedfriday.com.

Once again, it is time to hit the send button. It is late and there is a lot to do tomorrow. I have it blocked off as a day with my youngest son, ending with the Mavericks playing the Celtics.

The Mavs are starting to look THREAT page 59

Economy/

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The coming days: The week ahead (The Economist: News analysis)

and left-wing governors. But its campaign is in chaos—and the government’s ratings are Submitted at 3/20/2010 10:50:21 PM plunging.

The coming days Italian • FOUR employees of Rio regional polls will show if Silvio Tinto, a huge Anglo-Australian Berlusconi's popularity is mining company, go on trial in waning China on Monday March 22nd Mar 21st 2010 | From The on charges of bribery and Economist online industrial espionage in • THE prime minister of Italy, connection with negotiations Silvio Berlusconi, will be able over the price of iron ore. The to assess the damage that a accused, three Chinese and one string of scandals has meted out Australian, were arrested last to his government when Italians year shortly after Rio had go to the polls for two days of spurned a big investment from voting in regional elections Chinalco, a Chinese statestarting on Sunday March 28th. backed metals firm, infuriating Elections are set to take place in the Chinese authorities. That led 13 of Italy’s 20 regions. Eleven to speculation that the two regions are held by the centre- events were linked while also left opposition. Mr Berlusconi, dealing a blow to relations hoping to capitalise on a wave between China and Australia. of sympathy after an attack by a But now relations seem to be m e n t a l l y u n s t a b l e m a n i n improving, at least between Rio December, had hoped his People a n d C h i n a l c o . T h e t w o of Freedom (PdL) movement companies are have announced might oust up to five centrist a big iron-ore joint venture in

Africa.

• BRITAIN'S chancellor of the exchequer (finance minister), Alastair Darling, unveils Britain’s budget on Wednesday March 24th. With an election looming—a poll must be called before June and May 6th is widely touted as the likely date—Mr Darling will be gratified that recent figures show Britain’s deficit, while vast, has not expanded quite as much as predicted. Britain’s lacklustre economy and dreadful public finances are sure to be important election issues. But Mr Darling’s urge to tackle the deficit with a budget of nothing but austerity measures make take second place to doling out a few election sweeteners to the country’s voters.

• EUROPE’S leaders will converge on Brussels for a two day EU summit starting on Thursday March 25th. The Greek debt crisis and the

fragility of other European economies is sure to be the main talking point. Greece’s prime minister, George Papandreou, has called on the EU to come up with a way of channeling financial aid to his country as a reward for the drastic austerity package he has pushed through.

But any scheme aimed at saving Greece will have to overcome severe misgivings about a rescue package brewing in Germany. Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, has even suggested a mechanism to throw out countries from the euro area if they repeatedly flout fiscal rules. Readers' comments The Economist welcomes your views.

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Delusions of Retirement Adequacy Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture) Submitted at 3/21/2010 4:13:33 AM

“Perhaps something like 40% of workers may not be saving because they believe assets — their house or portfolios, for example — will once more increase in value. In that regard, she speculates that it is significant that the last time households saved so little for retirement was when the stock market hit its peak in 2007 (and, of course, housing hadn’t yet crashed), and the only time they saved less was in 2004, when stocks bounced back strongly from the dot.com collapse.

If workers are really making this kind of bet, she believes, it would be good news, near term, anyway. For it would avoid the THREAT DELUSIONS big hit to spending necessary to continued from page 58 continued from page 59 bring savings into alignment decent as we move into the All Rights Reserved illusory and the Fed can’t reflate scraping to come up with the with current net worth. To playoffs. But then so are many Five Filters featured article: assets on the household balance rent. Alas, the survey doesn’t return to an 8% rate, she other teams. We will see. Have Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: sheet, then, Stephanie sighs, break down the numbers by age. reckons, would require a savings a great week.

PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, “we’re in a dilly of a pickle.” If, by chance, the panel is increase — or a spending Your excited about new Term Extraction.

And the price of delusion, she representative of the nation as a decrease — of $513 billion. ventures analyst, fears, will be dear. According to whole, she winces, with 54% of Nice piece of change, any way John Mauldin the EBRI survey, a “staggering the labor force over 40, “the you look at it.

John@frontlinethoughts.com 27% of workers have saved less figures are truly alarming. However — and, of course, Copyright 2010 John Mauldin. than $1,000 toward retirement.” D o u b l y s o g i v e n t h e there’s always a however — if She can only hope the 27% are increasingly retractable nature the rebound in net worth proves young’uns right out of school, DELUSIONS page 60 DELUSIONS page 59 sharing apartments and still

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of pension promises.”

Ordinary people can be excused to some extent for not grasping how deep a financial hole they’re in. But that doesn’t hold for banks, Stephanie asserts, whose “affliction is no less acute.”

She cites the notion that reserving for losses no longer need be done and, by way of evidence, notes that a $10 billion reduction in the banks’ loss provisioning last year was a major contributor to their gain in fourth-quarter earnings. Further, loan-loss reserves cover barely over half — 58%, to be exact — of loans past due.

And to make matters worse, at the end of last year, 51% of commercial-bank assets were

tied to real estate. Obviously, not a very desirable exposure with housing back in the dumps.

And finally, there’s the possibility that banks are forced to mark to market all the toxic securities they carry at cost. If they were to follow the example of the FDIC, which in a sale last week marked down a batch of kindred securities, they’d have to take a 50% haircut.

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Forget everything you thought you knew about filing your taxes. With so many changes to tax rules for 2009 resulting from last year's massive economicstimulus package, you may be able to claim some new tax breaks, particularly if you bought a house or a car, sent a kid to college, made energyefficient home improvements, or collected unemployment benefits.

And even if none of those special situations applies to you, you'll still save on your taxes if

(Kiplinger Personal Finance)

Conditions for mergers and acquisitions are improving, signaling more corporate deals this year and next. After a tepid two years, the dollar amount of transactions will likely climb by more than a third this year. Deal values will hit more than $950 billion in 2010 and continue to grow an additional 20% in 2011.

"Much of 2009 was a nuclear winter for the M&A industry,” says Dennis White, senior counsel at McDermott, Will & Emery LLP and chairman of the global board of directors of the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG). White blames last year’s conditions on the general economic downturn, your 2009 income was about the lack of credit and a chasm same as it was the year before -- between buyers and sellers on thanks to new, inflation-adjusted valuations. “I think all three are income-tax brackets and higher now improving somewhat,” he a m o u n t s f o r t h e s t a n d a r d says. d e d u c t i o n ( w h i c h 7 0 % o f Executives are keeping their taxpayers claim) and the eyes open for attractive personal-exemption amount, businesses to buy. And they’ll which every taxpayer can claim actually find the money they for each member of his or her need to finance these deals.

About 82% of financiers and household.

The standard deduction is consultants surveyed at the end $5,700 for individuals (up $250 of 2009 by Thomson Reuters from 2008); $8,350 for single heads of household (up $350); and $11,400 for married couples

Tax-Saving Secrets (Kiplinger Personal Finance)

Mergers and Acquisitions To Pick Up this Year

TAX-SAVING page 61

and the ACG said they expected the number of mergers and acquisition transactions to increase moderately or significantly in the first half of 2010. About 74% said they expected debt markets to be a little or much better.

As lenders remain cautious, companies will rely less on outside financiers such as private equity groups. Instead, buyers will put in more cash up front, as they finally start to release their hold on funds they’ve been hoarding for the past two years. With the economic outlook improving, companies are more willing to spend their own money. “Now companies feel more comfortable taking risks,” says Dan Tiemann, who heads KPMG’s transactions and restructuring group.

Expect buyers to pick and choose carefully, focusing on expanding existing business lines or filling in gaps in their offerings. “The downturn has separated winners and losers,” says Tiemann. “This is a great time for winners to be picking up weakened competitors and gaining market share.” They

will also look at suppliers and other firms they do business with to increase revenue without building a division from the ground up. They won’t be taking chances on any hot new start-ups or exciting technologies.

It will help that sellers are adjusting to and accepting lower market prices. “Sellers are more realistic about what their companies are worth,” says White. For smalls, in particular, valuations have finally leveled off after sinking by as much as 45% since the recession began and revenue streams started to dwindle.

Industries likely to see the most activity: Retail, construction, publishing, financial services and others with too many players still on the field. Plus look for deals in technology and health care, industries that are solid growers.

For weekly updates on topics to improve your business decisionmaking, click here.

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filing jointly (up $500). In addition, the $3,650-per-person personal exemption is up $150 from 2008. Tax brackets are wider, too. For a married couple filing a joint return, for example, the taxable-income threshold separating the 15% bracket from the 25% bracket is $67,900, up from $65,100 in 2008. And there's an added benefit for taxpayers in the 10% and 15% tax brackets: They pay zero capital-gains taxes on profits from investments they sold in 2009 (as long as they owned them for more than a year).

Plus, most workers are eligible for the new Making Work Pay credit, worth up to $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples, depending on income. Although you probably received the money in the form of reduced tax withholding from your paycheck throughout the year -- rather than a bigger refund now -- you still have to claim the credit on your tax return to ensure that it is counted against your 2009 tax liability (see Tax Forms: Cracking the Code). If you don't, it could boost your tax bill or reduce your refund.

At times, filling out your 2009 return may feel as if you're taking a multiple-choice quiz, guessing at the best option to maximize your tax savings. If you're not already using taxpreparation software or working with a professional tax preparer,

it may be time to seek help (see Tax Prep: Most Can File for Free).

Education breaks With a sizable, six-figure income, Timothy and Kathy Cormier of Fairfax, Va., never expected to qualify for a tax credit to ease the pain of paying college expenses for two of their three children. But this year is different.

The new American Opportunity credit is worth up to $2,500 per student each year during the first four years of college. For most students this break replaces the Hope credit, which was good only for the first two years of college. The American Opportunity credit covers 100% of the first $2,000 of expenses, including tuition, fees and books, and 25% of the next $2,000. You can claim the full $2,500 credit if you are single and your income is $80,000 or less ($160,000 if you're married filing jointly). You get a partial credit if you are single with income up to $90,000 ($180,000 for joint filers). The Cormiers can multiply that tax break by two, saving them up to $5,000 on their 2009 tax bill.

But here's where it gets confusing. Taxpayers with similarly generous incomes (up to $80,000 for single or $160,000 for married filers) can claim a $2,000 tax deduction for higher-education costs even if they don't itemize -- but you

can't claim both the credit and the deduction. So which should you choose? Take the credit if you can. A credit reduces your tax liability dollar for dollar, whereas a deduction merely reduces the amount of income that is taxed. In the 25% bracket, for example, a $2,000 deduction reduces your taxes by just $500, while a $2,000 credit reduces your taxes by the full $2,000.

Simple choice, right? Not so fast. The American Opportunity credit applies only to the first four years of college, so anyone paying bills for graduate school would want to choose the deduction -- that is, unless they qualify for the even more valuable Lifetime Learning credit, which has lower incomeeligibility caps than the deduction. The credit is available for 20% of the expense of any posthigh school classes up to a maximum $2,000 credit per tax return. For the full credit, your income can't top $50,000 if you're single or $100,000 if you're married filing jointly. A partial credit is available to those with income up to $60,000 ($120,000 if married).

And the choices don't end there.

Parents with students attending college in one of the ten midwestern states that were declared disaster areas after the 2008 floods should compare their choices of credits to

determine which saves them the most money, says John Roth, a senior tax analyst with CCH, a provider of tax information. The Hope and Lifetime Learning credits for the midwestern disaster area are twice the usual amounts and have been expanded to include room and board as qualifying expenses (but the credits are subject to the same income-eligibility limits).

The maximum Hope credit for freshmen and sophomores is $3,600 per student. But if you claim a Hope credit for a student in the midwestern disaster area, you cannot claim an American Opportunity credit for any student in the same year. The maximum Lifetime Learning credit for any posthigh school courses taken in the disaster area is $4,000 per tax return. (Parents of students attending colleges in Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin are eligible.)

Home-buyer credit New-home shoppers celebrated when the popular $8,000 firsttime home buyer's credit was extended to contracts signed through April 30, 2010. But you might have missed some of the nuances. For example, incomeeligibility limits for this credit differ depending on the date of purchase; and current homeowners who buy a new home now qualify for a tax credit, too.

If you bought your first home between January 1 and November 6, 2009, you are eligible for a maximum credit of $8,000 as long as your income doesn't exceed $75,000 if you're single or $150,000 if you're married filing jointly. You're considered a first-time buyer if you didn't own a principal residence during the three years prior to closing on the new home.

But the rules changed for purchases after November 6.

Income-eligibility limits were increased to $125,000 for the full credit for single filers, phasing out at $145,000, and to $225,000 for joint filers, phasing out at $245,000.

Homeowners who have lived in the same principal residence for at least five out of the past eight years also became eligible for a 10% credit of up to $6,500 on the purchase of a new home after November 6. To claim the credit, buyers must enter a binding contract by April 30 and must close on the sale before July 1. Members of the military who are serving overseas have an extra year of eligibility (see A Roster of Tax Breaks for Military Families).

To claim the credit, you must file Form 5405, "First-Time Homebuyer Credit," and attach a copy of your settlement statement or a copy of the TAX-SAVING page 62

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certificate of occupancy for newly constructed homes.

Homeowners must provide proof of five consecutive years of ownership, such as mortgageinterest statements, property-tax records or homeowners insurance.

Because of the new documentation requirements, you can't file your tax return electronically if you claim the home-buyer credit. Print it out and mail it with supporting documents to the IRS. Be prepared to wait. Refunds for paper returns normally take from four to eight weeks, compared with about ten days for e-filed returns. You can file for the credit on your 2009 return even if you close after April 15 by filing an extension or amending your return.

Home-energy credit So maybe you didn't buy a new house last year, but you did make some energy-efficient home improvements. You may claim a credit for 30% of the cost of eligible home improvements on your principal residence, up to a maximum of $1,500. The credit applies to insulation and to energyefficient exterior windows and doors, heat pumps, furnaces, central air conditioners, and water heaters. The new rule is in

effect for both 2009 and 2010, so if you claim the full $1,500 credit on your 2009 return, you are not eligible for additional credits in 2010.

Another residential tax credit, designed to spur investment in alternative-energy equipment such as solar hot-water heaters, geothermal heat pumps and wind turbines for new and existing homes, is worth 30% of the cost of such items, including installation, with no cap on the amount.

New-vehicle deduction If you sank some money into new wheels last year, whether it was a car, a motorcycle, a light truck or a motor home, there's a tax break for that, too. As long as you purchased the new vehicle anytime after February 16, 2009, you may be able to deduct the state or local sales tax or excise tax. The deduction is limited to the tax you paid on up to $49,500 of the purchase price, but there is no limit on the number of eligible vehicles.

To qualify for the full deduction, your income can't top $125,000 if you're single or $250,000 if you're married filing jointly. A partial deduction is available for individuals with income between $125,000 and $135,000 and for joint filers with income between $250,000

and $260,000.

Taxpayers can claim the newvehicle sales-tax break whether or not they itemize their deductions. But some itemizers who bought a new car last year can snag a double tax savings by deducting both their state income taxes, as part of their itemized deductions on Schedule A, and claiming the special sales-tax deduction on the same form.

Itemizers may even be able to claim a tax break on the sales tax they paid on new vehicles purchased before the February 17 start date or even the sales taxes they paid on used or leased vehicles acquired in 2009. But it makes sense only under certain circumstances. To do so, you must choose to deduct state sales taxes rather than state income taxes on Schedule A. In most cases, income taxes will represent the bigger deduction and are the smarter choice. But those with little taxable income, such as retirees, or residents of states with no income tax, such as Florida or Texas, get a better deal with the sales-tax deduction. You can base the write-off on actual receipts or use IRS tables keyed to household income, size and state. Plus, if you use the tables,

you can add sales taxes paid on big-ticket items, such as cars, boats, RVs and building materials. Of course, itemizing makes sense only if it gives you a bigger write-off than the standard deduction.

Break for unemployed With the highest jobless rate in decades, many Americans are receiving unemployment benefits for the first time. The first $2,400 of benefits collected in 2009 is exempt from federal income tax, but the exclusion isn't automatic. You must subtract $2,400 from the amount of total unemployment compensation shown on Form 1099-G to determine the taxable amount to report on your Form 1040 (or 1040A or 1040EZ). If both spouses received benefits, each can exclude $2,400 from taxable income.

A lower income in 2009 may make it easier to deduct jobhunting expenses, such as rĂŠsumĂŠ printing, postage, career counseling and travel costs for out-of-town interviews. You can deduct these and other miscellaneous expenses, such as tax-preparation costs, only to the extent that they exceed 2% of your adjusted gross income.

Give some back?

Despite all of these tax breaks, some taxpayers will receive

smaller refunds than usual and others may end up owing money. Blame it on the Making Work Pay credit. Employers adjusted tax-withholding schedules during the year so that you could receive an immediate benefit from the 6.2% tax credit worth up to $400 for individuals and $800 for married couples, subject to income limits. But some employees, such as teens with part-time jobs, aren't eligible for the credit if they can be claimed as dependents on someone else's tax return.

Others may have received more credit than they were due because they worked more than one job or because both spouses worked and their combined income topped eligibility limits.

The credit is reduced for individuals whose income is between $75,000 and $95,000 and for married couples with joint income between $150,000 and $190,000; it's eliminated for taxpayers with income higher than those levels.

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Think Like a Squirrel (Kiplinger Personal Finance)

Many of us don't have the sense God gave a squirrel. Consider this choice: Buy refrigerator A, which costs $50 less than fridge B but uses $50 more in electricity each year, or fridge B, which saves money in the long run. Select fridge B and one year later you'll break even, after which you'll save $50 annually. Yet despite the future savings, one study showed that most people faced with this decision would choose to buy the cheaper but less-efficient fridge.

In this situation, as in many others -- notably, neglecting to sign up for your company retirement plan -- immediate financial gratification proves to be a prime motivator. That's the case even though the short-term rush pales in comparison with the long-term savings realized from picking the more-efficient appliance. Squirrels, by contrast, stow nuts for the winter even when it means skipping an acorn or two in October.

Time plays tricks on our ability to make smart decisions, especially when it comes to money. Here's another example:

When offered the choice between taking $50 today or $100 a year from today, most people choose $50 now. But take away the instant gratification and the results are reversed. That is, given the alternative of receiving $50 in, say, five years or $100 in six years, most people will choose $100 in six years. Yet that's the same trade-off as with the shorter time frame.

"We care a lot more about today than about the future," explains Harvard economics professor David Laibson. "Humans, like a lot of other animals, place full weight on what happens right now and half weight on what happens even a few days away."

That's because we react emotionally to immediate gratification and think logically about future rewards. And emotion often trumps logic.

Logical thinking, including thinking about our financial future, occurs in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. This was demonstrated by Jordan Grafman, a neuroscientist at the National Institutes of Health, who discovered that Vietnam War veterans with injuries to the prefrontal cortex struggled when

making long-term financial decisions. "They had a difficult time articulating goals for the future, especially far into the future, such as saving for their children's education or planning for retirement," says Grafman.

Be a noodge. So the trick to making better financial decisions for the long term is to think like a squirrel. In some cases, that's already being done for us. The study on buying a refrigerator took place in 1980.

Since then the government has raised the bar on energyefficiency standards for fridges and other appliances so that we no longer have the option of buying an appliance that's much cheaper but much less efficient.

With regard to retirement savings, many employers now automatically enroll employees in the company plan when they're hired, and workers must actively opt out if they don't want to participate.

In the book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, authors Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein defend such tactics as simple strategies to counteract our human limitations.

How do you nudge yourself to

make better long-term decisions? Laibson suggests making time your ally. Instead of immediately tackling a daunting task, such as reviewing your entire financial plan (when you'd rather go to the movies or play golf), take the first step by making an appointment with a financial planner to rebalance your investments or work on your estate plan.

Also, delaying a financial decision by a few days can help give the logical part of your brain a chance to kick in. That shiny new Rolex that screams "buy me" when you're in the store could look like an expensive bauble when you're paying your bills.

Kiplinger's is partnering with Nightly Business Report on the "Your Mind & Your Money" series, funding for which is provided by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. For companion video reports, tune in to NBR on your local PBS channel March 15 and 29.

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Prepare for Storm Season With Flood Coverage (Kiplinger Personal Finance)

The Northeast was hit hard by storms and flooding recently, and I hear that more storms are on their way throughout the country. What type of storm damage is covered by homeowners insurance and what is covered only by flood insurance? How much does a flood policy cost?

Homeowners-insurance policies typically cover damage that comes from the top down -such as rain and wind damage -but they don’t cover rising water and flooding.

You may be able to boost your coverage a bit by adding a sewage-backup rider to your home-insurance policy. This extra rider generally costs about $50 per year to cover $10,000 to $20,000 of damage if your sewer backs up or if water gets into your home because your sump pump stops working. It’s a good idea for everyone to add this coverage.

To get flood coverage, you must go through the National Flood Insurance Program. Your mortgage company may require you to get flood insurance if you live in a high-risk area, but the coverage can be important even if your lender doesn’t require it.

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Most people can buy federal flood insurance through their homeowners-insurance agent. If you don’t have one, you can find a local agent at the NFIP’s FloodSmart.gov Web site. If you want to have coverage in place for the spring storms, you need to act quickly -- there’s a 30-day waiting period before the flood coverage takes effect.

Flood insurance can be inexpensive for low-risk areas.

If you don’t have a basement, the annual premium for a preferred-risk policy can cost as little as $348 a year for the maximum coverage of $250,000 for your dwelling and $100,000 for your possessions, or $388 per year if you have a basement.

Similar coverage can cost $1,484 per year in a moderaterisk area, or more than $2,600 in a high-risk area.

FloodSmart.gov has a great tool that lets you type in your address and immediately see your property’s flood risk, your estimated premium and contact information for agents serving

your area. It also has an interactive tool to show how much damage you could have for each inch of flooding, and a cool new flood history map that lets you look up how many flooding events and how much flood damage there was in your state and county in the past year, along with a link to detailed information about the floods.

The federal flood program provides enough coverage for most people. But the maximum dwelling coverage of $250,000 could leave people who have expensive homes short of what they need in the event of a total loss. Several insurers, such as Chubb and Fireman’s Fund, offer excess flood coverage to supplement the federal policy and increase the coverage limits to the same level as your homeowners insurance. These policies also provide some extra coverage beyond the federal plan, such as replacement value for contents (the federal plan covers only depreciated value) and the cost of additional living

expenses should you have to move out of your home for a while because of the flood damage.

For more information about flood coverage and lessons from people whose homes were damaged in the Midwest floods of 2008, see Lessons From the Floods. Also see Insurance Lessons After Katrina and Make Your Insurer Pay for more information about what is and isn’t covered by homeowners insurance after a storm, as well as strategies that helped homeowners get their claims paid after Hurricane Katrina.

For advice on preparing your finances for a disaster, see Protect Your Home and Finances Against Twisters and Protect Your Home Before Disaster Strikes.

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