New Theory Questions Why We Sleep

The purpose of sleep remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in science. Although we spend roughly one-third of life asleep, researchers still do not know why.

While sleep is often thought to have evolved to play an unknown but vital role inside the body, a new theory now suggests it actually developed as a method to better deal with the outside world.

Sleep is often seen as bad for survival. Sleeping animals might be vulnerable to predators and cannot eat, mate, scout for prey, care for relatives or perform other behaviors key to getting by. As such "it's been thought that sleep must serve some as-yet unidentified physiological or neural function that can't be accomplished when animals are awake," said sleep researcher Jerome Siegel at the University of California at Los Angeles.

However, Siegel noted that a number of species could make do without sleep for long spans of time.

For instance, newborn dolphins and killer whales and their mothers show an almost total lack of what might be called sleep in other animals — that is, extended periods of immobility — for several weeks after birth, when these animals normally migrate. Similar findings are seen in birds during migrations, "where birds can fly for days on end without stopping," he explained.

"So you have to start thinking — if sleep has a vital universal function, how are they able to survive without it?" Siegel said.

Carnivores get their zzzz's

In a survey of the sleep times of a broad range of animals, Siegel found that carnivores sleep more than omnivores, which in turn sleep more than herbivores. To him, this suggested the role of sleep was linked to an animal's niche in its ecosystem.

One example Siegel cited was the big brown bat, which sleeps 20 hours a day, perhaps the record for mammals.

"One might suppose this animal sleeps so much because of some unknown function that sleep has for it," Siegel said. "But it seems more easily explained by the fact that it preys on moths and mosquitoes that only come out at dusk and are active for only a few hours before the temperature falls and they can't function. If it spent more time awake, it would spend more energy but not be as successful at hunting, and if it came out in the day it would be exposed to predatory birds that can see much better than it can."

Siegel proposes the main function of sleep is to increase an animal's efficiency and minimize its risk by controlling how a species behaves with regards to its surroundings.

"All species have times when they need to be active and ones where they don't, and so you can see species optimizing their periods of inactivity in response to their environment," Siegel said. "I'm saying that sleep helps animals adapt to the world around them."

Other theories abound

There are many other theories as to what the function of sleep is. These include:

* A role in learning — either helping to form new connections between brain cells or pruning unnecessary ones.
* Reversing damage from oxidative stresses incurred while awake.
* Promoting longevity.

However, Siegel contends that sleep cannot be explained by the relative size of the brain, lifespan, body size, "and other such variables that have been intensively examined over the years with conflicting and confusing results."

For instance, "if one knows the size or brain size of different animals you cannot predict or explain their sleep time or depth. The baboon has the same total sleep time and total REM sleep time as the guinea pig," he said. "The long-living elephant has one of the shorted sleep times whereas the long-living bat has one of the longest sleep times."

Siegel emphasized, "My theory doesn't mean that significant things don't happen in sleep — it just means there is no vital universal function for sleep. A whole spectrum of things are accomplished better in sleep than awake in some animals, such as digesting food, but it doesn't mean the function of sleep is digestion."

Brainy ideas

Siegel contends that sleep has a lot in common with inactive states observed in a wide range of species. This includes plants and simple microbes, which in many cases do not have nervous systems — a challenge to the idea that sleep is for the brain, Siegel said.

"We see sleep as lying on a continuum that ranges from these dormant states like torpor and hibernation, on to periods of continuous activity without any sleep, such as during migration," he said.

Hibernation is one example of an activity that animals use to regulate behavior for survival. A small animal cannot always migrate to a warmer climate in winter, so it hibernates, effectively cutting its energy consumption and thus its need for food, remaining secure from predators by burrowing underground.

However, unlike hibernation and torpor, Siegel said, sleep is rapidly reversible — that is, animals can wake up quickly, a unique mammalian trait that allows for a relatively quick response to outside events.

"The often cited example is that of a parent arousing at a baby's whimper but sleeping through a thunderstorm," he said. "That dramatizes the ability of the sleeping human brain to continuously process sensory signals and trigger complete awakening to significant stimuli within a few hundred milliseconds."

In humans, the brain constitutes, on average, just 2 percent of total body weight but consumes 20 percent of the energy used during quiet waking, so these savings have considerable significance. Besides conserving energy, sleep invokes survival benefits for humans too — for example, "a reduced risk of injury, reduced resource consumption and, from an evolutionary standpoint, reduced risk of detection by predators," Siegel said.

Sleep skeptics

Many sleep researchers are skeptical of the idea.

"I don't agree with his idea that sleep developed to keep animals out of trouble, and I'm not alone," said neuroscientist Amita Sehgal at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "I think the rest of us claim that a process that takes up a significant portion of your daily life and that has been associated with deleterious consequences when it is lost in animal models is not something that is just passively there to keep animals out of trouble. Rest alone would do that."

Still, others do support the idea.

"I think this idea of 'adaptive inactivity' is an extremely useful way of thinking about the broader picture of sleep without getting lost in individual theories," said sleep researcher David Dinges at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Dinges noted that regular cycles of light and darkness "put enormous environmental pressures on animals that all play into forced 'time-outs.'"

To help test his idea, a better understanding of sleep is needed, Siegel said. "New small digital recorders and transmitters should make it possible for the first time to do such studies under truly natural conditions," he explained.

Siegel detailed his idea online August 5 in the journal Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

Man Utd host Arsenal, while Chelsea entertain buoyant Burnley


All eyes will be on Old Trafford this weekend for the first heavyweight clash of the 2009/10 campaign.
Arsenal fans will discover if their team can truly put up a realistic title challenge when they visit Old Trafford to take on champions Manchester United on Saturday.
The Gunners were thought by many to be the team most susceptible to succumb to the challenge of mega rich Manchester City, with their top four place supposedly in jeopardy this season.
Such a prediction now seems well wide of the mark with Arsene Wenger's men winning all four of their opening games this term, scoring 15 goals in the process.
But Arsenal know the real work begins this weekend when two of the 'big four' meet for the first time this season.
The Red Devils have history for bringing their London rivals back down to earth. Goals from Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney put an end to Arsenal's 49-game unbeaten run in 2004 while United's thumping 4-1 semi-final aggregate win over the Gunners last season ended any hopes Wenger had of lifting the UEFA Champions League.
However the Frenchman will take comfort from the fact that the sting that accompanied many of the two sides' previous encounters down the years has disappeared.

Easy on the eye
Gone are the ferocious personalities such as Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira, instead replaced by the composed and easy on the eye talents of Dimitar Berbatov, Michael Carrick, Cesc Fabregas and Andrey Arshavin.
However the Gunners' influential skipper has been ruled out due to the hamstring injury he picked up in the 4-1 win over Portsmouth last weekend.
Tomas Rosicky has now fully recovered from his long-term hamstring injury but he is expected to miss out at the Theatre of Dreams.
Aaron Ramsey, who could be an option to replace Fabregas, has had a scan on his knee after suffering in the Celtic clash in midweek. Although initial signs are positive the Welshman could still be ruled out.
Theo Walcott will also be assessed ahead of the clash following the back injury that has kept him out of the side so far this season.
Wenger will definitely be without the injured Samir Nasri (broken leg), Johan Djourou (knee) and Lukasz Fabianski (knee).
Meanwhile United will still be without the services of Rio Ferdinand (thigh), Edwin Van der Sar (finger) and Rafael (shoulder).
It should mean that Jonny Evans will continue to partner fit again Nemanja Vidic in defence after the Serbia international came through his first appearance of the season against Wigan unscathed.

Firepower
Van der Sar's injury means that Ben Foster should keep his place given he kept his second clean sheet of the season in a 5-0 win at the DW Stadium last weekend.
The debate rages on whether manager Sir Alex Ferguson has enough firepower at his disposal to cope with the loss of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez but Berbatov, Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen were all on target against the Latics.
United have already used the most players this season, 18, and Ferguson is likely to rotate his squad again on Saturday, in particular his midfield.
Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher both started at Wigan but Ryan Giggs and Carrick, who missed out completely against Roberto Martinez's men, will be vying for a start as will Anderson, who will be looking to put his reported spat with Ferguson firmly behind him.

Possible starting XIs:

Man Utd: Foster, O'Shea, Evans, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Fletcher, Carrick, Valencia, Berbatov, Rooney.

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Vermaelen, Gallas, Clichy, Song, Diaby, Denilson, Arshavin, Van Persie, Eduardo.

MICHAEL JACKSON - MICHAEL JACKSON'S SPERM SAMPLE GUARDED

Michael Jackson's family is spending £900 to fly the singer's sperm to London, where it will be stored in a secure clinic to protect it from being used to create a new heir to his fortune.
Michael Jackson's sperm is being flown to England.
The singer's family is planning to spend £900 moving the sample to a secure London clinic to protect it from "unscrupulous" people who might use it to create a new heir to his fortune.
Michael - who died in June - deposited the genetic material in a Los Angeles sperm bank last year.
He was hoping it could be used to conceive his fourth child, but his family now fears "rogue elements" could use it to get their hands on Michael's billion dollar estate.
A source told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper: "It might sound crazy but when it comes to Michael anything is possible. With everything that's at stake the last thing the Jackson family need is someone using his sperm to give birth to a child and produce another potential heir to Michael's estate.
"The family know Michael authorised a number of people to access this sperm sample. The problem is they don't know who has access and given that a number of doctors have been implicated in his death then something sinister could easily happen."
The Jackson family has reportedly chosen to store the sperm in the British clinic because it has "extremely strict" security.
A clinic source said: "The samples are kept behind unbreakable barriers and we have several layers of security operating around the sperm bank 24 hours a day."
Once there, the sample will be cryogenically frozen and stored under an anonymous identity number.
Michael had three children Prince Michael I, 12, Paris, 11 and seven-year-old Prince Michael II - also known as 'Blanket'.
His former wife Debbie Rowe is the mother of his eldest children, while Blanket's mother is unknown.
Michael insisted he was the biological father of his children, but his dermatologist Arnold Klein claims he fathered Prince Michael I and Paris.
Klein's lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan said: "There was a possibility that the two older kids could be biologically linked to Dr. Klein. And Dr. Klein was well aware."
Klein has refused to take a DNA test to determine his biological relationship to the children.
Kaplan explained: "It would serve no helpful purpose for the children to be distracted from believing Michael Jackson is not the father in every possibility. It would be of interest to other people.
"It is not something Dr. Klein feels he is interested to establish. It would serve no purpose other than creating distraction or noise. It is not going to help the children, other than to solve the answered question, which is a selfish motive to see who the ultimate provider of the 13 chromosomes is."

Megan Fox Feels "More Comfortable" Kissing Girls

Megan Fox didn't mind making out with costar Amanda Seyfried in their new horror flick Jennifer's Body. "I feel much safer with girls, so I felt more comfortable kissing her in the movie than kissing any of the other people that I had to kiss," the 23-year-old actress tells MTV News.

Arsenal Striker Eduardo Charged For Diving

Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva has been charged for "deceiving the referee" by appearing to dive to win a penalty during a Champions League win over Celtic.The 26-year-old Croatian will receive a two-match ban if the case put forward by Uefa, European football's governing body, is upheld.
It confirmed it had begun disciplinary proceedings after reviewing the incident in which the striker stands accused of conning match official Manuel Gonzalez.
Leading from the first leg 2-0, Eduardo's conversion of the resulting spot kick effectively settled the contest late in the first-half at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
Arsenal went on to win the match 3-1 - and thus the tie 5-1 - to secure a spot in the group stage of the illustrious and highly profitable competition.The striker was widely condemned for tumbling despite minimal - if any - contact from Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc.
Even Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted the award of a penalty had been wrong - although he stopped short of condemning his player.
But Celtic's players and the Scottish FA called for Eduardo to be punished.
Uefa said after studying video evidence of the incident the Uefa disciplinary inspector "decided to charge the player concerned".
Uefa's Control and Disciplinary Body will tackle the case on Monday.
If Eduardo is suspended he would be ruled out of Arsenal's matches with Standard Liege (away, September 16) and Olympiacos (home, September 29).

Madonna booed in Bucharest for defending Gypsies


BUCHAREST, Romania – Thousands of fans have booed pop star Madonna after she spoke out against the discrimination of Gypsies in eastern Europe during one of her concerts.
Madonna paused in the two-hour concert to say that Gypsies, also known as Roma, were discriminated against in eastern Europe. She said that made her "sad" and nobody should be discriminated against.
Thousands in the crowd of 60,000 booed her. She did not react.
Roma musicians and a Roma dancer were featured in her show, held just yards from the giant palace of ex-communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Their performances were applauded by the crowd.
There are officially some 500,000 Roma in Romania, but the real number could be around 2 million. They face prejudice and discrimination in Romania and other east European nations.

Australia discovers new dinosaur

Australian palaeontologists say they have discovered a new species of dinosaur on a sheep farm in the northern state of Queensland.
The fossil remains of the large plant-eating sauropod, nicknamed Zac, are about 97 million years old.
They were found near the town of Eromanga, in a fossil-rich area that was once covered by a vast inland sea.
Palaeontologists say the find confirms Australia's importance as a centre for dinosaur discovery.
The country's largest dinosaur, Cooper, was found on the same sheep farm in 2004.
Cooper was almost 30 metres long and was a new species of titanosaur - enormous, armour-plated creatures.

'Dinosaur rush'
Queensland Museum palaeontologist Scott Hocknull said Zac's skeleton was smaller than Cooper's, but more complete.
Zac, in common with other sauropods, had a very long neck, a small head and blunt teeth, and a long tail to counter-balance the neck.
Mr Hocknull said the find was part of a new "dinosaur rush" in Australia.
"We have got dinosaurs coming out of all parts of Queensland, and so Australia is really becoming this centre for dinosaur discovery."
He said much of Zac's remains were sticking out of the ground, but there are further excavations planned in this dinosaur-rich area.
"There will be hundreds of skeletons underneath the ground. The bone beds are so dense, you can hardly move for a dinosaur bone."
Three new dinosaur species were found in the same area earlier this year, all dating to the same period as Zac - about 100 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous period.

Chris Brown: From Courthouse to tha Club!

Chris Brown went from courthouse to club Tuesday, dropping by a popular L.A. lounge just a few hours after being sentenced to probation and community labor.
Hey, might as well blow off some steam after a felony sentence.
The 20-year-old R&B star enjoyed a night out with a group of friends and bodyguards at Guys & Dolls, where he stood up on a booth and got the crowd excited as he danced along to Michael Jackson's "Dirty Diana," a source reported.
"He didn't seem to care at all that everyone was watching him," says the source.
"He was in a totally good mood, just hanging out with his buddies. Then all of a sudden he decided to put on a little show. Everyone went wild."
Chris Brown is enjoying himself post-felony assault sentencing.
Earlier that day, a solemn Chris Brown stood in a Los Angeles courtroom as a judge sentenced him to six months of community labor in Virginia (removing graffiti and washing cars), five years probation and a year of domestic violence classes.
He was also ordered not to have any communication with Rihanna until 2014 - including by phone or through a third party. The judge was serious about this.
Given the graphic assault details that were just released, we see why.

Rihanna also went dancing after the hearing - just not with Chris.

Senator Edward Kennedy dies at 77


Veteran US Senator Edward Kennedy, the brother of former President John F Kennedy, has died at 77, after a long battle with a brain tumour.
He became a Democratic Massachusetts senator in 1962, replacing his brother when he resigned to become president, and was re-elected seven times.
Senator Kennedy was a dominant force in US politics for almost 50 years.
President Barack Obama, of whom he was an active supporter, said he was "heartbroken" to hear of his death.
"An important chapter in our history has come to an end," he said. "Our country has lost a great leader, who picked up the torch of his fallen brothers and became the greatest United States senator of our time."
Senator Kennedy had championed issues such as education and healthcare, central to Mr Obama's first term.
The liberal lion's mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die
Harry Reid
Senate Majority leader

Senator Edward Kennedy: Your comments
Kennedy family statement
In quotes: Edward Kennedy tributes
In 2006, Time magazine named him as one of America's "Ten Best Senators" saying that he had "amassed a titanic record of legislation affecting the lives of virtually every man, woman and child in the country".
The BBC's Richard Lister in Washington says Senator Kennedy, known affectionately as Teddy, will be remembered as one of the most effective and popular legislators in American history.
Our correspondent says he was also skilled at forging alliances across party lines: pushing an education initiative with President George W Bush, and immigration reform with Republican John McCain.
But he was a fierce critic of the Bush administration, in particular over Iraq and the prisoner abuse scandal.
He will also be remembered as a staunch supporter of Irish Republicanism - at one time calling for British troops to leave Northern Ireland - although he was later involved in the peace process leading to the Good Friday Agreement.
This is the cause of my life... Now the issue has more meaning for me - and more urgency - than ever before, but it's always been deeply personal, because the importance of healthcare has been a recurrent lesson throughout most of my 77 years
Edward Kennedy
Senator Kennedy's Newsweek article on healthcare, July 2009
Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said the Kennedy family and the Senate had "together lost our patriarch".
"The liberal lion's mighty roar may now fall silent, but his dream shall never die," he said.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Senator Kennedy would be "mourned not just in America but in every continent".
"Even facing illness and death, he never stopped fighting for the causes which were his life's work. I am proud to have counted him as a friend."
'Joyous light'
Dawn broke over Washington's Capitol building, the home of the Senate, with the US flag flying at half mast.
The Kennedy family announced Senator Kennedy's death in a brief statement in the early hours of Wednesday.


EDWARD MOORE KENNEDY
1932 Born, youngest of nine children
1962 Becomes country's youngest senator
1963, 1968 Brothers President John F Kennedy and Senator Robert F Kennedy both assassinated
1969 "Chappaquiddick incident" - Kennedy flees scene after road crash in which his young passenger dies
1980 Runs unsuccessfully for Democratic nomination against sitting President Jimmy Carter

Obituary: Edward Kennedy
In pictures: Edward Kennedy
Edward Kennedy - a political life

"Edward M Kennedy, the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply, died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port (Massachusetts)," the statement said.
"We've lost the irreplaceable centre of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever."
Edward Kennedy was the only one of four brothers to die a natural death.
His brother Joseph was killed in an air crash in World War II, and both President John F Kennedy and presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy were assassinated in the 1960s.
He was widely expected to be the next Kennedy in the White House, but he was never able to fully overcome the scandal caused in 1969, when he drove a car off a bridge at Chappaquiddick near his home, killing his female passenger.
The incident helped derail his only presidential bid, more than a decade later.
But he remained active in politics right up until his death, famously endorsing Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination during a tight race with Hillary Clinton last year.
At his death, he was the third longest serving senator in US history.
Last week, he asked the Massachusetts governor to change state law to allow a speedy succession when his Senate seat became vacant.
Analysts suggest that Senator Kennedy feared a lengthy gap could deny Democrats a crucial vote on Mr Obama's flagship health reform.
His death comes weeks after that of his older sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, on 11 August.

US MEDIA REACTION TO TED KENNEDY'S DEATH
Kennedy was at the center of the most important issues facing the nation for decades, and he did much to help shape them. A defender of the poor and politically disadvantaged, he set the standard for his party on health care, education, civil rights, campaign-finance reform and labor law
Joe Holley writes in The Washington Post on Ted Kennedy's political importance
He was a Rabelaisian figure in the Senate and in life, instantly recognizable by his shock of white hair, his florid, oversize face, his booming Boston brogue, his powerful but pained stride. He was a celebrity, sometimes a self-parody, a hearty friend, an implacable foe, a man of large faith and large flaws, a melancholy character who persevered, drank deeply and sang loudly. He was a Kennedy.
New York Times journalist John M Broder describes the Kennedy effect.
Seared in my memory: When I interned at the Heritage Foundation, I would pop into Mass at Saint Joseph's on the Hill. And I would almost always find myself sitting near Ted Kennedy. He's responsible for things that are deeply offensive to my conscience and diametrically opposed to the teachings of the Catholic faith, and he probably led some people astray by his example. But our faith also teaches that we are all sinners and that there is redemption. He had some incredibly good forces in his life, not least among them his sister, Eunice, who just died. I pray for the repose of his soul. R.I.P. Senator Kennedy.
Kathryn Lean Lopez blogs her tribute at the National Review.
Elected first in 1962, the 77-year-old Massachusetts liberal was rooted in the civil rights and Great Society battles of that decade, but his enduring strength was an ability to renew himself through his mastery of issues and the changing personalities of the Senate. Nowhere was this clearer than in Kennedy's early support of Barack Obama in 2008, when the young Illinois Democrat needed to establish himself against more veteran rivals for the White House. Kennedy not only campaigned for Obama but, at risk to his own health, opened the Democratic National Convention a year ago in Denver and returned to Washington repeatedly last winter to cast needed votes to move the new president's economic recovery agenda.

David Rogers in Politico highlights the veteran senator's lasting political importance.

Michael Jackson Death Ruled 'Homicide'

Court documents in America have revealed the extraordinary amount of drugs Michael Jackson was given in the hours before he died, amid reports the singer's death will be ruled a homicide.Investigators are trying to unravel the singer's dealings with several doctors who may have prescribed him pharmaceuticals to help him sleep.
A homicide ruling by the LA County coroner would not necessarily mean a murder was committed - but it would make it more likely that criminal charges would be filed against the pop star's personal doctor, Conrad Murray.
It comes as details emerge of the lethal drugs cocktail given to Jackson to cure his insomnia, which included propofol.
Post-mortem details have been revealed in the contents of a 32-page search warrant affidavit, filed in Texas before authorities searched Murray's Houston clinic last month, were made public.
"At the time of his death, toxicology analysis showed Michael Jackson had lethal levels of propofol in his blood," LA County chief coroner Dr Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran said.
The police documents have opened the door on an extraordinary world of apparent addiction and demands by a superstar who would not take no for an answer.
In the sworn statements it is revealed Jackson had nicknames for the drugs that led to his death and used numerous false names to get prescriptions.
It is also alleged the singer said he would pay any doctor any amount of money to get hold of the medication.
The coroner's office in LA has refused to confirm or deny any details of Jackson's post-mortem results at the request of police investigating his death on June 25.

Microsoft to smarten cheap phones

Microsoft has unveiled new technology that will allow standard, non-"smart" phones to run applications such as Facebook or Twitter.
Designed for emerging markets, the OneApp software can be downloaded just like a new ringtone.
Rather than an application store like those offered by many manufacturers and networks, OneApp will offer a standard set of apps decided by operators.
Storage for the apps will be maintained by the operators, rather than users.
The lack of memory and processing power in non-smartphones has to date limited their utility for running applications.
"What we're letting you do is get access to the applications and services you want from a device you already own," said Tim McDonough, Microsoft's senior director of mobile product management.
"If you don't own a PC, or you share a PC, your mobile phone may be your first or only computing device."
In a few weeks' time, Blue Label Telecom in South Africa will become the first operator to run OneApp, offering apps for Facebook, Twitter, and Windows Live Messenger.
Application developers will be able to fine-tune the apps on offer in other regions. That will be made easier by tailoring the software to OneApp, rather than adjusting it for a variety of handsets.

US ranks 28th in Internet connection speed

WASHINGTON (AFP) -The United States ranks 28th in the world in average Internet connection speed and is not making significant progress in building a faster network, according to a report released on Tuesday.
The report by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) said the average download speed in South Korea is 20.4 megabits per second (mbps) -- four times faster than the US average of 5.1 mbps.
Japan trails South Korea with an average of 15.8 mbps followed by Sweden at 12.8 mbps and the Netherlands at 11.0 mbps, the report said.
It said tests conducted by speedmatters.org found the average US download speed had improved by only nine-tenths of a megabit per second between 2008 and 2009 -- from 4.2 mbps to 5.1 mbps.
"The US has not made significant improvement in the speeds at which residents connect to the Internet," the report said. "Our nation continues to fall far behind other countries."
"People in Japan can upload a high-definition video in 12 minutes, compared to a grueling 2.5 hours at the US average upload speed," the report said.
It said 18 percent of those who took a US speed test recorded download speeds that were slower than 768 kilobits per second, which does not even qualify as basic broadband, according to the Federal Communications Commission.
Sixty-four percent connected at up to 10 mbps, 19 percent connected at speeds greater than 10 mbps and two percent exceeded 25 mbps.
The United States was ranked 20th in broadband penetration in a survey of 58 countries released earlier this year by Boston-based Strategy Analytics.
South Korea, Singapore, the Netherlands, Denmark and Taiwan were the top five countries listed in terms of access to high-speed Internet.
US President Barack Obama has pledged to put broadband in every home and the FCC has embarked on an ambitious project to bring high-speed Internet access to every corner of the United States.
According to the CWA report, the fastest download speeds in the United States are in the northeastern parts of the country while the slowest are in states such as Alaska, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

Chris Brown Spared Jail Over Rihanna Attack

Singer Chris Brown has been sentenced to probation and community work for beating up his former girlfriend pop star Rihanna.d Jail Over Rihanna Attack
6:02am UK, Wednesday August 26, 2009
Singer Chris Brown has been sentenced to probation and community work for beating up his former girlfriend pop star Rihanna.
Chris Brown and Rihanna
Campaigners against domestic abuse are angry Brown was not jailed
The 20-year-old pleaded guilty in June to one count of felony assault relating to an incident that occurred hours before the pair were due to perform at the Grammy Awards.
At Los Angeles Superior Court, Brown was told that he must serve five years probation and perform six months of community labour in his home state of Virginia.
Rihanna was not in court to see her attacker sentenced.
The sentence was in line with recommendations agreed between Brown and prosecutors as part of a plea bargain.
It has been heavily criticised by domestic abuse campaigners who claimed it is too lenient.The attack on Rihanna left her bleeding and badly bruised.
Brown, her then boyfriend, was arrested on February 8, hours after a party in Los Angeles.
According to an affidavit filed by an LA police detective, the altercation took place in a car when Rihanna checked Brown's mobile phone and found a text message from another woman.
Detective De Shon Andrews wrote that Brown attempted to push Rihanna out of the vehicle before punching her repeatedly.
He also bit her ear, the affidavit states.He then allegedly threatened to kill her when she pretended to phone her assistant to get police help.
According to the detective, the alleged assault left Rihanna with a mouthful of blood.
Brown is also alleged to have tried to choke her.
Following the incident, pictures apparently showing the female singer's beaten and swollen face were leaked on to the internet.
In July - five months after the attack - Brown publicly apologised for his behaviour.
In a video posting on his website, the singer said he was "truly, truly sorry", adding that what he did was unacceptable and he had apologised to his victim "countless" times.

How to Build Abs - How to Lose Belly Fat and Get Flat Stomach with 3 Important Steps


It may still be too early to start working on your midsection but the reality of things is that working such muscle group can be quite difficult to do. So if you want to get that abs in time for next year’s summer, you better start with your regimen by fall. Now the core can be quite tricky to get into shape. You can exercise your arms and your legs, and see results in practically no time at all but that isn’t always the case with your core. In this article, I will enumerate how to build abs with the right diet, exercise and mindset.

Proper Diet

For you to get ripped abs, you have to lose overall body fat. Wouldn’t it be weird to see an overweight man with ripped abs? To help you lose weight, you need to adjust your diet. It’s time to say sayonara to high calorie density foods like pizza, pasta and other fast foods. Space your meals out that you do not feel like you’re depriving yourself and to help you keep your energy up throughout the day. Example, instead of eating 3 big meals a day, try to divide them into five smaller portions. Remember, you don’t have to starve yourself; eating reasonable portions of high fiber and protein rich foods are proven ways to help you build abs.

Exercise

To help you lose weight, it would be best if you engage in a total body workout 2-3 times for every week. You can try yoga, pilates or kickboxing. This will keep your metabolism up to help you burn fat faster. A gym trainer once told me that I’m never done with my exercises unless I finish my crunches. There’s nothing like doing classic sit ups but if your health restricts you from doing anything that could strain your, you can always do your crunches on an exercise ball. Better yet, you can do other abs exercises that don’t require you to use your neck at all.

Mindset and Action

Remember that it’s completely impossible for you to have ripped abs overnight no matter how many sit ups you do. But stay on your course. All it takes is time and patience. Morever, you need to start acting now if you want to achieve that six-pack abs, no procrastination and no laziness. Having excuses like "I have no time" or "It's just too hard" will not lead you to attaining your goal. It just means that you are not that determined and you only have that flat abdominals in your dreams and wishes.

There are also simple ways for how to build abs like observing good posture. Your abdominal muscles are in charge of your posture. Your slouching may be sabotaging your success the entire time.

There is no fast and easy way to building that six pack abs. You have to follow program that actually works as ineffective training routines and poor dietary habits will just waste your time and valuable effort . Avoid bogus diet pills, expensive ab equipment and gadgets as they don't actually work. Instead, consult a certified trainer or purchase programs online that are proven to be effective. Read reviews and see what customers are saying about the product, it does not hurt to do your research. As they say, no pain, no gain. However, if the efforts and right attitude are there, you can reap rewards in the end.

Facebook to boost staff by 50% in 2009: report

(Reuters) - Online social networking site Facebook is looking to expand its staff by as much as 50 percent this year, its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told Bloomberg news agency in an interview dated August 20.
Facebook's website says it has more than 900 employees.
The company, which counts venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Accel Partners, Microsoft Corp and Russian Internet investment firm Digital Sky Technologies among its investors, has more than 250 million registered users.
In June, rival MySpace, owned by News Corp, said it would cut 30 percent of its U.S. staff and two-thirds of its international workforce.

(Reporting by S. John Tilak in Bangalore, editing by Will Waterman)

Man charged over player stabbing

A 25-year-old man has been charged over an attack in Bedfordshire in which West Ham United footballer Calum Davenport was stabbed in the legs.
Worrell Whitehurst, of Finsley Walk, Derby, is charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
Mr Whitehurst is also accused of causing actual bodily harm to the player's mother Kim, 49, in an attack early on Saturday morning in Kempston.
He was arrested in Derby and is due to appear at Bedford Magistrates' Court.
The attack took place at Mrs Davenport's home in Springfield Avenue.
The 26-year-old footballer is in a stable condition in intensive care at Bedford South Wing hospital after surgery on his legs, while his mother, also in the hospital, is described as stable.
A 19-year-old man arrested after the stabbing has been released on bail by Bedfordshire police pending further inquiries.
Season on loan
Davenport cost West Ham £3m when he joined them from Tottenham during the summer of 2007, but did not figure in the club's first game of this season, at Wolves last week.
After struggling to hold down a first-team place, he has been linked with a move.
Bedford-born Davenport spent a spell on loan at Premier League rivals Sunderland last season and has also been on loan to Watford.
The centre-back started his career at Coventry and has played on loan at Southampton and Norwich.
Police have appealed for anyone with any information about the stabbing in Kempston to contact them.

Dementieva tops Sharapova for Rogers title

CNN) -- Elena Dementieva defeated fellow Russian Maria Sharapova in straight sets on Sunday to claim the WTA Rogers Cup in Toronto.
Dementieva topped Sharapova 6-4, 6-3 to claim her 14th career singles title.
Sharapova came into the Rogers Cup tournament unseeded. But she defeated number seven seed Vera Zvonareva, number 10 seed Nadia Petrova and number 14 seed Agnieszka Radwanska at the Rogers Cup. The tournament marked Sharapova's first final appearance since returning to the women's tour in May after a nine-month injury layoff.
Sunday's victory was just the third career win by number four seed Dementieva against the Sharapova, and her first in three years.
"It was a really great week for me, though. Playing six matches was great leading up to the U.S. Open. This was really good preparation," Dementieva said, according to reports on the WTA Web site.

Berlusconi urged to seek sex addiction treatment as teenage model linked to Italian PM turns up close to his holiday villa


Silvo Berlusconi's aides are urging him to check into a clinic for sex addicts, it was claimed yesterday.
The plan for the 72-year- old Italian premier to spend up to a fortnight getting treatment was disclosed as his wife told for the first time why she wants a divorce.
Veronica Lario, 52, said she was fed up with Mr Berlusconi's constant betrayals and deceit over 20 years of marriage. The billionaire has been mired in scandal since he attended the 18th birthday party of aspiring lingerie model Noemi Letizia in April and gave her a £5,200 necklace. A prostitute has claimed she spent a night at his Rome residence last November, which he denies.
Now a book by a journalist friend of Miss Lario says some of the prime minister's entourage want him to try sex-addiction therapy, then give his marriage another try.
Sources suggested a week or two-week stay had been mooted for the first time last month, shortly before Mr Berlusconi hosted a G8 summit of world leaders
But his ex-wife insisted it was too late to patch things up. She told author Maria Latella: 'I couldn't because he would tell me the umpteenth lie and this time I couldn't bear it.'
Miss Lario, a former topless actress, also revealed that her husband's alibi for Miss Letizia's party at a Naples disco was literally rubbish. She said: 'He told me, "You know, I have to go down to Naples, I have an important summit on rubbish disposal early tomorrow morning".' She added: 'I've reached the end of the line. I can't condemn myself to being his wet nurse and I can no longer stop him making himself look ridiculous in front of the world.
'What upsets me most is that a man like Silvio has betrayed himself. He has done so much, but today people only talk about things which overshadow who he really was.'

Miss Lario, who has three grown-up children by the prime minister, launched the attack in an updated biography called The Veronica Trend.
It tells how she decided in May that she could take no more of her husband's affairs and consorting with actresses and showgirls.
The book, to be published on Wednesday, will further damage Mr Berlusconi's reputation, testing Italians' patience with scandals that would have destroyed politicians in many other countries. The premier, meanwhile, used an interview with a magazine he owns to deny sexual misconduct, claiming he had never had 'relations with minors' and insisting that his dinner parties with young women were ' irreproachable for their morality and elegance'.
Berlusconi's office says he will go ahead with a trip to Libya next week, despite international protests over the hero's welcome there for Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing but freed on compassionate grounds.

Michelle Obama Is More Powerful Than Oprah


Oprah Winfrey was officially edged out in Forbes' annual list of Most Powerful Women by a newcomer to the list, Michelle Obama. Oprah's rank fell from 36 to 41 this year, while Mrs. Obama came in at 40.
While initially we were skeptical, it's true that Mrs. Obama's star has skyrocketed in the past year. Plus, much like Oprah, she's proven herself capable of single-handedly launching the popularity of labels -- from J. Crew to Jason Wu. Heck, there's even an entire exhibit devoted to Isabel Toledo (the designer behind Michelle Obama's inauguration day suite) right now, something that would have seemed incomprehensible a year ago.
Other noteworthy women of power on the list include Sonia Sotomayor, who's entering the list at 54, Carol Bartz (chief executive at Yahoo!, 12), and the second-time most powerful woman, German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Awesome Bolt breaks 200m record


Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt claimed yet another world record as he recorded a stunning victory in the 200m final at the World Championships.
Bolt set a time of 19.19 seconds to demolish the previous record of 19.30 he set in winning Olympic gold last summer in Beijing.
The 22-year-old finished well clear of the field, with silver medallist Alonso Edward finishing in 19.81.
Wallace Spearmon of the United States took bronze.
Bolt, who also smashed the 100m record in Berlin on Sunday, is now the first man to hold the 100 and 200m world and Olympic titles at the same time.
After a nervy opening which saw Frenchman David Alerte false start, Bolt streaked off the blocks and took the lead within 20m. TOM FORDYCE BLOG
Bolt has redefined the boundaries of what was believed to be humanly possible
He put on the afterburners around the bend to leave the chasing pack trailing in his wake and after storming over the line, Bolt glanced down to the electronic display and pointed at his historic time.
Earlier in the week Bolt had said he did not think a 200m record was on after missing a month of training earlier this year following a car crash in Jamaica.
And after the 200m Bolt told BBC Sport: "I can definitely say I didn't expect that because I was a little bit tired.
"I said let's try because people are really looking out for this, I said it won't hurt to try. So I tried really hard and now I'm really tired.
"Maybe next time I should just run the 200m or the 100m alone. My form was going backwards. I wasn't running upright. It wasn't a good race but it was a fast one."
Bolt, who completed his 200m win a day before his 23rd birthday, set three world records when winning his Olympic golds in Beijing last summer and his breathtaking performances in Berlin have enhanced his reputation as the best sprinter of all time.
'Tired' Bolt may no longer double-up
"I definitely showed people that my world records in Beijing were not a joke," he said.
And Bolt said he is closing in on his aim of becoming a sprinter the world will never forget.
"I keep telling you guys my aim is to become a legend," he added. "I don't think about records. I don't put myself under pressure. I know what to do and I go and execute.
"I did well for myself and I am on my way to becoming a legend so I am just happy."
America's Shawn Crawford, who finished fourth, admitted he was left in awe by Bolt's display.
"Just coming out there, I'm just waiting for the lights to flash 'game over,' because I felt like I was in a video game," said Crawford. "That guy was moving - fast."

Internet Addiction: reStart, Internet Addiction Recovery Program

Internet addiction is a growing problem throughout the world. Now there is help in the United States. reStart is the first Internet Addiction Recovery Program in the U.S.
America is now following in the footsteps of countries like South Korea and China by identifying and providing treatment for Internet Addiction. You can get internet detox right here in the good ol’ USA! I’m not sure Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) is in the DSM-IV, but I’m betting it’ll be included in the DSM-V which is due out in a couple of years.
We’ve all heard the jokes about how to identify if you are an addict. You know, ‘Hello, my name is (fill in the blank) and I’m an Internet Addict.’ ‘Hello, (fill in the name).’ You might have a problem if you fill in the name with something like, ‘web_rowser’ instead of the name your parents gave you. Have you ever been at work and written a business memo and added ‘LOL’ in it? Have you ever responded to your computer nickname rather than your real name. Do you get depressed, despondent and/or feel disconnected and with the world when you power down for the night? Are you distraught and the world seems out of reach when your cable company is out? Do you avoid going places that don’t have an internet connection? Do you break out in sweats when you have to fly somewhere and know you won’t be able to access the internet while in the air? Is your closest confident someone named ‘nyte_magic’ and you don’t know their real name, what country they live in, what they do for a living, whether they are male or female or 17 or 75? Do you fall asleep at the keyboard? Do you dream in html?
Yeah, that’s just a small sampling of the jokes about internet addiction that have been going around since about 1996 or sooner, when the internet first started being accessible to everyone in every home.
Some of the symptoms of what behavioral experts are calling Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) include:
Using online services everyday without any skipping
Getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and checking email before returning to bed
Losing track of time after making a connection
Spending more and more time on the internet and less and less time with ‘real life’ friends
Spending less time on daily chores to allow more time on the computer
Eating meals while sitting at the computer
Minimizing the time you spend online when someone asks you about it
Sneaking onto the internet when family isn’t around to make you feel guilty about it
Taking time at work to go online, letting your work slide
Significant others complaining about the amount of time you spend on the internet
Fantasizing about being online when you aren’t
Work, relationships, study and life suffer because of the time you spend on the internet
You lose sleep because of staying on the internet late into the night
You get irritable and snap when someone interrupts your concentration while you are online
That’s just a sampling of symptoms, but I wonder how many of those you can check off? Personally, I’m not telling (whoops, that’s a symptom, isn’t it!).
There have been treatment centers for this addiction in China for a couple of years now. China has the distinction of having the largest online population in the world. They also have the distinction of having had a 16-year-old boy die in one of their treatment centers earlier this month and using rather harsh treatment techniques.
But we aren’t China. Instead, we have our very own treatment center opening up right here in the United States. Situated on a restive 5-acres just outside of Seattle in Fall City, Washington. reStart is a 45-day program that houses 6 people at a time and bills itself as an internet addiction recovery program.
Fortunately, I don’t have an internet addiction problem, so I can keep track of reStart and their Internet Addiction Recovery Program from right here at my laptop. Whoops. I have to run, my significant other just got up and I don’t want him to see

I’m still online, lol... Bye.....

Facebook Tests Branded Virtual, Real-World Gifts

Britney Spears is the latest "licensed gift" in Facebook's expanding virtual goods offerings, which the company hopes to parlay into a revenue stream via its virtual currency system.
Facebook is expanding its efforts to turn its online Gift Shop into a money-making opportunity through sales of other companies' virtual -- and potentially physical -- goods.

Until now, gifts in the site's Gift Shop consisted chiefly of colorful, generic icons that recipients could embed in their profile. Users could buy the gifts using the company's currency, called Facebook Credits, with most of the icons generally costing 10 Facebook Credits, equivalent to $1.

But now, Facebook is looking at ways of tying the Gift Store into third-party brands and real-world goods.

Virtual gifts created by third-party brands are tagged with the creator's logo. So far, companies offering gifts through the service include American Greetings Interactive, GreetBeatz, Somecards and Real Gifts, Facebook said.
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"Our primary goal is to create a good user experience on Facebook, so we are exploring ways to offer more options to users in the Gift Shop," Facebook spokesperson Brandee Barker told InternetNews.com. "As we often do, we turned to a small group of developers to participate in the alpha test. This initial test is being conducted with a limited number of users."
Brands with major licenses are also now turning to the Gift Shop to offer goods as part of their promotional marketing efforts. Britney Spears last week began selling virtual gifts, icons and birthday cards, to coincide with her latest tour, marking one of the first instances a high-profile recording artist has branded virtual goods on Facebook.
"We will continue to explore licensed gifts, such as the Britney Spears line, and other promotional opportunities," a Facebook spokesperson told InternetNews.com.
Let's get physical
The move also marks the first time that Facebook has integrated the sale of physical goods into its platform -- though at least one company, 1-800-Flowers.com, recently opened up an e-store on its own page on the site.
For now, the types of physical goods -- being sold in partnership with Real Gifts -- are items that people might normally send to friends and relatives on special occasions, like flowers, candy and stuffed animals.
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Physical gifts, naturally, will cost more than virtual goods -- for example, a dozen roses may be 450 Credits. The purchaser will be asked to enter delivery information and other data, similarly to a regular e-commerce transaction.
Through the latest tests, app developers may also get a piece of the action -- they can create virtual gifts that users then buy within the app. Barker declined to comment on details of any revenue-sharing arrangement with Facebook.
Overall, Facebook is remaining tight-lipped about any other details pertaining to the Gift Shop tests. "As with all our product tests on Facebook, we will monitor results over time and determine a plan based on those results," Barker said. "We have nothing to add regarding future plans."
The news marks the latest sign that Facebook is looking for ways to encourage and capitalize on transactions on its platform, particularly in area of virtual goods payment processing.
In mid-July, Facebook began offering developers a new set of ad-targeting technologies to better help them monetize their applications and expanded its own virtual currency program across the Facebook Platform.
The social networking phenomenon looms large in the online media landscape. But can Mark Zuckerberg and company monetize their site's popularity?
At the end of May, Facebook began rolling out its virtual currency payment service for applications called "Pay with Facebook." While buying virtual goods within an app, users now see the option to purchase with Facebook Credits. If a shopper does this, the amount is billed to a credit card on file, or users can enter the number of a card.
Though only live now in a handful of applications, the "Pay with Facebook" service could signal another way Facebook aims to make money -- since it could potentially get a cut of every transaction made through its payment system. The company has declined to provide details on the business model, however.
Industry observers say the Facebook Platform economy could net as much as $500 million in total transactions this year -- the premise being that even if Facebook realizes only a slim cut from all of the frantic activity across its site, it could add several million dollars to the company's coffers.
Virtual currency and e-commerce aren't the only areas in which Facebook's been making headlines lately, with the past few weeks seeing the site expanding services and site functionality. Facebook this month introduced a new search service -- powered by Microsoft's Bing -- that it had been testing for several months. The service enables members to find status updates, photos, links and videos.
Additionally, it just bought FriendFeed, a start-up seen as a competitor to Twitter. Facebook also is testing a stripped-down version of its service for overseas markets with limited broadband.

Poppa Cyrus Defends Miley's Pole Dancing!


We give it two years till her sex tape is leaked!
Billy Ray Cyrus doesn't think that anything is wrong with his daughter Miley's pole dancing at the Teen Choice Awards last week.
"You know what? I just think that Miley loves entertaining people," he told Access Hollywood.
Some feel that a 16-year old Disney star's entertainment should not be geared toward moving men's peens!
"She loves singing [and] songwriting," he adds. "I always tell her to love what you're doing and stay focused for the love of the art and not worry so much about opinion."
This isn't about her! It's about your terrible parenting skills!
"I give my kids a lot of freedom to make the art they wanna make, and make it in their own voice. I think it's important," said Billy of his cash cows children.
Miley's art = Mickey Mouse masturbating onto piles of cash!

Just sayin'!

Alcohol advertising reaching too many teens on cable TV, researchers say

A new study from the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, in collaboration with UCLA, has found a striking correlation between teenage viewership and the frequency of alcohol advertising on cable television. The findings show that ads for beer, spirits and "alcopop" aired much more frequently when more teens were watching.
While previous studies have shown that the average adolescent is exposed to well over 200 alcohol ads on television each year, this is the first to demonstrate an association between ad placement and teen cable TV viewership. Cable TV attracts about 95 percent of all nationally televised alcohol ads.
The study will be published in the October issue of the American Journal of Public Health and is currently available online by subscription.
"Alcohol advertisers have pledged to avoid audiences made up of more than 30 percent underage viewers — such as children's programming," said David H. Jernigan, director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth and an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "However, many other shows have adolescent appeal. This research suggests that ads are aimed at groups that include a disproportionate number of teens and that the alcohol industry's voluntary self-monitoring is not working to reduce adolescent exposure to ads."
Using advertising industry data from Nielsen Media Research, researchers examined all 600,000 national cable alcohol ads shown from 2001 through 2006 to audiences with less than 30 percent of viewers between the ages of 12 and 20. Among the findings:
Audiences with a higher percentage of youth between the ages of 12 and 20 were exposed to a higher frequency of alcohol ads, even after accounting for other factors that might explain ad placement decisions.
Each 1-percentage-point increase in adolescent viewership was associated with a 7-percent increase in beer ads, a 15-percent increase in spirits ads and a 22-percent increase in ads for low-alcohol refreshers/alcopops — flavored alcoholic beverages that taste similar to juice or soda.
In contrast, wine ads decreased by 8 percent with each 1-percentage-point increase in adolescent viewership; this finding suggests that alcohol advertisers can, in fact, successfully avoid adolescent audiences.
"This study did not examine whether alcohol advertisers are intentionally overexposing adolescents," said lead study author Dr. Paul J. Chung, assistant professor of pediatrics at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA and a senior natural scientist at the RAND Corp. "The alcohol industry has consistently denied actively targeting teens, and our study isn't designed to test that claim. However, the ultimate effect of their advertising strategies, intentional or not, appears to be greater exposure than might be expected if adults were the sole targets of ads."
For years, alcohol has been the substance of abuse most commonly used by teens in the United States, and the public health consequences of underage drinking are considerable. Numerous studies and national statistics report that adolescents are involved in a significant proportion of the injuries, violence and crime that stem from binge drinking and other forms of alcohol abuse. Moreover, studies have shown that starting to drink as an adolescent has been linked with much greater risks of lifelong problem drinking.
Multiple studies suggest that alcohol ads can have substantial influence on underage drinking attitudes and behaviors.
"It's difficult to document experimentally," said Chung, who also directs the UCLA–RAND Center for Adolescent Health Promotion. "But there's not too much doubt that advertising and marketing affect the behavior of both children and adults. Common sense tells us that if it didn't work, companies probably wouldn't be spending so much money on it. So, it's a lot harder for parents, teachers and clinicians to successfully encourage kids to delay drinking when so many things they're seeing — on television, on billboards, on movie screens, on the Internet — are telling them otherwise."
###
This study was supported in part by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, grants from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at Johns Hopkins University (formerly at Georgetown University), and a grant from Pfizer.
Additional study authors included Craig F. Garfield from the North Shore University Health System, Marc N. Elliott from the RAND Corp., Joshua Ostroff and Craig Ross from Virtual Media Resources, Katherine D. Vestal from UCLA, and senior author Mark A. Schuster from Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital Boston and RAND.
The authors have no financial ties to disclose.

Can you dig it?

In the garden, success will be based not on what you plant, but on what lies beneath your feet—the foundation. A healthy foundation is the single most important factor in growing anything, whether in the garden, or in your personal life. Can you dig it?

Facebook Sued Over Privacy Flap in California

Complaint alleges social network violates state's privacy, copyright laws.
Facebook is again under fire for its privacy policies, this time in the form of a civil lawsuit alleging the company violated a host of California laws pertaining to copyright, truth in advertising and safeguarding users' personal information.
The suit, brought by five members of the popular social network in California's Orange County Superior Court, asks for monetary damages and an injunction to halt the objectionable practices.
Facebook, for its part, said the lawsuit is baseless.
"We see no merit to this suit and plan to fight it," Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said in an e-mail to InternetNews.com.
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The plaintiffs allege, among other things, that Facebook's licensing agreement amounts to a claim of perpetual ownership of all material its users post, regardless of whom they choose to share it with. So all photos, writings and other material posted to the site is handled in a manner that runs counter to California's copyright and privacy laws.
Couple that with a misleading come-on that offers up the veneer of detailed privacy settings while actually sharing information irrespective of a user's preferences, and you have the false-advertising claims.
In short, what began as a benign social network has morphed into a predatory commercial machine hell-bent on harvesting its users' most private thoughts for financial gain.
"Facebook's business model, however, has transformed from that of a social network into that of a data mining company," the suit alleges. "Facebook actively seeks to open and/or disseminate private information to third parties for commercial purposes and economic benefit."
The complaint gives a thorough treatment of Facebook's history, its various scuffles with privacy advocates, and offers a heap of statistics about how much data the company has at its disposal.
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There's also no shortage of ominous saber-rattling about the company's intentions ("Facebook has an enormous financial incentive to collect and manipulate private and personal information.")
If any of that sounds familiar, it should.
Privacy advocates have gotten their hackles up over many of Facebook's policy changes and product roll-outs in the past. Always at issue is the trade-off that entails users who willingly sign up to participate in a social community on the Web and the concern among some that privacy is getting lost in the process.
Every time the company finds itself in the crosshairs of a privacy flap, the ghosts of Facebook past come to mind. Facebook's news feed, which was introduced in September 2006 and met with great indignation by users who were outraged that their actions on the site would be distributed via automatic broadcast. The feed has since become one of the site's most essential features.
It happened again a little more than a year later, when Facebook debuted its ill-fated ad platform Beacon, which shared people's purchases at third-party e-commerce sites, spoiling a fair share of Christmas surprises in the process. Facebook recanted, and backed off the policy with a mea culpa from its CEO and founder, Mark Zuckerberg.
Then earlier this year, Facebook modified its terms of use agreement, adding language that seemed to assert perpetual control over the content its users post, even if they closed their account. Facebook backed off that one, too, though the plaintiffs in the new lawsuit in California are convinced that it didn't go far enough.
They say as much in their suit, alleging that "Facebook's license agreement amounts to effective ownership and perpetual title to all data uploaded to Facebook by any sources even if a Facebook user terminates service," adding that the company had "ignored or failed to comply" with cease-and-desist requests.
As to the legal merits of the case, one scholar is unconvinced. Eric Goldman, the law professor at Santa Clara University who heads the High Tech Law Institute, dismissed the lawsuit in his Twitter feed as a "rant-y complaint from users who seem to dislike all of Facebook's product choices."

U.S. wants to define broadband, opens wireless inquiry

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. telecommunications regulators on Thursday sought public comment on how to define "broadband," a step that could impact how the industry delivers Internet services to consumers.
The Federal Communications Commission issued a fact-finding notice on its website (http://www.fcc.gov) seeking the public's input as it drafts a national broadband plan that is slated to be submitted to Congress in mid-February.
The FCC also said it plans to issue another public notice on its website to study the competitive nature of the U.S. wireless industry and how to "encourage further innovation and investment."
The notice to examine the wireless industry comes amid another inquiry by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski seeking information about why Apple Inc rejected Google Inc's voice application for the popular iPhone.
AT&T Inc is the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the United States. Responses to letters sent last month to the three companies from the FCC are due by late Friday.
The state of the wireless industry as well as fees on subscribers monthly bills will be discussed at an FCC meeting next Thursday, the first with all five commissioners in a new administration.
The inquiry into the wireless industry indicates that the new administration wants to take a fresh look into whether customers can get better services at more affordable prices.
The notice to define broadband also sets the stage for how regulators should proceed in trying to determine several issues such as speed, accessibility, affordability and increasing subscribership.
Among the questions posed is how often that definition should be updated.
"A static definition will fail to address changing needs and habits," the FCC notice said.
The United States lags behind many European and Asian countries in terms of broadband speed.
A 2008 study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development showed that the United States ranked 19th with an advertised rate of 9.6 mbps. The top three countries were Japan with 92.8 mbps, Korea with 80.8 mbps and France with 51 mbps.
The current U.S. base standard speed for any applicant that wants to participate in Obama's $7.2 billion economic stimulus program for expanding the U.S. broadband infrastructure is at least 768 kbps.
The speed issue, including the difference between advertised and actual rates, is among many concerns that are being addressed during a series of FCC workshops being held this month and next.
"In most cases the 'advertised' throughput speed has a tenuous relation with the actually delivered speed," Carlos Kirjner, the FCC chairman's senior adviser on broadband, said on the agency's new broadband blog.
Officials are seeking data and ideas on how to improve affordable high-speed Internet services for low-income families, education, health and medicine, homeland security, the environment and transportation.
An April 2009 study conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project found that 63 percent of adult Americans have broadband at home, up 15 percent from a year earlier.
The increase corresponded with a higher average monthly cost of $39 per month in April 2009, compared with $34.50 per month in May 2008.

(Reporting by John Poirier; editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

Kenya drought worsens hunger risk

More than one million Kenyans risk facing hunger because of a prolonged drought, the UN has warned.
The lack of rains has caused crops to fail and cattle-herders are also struggling to keep their animals alive.
The worst affected areas are in the country's semi-arid south-east regions as well as some parts of central Kenya.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has described the crisis as a "very difficult situation" and appealed to donor countries to offer funds.
Currently some 2.5 million people are receiving emergency food aid in the country but the effect of the drought has meant that a further 1.3 million now also need help.
"People are saying it is the worst drought since 2000," said WFP spokeswoman Gabrielle Menezes.
The regions affected normally harvest their crops once a year, planting them in April and collecting in September after the rains. But this year those rains have failed to come.
The Kenyan government was supposed to have built up a sizeable stock of maize but, following allegations of a corruption scandal, it only has enough to last another six weeks, says the BBC's East Africa correspondent, Will Ross.
Many subsistence farmers are reported to be abandoning rural areas - where they rely on aid - and moving into already over-congested slums in the towns and cities.

Arsenal are on the cusp of the Champions League group stage after a hard-fought win at Parkhead on Tuesday night.
Arsène Wenger’s side controlled much of this high-octane first leg but they needed a slice of luck in either half to secure victory.
William Gallas deflected Cesc Fabregas’ shot past Artur Boruc to break the deadlock two minutes before the break and Gary Caldwell turned Gael Clichy’s cross past his own keeper to double the advantage with 20 minutes left.
There is work to be done – Dinamo Moscow won here in the previous round and were still eliminated – but Arsenal are now firm favourites to book their place in the group stage for a 12th consecutive year.
Wenger waited anxiously for news on the fitness of Fabregas, Denilson and Bacary Sagna on the morning of the match. All three picked up knocks at Everton; all three were passed fit to play. That allowed the Arsenal boss to name an unchanged line-up with Abou Diaby, back from a groin injury, among the substitutes.
Gloomy weather engulfed Glasgow ahead of the match but that was never going to dampen the spirits of the Parkhead crowd. Much was made of the “special noise” Celtic fans produce and they lived up to their billing here.
A wall of sound greeted the two teams as they emerged from the tunnel and the home fans cheered in expectation as well as hope. After all Celtic had only lost once in eight European ties against English opposition at this ground. Manchester United were vanquished three years ago; would Arsenal go the same way?
Predictably, Celtic snapped into tackles from the off but Arsenal matched them for graft with Denilson and Alex Song doing plenty of dirty work.
The home side’s plan was clear: get the ball wide to Shaun Maloney and Scott Brown and test the visitors with crosses into the area. That’s exactly what happened in the opening minutes as Maloney’s fizzing delivery flashed across the six-yard box.
It was a warning for Arsenal and they heeded it, closing down the Celtic wingers and keeping those crosses down to a minimum. With that avenue more or less closed off, Wenger’s side pushed forward to create opportunities of their own.
They were hard to come by. Massimo Donati’s hesitancy forced keeper Boruc to hurry one clearance with Fabregas lurking and Andrey Arshavin put the ball in the net from an offside position. The Russian cut inside to try his luck later in the half but a block took the sting out of his shot.
Indeed, Celtic were giving as good as they got. Only a wonderful last-ditch challenge from Thomas Vermaelen denied Brown as he prepared to full the trigger at the end of a pacy counter-attack. And the same man forced a save from Manuel Almunia with a low shot from 12 yards.
The two defences held sway and it took a big slice of luck to prise the teams apart. Fortunately, fortune favoured the Gunners.
Van Persie tapped a free-kick to Fabregas 30 yards from goal, the captain fired in a shot and the ball deflected off Gallas and into the corner. Boruc seemed to have Fabregas’ effort covered but he was left completely wrong-footed by the ball’s change of direction.
That would have made Arsenal’s half-time refreshment taste all the sweeter and they emerged for the second half seemingly determined to take the game away from Celtic.
Van Persie slid a shot just past Boruc’s left-hand post after Arshavin had charged through the centre and picked out the Dutchman. Denilson curled a fine effort just wide seconds later and Van Persie was back in the thick of it soon afterwards, scuffing a shot off target.
Bendtner tried his luck too but, once again, Arsenal needed a stroke of luck to break down their opponents.
It came 20 minutes from time when Clichy sped down the left and arrowed a cross towards the six-yard box. Van Persie and Bendtner were lurking but they weren’t needed as Caldwell turned the ball past Boruc.
It was tough on the hosts but Arsenal were worth their lead. The goals had been fortuitous but they controlled possession and territory after the break.
“We’re all going on a European tour!” was the chant from the away end. They are probably right – but there is still work to be done back at the Emirates.

Bolt again! 9.58 World record in Berlin!


16 August 2009 - Berlin, Germany – With a performance that defies the imagination, Usain Bolt set a new 100m World record of 9.58 on the second evening of the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
The 22-year-old Jamaican knocked a mind-numbing 0.11 second from the 9.69 record he set at the Olympic Games in Beijing exactly one year ago today. One can only imagine where he’ll be and how fast he’ll run on 16 August of next year.
"I was definitely ready for the World record and I did it," Bolt said. "I didn't think I could run a tenth (of a second) faster than my World record, but for me, anything is possible."
His was the largest chunk ever – by far – to be sliced from the 100m World record. Previously, both he and Maurice Greene shaved 0.05 from the standard to earn the moniker of World’s Fastest Man. A few days ago, Greene suggested that Bolt and other top sprinters weren’t currently on the same planet. Bolt’s performance this evening gave Greene’s assessment an otherworldly ring of truth.
So profound was Bolt’s achievement that defending champion Tyson Gay clocked a sensational 9.71 in second, a national record, that was just 0.02 shy of the previous World mark. And the American, who is now the second fastest man in history, was nowhere near the Jamaican when the finish line was crossed.
"I'm disappointed to have lost the race, but i ran my fastest time," Gay said.
Not the quickest from the blocks, Bolt nonetheless took control some 30 metres into the race and continued onward to forge through territory not even the most passionate observers would have imagined before this evening. It was a run similar to his emphatic victory in Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium a year ago, with two distinct differences: this time Bolt ran hard to the line, and this time he'll collect a $100,000 World record bonus.
But the show’s not over. Both Bolt and Gay will meet again in the 200m, which starts on Tuesday (18 Aug).
Bolt’s compatriot, the former World record holder Asafa Powell took bronze for the second consecutive championships, in 9.84.
"I'm so excited about Usain's run tonight, it is great to be part of this," said Powell, who's personal best is 9.72. "Usain showed us that it is possible."
Further back was the second wave, led by Antiguan Dan Bailey who was fourth in 9.93, just ahead of Olympic silver medallist Richard Thompson of Trinidad who was credited with the same time.
Dwain Chambers of Great Britain was sixth in 10.00, edging the second Trinidadian in the race, Marc Burns, who also stopped the clock in 10.00.

comments
gundejuz (1 hour ago)
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Reply
Mylisz się małpy powoli biegają!!!!!!!!
gundejuz (1 hour ago)
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Reply
Ja go popije ale w piciu setek na czas 9.58.
moti4love (1 hour ago)
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its not BOLT its BULLET
Yardman250 (1 hour ago)
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Well it seems like Tyson Gay mouth is faster than his feet..Come on man how the raasclaat you must compare BOLT to GAY see the different .Bolt is 22 Gay is 27.Bolt best is 9.58 at the age of 22 Gay best is 9.71 at the age of 27 so u plp do tht math when bolt become 27 imagine what the record would be.
dezron1 (2 hours ago)
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Big up Bolt. You have carved out your name as a legend
puffdaddysl (3 hours ago)
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Well Done Usain Bolt..Great Achievement !CongratZ from Sri Lanka
oskie011 (5 hours ago)
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lightning he is the best the greatest and the fastest men in world right now bolt
acmilanowns (5 hours ago)
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2 words - holy shit
kipcio6 (8 hours ago)
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Reply
kurwa szacun dla kolesia niech to pobije teraz :)
rafalkul9 (8 hours ago)
0
Reply
to małpa

Arsenal humiliate Everton, Drogba lifts Chelsea


LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Arsenal lit up the opening day of the Premier League season with a 6-1 demolition of Everton and Didier Drogba struck in stoppage time to give Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti a winning start on Saturday.
Big-spending Manchester City won 2-0 at Blackburn Rovers and six of the eight fixtures produced away victories but Arsenal's rout at Goodison Park against a side that finished fifth last season was the standout result.
Arsenal midfielder Denilson began the football lesson and defenders Thomas Vermaelen and William Gallas were also on target before the break.
Captain Cesc Fabregas bagged two in the second half and Eduardo chipped in with a sixth before Louis Saha earned Everton a crumb of consolation.
"You have to accept that one game is only one game, what is important is that we have the desire and believe in our qualities," Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger told the BBC.
"Everybody in our team can score goals and everybody likes to go forward so when things go for us like today, anyone can score."
Manchester City, tipped to challenge Arsenal for a top-four place, paraded their expensive signings at Blackburn and striker Emmanuel Adebayor capped his debut with a goal after just three minutes. Stephen Ireland grabbed a late second.
Burnley's top-flight return went flat as they slumped 2-0 at Stoke City, fellow new boys Wolverhampton Wanderers lost 2-0 at home to West Ham United and Darren Bent scored on his debut to give Sunderland a 1-0 win at Bolton Wanderers.
Roberto Martinez, making his debut as a Premier League manager, watched his Wigan Athletic side win 2-0 at Aston Villa and Fulham triumphed 1-0 at Portsmouth.
Drogba's double earned Chelsea a 2-1 home win over Hull City after the visitors had taken a shock early lead.
An opening fixture against Hull, who won just one of their last 22 league games last season, looked like a comfortable introduction to English football for Ancelotti but the Italian was given an early taste of what to expect.
For much of the first half his diamond midfield formation lacked sparkle and after a shaky start, Hull more than matched Chelsea.
HUNT BOOED
Hull's new signing Stephen Hunt, booed throughout by Chelsea fans because of a tackle that left goalkeeper Petr Cech with a fractured skull in 2006 when the Irishman played for Reading, silenced the crowd after 28 minutes.
Chelsea had received a couple of wake-up calls when George Boateng's shot deflected off John Obi Mikel and fell to debutant Hunt to score from 10 metres.
Thankfully for Ancelotti, Drogba sent a dipping free kick into the net before any murmurs of discontent were heard around the Bridge.
Ancelotti replaced Mikel with the more forceful Michael Ballack at halftime and the hosts pummelled Hull in the second period.
However, it looked like being a frustrating day until the 31-year-old Drogba took possession of the ball on the left hand edge of the penalty area two minutes into stoppage time and from a seemingly impossible angle chipped the ball into the net.
"I was a bit lucky to score," Drogba told BBC Radio Five. "It was a cross for Salomon Kalou."
Champions Manchester United begin their quest for a fourth consecutive Premier League title on Sunday when they face promoted Birmingham City while Liverpool, runners-up last season, travel to Tottenham Hotspur.

15 Horrifying Reasons to Never Let Anyone You Love Near a McDonald's

Erectile dysfunction, the truth behind the "special sauce," and a burger from 1996. Keep reading if you dare.

Hacker used Twitter to control infected PCs

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Twitter's been having a rough couple of weeks.

A researcher looking into the attacks that knocked Twitter offline last week discovered another, unrelated security problem.
At least one criminal was using a Twitter account to control a network of a couple hundred infected personal computers, mostly in Brazil. Networks of infected PCs are referred to as "botnets" and are responsible for so much of the mayhem online, from identity theft to spamming to the types of attacks that crippled Twitter.
Jose Nazario with Arbor Networks said he found a Twitter account that was used to send out what looked like garbled messages. But they were actually commands for computers in a botnet to visit malicious Web sites, where they download programs that steal banking passwords.
The affected Twitter account was taken down. Twitter didn't immediately respond to e-mails for comment.
Nazario said what appeared to be the same person was doing the same thing on an account with a Google Inc. service called Jaiku, which is similar to Twitter.
Google said the affected account was shut down.
The technique Nazario described isn't sophisticated, and a couple hundred infected computers is small when some botnets contain hundreds of thousands of infected PCs.
But it shows how criminals are finding inventive ways to exploit legitimate social networking services to help with their dirty work. One reason social networks are an attractive target for crooks is because their content is hard to monitor, and because people click on lots of links inside their accounts, which is a key way computer infections are spread.
"I wouldn't call it rocket science, but it's effective," Nazario said. "This is the problem with free social media that people need to be aware of."
The revelation comes on the heels of a destructive "denial-of-service" attack that brought down Twitter at stretches last week. Those attacks appear to have targeted a lone blogger in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, but affected the entire Twitter service.
Denial-of-service attacks consist of flooding a Web site with so much traffic that its servers buckle under the strain. That's either done by pounding it with an immense volume of traffic (which can be easy to thwart), or increasingly, hammering a site with lots of harder-to-detect computing-intensive requests, like trying to log in or do searches, which can also bring a site to its knees. Botnets, or networks of zombie computers, are the main weapon in both attacks.

Tyson Gay heads to the starting blocks against Usain Bolt


The American is the world champion at 100 and 200 meters, but his Jamaican competitor wowed Olympic crowds and set world records in those events. This weekend, they race in Berlin.
Reporting from Berlin - The ads being used in German print media to promote ticket sales for the 12th World Track & Field Championships leave no doubt about the main event of the nine-day meet that begins Saturday.
"Das Duell über 100m in Berlin," the ads say, the message next to a picture of the two men expected to duel in Sunday's 100-meter final at the 1936 Olympic Stadium: reigning world 100- and 200-meter champion Tyson Gay of the United States and reigning Olympic 100-200 champion Usain Bolt of Jamaica.
"People love to see showdowns," Bolt said.
In the 14 months since the New York race where Bolt broke the 100 world record for the first time, leaving Gay a thoroughly beaten runner-up, the men have kept their distance.
The closest they have been to each other in the race that certifies the world's fastest man was successive semifinal heats at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, when an injury-slowed Gay failed to make the final that would turn Bolt into a global sports icon.
That will change Saturday when they are scheduled to run in preliminary heats of the 100 over the same track.
The world-record time of 9.69 seconds Bolt ran to win Olympic gold, which could have been a few hundredths faster had he not played to the crowd in the final 15 meters, and the jaw-dropping world record of 19.30 Bolt ran in the Olympic 200 might seem to render as so much hype the idea of duels with Gay in Berlin.
Gay's fastest 100 time is 9.77; in the 200, it is 19.58. So the weapons in this duel would look like an automatic pistol against a submachine gun were it not for Gay, despite a nagging groin injury, thinking he has a shot to eclipse both those world-leading personal bests this season.
"I don't believe he is way, way better than me," Gay said. "I believe I have a chance of beating Usain Bolt."
Gay has run slightly faster than Bolt -- 9.79 and 19.59 -- in a 2009 season when the Jamaican's training has been affected by both the post-Olympic glory circuit and an April 29 car accident that left him with cut feet.
"I've been to so many places, so many functions," Bolt said at a recent one in Toronto, where he accepted the Laureus world sportsman of the year award. "Every time you miss a couple days, it's almost like you are starting from scratch again.
"I definitely need to follow up with a great season, and I'm working on that."
Gay was starting from scratch barely a month before the 2008 Olympics because he collapsed to the track with a hamstring injury in the 200 quarterfinals of the U.S. Olympic trials. His training limited by the injury, Gay was both upset and relieved by his elimination in the semifinals of the Olympic 100.
"Seeing what Bolt did, I knew if I had made the finals in the shape I was in I would have been embarrassed," Gay said.
The last time Gay beat Bolt, when they finished 1-2 in the 200 final at the 2007 world championships, the Jamaican was not yet concentrating on the 100, having run only one before 2008.
Few thought Bolt, at 6 feet 5, would be able to uncoil his body from the starting blocks efficiently enough to be a world-beater in the 100. Yet he broke the world record with a 9.72 in the fifth 100 of his career, leaving rivals such as Gay in awe-struck admiration.
"Sometimes you just say a guy is a freak or super-talented," Gay said. "He has the start of a 5-9 guy and the stride length of a 6-5 guy. He changed the game."
The 5-11 Gay is not bothered by going into these world championships as a clear underdog. He was in a similar situation two years ago, when Jamaica's Asafa Powell held the world record in the 100 at 9.77, yet Gay left the perennially underachieving Powell a dispirited third in the 2007 world final.
Asked last month what headline he would write after the Berlin 100, Gay replied, "Tyson Gay shocks the world."
Just to hear that from the usually understated Gay is a shock. A few seconds later, Gay also said he appreciated being asked to share the promotional spotlight with Bolt.
"It means a lot that people haven't forgotten me and that they compare me as even close to him," Gay said.
The photos of the two in the advertisement also illustrate their differences. Gay, 27, has a dead-serious expression; Bolt, 22, is opening his arms to celebrate the 100-meter victory in Beijing.
"We're two different people who run similar times," Gay said. "Some people say I'm boring, or I need to loosen up some. This is how I am, and how I am always going to be."
Bolt has developed an elaborate, crowd-pleasing pantomime, striking poses as a lightning bolt, a flying bird, or a boxer punching the air, shimmying to the beat of a Jamaican dance called "Nuh linga."
"If you want to just run and walk off the track, that's fine," Gay said. "If you have someone who can dance and entertain and run fast, it's good for the sport."