Saturday, December 31, 2011

Wendy's reenters Japan with $16 foie-gras-and-truffle burger

Wendy's has a new burger, and it's not for the cost-conscious.

It's a foie gras and truffle-festooned burger that costs $16. But the trip to the restaurant will cost you much more ? this burger is available only in Japan.

It marks the return of Wendy's ? the third-largest fast-food chain in the U.S., now on track to overtake second-place Burger King ? to Japan after a two-year break. The first new Wendy's in the country opened this week in a luxury shopping area in Tokyo.

The Japanese franchisee developed the luxurious 1,280-yen sandwich. The folks at Wendy's International Inc.'s corporate offices in Dublin, Ohio, said they "really don't have anything to do with it."

The goose liver-topped burger won't show up in the U.S. any time soon. Wendy's said its most expensive items here are in the $5-to-$6 range.

Chief Executive Emily Brolick has said Wendy's will aim to eventually triple its number of foreign restaurants to about 1,000. Other fast-food giants, including KFC owner Yum Brands Inc., are also looking overseas for growth opportunities.

Hence McDonald's is offering the Chicken Maharaja Mac in India, where many residents don't eat beef for religious reasons. And KFC sells congee rice porridge in China.

Away from the U.S., companies such as Wendy's are also more shielded from the slew of "better burger" fast-casual brands, such as Five Guys and Smashburger, which are steadily poaching fast-food customers, said Nick Setyan, a restaurant industry analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc.

In some countries, he said, McDonald's is an event destination.

"As these chains go abroad, they capitalize on that perception by evolving into a more higher-end offering," Setyan said. "The 'Americanness' of the brand connotes a higher-end if not elite experience, as opposed to the 'get in, get out' roots in the U.S."

tiffany.hsu@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/business/~3/ikF_Qr1asNw/la-fi-wendys-foie-gras-20111229,0,407037.story

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WeddingPaprDiva: Have you and your fianc? disagreed on anything throughout the wedding planning process?

Twitter / Wedding Paper Divas: Have you and your fianc? d ... Loader Have you and your fianc? disagreed on anything throughout the wedding planning process?

Source: http://twitter.com/WeddingPaprDiva/statuses/152084616109490176

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Quad-core Meizu MX may arrive in May with revamped UI, says company founder

We already knew that the dual-core Meizu MX will eventually meet its quad-core variant, but the question is when? Well, the ever elusive Jack Wong (who's actually taken a step back from the CEO position while acting as some sort of chairman) told fans on his forum that the new Android phone will probably arrive around May next year -- almost half way through the current one-year product cycle. Additionally, the Flyme OS's UI will see some big changes to accommodate Android 4.0. Can't say we're surprised, but we sure would be if the chip turns out to be something other than the leaked Samsung Exynos 4412 SoC from last month.

Quad-core Meizu MX may arrive in May with revamped UI, says company founder originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechOrz (Chinese), Engadget China  |  sourceMeizu BBS (Chinese)  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/27/quad-core-meizu-mx-may-arrive-in-may-with-revamped-ui-says-comp/

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Sony sells stake in LCD venture to Samsung

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Sinead O'Connor Ends Marriage After 18 Days!

After less than three weeks, the Irish singer and her hubby have split. See more celeb pairs who are back to going solo

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/gone-splitsville-celebrity-breakups/1-b-16462?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Agone-splitsville-celebrity-breakups-16462

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Canada's Iran sanctions hit migrant investors

',
container = $('#drop-panel-container'),
contents = $(container).html();

if (isIE8) {

$(container).replaceWith(f+contents+b)

}



}

function dropPanelSetUp(data) {
/* buttons should be a dataobject of strings representing IDs
the hide and show functions are expecting IDs so passing a class will result in a
failure.

click as the action is assumed for now

the data object should look like this:

{ masterlistener:(string[dom id]),
panel:(string[dom id]),
eventgroup1:{ button:(string[dom id]),
content:(string[dom id]),
offset:{x:(int),y:(int)},
on_state_class: ''(string)
},
eventgroup2:{ button:(string[dom id]),
content:(string[dom id]),
offset:{x:(int),y:(int)},
on_state_class: ''(string)
} ... etc
}

The drop panel nodes should be placed so they share the same offset parent as the buttons that activate it.

NOTE: IE8 Got-chya: the ID for the panel is hard coded into the IE8 rouned corners code.
If you have changed the ID for the drop panel and are having trouble with IE8
change the ID in the template string in this function: ie8DropPanel()

*/



var speed = 300,
panel = $('#'+data.panel),
buttons = [];



for (var i=1,eg; eg=data[('eventgroup'+i)]; i++) {

var bp = $('#'+eg.button).position(), //button position
ph = $('#'+eg.button).height(), //button height
panelPos = [bp.top+ph, bp.left, eg.offset];
on_state_class = eg.on_state_class;

buttons.push([$('#'+eg.button),$('#'+eg.content),panelPos,eg.button,on_state_class]);

}



$('#'+data.masterlistener).bind('click',{speed:speed,panel:panel,buttons:buttons},function(event){

var org = event.target,
speed = event.data.speed,
panel = event.data.panel,
buttons = event.data.buttons,
panel_open = isPanelOpen(panel);




for (var i=buttons.length-1, b; b=buttons[i]; i--) {
/*
* b[0] = button DOM object
* b[1] = content DOM object
* b[2] = the display co-ord object:
* [0] = top (int)
* [1] = left (int)
* [2] = offset object
* {x,y}(int,int)
* b[3] = button ID (string)
* b[4] = button 'on' class
*/

var button_id = b[3],
same_content = isSameContent(panel,b[1]);

if ( $(org).attr('id') === button_id || $(org).parents('#'+button_id).attr('id')){

if(!same_content) {

hideAllContent(buttons);
movePanel(panel,b[2]);

if (panel_open) {

showContent(b[1],b[0],b[4]);

} else {

showContent(b[1],b[0],b[4]);
showPanel(panel,speed);

}

} else {

hidePanel(panel,speed,b[4]);

}

}

}

function isPanelOpen(panel) {


return ($(panel).css('display').toLowerCase() === 'block');
}

function isSameContent (panel,content) {

return ($(content, panel).css('display').toLowerCase() === 'block');

}

function movePanel(panel,b) {
// b[0] top, b[1] left, b[2] {x,y}

$(panel).css({
'top': (b[0] + b[2].x)
});
$(panel).css({
'left': (b[1] + b[2].y)
});

}

function showPanel(panel,speed) {

$(panel).slideDown(speed);
}

function hidePanel(panel,speed) {

$(panel).slideUp(speed, function() {hideAllContent(buttons);});


}

function showContent(content, button, btn_class) {
$(content).show();
$(button).addClass(btn_class);
}

function hideContent(content) {

$(content).hide();

}

function hideAllContent(buttons) {

for (var i = buttons.length-1, b; b=buttons[i]; i--) {
$(b[1]).hide();
$(b[0]).removeClass(b[4]);
}

}


})


}


return {

ieRoundedCorners:ieRoundedCorners,
ie8DropPanel:ie8DropPanel,
dropPanelSetUp:dropPanelSetUp
}



})();



var headerNavication = (function($,cw) {

var nav_item_list = $('.cw-header .main-nav ul.main > li'),
channel_id_list = '',
channel,
sub_channel;

var findChannel = function () {

var winloc = isIE ? document.URL.split('/') : document.documentURI.split('/') ,
channel_id = winloc[3],
sub_chanel_id = winloc.length > 5 ? '/'+winloc[4]+'/' : '',
reg_sub_find_id = new RegExp(sub_chanel_id,'ig'),
reg_removed_id = /^nav-/i;


for (var i=nav_item_list.length-1,n; n=nav_item_list[i]; i--) {

if ( channel_id === $(n).children('a').attr('id').replace(reg_removed_id,'') ) {
var list = $(n).children('ul').children('li');

if (sub_chanel_id.length > 0) {

for (var j=list.length-1,l; l=list[j]; j--) {

if (reg_sub_find_id.test($(l).children('a').attr('href'))) {
break;
} else {
l = false;
}

}

}

break;

}

}

findChannel = function () {
return [n,l];
}

return [n,l];

}

var init = (function() {
channel = findChannel()[0] || nav_item_list[0];
sub_channel = findChannel()[1];

if (sub_channel) {
highlightSubChannel();
}

clearNav();

if(isIE) {

cw.ieRoundedCorners();

if(isIE8) {
cw.ie8DropPanel();
}
}

if ($('#handle-header').attr('id')) {
cw.dropPanelSetUp({
masterlistener: 'handle-header',
panel: ('drop-panel-container'),
eventgroup1: {
button: 'btn-newspapers',
content: 'panel-newspapers',
offset: {
x: 5,
y: 0
},
on_state_class: 'newspapers-dropdown-on'
},
eventgroup2: {
button: 'btn-networks',
content: 'panel-networks',
offset: {
x: 5,
y: 0
},
on_state_class: 'networks-dropdown-on'
}
});
}

//need to check state of search radio buttons since firefox doesn't reset to the default checked radio button
if($('.cw-header #radio-btn-yp:checked').attr('id') != null){
$('.cw-header #header-search-form').attr('action','http://canadacom.yellowpages.ca/search/');
$('.cw-header #header-search-string').attr('name','what');
$('.cw-header #radio-btn-yp').siblings('label').removeClass('selected');
$('.cw-header #radio-btn-yp').next().addClass('selected');
}

eventSetUp();

}())


function highlightSubChannel() {

if((document.location+"").indexOf("/sports/football/cfl/") > -1) $(".mainnav-item .cfl").addClass('sub-nav-highlight');
else if((document.location+"").indexOf("/sports/football/grey-cup-2011/") > -1) $(".mainnav-item .cfl").addClass('sub-nav-highlight');
else if((document.location+"").indexOf("/sports/football/nfl/") > -1) $(".mainnav-item .nfl").addClass('sub-nav-highlight');
else $(sub_channel).addClass('sub-nav-highlight');
}

function clearNav() {

clearTabs();
$(channel).children('ul').show();
$(channel).css('background-position', 'bottom right');

}

function eventSetUp() {


$('.cw-header .main-nav ').bind('mouseleave', function(event){

if (isIE) {

if ($(event.relatedTarget).parents('.main-nav').length 0)?"" + value.substring(0,pos) + "" + value.substring(pos, term.length) + "" + value.substring(pos + term.length) + "":value.substring(0, term.length) + "" + value.substring(pos + term.length) + ""; }, scroll: false, selectFirst: false }); });

Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F75/~3/OyoD5xCq7fc/story.html

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Poll: What kind of case do you prefer for your iPhone?

What kind of case do you prefer for your iPhone?CES 2012 is coming up soon and before we get ready to amp up our accessory coverage, we thought we’d start by finding out what kinds of cases the TiPb Nation prefers to rock on the iPhone? There’s an...


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/B9i3hHRi3Mo/story01.htm

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vtdnews: All-County Football: Coach of the Year http://t.co/U3VyD4br

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Source: http://twitter.com/vtdnews/statuses/150629316177313792

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Early morning fog blankets parts of Central Florida

Parts of Central Florida woke up to a foggy Monday morning, and that could affect your commute.

The fog is expected to last throughout the morning and drivers will have to use caution as they make their commute.

???????????????

If you?encounter fog while driving:

Source: Florida Highway Patrol

  • Turn on your lights, even in daytime fog. They help other drivers see you.
  • Do NOT turn on your high beams. They will only reflect back off the fog, and make it even harder to see ahead of you.
  • Slow down! Speed is a major cause of fog-related crashes. Fog can create an illusion of slow motion, when you may actually be speeding.
  • Turn off your radio, cell phone and other distractions.
  • Use wipers and defrosters to keep your windshield dry.
  • Use the right edge or painted markings to help you stay on the road and in your lane.
  • Avoid passing and changing lanes.
  • Signal your turns well in advance, and brake early and slowly as you approach a stop.

????????????????

Once the fog burns off later Monday morning, scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms are likely Tuesday?afternoon and throughout early evening.

Source: http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2011/december/362308/Early-morning-fog-blankets-parts-of-Central-Florida?cid=rss

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In 1918, you could buy radioactive golf balls for $1 a pop

In 1918, you could buy radioactive golf balls for $1 a popBack in the day, you could shove all sorts of goods containing that miracle chemical radium in your body. There were radium-infused beers, chocolate, and suppositories. But radium-mania didn't stop with quack remedies.

An advertisement in the May 17, 1918 edition of the New York Observer touted the benefits of radium-infused golf balls. Was this just hogwash by hucksters looking to ride the radium wave?

According to the radium-good archivers at Oak Ridge Associated Universities, "An analysis by gamma spectroscopy clearly shows that it does indeed contain radium: approximately 150 Bq (4 nCi)."

It's not entirely clear if the radium was enough to harm old-timey golfers looking to improve their range, but hey, at least no one was shoving them up their rectums. Presumably, at least.

[Via Improbable Research]

Source: http://io9.com/5871021/in-1918-you-could-buy-radioactive-golf-balls-for-1-a-pop

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

In Jakarta, it?s hip to like history

History tours are a part of a broader effort to get people to appreciate - and invest in - Jakarta's Old City.

? A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
Indonesian youths with a penchant for the past have injected new life into Jakarta?s Old City. Once home to the city?s main port and 17th-century Dutch settlements, the area known then as Batavia is now abuzz with teens who come to ride vintage bicycles, visit the history museum, or snap pictures in front of several crumbling colonial facades.

Skip to next paragraph

Groups such as the Sahabat Museum, an informal community of history aficionados, lead walking tours of the area. Sahabat Museum has organized nearly 100 tours around Indonesia since starting in 2003, but founder Ade Purnama says the Old City remains a favorite among youths.

?Because they live here, they grew up here, and they want to know the city?s history,? he says, noting that the last tour he organized there drew roughly 1,000 people.

Many participants come to enhance their knowledge of the country?s past. But Mr. Purnama sees the tours as part of a broader effort to get people to appreciate Jakarta.

Many buildings in the Old City remain in ruin. Their owners say they won?t invest in rehabilitation until the government enacts a widespread revitalization program.

In the meantime, Indonesians are finding other ways of bringing new life to the area. The Indonesian Heritage Society leads tours of historical sites, such as an old bank, a soy sauce factory, and the former homes of Dutch elite, as does a group called Cultural Explorer.

?This is an interesting way to learn about our city,? says Bulan Mendota, who was on a recent Sahabat Museum tour.

By learning about Jakarta, says Purnama, youths will also learn how to make it better.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/7j5IVnw_nYI/In-Jakarta-it-s-hip-to-like-history

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iMAME app gets pulled from iTunes app store

In barely enough time to get out of the app store and into the hearts of retro gamers everywhere, the iMAME emulator on iOS has already been erased from iTunes -- just days since its release. Alas, that lack of any official endorsement may have reared its ugly head. Well, it was good while it lasted. Guess we'll carry on saving up for that Vita purchase...

[Thanks Zac]

iMAME app gets pulled from iTunes app store originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 24 Dec 2011 08:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/YrJO6FkPgiQ/

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

2012 Will Be the Year of the Android Tablet


Oct 20: Becoming a Security Detective - Gathering and Analyzing Security Intelligence in the Enterprise

In this all-day virtual event, experts will offer detailed insight in how to collect security intelligence in the enterprise, and how to analyze and study it in order to efficiently identify new threats as well as low-and-slow attacks such as advanced persistent threats. Register today!

Platinum Sponsors: ArcSight, NetIQ, Proofpoint, Thawte
Gold Sponsor: Q1 Labs


October 6: InformationWeek 500 Virtual Event: The Need for Speed

At the 2011 InformationWeek 500 Virtual Conference, C-level executives from leading global companies will gather to discuss how their organizations are turbo-charging business execution and growth.

Platinum Sponsor: ArcSight, Workday
Gold Sponsor: IBM


Aug 25: InformationWeek & Dark Reading present: How Security Breaches Happen and What Your Organization Can Do About Them

Attendees will get insights on how to prevent breaches from happening, how to research and identify the source of a breach, and how to remediate a compromise as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Platinum Sponsor: ArcSight, NetIQ, Thawte
Gold Sponsors: Lumension, NetGear, GFI
Silver Sponsor: Motorola


July 28: InformationWeek & Symantec present: Infrastructure at Risk -- Taking Decisive Action to Secure Your Critical Data Assets

Join the editors of InformationWeek and leading security experts from Symantec for an in-depth look at the current threats faced by large and small organizations, and the implications for your business, your customers, and even your country. You'll hear how today's threat landscape is changing drastically, and learn the latest countermeasures and best practices to keep your company's precious data assets out of the hands of determined cybercriminals.


July 27: Electronic Health Records -- Moving from Concept to Reality

At this InformationWeek Healthcare Virtual Event, we will talk with healthcare practitioners, IT professionals and other industry experts about issues surrounding EHR selection, deployment and use.

Platinum Sponsor: HP, Intel, GBS, Geotrust, NextGen
Silver Sponsor: Proofpoint


On-Demand: InformationWeek & Interop present: Business Mobility Unleashed

In this virtual event, the leaders behind InformationWeek Business Technology Network and Interop zero in on the top mobile technologies and techniques you'll need to understand and master to ensure your organization thrives in the wireless world.
Platinum Sponsors: Alcatel-Lucent, APC
Gold Sponsor: HP
Silver Sponsor: Emerson Network Power
Bronze Sponsor: Skybot


On-Demand: Cybersecurity Best Practices

In this half-day virtual event, experts assess the state of cybersecurity in government and present the latest strategies for creating a more secure, attack-proof IT infrastructure. This event will help CISOs and other information assurance professionals in federal, state, and local government stay on top of the latest developments in the field.
Platinum Sponsor: GeoTrust
Gold Sponsor: Bit9


On-Demand: Data Center Transformation

Data centers are undergoing incredible transformations that create both opportunities and challenges for IT professionals. Server virtualization enables rapid provisioning, more efficient use of resources, and improved disaster recovery. That trend will continue with storage and network virtualization, allowing IT pros to further abstract -- and optimize -- data center resources.In this virtual event, you will learn how prepare your organization for a data center transformation.
Platinum Sponsors: AMD, APC, Cisco, Eaton, SunGard
Gold Sponsor: Emerson Network Power


On-Demand: Cloud Computing Roadmap: Controlling the Cloud - Managing, Optimizing and Integrating Cloud Services with Your Existing IT Infrastructure

In this virtual event, you'll learn how to craft your own strategy for successfully embracing and integrating new cloud computing capabilities without derailing or destroying your current IT roadmap.
Platinum Sponsors: ArcSight, GoToAssist, SunGard, thawte
Gold Sponsor: Symform
Silver Sponsor: Skybot


On-Demand: Plugging the Leaks -- Finding and Fixing the IT Security Holes in your Enterprise

In this virtual event presented by Dark Reading and InformationWeek, you'll find out how criminals target the flaws in your IT environment, and you'll get some insight on the best methods for finding and fixing your vulnerabilities -- before you're hit by malware or unauthorized access.
Platinum Sponsors: NetIQ, Novell, thawte, Webroot
Gold Sponsors: ArcSight, Bit9, OpenText
Silver Sponsor: Application Security, Core Security, Lumension

?

Source: http://www.informationweek.com/byte/commentary/personal-tech/tablets/232301038

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PFT: Week 17 flex decision will come Monday

New York Giants v Dallas CowboysGetty Images

Since 2006, the league has been using a flexible schedule on Sunday nights to ensure that a competitive and interesting game always will occupy the prime-time slot.? In most weeks of flex scheduling, the decision comes at least 12 days before the games are played.? For Week 17, the decision usually is made after the full Week 16 slate of games has been played, and it?s unveiled no later than six days before the final Sunday.

Unlike all other weeks of flexible scheduling, no game has even tentatively been placed in the 8:20 p.m. ET time slot.? Instead, all games have a 1:00 p.m. or 12:00 p.m. local time kickoff (for three games due to start at 4:15 p.m. ET, it?s a 1:15 p.m. local start), and the NFL will choose one of those 16 games to be the final act of the regular season, since no Monday night game is played in Week 17.

The goal every year becomes finding a game with clear playoff implications that can?t be resolved based on the outcomes of games played earlier in the day.? And that?s not always an easy thing to do.

Last year, only the Seahawks and Rams provided a clear-cut pre-playoff game, with the winner capturing the NFC West and the loser being bounced from the postseason field ? regardless of the final score of any other game played that day.

This year, a game with obvious playoff implications regardless of what happens elsewhere could be hard to find.? Here?s a quick glance at the potential relevance of each game.

Redskins at Eagles:? Since Philly?s shot at winning the NFC East would hinge (if it survives Week 16) on the Giants beating the Cowboys, this game could be irrelevant.

Lions at Packers:? Green Bay?s clinching of the top seed, if they don?t have it after this weekend, would come if the 49ers lose to the Rams in Week 17.? Also, losses by other teams would deliver a Detroit playoff berth, if Detroit doesn?t clinch it this weekend.? Then again, whether the Packers have the No. 1 or No. 2 seed really isn?t that big of a deal in the grander scheme of things.

Ravens at Bengals:? Depending on the Week 16 games, this game could have implications for the AFC North title, the No. 2 seed, and the final wild-card berth.? But those implications could become irrelevant based on the other games played in Week 17, which makes this game less attractive for prime time.

Jets at Dolphins:? Again, Week 16 will provide more clarity.? With the Jets and Bengals each 8-6, however, it?s unlikely that the Jets will have a clear win-and-in, lose-and-leave scenario that would apply regardless of what the Bengals do against the Ravens.

Panthers at Saints:? New Orleans could be playing for the No. 2 seed and/or the NFC South crown, but those could be decided via losses earlier in the day by the Falcons or the 49ers.

Buccaneers at Falcons:? If the Falcons still haven?t clinched a playoff berth after Monday night, losses by others could deliver the spot earlier in the day on January 1.

49ers at Rams:? San Fran is jockeying for the No. 2 or No. 1 seed, which if still relevant after Week 16 could be completely irrelevant before 8:20 p.m. ET in Week 17.

Bills at Patriots:? The Pats are playing for the top seed, but the outcomes of the Steelers and Ravens games could strip this one of any remaining relevance.

Colts at Jaguars:? It?s very highly unlikely that the league would want to showcase the ?Suck for Luck? finale.? In 2008, for example, the NFL had no interest in televising in prime time the Lions? date with 0-16 destiny.

Titans at Texans:? Houston has an outside shot at a bye, but it will depend on the Steelers and Ravens games from earlier in the day.

Bears at Vikings:? This one would be attractive in prime time only for anyone who stayed up too late and drank too much on New Year?s Eve and doesn?t want to miss anything important.

Cowboys at Giants:? If the Giants beat the Jets on Saturday, the NFC East likely will hinge on this game, with the loser most likely being done.? It could be one of the best candidates for the prime-time slot, based on the clarity provided by Week 16.

Steelers at Browns:? Um, no.

Chiefs at Broncos:? The Broncos definitely will win the AFC West by beating the Chiefs.? The only problem is that the Broncos could nail it down before 8:20 p.m. ET on January 1, making the game irrelevant.

Seahawks at Cardinals:? It could be one of the best games of the day.? But it very likely will have zero relevance to the postseason.

Chargers at Raiders:? With the Broncos able to win the division by beating the Chiefs, there?s no reason to hold this one ? unless somehow it would present a clear-cut win-and-in for a wild-card berth for one of the two teams.

And so, for now, it appears that the best candidates are Cowboys-Giants and Chiefs-Broncos.? We?ll know more by Monday night.

In the end, there?s a chance that the NFL will simply have to assume a calculated risk that one or more of the outcomes earlier in the day will screw up the New Year?s Night party on NBC.

UPDATE 10:04 a.m. ET:? For those of you who have asked via Twitter or otherwise, CBS and FOX cannot protect games in Week 17.? But, as we all learned a few weeks ago, the failure or inability to protect a game doesn?t mean they won?t try.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/23/week-17-flex-decision-will-come-by-monday-night/related/

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Review: Spielberg's "War Horse" is manipulative, hollow (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Confession time: I love Steven Spielberg's screen adaptation of "The Color Purple," but I can't defend it. The music, the cinematography, the performances, and everything else about it has been painstakingly designed to manipulate an emotional response, and even though I can see the strings, I fall for it every time.

With "War Horse" -- one of two new Spielberg films opening this week -- I can still see all the strings, but there's no pleasure to be had. The director is basically running a con game with composer John Williams and director of photography Janusz Kaminski, but there's no joy in being scammed.

With the exception of a few lovely scenes, it's a hollow and bombastic piece of work, clobbering you over the head with its epic-ness when it's not cinematically yanking at your nosehairs in the hopes that you'll cry.

"War Horse" is so plodding and shameless that I worried that screenwriters Lee Hall ("Billy Elliot") and Richard Curtis ("Notting Hill," "Love Actually") either forgot everything they know about their craft or were paid handsomely enough to hold their noses and start shoveling. (In an ideal world, the two will collaborate on a blistering satire of this hokum.)

Based on Michael Morpurgo's novel, which also spawned the Tony-winning play, the film follows the saga of Joey, a racehorse that's trained for farm work under the loving tutelage of Albert (Jeremy Irvine) after Albert's drunken father Ted (Peter Mullan) overpays for the animal at auction.

World War I comes along and separates Joey and Albert, although the two of them have more than their fare share of adventures on their own -- Joey is captured by Germans, forced to lug around heavy artillery, briefly hidden by a French dairy farmer (Niels Arestrup of "A Prophet"), and tangled in barbed wire, while Albert faces the grim realities of life on the battlefield.

There's certainly a story to be told in all this, but rather than trust its inherent drama or the work of his fine cast, Spielberg pours on the stirring music, the orange sunsets, and the wide-eyed wonder while cranking all the emotional stakes up to 11.

None of this covers up the fact that we've seen this stuff done better elsewhere -- the scenes of Albert winning Joey's trust pale next to the gorgeous, wordless sequences in "The Black Stallion" where boy and horse bond, and while the battle scenes here are stirring from time to time, they're barely a patch on "Paths of Glory" or even Spielberg's own accomplishments in "Saving Private Ryan."

By the time the film reaches its final 30 minutes, during which I counted four separate "Cry now!" moments, and Kaminski slaps on the orange-marmalade filter to flagrantly rip off "Gone with the Wind," I was quite ready for this impressive horse, and the scores of people who fall in love with him over the course of the story, to go off and live on a farm somewhere.

Despite its pedigree, "War Horse" more often than not feels like an "American Idol" contestant with impressive pipes but no idea what to do with them -- belting to the back row is only effective when you do it occasionally, not when you start on that note and then stay there for hours at a time.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111223/film_nm/us_warhorse_review

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Correction: Africa-Business Climate (AP)

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_bi_ge/af_africa_business_climate_corrective

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Friday, December 23, 2011

?We Own Wall Street?

We Own Wall Street is the truth. The actual ownership of major banks, manufacturers, and retail giants resides in vast repositories of capital that are owned and controlled by the public: mutual funds, public pension funds, and endowments at public institutions. If the public exercised its huge ownership capacity by influencing board member selection, compensation, and political donations, then these companies would be fundamentally altered.

How to do this? It?s actually pretty easy. What?s needed is a bit of leadership. The current Occupy Wall Street could enlist a few savvy and courageous state and city comptrollers. The first steps should be easy, almost nonideological, to demonstrate the power of ownership.

The leaders of the newly minted We Own Wall Street should announce the following: They are putting together a coalition that owns in excess of 5 percent of each of the major Wall Street firms that received bailout funds or loan guarantees. (They could amass this 5 percent by making common cause with union and state pension funds.) ?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=9c600239254f31209fac6c686e42cf24

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Washington Monument has extensive cracking, chips

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A new report on the earthquake-damaged Washington Monument details extensive cracking and chipped stones on the top portion of the 127-year-old structure that make it vulnerable to rain.

The report released Thursday suggests that standing water could collect on the upper floors during storms.

The report was prepared by the engineering firm whose employees rappelled down the sides of the monument in September to inspect the damage. The monument has been closed to visitors since a 5.8-magnitude earthquake shook the nation's capital on Aug. 23.

The report does not estimate how long repairs would take or how much they would cost. The recently approved federal spending bill allocates $7.5 million to fix the monument and directs the National Park Service to raise an equal amount through private donations.

?

?2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: http://www.wetmtv.com:80/news/national/story/Washington-Monument-has-extensive-cracking-chips/rDYKV4pcyESXT3LmgqTGJA.cspx?rss=129

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

More top Chinese leaders mourn Kim Jong Il (AP)

BEIJING ? Premier Wen Jiabao and other top Chinese leaders paid their respects Wednesday to North Korea's late leader Kim Jong Il, a further sign that China is working to reassure Pyongyang of the strength of ties and retain its influence amid an uncertain leadership transition.

Wen and four other members of the ruling Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee made a morning visit to the North Korean Embassy in Beijing to offer their condolences, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

President Hu Jintao and the other three members of the supreme ruling body visited Tuesday.

China has moved rapidly to reaffirm unique, deep-seated ties and assure the North of its continuing support as Pyongyang's most important ally and biggest source of food and fuel aid.

China has called Kim a "close friend" and hailed his son and successor Kim Jong Un as the North's new leader.

In the Chinese border city of Dandong, there was no sign that North Korea was shutting down, with trucks and tourist busses crossing the Yalu River bridge and tourists aboard pleasure boats cruising along the North Korean bank.

On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin left the door open for an invitation to the younger Kim, noting that China maintains high-level exchanges with North Korea.

"We would welcome North Korea's leaders to visit China at their convenience," Liu told reporters at Tuesday's daily briefing. The words Liu used could refer to one leader or more than one leader.

China has been expected to push for an early visit by the younger Kim to cement ties with the new leadership, in contrast to the six-year gap between his father's rise to power and his first trip to Beijing when relations drifted. The younger Kim is believed to have already visited China at least once as part of his father's retinue.

China's response to Kim's death highlights the government's growing emphasis on North Korean ties despite its annoyance at the North's refusal to reform its listless economy and its recurring provocative acts against South Korea that whip up tensions in the region.

Beijing sees North Korea as a strategic bulwark against a democratic South Korea allied with the U.S. In recent years it has become North Korea's indispensable diplomatic protector and economic partner, accounting for the bulk of its trade, much of its investment and all of its oil. In recent years, Kim was a frequent visitor to China, coming twice this year alone, most recently in August when he stopped off while returning home from Russia.

Chinese experts say they don't anticipate any change in relations but that Beijing will likely beef up security to guard against disorder that could potentially send millions of impoverished, starving refugees across their long border.

Above all, China wants to preserve the North Korean regime and ensure stability on the Korean peninsula, while hoping also for economic reforms that will make the North less reliant on Chinese help.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_re_as/as_kim_jong_il_china

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Monday, December 19, 2011

Statement by White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer ...

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

December 18, 2011

The bipartisan compromise passed in the Senate yesterday received 89 votes, including 39 Republican votes, and Speaker Boehner himself just yesterday called it a ?good deal? and a ?victory.?? The near 90 percent approval by the Senate reflected the view by the overwhelming number of Senate Republicans ? as well as Democrats ? that the best way to achieve the President?s goal of ensuring that taxes were not increased on 160 million Americans as we enter the New Year was to support this bipartisan compromise.??If House Republicans refuse to pass this bipartisan bill to extend the payroll tax cut, there will be a significant tax increase on 160 million hardworking Americans in 13 days that would damage the economy and job growth.? After months of opposition, we are glad that Republicans were finally showing a willingness to not raise taxes on middle class families.? As the President said yesterday, it is inexcusable to do anything less than extend this tax cut for the entire year, and Congress must work on a one year deal.? But they should pass the two month extension now to avoid a devastating tax hike from hitting the middle class in just 13 days. ?It?s time House Republicans stop playing politics and get the job done for the American people.

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/12/18/statement-white-house-communications-director-dan-pfeiffer-0

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Tom Lydon on CNBC Discusses Investing and Yield | ETF Trends

December 15th at 5:30pm by John Spence

Tom Lydon appeared on CNBC?s ?Closing Bell? today to discuss the current markets and investing strategies.? Lydon pointed out how investors can get creative in searching for yields with ETFs. Watch the CNBC video to see the full interview.

Source: http://www.etftrends.com/2011/12/tom-lydon-on-cnbc-discusses-investing-and-yield/

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Poll: Most Americans want payroll tax extension

Chart shows results of opinion polls on Congress

Chart shows results of opinion polls on Congress

(AP) ? Most Americans want Congress to vote to continue the payroll tax reduction, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll that comes as Democrats and Republicans wrestle over whether to extend the cut through 2012.

It's the latest instance in which lawmakers on Capitol Hill have allowed partisan sniping to hold up action that polls show most Americans support, like ending the Bush tax cuts or adding a surcharge on millionaires.

The dragged-out debate over whether to extend an expiring payroll tax reduction is one of many developments that have kept voters furious with their leaders all year. On the brink of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections, virtually all Americans are disappointed and frustrated with the political scene and nearly 6 in 10 say they are angry, the AP-GfK survey showed.

"It seems like there are parties that only want to get their agenda done," said liquor store owner James Jacobsen, 47, of East Hartford, Conn. "They're catering to special interests and not Americans. They are not representing the individual American."

Nearly 6 in 10 respondents say they want Congress to pass the extension, according to the poll. Letting the payroll tax break expire would cost a family making $50,000 about $1,000.

Yet, Republicans and Democrats are rejecting each other's proposals and trying to make law from what's left, a tactic they've used all year on debates over the budget and the nation's debt. The stalemates have caused a decline in confidence so severe that 15 percent of all adults and 32 percent of political independents say they don't trust either party to manage the federal budget deficit.

Retired postal worker Larry Collier wishes Congress would get on with what help it can give ? an assurance to 160 million American workers that their payroll tax cut will be extended through 2012.

What really galls him is the inequality: The same Congress hesitating to keep taxes low for working Americans also is hesitating to raise them on the wealthy. Congress this year ignored President Barack Obama's proposal to let expire tax cuts on the richest Americans and impose additional taxes on those who make more than $1 million, though polls showed most people supported those policies.

"Those millionaires wouldn't even miss that money," Collier, of Pace, Fla., said, noting that he voted for George W. Bush and is now a Democrat.

Economic discontent has spilled over into the political sphere all year and could influence the 2012 presidential and congressional elections. Occupy Wall Street and other protests against inequality have grabbed some attention from politicians, with Democrats the most supportive. Last week, a group of demonstrators camped out on the National Mall, crashed stately holiday parties and marched on Capitol Hill, demanding that Congress extend the payroll tax and insurance for the long-term unemployed.

On the payroll tax deduction, 58 percent of respondents said they want Congress to extend the break, while 35 percent want it to expire.

Democrats and independents are the strongest supporters of continuing the tax cut, while Republicans were evenly divided. But the difference is more partisan than ideological: Conservatives supported an extension, 54 percent to the 42 percent who prefer to let the reduction expire.

Those with annual incomes below $50,000 more strongly support the extension compared with higher-income respondents, and seniors were more likely than younger adults to back the extension.

On Wednesday, there was little sign Congress was listening.

Democrats who control the Senate rejected a GOP-ruled House plan to extend the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits, but only with cuts to spending and sped-up approval of an oil pipeline. The Senate is crafting its own proposal in response.

If an agreement is not reached by the end of the year, payroll taxes will jump on Jan. 1 from this year's 4.2 percent back to their normal level of 6.2 percent.

Americans are virtually out of patience, the polling shows. And their distrust crosses party lines.

"I really don't feel that they are having the best interests of us as a people," said Rogersville, Tenn., resident Andrea Stafford, 38, a single mother of two who has been unemployed since the summer.

"And when I say people," she added, "I don't mean millionaires and government officials. I'm talking about the normal person who gets up and fixes their children's lunch and has to take off work when their child is sick because we don't have nannies."

The AP-GfK poll found congressional approval near its all-time low and nearly all Americans disappointed with politics. Eighty-four percent of the respondents disapproved of the way Congress is doing its job, with at least 8 in 10 Republicans, Democrats and independents feeling that way.

As for how to balance the federal budget, more now favor cutting government services as the best means to bring federal spending into balance. Sixty percent think lawmakers should focus on budget cuts over tax increases. That figure had been as low as 53 percent in August, during the showdown over raising the country's debt limit.

The biggest shift on that question has come from independents. In the August poll, 37 percent said lawmakers should focus on increasing taxes and 42 percent said cutting services. Now, that divide stands at 28 percent for raising taxes and 59 percent for cutting services.

The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted Dec. 8-12 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,000 adults nationwide and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

___

AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta, writer Stacy A. Anderson and News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-15-AP%20Poll-Congress-Payroll%20Tax/id-7700aa734d1d4321a4c447886f6b2ea9

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Japan decision on F-35 jet now seen next week (Reuters)

WASHINGTON/TOKYO (Reuters) ? The Japanese government has delayed a formal announcement on its choice of a next-generation fighter jet until December 20, according to two sources familiar with the process, but Lockheed Martin Corp's (LMT.N) radar-evading F-35 is still expected to get the order.

The delay came because Japan's national security council, chaired by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, has to deal with other pressing matters at a December 14 meeting where the fighter jet decision had initially been expected, said the sources, who were not authorized to speak on the record.

But the delay did not mean any change in Japan's commitment to buy Lockheed's F-35 fighter, one of the sources added.

Japan's government and ruling party officials have approved a Defense Ministry proposal to buy Lockheed's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter as the country's next mainstay fighter, public broadcaster NHK said on Wednesday.

Japanese media said on Tuesday that Lockheed was likely to win a deal worth more than $7 billion, beating out Boeing's (BA.N) F/A-18 and the Eurofighter Typhoon, made by a consortium of European companies including BAE Systems (BAES.L).

Japan's Defense Ministry denied the reports, and the U.S. Defense Department's F-35 program office said it had not been notified by the Japanese government of any decision.

"The Defense Ministry has made no decision yet. A meeting of minister, vice minister and parliamentary secretaries (to make the decision) has not even been held yet," a spokesman for the ministry said.

Ralph Heath, executive vice president of Lockheed's aeronautics division, told Reuters late on Tuesday the company was still awaiting Japan's decision, but remained confident the F-35 jet was the best plane in the competition.

A decision by Japan to choose the F-35 as its mainstay fighter would strengthen the long-standing relationship between Lockheed and Japan, and help maintain security in "a very critical part of the world," he said.

Winning an order to build 40 to 50 planes for Japan would be a strong endorsement of the F-35 fighter, which is being developed by the United States and eight partner countries -- Britain, Netherlands, Norway, Australia, Turkey, Italy and Canada -- to replace 12 current fighter jets.

The Pentagon is expected to spend $382 billion on 2,443 of the new fighter jets over the next two decades, making it the costliest fighter jet program ever, but defense spending cuts may slow the expected ramp up in production in coming years.

The program has faced tough scrutiny by U.S. lawmakers in recent years due to cost overruns and schedule delays, but company officials say the plane is meeting or exceeding its testing targets. Lockheed currently has 32 fully assembled F-35s in its Fort Worth, Texas, plus another 18 that are still being assembled, Heath said, adding: "We're actually very upbeat about the program."

Japan, which counts the United States as its key security ally and regularly conducts military drills with U.S. forces, had been widely expected to choose the F-35 because of its advanced stealth capability and U.S. origin.

The aircraft's stealth technology has drawn much attention in Japan since China, which has a long-running territorial dispute with Japan, in January confirmed it had tested its J-20 stealth fighter jet for the first time.

Japanese companies could invest close to $1 billion in facilities to manufacture parts of the new fighter jet if the pacifist nation lifts a ban on military equipment exports. That would allow Japanese contractors such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T) to compete as suppliers for the fighter.

Japan would begin purchasing the plane in 2016, buying small numbers for several years and only slowing the advancing of its purchases, according to industry sources.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111214/bs_nm/us_japan_fighter

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Friday, December 16, 2011

Strike shuts down Cyprus airports, gov't offices (AP)

NICOSIA, Cyprus ? Cyprus' airports and government offices shut down Thursday in a daylong strike by civil servants and air traffic controllers to protest a wage freeze and other austerity measures they say were unfairly taken without their say.

The work stoppage has forced the cancellation or rescheduling of 79 flights to and from the east Mediterranean island's two airports, said Adamos Aspris, an airport spokesman.

Around 16,000 government workers belonging to the PASYDY union also walked off the job. State-run hospitals are operating on reduced staff, but other essential services including police remain unaffected.

A parliamentary vote on the budget set for Thursday evening has been pushed back to Friday morning because of the strike. But municipal elections slated for Sunday will go ahead as planned, Interior Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis said, despite a PASYDY appeal to members not to staff polling booths or to cast their ballots.

On Wednesday, lawmakers passed the two-year wage freeze and other measures such as a sales tax hike and temporary levy on private sector salaries that aim to cut the deficit from 6.5 percent of gross domestic product this year to 2.4 percent in 2012.

Finance Minister Kikis Kazamias said he had little choice but to skirt drawn-out talks with trade unions because eurozone-member Cyprus needed swift measures to avoid EU sanctions it faced if the measures were not approved by the middle of this month.

"We've succeeded in implementing what we had promised," Kazamias told state-run radio Thursday.

The government is hard-pressed to restore investor confidence, following a following a series of credit rating downgrades ? mainly due to its banks' heavy exposure to debt-burdened Greece ? that have brought the country to the brink of junk status.

High interest rates on its government bonds are preventing Cyprus from borrowing on international markets. The country is relying on a euro2.5 billion ($3.25 billion) low-interest loan from Russia to see it through until the middle of next year.

Strikes are rare in this country of 800,000 people where powerful trade unions represent some 70,000 workers on the government payroll. Public sector wages and benefits take up a third of all government spending.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_cyprus_financial_crisis

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Shape, fit of reproductive organs evolve quickly and in concert, leaving size behind

Shape, fit of reproductive organs evolve quickly and in concert, leaving size behind [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Steve Chaplin
stjchap@iu.edu
812-856-1896
Indiana University

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Believed critical for determining which individuals can -- or cannot -- successfully reproduce with each other, genitalia not only figure prominently in the origin of new species, but are also typically the first type of trait to change as new species form.

Today, new international research led by Indiana University shows that as populations and species diversify, the exact shape and fit of genitalia steals the show over size.

In data gathered from populations isolated for less than 50 years, to species separated for millions of years, researchers studying scarab beetles have shown that both male and female genitalia have evolved extremely rapidly and have done so along parallel timetables. But most surprisingly, this codivergence occurred much faster in, or was even restricted to, genital shape rather than size.

"Parallel evolutionary divergence in male and female genitalia was something scientists long suspected or assumed, but we've had little or no data to support this assumption," said lead author Armin Moczek, an associate professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology. "But to see that this parallel divergence is so much faster for genital shape than size is a big surprise."

Too much focus in past research on sizes, rather than shapes of genitalia -- which is much harder to measure in arthropods -- may have misled past research in judging how genitalic evolution may enable diverging populations to evolve into separate species unable to hybridize.

Just as interesting is the remarkably short time frame -- as short as populations being separated by 50 years -- that would support the notion that it may be surprisingly easy for the genitalia of males and females to evolve concomitantly, and for males and females of different populations to diverge from each other to a degree approximating what is normally seen only between species separated for more than 10,000 years.

"If it is correct that such divergences aid in establishing reproductive isolation -- something we did not test, but which is widely assumed -- then by extension this finding suggests that evolving new species, or at least getting populations started in the process, may be much easier and faster than we generally assume," Moczek said.

In this research, the team examined the female genital tract and the male copulatory organs of eight populations of five different species of Onthophagus beetles, including three populations in the Eastern U.S., Western Australia and Eastern Australia which were established from an ancestral Mediterranean population in the 1970s as part of a biocontrol program.

The researchers focused on male and female genitalic parts that interact physically during copulation -- the female pygidium, a moveable plate that provides grooves and pits that serve as anchor points for the correct positioning of male genitalia, and the male parameres, part of the male copulatory organ, which includes projections that fit into said grooves and pits of the female pygidium.

The research team then examined how shapes and sizes of these interacting female and male copulatory structures had diverged across populations and species using landmark-based geometric morphometric tools, a key methodology that enabled the team to examine differences in shape irrespective of differences in size.

"Once we compared the patterns of divergence across sexes we found that the relative sizes of male and female copulatory organs do evolve, but do so independent of each other. But for genital shape, we found a striking signature of parallel divergence, suggesting that male and female copulatory structures that are linked mechanically during copulation may diverge in concert with respect to their shapes," Moczek said. "Our results also suggest that genital divergence in general, and co-divergence of male and female genital shape in particular, can evolve over an extraordinarily short time frame."

###

The National Science Foundation's support of Moczek's research in the evolutionary developmental biology of horned beetles has provided much of the infrastructure that enabled this study.

Co-authors with Moczek on the research article "Shape -- but Not Size -- Codivergence Between Male and Female Copulatory Structures in Onthophagus Beetles," first available online here Dec. 14, in PLoS ONE, were Anna L. M. Macagno, Astrid Pizzo, Claudia Palestrini and Antonio Rolando of Universit degli Studi di Torino; and Harald F. Parzer, also of IU's Department of Biology.

For more information, contact Steve Chaplin, Indiana University Communications, at 812-856-1896 or stjchap@iu.edu. Tweeting IU science news: @IndianaScience


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Shape, fit of reproductive organs evolve quickly and in concert, leaving size behind [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Steve Chaplin
stjchap@iu.edu
812-856-1896
Indiana University

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Believed critical for determining which individuals can -- or cannot -- successfully reproduce with each other, genitalia not only figure prominently in the origin of new species, but are also typically the first type of trait to change as new species form.

Today, new international research led by Indiana University shows that as populations and species diversify, the exact shape and fit of genitalia steals the show over size.

In data gathered from populations isolated for less than 50 years, to species separated for millions of years, researchers studying scarab beetles have shown that both male and female genitalia have evolved extremely rapidly and have done so along parallel timetables. But most surprisingly, this codivergence occurred much faster in, or was even restricted to, genital shape rather than size.

"Parallel evolutionary divergence in male and female genitalia was something scientists long suspected or assumed, but we've had little or no data to support this assumption," said lead author Armin Moczek, an associate professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology. "But to see that this parallel divergence is so much faster for genital shape than size is a big surprise."

Too much focus in past research on sizes, rather than shapes of genitalia -- which is much harder to measure in arthropods -- may have misled past research in judging how genitalic evolution may enable diverging populations to evolve into separate species unable to hybridize.

Just as interesting is the remarkably short time frame -- as short as populations being separated by 50 years -- that would support the notion that it may be surprisingly easy for the genitalia of males and females to evolve concomitantly, and for males and females of different populations to diverge from each other to a degree approximating what is normally seen only between species separated for more than 10,000 years.

"If it is correct that such divergences aid in establishing reproductive isolation -- something we did not test, but which is widely assumed -- then by extension this finding suggests that evolving new species, or at least getting populations started in the process, may be much easier and faster than we generally assume," Moczek said.

In this research, the team examined the female genital tract and the male copulatory organs of eight populations of five different species of Onthophagus beetles, including three populations in the Eastern U.S., Western Australia and Eastern Australia which were established from an ancestral Mediterranean population in the 1970s as part of a biocontrol program.

The researchers focused on male and female genitalic parts that interact physically during copulation -- the female pygidium, a moveable plate that provides grooves and pits that serve as anchor points for the correct positioning of male genitalia, and the male parameres, part of the male copulatory organ, which includes projections that fit into said grooves and pits of the female pygidium.

The research team then examined how shapes and sizes of these interacting female and male copulatory structures had diverged across populations and species using landmark-based geometric morphometric tools, a key methodology that enabled the team to examine differences in shape irrespective of differences in size.

"Once we compared the patterns of divergence across sexes we found that the relative sizes of male and female copulatory organs do evolve, but do so independent of each other. But for genital shape, we found a striking signature of parallel divergence, suggesting that male and female copulatory structures that are linked mechanically during copulation may diverge in concert with respect to their shapes," Moczek said. "Our results also suggest that genital divergence in general, and co-divergence of male and female genital shape in particular, can evolve over an extraordinarily short time frame."

###

The National Science Foundation's support of Moczek's research in the evolutionary developmental biology of horned beetles has provided much of the infrastructure that enabled this study.

Co-authors with Moczek on the research article "Shape -- but Not Size -- Codivergence Between Male and Female Copulatory Structures in Onthophagus Beetles," first available online here Dec. 14, in PLoS ONE, were Anna L. M. Macagno, Astrid Pizzo, Claudia Palestrini and Antonio Rolando of Universit degli Studi di Torino; and Harald F. Parzer, also of IU's Department of Biology.

For more information, contact Steve Chaplin, Indiana University Communications, at 812-856-1896 or stjchap@iu.edu. Tweeting IU science news: @IndianaScience


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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/iu-sfo121511.php

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