Healthy life is one key to longevity. To live healthy, we of course need good nutrition and healthy too. Here are some types of foods that are claimed merit making young and stay healthy.
1. Olive Oil
Four decades ago, researchers from Seven Coutries Study concluded that the unsaturated fat with a single chain (of monounsaturated) in olive oil are widely useful to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer in the Islands of Crete in Greece. Now the society also have a lot of Jews that olive oil contains folifenol, powerful antioxidants that can prevent age-related diseases.
2. Yogurt
In the 1970s, Soviet Georgia was rumored to have a population of an average age of over 100 years more than other countries. Reports at the time claimed that the secret of longevity is yogurt.
Despite the strength in extending the age of yogurt never been proved directly, yogurt is a calcium-rich foods that can prevent osteoporosis. In addition, yogurt contains good bacteria that help maintain gut health and reduce the risk of intestinal illness associated with age
3. Fish
Thirty years ago, researchers began to study why the native Alaska (Inuit) can be free of heart disease. The reason, according to estimates by experts, is the level of fish consumption is incredible. Fish is an abundant omega-3 fats, which can help lower cholesterol buildup in blood vessels and prevent abnormal heart rhythms.
4. Chocolate cocoa
Kuna communities in the San Blas Islands, Panama, noted a risk of heart disease lower nine times in the appeal of other residents living in Panama. The reason? The Kuna are drinking cocoa rich in flavanols, an antioxidant that can help facilitate the circulation of blood. Maintaining healthy blood vessels means suppressing the risk of high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, renal disease and dementia.
5. Nuts
Studies of Seventh-Day Adventists (a religious denomination that emphasizes healthy living and a vegetarian diet) show that people who eat nuts have an average longevity of two and a half years. Nuts are rich in unsaturated fats, so they offer benefits similar to olive oil. Nuts also contain a variety of vitamins, minerals and other phytochemicals, including antioxidants.
6. Wine
Drinking alcohol in moderation protects against heart disease, diabetes and dementia. Many kinds of alcoholic beverages that can bring benefits, but many studies the focus on red wine. Red wine contains resveratrol, a substance that is estimated to bring these benefits.
7. Blueberry
In a study published in 1999, researchers from the Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center provides a blueberry extract in mice. Provision of these extracts are given for a period equivalent to the life of mice with 10 years of human life.
Rats fed this extract shows its superiority than normal mice when testing balance and coordination when they reached old age. Gynecology in blueberries (and other berries) can allegedly reduce inflammation (inflammation) and is oxidative damage, which is associated with memory loss and motor ability during aging.
In an epic upset in liberal Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown rode a wave of voter anger to win the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy for nearly half a century, leaving President Barack Obama's health care overhaul in doubt and marring the end of his first year in office.
The loss by the once-favored Democrat Martha Coakley in the Democratic stronghold was a stunning embarrassment for the White House after Obama rushed to Boston on Sunday to try to save the foundering candidate. Her defeat on Tuesday signaled big political problems for the president's party this fall when House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates are on the ballot nationwide.
"I have no interest in sugarcoating what happened in Massachusetts," said Sen. Robert Menendez, the head of the Senate Democrats' campaign committee. "There is a lot of anxiety in the country right now. Americans are understandably impatient."
Brown will become the 41st Republican in the 100-member Senate, which could allow the GOP to block the president's health care legislation. Democrats needed Coakley to win for a 60th vote to thwart Republican filibusters. The trouble may go deeper: Democratic lawmakers could read the results as a vote against Obama's broader agenda, weakening their support for the president. And the results could scare some Democrats from seeking office this fall.
The Republican will finish Kennedy's unexpired term, facing re-election in 2012.
Brown led by 52 per cent to 47 percent with all but 3 percent of precincts counted. Turnout was exceptional for a special election in January, with light snow reported in parts of the state. More voters showed up at the polls Tuesday than in any non-presidential general election in Massachusetts since 1990.
One day shy of the first anniversary of Obama's swearing-in, the election played out amid a backdrop of animosity and resentment from voters over persistently high unemployment, Wall Street bailouts, exploding federal budget deficits and partisan wrangling over health care.
"I voted for Obama because I wanted change. ... I thought he'd bring it to us, but I just don't like the direction that he's heading," said John Triolo, 38, a registered independent who voted in Fitchburg.
He said his frustrations, including what he considered the too-quick pace of health care legislation, led him to vote for Brown.
For weeks considered a long shot, Brown seized on voter discontent to overtake Coakley in the campaign's final stretch. His candidacy energized Republicans, including backers of the "tea party" protest movement, while attracting disappointed Democrats and independents uneasy with where they felt the nation was heading.
A cornerstone of Brown's campaign was his promise to vote against the health care plan.
Though the president wasn't on the ballot, he was on many voters' minds.
Coakley called Brown conceding the race, and Obama talked to both Brown and Coakley, congratulating them on the race.
The Democrat said the president told her: "We can't win them all."
Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin said he would notify the U.S. Senate on Wednesday that Brown had been elected. Originally, he had said he might take over two weeks to certify the results of the special election, giving Democrats a window in which to try to rush through final passage of Obama's health care plan.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., promised to seat Brown "as soon as the proper paperwork has been received."
Brown will be the first Republican senator from Massachusetts in 30 years.
Even before the first results were announced, administration officials were privately accusing Coakley of a poorly run campaign and playing down the notion that Obama or a toxic political landscape had much to do with the outcome.
Coakley's supporters, in turn, blamed that very environment, saying her lead dropped significantly after the Senate passed health care reform shortly before Christmas and after the Christmas Day attempted airliner bombing that Obama himself said showed a failure of his administration.
Days before the polls closed, Democrats were fingerpointing and laying blame.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, head of the House Democrats' campaign effort, said Coakley's loss won't deter his colleagues from continuing to blame the previous administration.
"President George W. Bush and House Republicans drove our economy into a ditch and tried to run away from the accident," he said. "President Obama and congressional Democrats have been focused repairing the damage to our economy."
At Boston's Park Plaza Hotel, giddy Republicans cheered, chanted "USA" and waved the "tea party" version of the American flag.
Even before Brown won, the grass-roots network fueled by antiestablishment frustrations, sought credit for the victory, much like the liberal MoveOn.org did in the 2006 midterm elections when Democrats rose to power.
GOP chairman Michael Steele said Brown's "message of lower taxes, smaller government and fiscal responsibility clearly resonated with independent-minded voters in Massachusetts who were looking for a solution to decades of failed Democrat leadership."
Wall Street watched the election closely. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 116 points, and analysts attributed the increase to hopes the election would make it harder for Obama to make his changes to health care. That eased investor concerns that profits at companies such as insurers and drug makers would suffer.
Across Massachusetts, voters who had been bombarded with phone calls and dizzied with nonstop campaign commercials for Coakley and Brown gave a fitting turnout despite intermittent snow and rain statewide.
Galvin, who discounted sporadic reports of voter irregularities throughout the day, predicted turnout ranging from 1.6 million to 2.2 million, 40 percent to 55 percent of registered voters. The Dec. 8 primary had a scant turnout of about 20 percent.
Voters considered national issues including health care and the federal budget deficits.
Fears about spending drove Karla Bunch, 49, to vote for Brown. "It's time for the country, for the taxpayers, to take back their money," she said. And Elizabeth Reddin, 65, voted for Brown because she said she was turned off by the Democrat's negative advertisements, saying: "The Coakley stuff was disgusting."
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Liz Sidoti reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Beth Fouhy, Bob Salsberg, Steve LeBlanc, Karen Testa, Kevin Vineys and Stephanie Reitz also contributed to this report.
Cameron's `Avatar' wins best drama honor at Globes
Sunday, January 17, 2010
The Golden Globes gave top honors to James Cameron's "Avatar" and took its cue from the film's celebration of humanity, with winners ranging from the gritty child-abuse drama "Precious" to freewheeling comedy "The Hangover."
Sunday's awards ceremony also opened wide to embrace the long-admired Jeff Bridges, who took best dramatic-acting honors for the country-music film "Crazy Heart," and a sitcom actress, Mo'Nique, who emerged as a fierce screen presence in "Precious."
Fox's spunky new TV musical comedy series "Glee" was honored, while the best TV drama award went to AMC's 1960s Madison Avenue saga "Mad Men" for the third year in a row.
Cameron was the big winner on the movie side, claiming best drama and best director for his science-fiction blockbuster and setting him for a possible awards sequel to 1997's "Titanic." Cameron's epic about the doomed oceanliner won the same prizes and went on to dominate the Academy Awards.
This time, though, instead of being "king of the world," as Cameron declared at the Oscar ceremony, he has become king of a computer-generated distant moon that made critics gush and sent box-office receipts soaring. The film has grossed $1.6 billion worldwide, second only to "Titanic" with $1.8 billion.
"'Avatar' asks us to see that everything is connected, all human beings to each other, and us to the Earth. And if you have to go four and a half light years to another, made-up planet to appreciate this miracle of the world that we have right here, well, you know what, that's the wonder of cinema right there, that's the magic," Cameron said.
Other film acting prizes went to Sandra Bullock for the football tale "The Blind Side," Meryl Streep for the Julia Child story "Julie & Julia," Robert Downey Jr. for the crime romp "Sherlock Holmes" and Austrian actor Christoph Waltz as a gleefully bloodthirsty Nazi in "Inglourious Basterds."
Sunday's winners could get a last-minute boost for the Oscars, whose nominations balloting closes Saturday. Last year's big Globe winner, "Slumdog Millionaire," went on to garner Oscar glory.
Michael C. Hall won for best actor in a TV drama for Showtime's "Dexter," in which he plays a serial killer with a code of ethics, targeting only other murderers. Hall said last week 's publicists said last week that Hall is being treated for Hodgkin's lymphoma and that the cancer is in remission.
"Dexter" also won the supporting-actor TV honor for John Lithgow. Other TV winners included Juliana Margulies as best actress in a drama for CBS' "The Good Wife" and Toni Collette as best comedy actress for Showtime's "The United States of Tara."
Bridges, a beloved veteran generally overlooked for key Hollywood honors, got a standing ovation at the ceremony hosted by Ricky Gervais.
"You're really screwing up my underappreciated status here," Bridges said.
The son of late actor Lloyd Bridges, Bridges thanked his father for encouraging him to go into show business.
"So glad I listened to you, dad," he said.
Bullock cited Michael Oher, the Baltimore Ravens rookie lineman whose life is the subject of "The Blind Side." She plays a wealthy Memphis woman whose family took the teenage Oher and gave him shelter after discovering he was homeless.
"If I may steal from Michael Oher, I may not be the most talented, but I've been given opportunity," Bullock said.
The Vegas bachelor bash "The Hangover" won for best musical or comedy, bringing uncharacteristic awards attention for broad comedy, a genre that often gets overlooked at Hollywood honors.
The Globes marked a dramatic turning point for Mo'Nique, who was mainly known for lowbrow comedy but startled audiences with her brutal performance in "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' By Sapphire," directed by Lee Daniels and starring newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, who was a Globe nominee.
Streep's competition for best actress in a musical or comedy included herself. She also was nominated for the romance "It's Complicated."
"I just want to say that in my long career, I've played so many extraordinary woman that I'm getting mistaken for one," Streep said. "I'm very clear that I'm the vessel for other people's stories and other people's lives."
The blockbuster "Up" came away with the award for animated film. Pixar Animation, the Disney outfit that made "Up," has won all four prizes for animated movies since the Globes introduced the category in 2006. Past Pixar winners are "WALL-E," "Ratatouille" and "Cars."
"Up" features the voice of Ed Asner in a tale of a lonely, bitter widower who renews his zest for adventure by flying his house off under helium balloons to South America, where he encounters his childhood hero and a hilarious gang of talking canines.
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner won the screenplay honor for "Up in the Air," which Reitman also directed. The foreign-language honor went to "The White Ribbon," a stark drama of guilt and suspicion set in a German town on the eve of World War I.
The rain-drenched red carpet was a rare sight for an awards show in sunny southern California, stars in their finery getting damp under umbrellas as storms swept the region.
Although the Globes are one of Hollywood's biggest parties, the ceremony included somber reminders of tragedy in the real world, many stars wearing ribbons in support of earthquake victims in Haiti.
The Globes, which aired on NBC, are presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of about 90 reporters covering show business for overseas outlets.
DETROIT (AP) -- The world's cheapest car is being readied for sale in the U.S., but by the time India's Tata Nano is retrofitted to meet emissions and safety standards, it won't be that cheap.
Tata Technologies Ltd., the global engineering arm of the Tata group conglomerate, brought the tiny car to Detroit as a publicity stunt for the engineering group.
Tata officials, while maintaining that they couldn't speak for Tata Motors, maker of the $2,500 Nano, said they were involved with the Nano from concept until it launched last July in Mumbai.
They wouldn't say when the Nano might arrive in the U.S. or how much it might cost here, although Ratan Tata, chairman of the group of Tata companies, has said it should be ready for U.S. distribution in about three years.
Tata Motors already has made a European version of the four-seat car that will cost about $8,000 when it debuts in 2011, and a Tata Technologies official said privately that the U.S. version is expected to have a comparable price. The official did not want to be identified because the price has not been made public.
Warren Harris, Tata Technologies president, would only say that the price would be more than the roughly $2,500 charged in India.
"The structural changes that would need to be made, the changes that would be required as far as emissions are concerned, and some of the features that would be appropriate to add to the vehicle for the North American market, obviously that would drive up the price point," he said.
Tata Technologies could be involved in bringing the car up to U.S. standards, said Tony Jones, associate vice president of the global automotive practice.
Before it can be sold here, the car's two-cylinder, 623cc engine would have to be engineered to meet stronger U.S. pollution standards, he said. Airbags would have to be added, the roof strengthened and the front bumper lengthened to meet U.S. requirements to limit damage in a 5-mph crash.
The Spartan interior, with flat bucket seats, three knobs, a horizontal switch and a steering wheel, also would have to be changed to comply with U.S. safety standards that limit movement of passengers not wearing seat belts.
Jones said the Nano Europa has airbags and has passed European safety tests with flying colors.
The Nano, with 12-inch diameter tires, electric windows in the front and crank windows in the back, gets 50 mpg on the highway and has a top speed of 65 mph.
If the $8,000 price tag holds true, it would cost far less than the $9,970 Hyundai Accent, currently the car with the lowest base sticker price in the U.S., according to the Edmunds.com automotive Web site. The price excludes shipping.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Dazed survivors wandered past dead bodies in rubble-strewn streets Wednesday, crying for loved ones, and rescuers desperately searched collapsed buildings as fear rose that the death toll from Haiti's devastating earthquake could reach into the tens of thousands.
The first cargo planes with food, water, medical supplies, shelter and sniffer dogs headed to the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation a day after the magnitude-7 quake flattened much of the capital of 2 million people.
Tuesday's earthquake brought down buildings great and small — from shacks in shantytowns to President Rene Preval's gleaming white National Palace, where a dome tilted ominously above the manicured grounds.
Hospitals, schools and the main prison collapsed. The capital's Roman Catholic archbishop was killed when his office and the main cathedral fell. The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission was missing in the ruins of the organization's multistory headquarters.
Police officers turned their pickup trucks into ambulances to carry the injured. Wisnel Occilus, a 24-year-old student, was wedged between two other survivors in a truck bed headed to a police station. He was in an English class when the earth shook at 4:53 p.m. and the building collapsed.
"The professor is dead. Some of the students are dead, too," said Occilus, who suspected he had several broken bones. "Everything hurts."
Other survivors carried injured to hospitals in wheelbarrows and on stretchers fashioned from doors.
In Petionville, next to the capital, people used sledgehammers and their bare hands to dig through a collapsed shopping center, tossing aside mattresses and office supplies. More than a dozen cars were entombed, including a U.N. truck.
Nearby, about 200 survivors, including many children, huddled in a theater parking lot using sheets to rig makeshift tents and shield themselves from the sun in 90-degree heat.
At a triage center improvised in a hotel parking lot, people with cuts, broken bones and crushed ribs moaned under tent-like covers fashioned from bloody sheets.
"I can't take it anymore. My back hurts too much," said Alex Georges, 28, who was still waiting for treatment a day after his school collapsed and killed 11 classmates. A body lay a few feet away.
"This is much worse than a hurricane," said doctors' assistant Jimitre Coquillon. "There's no water. There's nothing. Thirsty people are going to die."
If there were any organized efforts to distribute food or water, they were not visible.
The aid group Doctors Without Borders treated wounded at two hospitals that withstood the quake and set up tent clinics elsewhere to replace its damaged facilities. Cuba, which already had hundreds of doctors in Haiti, treated injured in field hospitals.
Bodies were everywhere in Port-au-Prince: those of tiny children adjacent to schools; women in the rubble-strewn streets with stunned expressions frozen on their faces; men hidden beneath plastic tarps and cotton sheets.
Haiti's leaders struggled to comprehend the extent of the catastrophe — the worst earthquake to hit the country in 200 years — even as aftershocks reverberated.
"It's incredible," Preval told CNN. "A lot of houses destroyed, hospitals, schools, personal homes. A lot of people in the street dead. ... I'm still looking to understand the magnitude of the event and how to manage."
Preval said thousands of people were probably killed. Leading Sen. Youri Latortue told The Associated Press that 500,000 could be dead, but conceded that nobody really knows.
"Let's say that it's too early to give a number," Preval said.
As dusk fell, thousands of people gathered on blankets outside the crumpled presidential palace, including hundreds of women who waved their hands and sang hymns in a joyful, even defiant tone.
Ricardo Dervil, 29, said he decided to join the crowd because he was worried about aftershocks and was tired of seeing dead bodies.
"I was listening to the radio and they were saying to stay away from buildings," he said. "All I was doing was walking the street and seeing dead people."
Balancing suitcases and belongings on their heads, people streamed on foot into the Haitian countryside, where wooden and cinderblock shacks showed little sign of damage. Ambulances and U.N. trucks raced in the opposite direction, toward Port-au-Prince.
About 3,000 police and international peacekeepers cleared debris, directed traffic and maintained security in the capital. But law enforcement was stretched thin even before the quake and would be ill-equipped to deal with major unrest. The U.N.'s 9,000-member peacekeeping force sent patrols across the capital's streets while securing the airport, port and main buildings.
Looting began immediately after the quake, with people seen carrying food from collapsed buildings. Many lugged what they could salvage and stacked it around them as they slept in streets and parks.
President Barack Obama promised an all-out rescue and humanitarian effort including the military and civilian emergency teams from across the U.S. Late Wednesday, the Navy said the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan had been ordered to sail as soon as possible with a 2,000-member Marine unit to join other warships headed to the Caribbean nation.
"We have to be there for them in their hour of need," Obama said.
The first C-130 plane carrying part of a U.S. military assessment team arrived in Haiti, the U.S. Southern Command said. The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was expected to arrive off the coast Thursday and more U.S. Navy ships were under way.
A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter evacuated four critically injured U.S. Embassy staff to the hospital at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the military has been detaining suspected terrorists.
A small contingent of U.S. ground troops could be on their way soon, although it was unclear whether they would be used for security operations or humanitarian efforts.
Port-au-Prince's ruined buildings fell on both the poor and the prominent: The body of Archbishop Joseph Serge Miot, 63, was found in the ruins of his office, according to the Rev. Pierre Le Beller at Miot's order, the Saint Jacques Missionary Center in Landivisiau, France.
The United Nations said 16 U.N. personnel were confirmed dead and between 100 and 150 U.N. workers were still missing, including U.N. mission head Hedi Annabi of Tunisia and his chief deputy, Luis Carlos da Costa.
Senate President Kelly Bastien was rescued from the collapsed Parliament building and taken to a hospital in the neighboring Dominican Republic. The president of Haiti's Citibank was also among the survivors being treated there, said Rafael Sanchez Espanol, director of the Homs Hospital in Santiago.
An American aid worker was trapped for about 10 hours under the rubble of her mission house before she was rescued by her husband, who told CBS's "Early Show" that he drove 100 miles (160 kilometers) to Port-au-Prince to find her. Frank Thorp said he dug for more than an hour to free his wife, Jillian, and a co-worker, from under about a foot of concrete.
Even the main prison in the capital fell down, "and there are reports of escaped inmates," U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva.
Haiti seems especially prone to catastrophe — from natural disasters like hurricanes, storms, floods and mudslides to crushing poverty, unstable governments, poor building standards and low literacy rates.
The survivors likely will face an increased risk of dengue fever, malaria and measles — problems that plagued the impoverished country before, said Kimberley Shoaf, associate director of the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters.
Some of the biggest immediate health threats include respiratory disease from inhaling dust from collapsed buildings and diarrhea from drinking contaminated water.
The international Red Cross said a third of the country's 9 million people may need emergency aid, a burden that would test any nation and a crushing catastrophe for impoverished Haiti.
The U.S. Embassy had no confirmed reports of deaths among the estimated 40,000 to 45,000 Americans who live in Haiti, but many were struggling to find a way out of the country.
The quake damaged the airport, stranding dozens there. Kency Germain of Eatontown, N.J., kept his family — five adults and three children — at the airport until nearly 3 a.m. They made their way to the U.S. Embassy, where they were allowed to sleep briefly near the entrance.
"It was safer in there (the airport) than it was out there in Port-au-Prince," Germain said.
EXCLUSIVE: 'SPIDER-MAN 4' SCRAPPED; SAM RAIMI & TOBEY MAGUIRE & CAST OUT; FRANCHISE REBOOT FOR 2012
Monday, January 11, 2010
Tobey Maguire just released this statement to me: “I am so proud of what we accomplished with the Spider-Man franchise over the last decade. Beyond the films themselves I have formed some deep and lasting friendships. I am excited to see the next chapter unfold in this incredible story.”
2ND UPDATE: Mike Fleming and Nikki Finke have just confirmed that Sony Pictures decided today to reboot the Spider-Man franchise after franchise director Sam Raimi pulled out of Spider-Man 4 because he felt he couldn't make its summer release date and keep the film's creative integrity. This means that Raimi and the cast including star Tobey Maguire are out. There will be no Spider-Man 4. Instead, Mike Fleming is told, the studio will focus on a Summer 2012 reboot from a script by Jamie Vanderbilt with a new director and a new cast. All this took place today at meeting on the lot today. An official Sony Pictures news release about it is expected out now (see below).
Immediately, the news brought celebration and consternation equally to webslinger fanboys who say the reboot plot puts Peter Parker back in high school. There's also much unconfirmed speculation that this new franchise will be in 3D. And the fans also recall that, in 1991, James Cameron wrote a treatment for Spider-Man and now they're wondering if he might helm the reboot. (Sony ended up acquiring his treatment in a legal settlement.)
Here's what went down: My sources tell me that Raimi told Sony Pictures: "I can't make your date. I can't go forward creatively." And, so, once he said "That's it", Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal and Columbia Pictures' Matt Tolmach decided they didn't want to replace him and instead chose to reboot the franchise. Insiders also tell me that Tobey Maguire heard the news in a phone call with Amy today. I'm told Tobey wasn't upset. "He's made 3 great Spider-Man movies. He's done really well. But he's the kind of guy who, if Sam wanted to go forward, would have been there for Sam and the studio. Absolutely."
Mike Fleming has heard that, from Spidey, Raimi could move to World Of Warcraft, or to The Given Day, that terrific novel by Dennis Lehane, author of Shutter Island and Mystic River. Both are worthy projects, but World Of Warcraft is a huge franchise.
Fortunately for the studio, Sony was not yet "pay or play" on some of the talent negotiations which were still only at the tail end. Raimi was insisting that John Malkovich play the villain, and the studio was looking to cast Anne Hathaway. "I'm not so sure we're going in that direction," an insider told me on January 5th. Sony had been hot for her until bigwigs realized she'd cost too much and they probably don't need "such a big star" for the pic, I was told. (See my previous, Anne Hathaway Wanted For 'Spider-Man 4'.)
As for those repeated rumors that Spider-Man 4 might shoot in 3D, I've learned it would have added at least 6 months to the production schedule and "no one on the pic has any idea how to do that," a source confided. You've got to figure 3D now is uppermost on Sony minds given the post-Avatar climate, and Summer 2012 is more than enough time to make the reboot with new technology. Back in April, Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton told Forbes magazine: "People are paying a premium to see movies in 3-D and that's a very big deal. It's never been done before that someone says you have to pay more to see Spider-Man than a romantic comedy."
The events that led to today's shocking decision to scrap Spider-Man 4 can be traced to mid-December when I saw a December 11th email alerting the pic's special effects crew that the fourquel would not be starting as planned "but Sam Raimi has story issues [that] need to be resolved before we are ready to shoot". At that point, it wasn't well known that the Spider-Man franchise director helming the 4th installment had huge problems with the script that has run through screenwriters Jamie Vanderbilt, David Lindsay-Abaire, and Gary Ross. I was told Sam Raimi had been very vocal inside Sony that he "hated" it. I broke this story on January 5th, and reported that Raimi and Sony were anxiously waiting for still another version from screenwriter Alvin Sargent, who wrote Spidey 2 & 3 and is married to Spidey franchise producer Laura Ziskin. "It is unlikely that May 11, 2011, date will be made," a Sony insider told me that day. "It depends on how quickly the script can get in." However, agents told clients in the movie to already expect the film to be pushed back.
My sources said Sony still intends to release that summer, even if the new date is July 2011. But Spider-Man has always owned that coveted early May date. Even as far back as September 2008 when I reported my exclusive that Sony Locks Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire For 'Spider-Man 4'.
What a giant opportunity for other studios planning their 2011 schedules to grab this big opening. And they did. Paramount and Marvel Entertainment pushed up the release of Thor by two weeks to May 6, 2011. Thor was set to have opened May 20, 2011, a slot which Disney grabbed for Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides.
Spider-Man 4 was supposed to start filming in February, which Tobey Maguire echoed repeatedly in publicity appearances for Brothers. Then it pushed to March. Then late March/early April. And by January 5th there was no date at all, according to my Sony insiders who emailed me: "Some decisions have been made over the holiday about Spider-Man 4. We will be extending the production hiatus on the film. The studio is firmly committed to this franchise but, for us, the script must come first. We intend to notify members of the crew immediately. As you know, Alvin Sargent is currently working on the screenplay. When we have more news, we will keep you posted."
Pascal and Tolmach, who have shepherded the Spider-Man franchise from Day One, have been wrestling with this script problem for months. "I'm going to do everything I can to make May," she has repeatedly told Hollywood types involved with the movie. "But I'm not going to start a movie where the script isn't right yet. Not unless I want my career to be over."
Here is the Sony press release:
Culver City, CA (January 11, 2010) -- Peter Parker is going back to high school when the next Spider-Man hits theaters in the summer of 2012. Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios announced today they are moving forward with a film based on a script by James Vanderbilt that focuses on a teenager grappling with both contemporary human problems and amazing super-human crises.
The new chapter in the Spider-Man franchise produced by Columbia, Marvel Studios and Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin, will have a new cast and filmmaking team. Spider-Man 4 was to have been released in 2011, but had not yet gone into production.
“A decade ago we set out on this journey with Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire and together we made three Spider-Man films that set a new bar for the genre. When we began, no one ever imagined that we would make history at the box-office and now we have a rare opportunity to make history once again with this franchise. Peter Parker as an ordinary young adult grappling with extraordinary powers has always been the foundation that has made this character so timeless and compelling for generations of fans. We’re very excited about the creative possibilities that come from returning to Peter's roots and we look forward to working once again with Marvel Studios, Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin on this new beginning,” said Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
“Working on the Spider-Man movies was the experience of a lifetime for me. While we were looking forward to doing a fourth one together, the studio and Marvel have a unique opportunity to take the franchise in a new direction, and I know they will do a terrific job,” said Sam Raimi.
“We have had a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration and friendship with Sam and Tobey and they have given us their best for the better part of the last decade.This is a bittersweet moment for us because while it is hard to imagine Spider-Man in anyone else’s hands, I know that this was a day that was inevitable,” said Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures, who has served as the studio’s chief production executive since the beginning of the franchise. “Now everything begins anew, and that’s got us all tremendously excited about what comes next. Under the continuing supervision of Avi and Laura, we have a clear vision for the future of Spider-Man and can’t wait to share this exciting new direction with audiences in 2012.”
"Spider-Man will always be an important franchise for Sony Pictures and a fresh start like this is a responsibility that we all take very seriously," said Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures. "We have always believed that story comes first and story guides the direction of these films and as we move onto the next chapter, we will stay true to that principle and will do so with the highest respect for the source material and the fans and moviegoers who deserve nothing but the best when it comes to bringing these stories and characters to life on the big screen."
The studio will have more news about Spider-Man in 2012 in the coming weeks as it prepares for production of the film.
Alcoa Earnings: Alcoa posts smaller loss thanks to better prices, lower costs
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Alcoa Inc., aided by improving aluminum prices and lower corporate costs, reported a smaller fourth-quarter loss Monday afternoon.
Net loss was $277 million, or 28 cents a share. In the year-earlier quarter, Alcoa lost $1.2 billion or $1.49 a share, when aluminum prices and demand collapsed.
News Hub: Mixed Results From Alcoa
Aluminum producer Alcoa kicks off the fourth-quarter 2009 earnings season with a $277 million loss. WSJ's Paul Glader and Grainne McCarthy join Simon Constable on the News Hub to discuss.
Sales fell 4% to $5.4 billion. Excluding charges, Alcoa said it earned 1 cent a share.
Analysts had forecast Alcoa /quotes/comstock/13*!aa/quotes/nls/aa (AA 16.51, -0.94, -5.39%) to earn 5 cents a share on sales of $4.9 billion, according to FactSet Research.
Alcoa shares fell 4% in late trades.
Alcoa, which has lost more than $2 billion over the past year, said it generated positive, free cash flow for the first time since June 2008. Free cash flow, or money left over after all the expenses are paid, was up $947 million from the third quarter.
When the global economy collapsed, the Pittsburgh-based company closed plants, slashed its dividend and curbed its output. Since 2008, the company has cut 21,500 jobs and cut capital spending by 52% to $1.6 billion.
"They are still trying to rein in costs," said Brian Hicks, portfolio manager at U.S. Global Investors' Resources Fund, which owns Alcoa shares.
Alcoa has been working through a glut of excess metal it sells to automotive, construction and aerospace industries. In a conference call to discuss the earnings, Alcoa Chief Executive Klaus Kleinfeld said the aluminum market "is in a modest surplus."
Sales have now ticked higher in each of the past three quarters. But they haven't topped 2008's fourth quarter of $5.7 billion. Rising aluminum prices are helping Alcoa. Prices rose 9.5% from the third quarter to the fourth quarter, according to Citigroup research.
"Markets continue to be very weak relative to last year," Alcoa Chief Financial Officer Chuck McLane said in the conference call. Compared with the year-ago quarter, sales to aerospace makers fell 21%, while sales to auto makers dropped 43%. Primary metal sales tumbled 35%.
For 2010, Alcoa pegged global aluminum consumption to grow 10%, compared with a 6% decline in 2009.
Investors have been anticipating a rebound at Alcoa, a Dow component. The shares have surged 32% in the past month, outpacing the 3% gain for the blue-chip index. The stock closed Monday up 2.5% to $17.45.
The consensus stock-price target of analysts is $16.49, who on average rate Alcoa shares a "hold," according to the latest FactSet survey.
Steel and materials-related stocks have rallied early in 2010.
U.S. Steel Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!x/quotes/nls/x (X 62.50, -0.43, -0.68%) and Titanium Metals Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!tie/quotes/nls/tie (TIE 14.28, -0.38, -2.59%) are both up 15%. Allegheny Technologies is 12% higher.
American Idol: Cowell says he's leaving 'Idol' for 'X Factor'
Simon Cowell, the acerbic Brit who has helped give "American Idol" some of its sharpest — and nastiest — moments, will leave the hit TV singing contest after this season.
The cantankerous judge said Monday that "The X Factor," a talent show he created and which is popular in Britain, will join Fox's schedule next year. Cowell will be a judge on "The X Factor" and its executive producer.
Cowell's decision is the biggest threat yet to what has consistently been the country's top-rated TV program and a true cultural force. This season, original host Paula Abdul has been replaced by Ellen DeGeneres.
But Cowell, with his caustic commentary, has long been seen as the big star of "Idol."
He said it would have been difficult for him to do both shows. While he makes a reported $36 million a year to be on "American Idol," he owns "The X Factor" and could make much more if the show takes off.
Cowell and top Fox executives made the announcement to reporters in Pasadena at a meeting of the Television Critics Association; they said they had reached an agreement only a few hours before.
"I was offered a lot of money to stay on," Cowell said. "But that wasn't the reason behind it. I wanted to do something different. I wanted a new challenge."
But an even greater challenge is posed for Idol producers. Without the show's biggest attraction and most critical judge, will "American Idol" lose steam and plunge even more in ratings? At least one analyst, Shari Anne Brill of Carat USA, said the "Idol" audience probably will decline next season.
"I think it's that brand of sarcasm combined with professional know-how that makes Simon the audience magnet that he is," she said. "I really believe the show revolves around him. He's the linchpin of the show's success. He has tremendous influence on how the audience votes. He's interesting to listen to. He's brutally honest."
That said, even without Simon, she predicts the show "will still be a formidable player on Fox's schedule."
Kevin Reilly, Fox entertainment president, said Cowell's departure from "Idol" isn't necessarily a win for the network's competitors.
"I think it would be premature to be popping corks. Maybe they can say this gives us a little bit of wiggle room, but that's a big maybe. On the other hand, we're not losing Simon Cowell, we're potentially gaining another big headache for them in the fall," Reilly said.
Peter Rice, chairman of entertainment for Fox, added a dramatic touch to the news conference by asking Cowell to sign his new contract. Cowell's deal with "American Idol," which returns for its ninth year Tuesday, will end with the season.
Cowell said launching a show that doesn't put an age limit on contestants — and allows groups along with individual singers — makes it very different from "American Idol." The top age for "Idol" singers is 28.
Susan Boyle, 48, who was discovered on "Britain's Got Talent," is an example of why age should be irrelevant, said Cowell, a judge on the British show he created and executive producer of "America's Got Talent" on NBC. Boyle became an unlikely sensation and released one of the year's top-selling CDs.
Rice wouldn't speculate on possible replacements for Cowell on "Idol."
"We have to take our time on that," he said. "We have to make sure the chemistry of the judges is as good as it can be."
Cowell said there are many who want the job. But while everybody is talking about the judges, he added, "Fundamentally, the most important reason we do this is to find talent."
Asked about bringing in Abdul as a judge on "X Factor," Cowell replied: "I adore Paula. Whatever happens, I will be working with her in some capacity, because I miss her." But Victoria Beckham, a guest judge this season on "Idol," won't be joining his new show, Cowell said without explanation.
Cowell apparently carefully chose his time to resign, saying he didn't want to leave "American Idol" at a time when it was fading in the ratings.
"You want to leave on a high," he said. "I'm very proud of what the show has achieved."
"American Idol," which is entering its ninth season this week, has been the country's most popular television program for the past five years and has launched such stars as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Chris Daughtry.
Yet viewership for "American Idol" has been shrinking since its 2005 peak when it averaged more than 30 million weekly viewers, according to research chief Brad Adgate of Horizon Media; last year's weekly audience averaged just under 25 million. The median age of viewers has shot up, from nearly 32 years old in the first season to about 44 last year.
Rice and Cowell said "Idol" and "The X Factor" would complement each other, not detract.
Airing the network's talent shows throughout the season — "The X Factor" in the fall, "American Idol" from January through May and "So You Think You Can Dance" in the summer — will be a "source of strength" for Fox's schedule, Rice said.
If you're looking for creative (and delicious!) ways to enhance your weight loss efforts, here's a fresh collection of six slimming foods you should add to your repertoire. I'm a firm believer that dieting and losing weight doesn't mean you have to subsist on bland, boring cardboard. With that in mind, I've put together a list of strategic skinny eats, each of which has its own unique way of satisfying your taste buds while blunting your appetite. I encourage you to peruse my list and use these tasty bites to your advantage!
Pumpkin Pudding: Decadent, creamy pudding for less than 150 calories--and it helps you lose weight! Just combine a 6-ounce container of nonfat vanilla yogurt with ½ cup canned 100% pure pumpkin puree and a dash of cinnamon. The pumpkin bulks up the yogurt--already a protein-rich, nutrient-packed food--and adds a hefty dose of fiber. This winning combo of protein and fiber expands in your stomach, keeping you full long after you finish, so you're not looking for more munchies an hour later.
Vegetable Soup: Studies have shown that just by starting a meal with a fiber-rich bowl of broth-based veggie soup, you can reduce your total calorie intake by 20 percent. That's because this "veggie first course" helps to fill you up, so you wind up eating less at the main meal.
Cucumber Tomato Salad: Thanks to their high percentage of water (95%!), cucumbers are low-calorie, high volume, and top-notch for weight loss! Slice up one whole cucumber plus a medium tomato, then toss with light vinaigrette or unlimited vinegar (balsamic or red wine is delish) plus 1 teaspoon olive oil. The entire salad has only 125 calories!
Ginger Green Tea: Nursing a warm mug of tea is a calorie-free way to de-stress after a long day without falling prey to emotional eating. As an added bonus, research suggests that regularly drinking green tea may give you a slight calorie-burning advantage. Steep your tea with a thin slice of ginger root for an extra punch of flavor.
Fiery Chicken Salad: Adding a few dashes of fiery hot sauce to your food slows down your eating big time so you're less likely to eat past the point of fullness. For a simple lunch, whip up a chicken salad with diced chicken breast, 1 tablespoon reduced-fat mayo, hot sauce to taste, and any diced veggies on hand. Serve over a bed of lettuce (and have a glass of water handy!).
Shrimp Cocktail: At around 8 calories a piece, shrimp are a fabulous source of lean protein, which helps rev your metabolism and keeps you feeling full for hours. Next time you dine out, start your meal with a shrimp cocktail appetizer. When you're eating at home, dunk your shrimp in this could-not-be-easier cocktail sauce recipe: simply combine 1 tablespoon ketchup with 1 teaspoon bottled horseradish.
PETA’s use of First Lady in advertisement angers White House
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
No strangers to controversy, the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is up to its old tricks again. This time they've raised eyebrows by using an image of Michelle Obama in an anti-fur advertisement without her permission. The White House is not pleased, to say the least.
The ad in question features the image of the first lady alongside the images of Oprah Winfrey, Tyra Banks, and Carrie Underwood underneath the slogan, "Fur-free and fabulous!" The ads, which PETA says features "a bevy of the smartest, most stylish, and most influential women in America," are being plastered all over the Washington D.C. Metro mass transit system, in addition to appearing in various magazines and websites.
While Winfrey, Banks and Underwood are all on record as publicly endorsing PETA's anti-fur efforts, first lady Michelle Obama cannot endorse special interest groups such as PETA. Thus, the White House is mildly perturbed by the use of the first lady's image in the campaign.
"We did not consent to this," a spokeswoman for Michelle Obama said yesterday.
For their part, PETA says that they will not take down the ads and maintains that Michelle Obama's past anti-fur declarations essentially give them license to use her image in a campaign.
"We haven't asked the White House to fund or promote the campaign, as they can't do such things, but the fact is that Michelle Obama has issued a statement indicating that she doesn't wear fur, and the world should know that in PETA's eyes, that makes her pretty fabulous," said PETA president Ingrid Newkirk in a statement.
The current flap with PETA isn't the first time that Obama family members have been used without consent to promote political causes. Last August, a Washington nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting healthy school lunches came under fire for incorporating Sasha and Malia Obama into a campaign to reform the Child Nutrition Act. The ads, which featured the image of a young African American girl, read, "President Obama's daughters get healthy school lunches. Why don't I?" Just like PETA, the group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Action, refused to remove the ads after the White House voiced their objections.
Not surprisingly, the images and likenesses of the first family have also been used without White House consent in the interest of free enterprise, perhaps most notably on Sasha and Malia and Michelle Obama dolls. Don't be surprised at all when future controversies involving the unauthorized use of first family images arises, because it almost certainly will.
The Hubble Space Telescope has captured the earliest image yet of the universe — just 600 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was just a toddler.
Scientists released the photo Tuesday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society. It's the most complete picture of the early universe so far, showing galaxies with stars that are already hundreds of millions of years old, along with the unmistakable primordial signs of the first cluster of stars.
These young galaxies haven't yet formed their familiar spiral or elliptical shapes and are much smaller and quite blue in color. That's mostly because at this stage, they don't contain many heavy metals, said Garth Illingworth, a University of California, Santa Cruz, astronomy professor who was among those releasing the photo.
"We're seeing very small galaxies that are seeds of the great galaxies today," Illingworth said in a news conference.
Until NASA's Hubble telescope was repaired and upgraded last year, the farthest back in time that astronomers could see was about 900 million years after the Big Bang, Illingworth said. Hubble has been key in helping determine the age of the universe at about 13.7 billion years, ending a long scientific debate about a decade ago.
As far back as Hubble can see, it still doesn't see the first galaxies. For that, NASA will have to rely on a new observatory, the $4.5 billion James Webb telescope, which is set to launch in about four years.
"We are on the way to the beginning," said astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson of the American Museum of Natural History. "Every step closer to the beginning tells you something you did not know before."
The new Hubble picture captures those distant simpler galaxies juxtaposed amid closer, newer and more evolved ones. The result is a cosmic family photo that portrays galaxies at different ages and stages of development over the course of more than 13 billion years.
Tyson, who was not involved in the Hubble image research, said most people only like their own baby pictures, but Hubble's photo is different: "These are the baby pictures for us all, hence the widespread interest."
Game publishing giant EA says it'll stick with celebrity licensee Tiger Woods despite recent public scandals. That's the word from EA Sports prez Peter Moore, who blogs that the company was moving forward with its online version of the eponymous video game franchise for PC and Mac set to launch later this month.
Question is, why wouldn't they?
Ask yourself this. Have past EA-based Tiger Woods games involved the golf force-of-nature's personal life? And does the current tabloid orgy about whatever went down between him and his wife have anything--read: anything whatsoever--to do with his professional abilities?
If you answered yes to either, do us all a favor: Find the nearest mental health facility and check yourself in--indefinitely.
In the meantime, let's applaud EA's decision to do what fair-weather sponsors like Accenture, Tag Heuer, Gilette, and AT&T wouldn't: Separate the incidentals from the essentials.
"For the past month, we have watched the Tiger Woods story play itself out while several of his sponsors have stepped away from the golfer," writes EA's Moore. "At EA SPORTS, we’ve been particularly attentive because for the past year, we have been in full development of a new and highly innovative, online golf game. The game has been in closed beta for eight months, with more than 75,000 people playing and participating."
Moore acknowledges the decision may turn heads and create "further speculation about [Woods'] relationship with sponsors," and offers the following straightforward rationale for EA's decision to hold steady:
Our relationship with Tiger has always been rooted in golf. We didn’t form a relationship with him so that he could act as an arm’s length endorser. Far from it. We chose to partner with Tiger in 1997 because we saw him as the world’s best, most talented and exciting golfer. We struck that partnership with the assumption that he would remain near or at the top of his sport for years to come.
By his own admission, he’s made some mistakes off the course. But regardless of what’s happening in his personal life, and regardless of his decision to take a personal leave from the sport, Tiger Woods is still one of the greatest athletes in history. At EA SPORTS, we make authentic sports simulations
Hats off to Moore for disclosing as much, leveling with fans and potential subscribers, but most of all, for staying out of a childish kerfuffle that's frankly no one's business but Woods'.
China, saddled with the world's second largest tuberculosis burden after India, is fighting an uphill battle against drug-resistant forms of the disease which will only drain the country's health budget.
Drug-resistant TB, far more expensive to treat, emerges when patients fail to follow treatment regimens and take substandard drugs or stop treatment too early.
Liu Zhongwu, a stonecutter working in southern China, for example, stopped taking his TB medication midway through a standard six-month course in 2007 because it was too costly.
"Even though one or two drugs were free, I had to pay 500 yuan ($73) a month for other drugs (to reduce side effects) and the side effects were bad, I suffered terrible gastric pain and had to stop work, I didn't even have energy to walk," said Liu.
It is precisely this sort of behavior that health experts are trying to stop because if the TB bacteria is not fully eliminated, it can mutate, resurge later and become resistant to the small arsenal of drugs that can fight the disease.
China has 4.5 million TB cases currently; and each year 1.4 million people fall ill with the disease. TB killed 160,000 people in China in 2008, according to the World Health Organization.
TB killed 1.8 million people across the world in 2008, or a person every 20 seconds. It is not only a scourge in poor countries but also in the West, where it has flared anew in the last 20 years because of AIDS, which weakens the immune system.
DRUG-RESISTANT STRAIN
TB is also a big drain on China's health budget because of a high incidence of people with a drug-resistant strain of the disease, which is a lot harder and more expensive to treat.
In such cases, patients need to take drugs for up to two years and the worst type of TB, for which there is no cure, kills one out of every two patients.
"If there are more drug-resistant cases, the cost of TB treatment will rise by a lot, that's for sure. With drug resistance, we can't use first-line drugs and other drugs cost a lot more," said Lin Yan, director of the China office of the non-profit International Union Against TB and Lung Disease.
"When these patients infect others, the others will get drug-resistant TB. That increases the cost of treating that person and increases the chances of him not recovering."
Regular TB costs 1,000 yuan to treat in China but drug-resistant TB ranges from 100,000 to 300,000 yuan per person, said Zhong Qiu of China's TB Expert Consultative Committee.
China ranks second in the world with 112,000 drug-resistant TB cases in 2007, after India with 131,000. Russia has 43,000 cases, while South Africa has 16,000 and Bangladesh 15,000.
China spent $225 million on tackling TB in 2008, up from $98 million in 2002, according to WHO. These figures do not take into account what patients pay out of their pockets, typically between 47 and 62 percent of their hospital bills.
Drug-resistant TB made up 27.8 percent of all TB cases in China in 2000 versus five percent in advanced countries.
"There are many reasons for China's drug-resistant TB problem. Patients stop taking drugs when they feel better, maybe after a month. Some have no money for drugs if the treatment is not free and they don't even know this is a serious disease," said Lin.
"Some are so afraid of stigma they don't see a doctor, they just buy drugs over the counter."
IGNORANCE, POVERTY, STIGMA
TB affects mostly poor people, who typically live in places where healthcare is not easily accessible. Many patients pay not only for treatment but also transportation, and any chronic, long-term disease can bankrupt entire families.
Li Jiachuen, 45, quickly ran out of money and had to borrow from relatives and friends after he was diagnosed with TB.
"I don't take drugs now. I don't even have money to pay off my 20,000 yuan debt. I spent thousands of yuan on diagnosis and treatment and even more on transportation," Li said.
WHO recommends all TB treatment be free because the disease is a public health threat.
But in China, diagnosis and treatment is only free in specialist TB outpatient clinics. General hospitals, which have been self-financing since the 1990s, impose charges.
"TB is a political problem because it is infectious. It has societal impact, it is a threat to public health ... free treatment is very important," said Zhong, who also heads the Anti-TB Research Institute in China's southern Guangdong province.
The world's only TB vaccine is 100 years old and there has been no new TB drug for more than 40 years. But the resurgence of TB due to AIDS has forced the West back into TB research in the last 20 years and a string of experimental drugs and vaccines are now in the pipeline.
Chinese scientists are working on a new class of TB drugs based on an old drug called clofazimine, used in the past to treat leprosy, said Ann Ginsberg, chief medical officer of the TB Alliance, a US-based non-profit scientific group that pulls together partners to develop new TB drugs.
"They (scientists) found a very promising lead compound and we hope within the next six months ... it will come into formal pre-clinical development and get the formal animal and non human studies that are required to convince the regulators it can go onto people," said Ginsberg.
NASA: Planet-hunting telescope unearths hot mysteries
NASA's new planet-hunting telescope has found two mystery objects that are too hot to be planets and too small to be stars.
The Kepler Telescope, launched in March, discovered the two new heavenly bodies, each circling its own star. Telescope chief scientist Bill Borucki of NASA said the objects are thousands of degrees hotter than the stars they circle. That means they probably aren't planets. They are bigger and hotter than planets in our solar system, including dwarf planets.
"The universe keeps making strange things stranger than we can think of in our imagination," said Jon Morse, head of astrophysics for NASA.
The new discoveries don't quite fit into any definition of known astronomical objects, and so far don't have a classification of their own. Details about the mystery objects were presented Monday at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington.
For now, NASA researcher Jason Rowe, who found the objects, said he calls them "hot companions."
How hot? Try 26,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That's hot enough to melt lead or iron.
There are two leading theories for what the objects might be and those theories cover both ends of the cosmic life cycle:
_Rowe suggests they are newly born planets. New planets have extremely high temperatures, and in this case Rowe speculates they might be only about 200 million years old.
_Ronald Gilliland of the Space Telescope Science Institute says they could be white dwarf stars that are dying and stripping off their outer shells and shrinking.
The primary focus of the Kepler telescope's three-year mission is to find out how common other planets — especially Earth-like planets — are in the universe. To do that, it is scanning a small chunk of the sky, about one four-hundredth of the night sky with more than 150,000 stars to look for planets.
The telescope in just six weeks found its first five confirmed planets, slightly more than astronomers expected from such a quick search. There are hundreds of other candidates that need confirmation.
The five planets are all much larger than Earth, much closer to their stars than Earth is to the sun, and way too hot for life, Borucki said. A couple of these planets are close to 3,000 degrees.
"Looking at them is like looking at a blast furnace," Borucki said. "Certainly, no place to look for life."
One of the newly discovered planets is so airy that "it has the density of Styrofoam," Borucki said.
"There's going to be all kinds of weird stuff out there," said Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, who wasn't part of the research. "This is an unparalleled data set. The universe really is a weird place. It's fantastic."
Kidney failure can occur from an acute situation or from chronic problems.
In acute renal failure, kidney function is lost rapidly and can occur from a variety of insults to the body. The list of causes is often categorized based on where the injury has occurred. Prerenal causes (pre=before + renal=kidney) causes are due to decreased blood supply to the kidney. Examples of prerenal causes are:
Hypovolemia (low blood volume) due to blood loss
Dehydration from loss of body fluid (vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, fever )
Poor intake of fluids
Medication, for example, diuretics ("water pills") may cause excessive water loss.
Loss of blood supply to the kidney due to obstruction of the renal artery or vein.
Renal causes (damage directly to the kidney itself) include:
Sepsis: The body's immune system is overwhelmed from infection and causes inflammation and shutdown of the kidneys. This usually does not occur with urinary tract infections.
Medications: Some medications are toxic to the kidney, including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen and naproxen. Others are antibiotics like aminoglycosides [gentamicin (Garamycin), tobramycin], lithium (Eskalith, Lithobid), iodine-containing medications such as those injected for radiology dye studies.
Rhabdomyolysis: This is a situation in which there is significant muscle breakdown in the body, and the degeneration products of muscle fibers clog the filtering system of the kidneys. Often occurring because of trauma and crush injuries, it can also be caused by some medications used to treat high cholesterol.
Multiple Myeloma
Acute glomerulonephritis or inflammation of the glomeruli, the filtering system of the kidneys. Many diseases can cause this inflammation including systemic lupus erythematosus, Wegener's granulomatosis, and Goodpasture syndrome.
Post renal causes (post=after + renal= kidney) are due to factors that affect outflow of the urine:
Obstruction of the bladder or the ureters can cause back pressure when there is no place for the urine to go as the kidneys continue to work. When the pressure increases enough, the kidneys shut down.
Prostatic hypertrophy or prostate cancer may block the urethra and prevents the bladder from emptying.
Tumors in the abdomen that surround and obstruct the ureters.
Kidney stones
Chronic renal failure develops over months and years. The most common causes of chronic renal failure are related to:
Pryor leads Buckeyes past Ducks 26-17 in Rose Bowl
Friday, January 1, 2010
Terrelle Pryor jumped on a golf cart and rode up the Rose Bowl tunnel in his grass-stained uniform, heading out to pick up a trophy. A clutch of departing Ohio State fans caught sight of his No. 2 jersey and let loose the sort of wild cheer Pryor always imagined would be the soundtrack to his career. Ohio State's bowl woes were over, thanks to a quarterback who finally played up to his enormous potential — and a sturdy defense that grounded Oregon's high-flying offense.
Pryor passed for a career-high 266 yards and two touchdowns, rushed for 72 more and threw a 17-yard scoring pass to DeVier Posey with 7:02 to play, ending the No. 8 Buckeyes' three-game BCS skid with a 26-17 victory over No. 7 Oregon on Friday.
"I just wanted to come out and show I can be a complete quarterback," Pryor said.
From the opening days of bowl preparation, Pryor's teammates sensed a new focus in their sophomore leader, whose much-publicized recruitment had led to two solid seasons, but not the transcendence many expected from the mobile passer. With a Rose Bowl effort that evoked memories of Vince Young's breakout performance in the same stadium four years ago, Pryor shook off his early mistakes and led the Buckeyes (11-2) confidently through a tense fourth quarter.
Turns out nothing was wrong with the Buckeyes' sophomore quarterback that winning the Rose Bowl couldn't cure.
"I think he wanted to have a game that puts him out there in the national ranks, puts him on the map," said receiver Dane Sanzenbacher, who had nine catches for 64 yards. "You could see it with Terrelle in the huddle. He kept his poise and kept us moving. It's something we see in practice all the time, but everybody else can see it now, too."
Even with two Big Ten titles and two wins over Michigan, Pryor hadn't matched his hype until this steady, sometimes spectacular performance on the biggest stage of his career. His frustrations with the sometimes-staid Ohio State offense evaporated with a surprisingly wide-open game plan against Oregon (10-3), taking advantage of his legs and arm.
"As a quarterback, you don't like running the ball," Pryor said. "It's kind of like being selfish. We have great running backs, and they need to get the ball, too. ... Whatever we need, I'll do it. That's what it's about on offense."
With Ohio State nursing a two-point lead in the fourth quarter, he took charge during a 13-play, 81-yard drive eating up more than six minutes — part of the Buckeyes' Rose Bowl-record 41:37 time-of-possession advantage.
After arriving in Los Angeles, Pryor disclosed he'd been playing with a partially torn knee ligament, and he came up limping early in the game. But Pryor said the knee didn't bother him, and you sure couldn't tell by the way he played.
Pryor converted a third-and-13 play near midfield with about nine minutes to play on a 26-yard catch by tight end Jake Ballard, who leaped high to snatch it. After another third-down conversion, Posey made an impressive TD catch, turning both directions and snagging Pryor's pass away from his body before tumbling over the goal line.
"I guess everybody knows he can throw now," Ballard said with a grin.
Posey had eight catches for 101 yards, and Brandon Saine caught an early TD pass for the Buckeyes, making their first Rose Bowl appearance since 1997.
Yet Ohio State's defense did much of the work, limiting the Ducks' no-huddle offense to its worst passing game of the season. Jeremiah Masoli threw for just 81 yards and LaMichael James rushed for 70. A series of big plays and kick returns by Kenjon Barner kept the 96th Rose Bowl close until Pryor sealed it.
"When I saw him in high school, he was a man amongst boys, and at times tonight, he looked like a man amongst boys," said Oregon rookie coach Chip Kelly, who recruited Pryor in Jeannette, Pa. "He certainly beat us on how he threw the ball." Oregon made a remarkable comeback from its season-opening loss to Boise State to win its first Pac-10 title since 2001, but the Ducks haven't won the Rose Bowl since the game's third edition in 1917, back when the Granddaddy of Them All was a toddler.
Masoli's 1-yard TD run put Oregon up 17-16 early in the third quarter, but the Ducks' powerful offense never scored again. Oregon ran for 179 yards, the second-most allowed by Ohio State this season, but the Ducks were one-dimensional. Oregon, in its first Rose Bowl since 1995, had scored at least 37 points in its previous six games.
"Definitely the whole night we were just a little bit off," said Masoli, who was 9 for 20. "We didn't really open up the playbook regarding the air attack. I don't know why. I wasn't calling the plays."
After Oregon's Morgan Flint missed a 44-yard field goal — his first miss since Oct. 3 — Pryor drove the Buckeyes one more time, finishing with emphasis by gaining a first down with a 12-yard run right after Oregon called its final timeout.
"T.P. took this game seriously, at a whole different level," Ohio State defensive lineman Doug Worthington said. "He was amazing with his arm and his legs. On the defense, we were just trying to get the ball back to him to make plays." LeGarrette Blount scored an early touchdown for the Ducks, but the once-suspended tailback also fumbled out of the end zone in the third quarter, ending a potential scoring drive.
The cheers Blount received on the way on and off the field highlighted a tumultuous season for the bruising tailback, who was suspended for eight games after punching a Boise State player in frustration after the Ducks' season-opening loss.
Ohio State marched 19 plays for a short field goal 1:05 before halftime, and Ross Homan's 20-yard interception return moments later put the Buckeyes in position for Aaron Pettrey's 45-yard field goal at the gun to make it 16-10.
