Wednesday, December 28, 2011

?China more at risk from US AMD plans in Pacific?

Chinese submarines on patrol in Pacific Ocean

Speaking on the presence of US missile defense systems in the Pacific region, Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Vladimir Dvorkin says this shield is more of a threat to the nuclear forces in China than it is to Russia?s.

?

Major Gen. Dvorkin, a senior fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of World Economy and International Relations, revealed that Japan and South Korea are already equipped with the Aegis missile defense systems.

"A Pacific missile defense system is a matter of not a very distant future,? Dvorkin said at a conference in Moscow. ?Japan already possesses four and South Korea two destroyers equipped with Aegis systems. The Japanese are planning to increase this number to six.?

Japan has already intercepted ballistic targets with support from the US, he added.

Given the location of these particular missile defense assets, they pose more of a threat to China?s nuclear forces than Russia?s.

"This is a working missile defense system. And surely it threatens China's nuclear deterrence potential more than Russia's," Dvorkin said.

In light of such findings, the retired major general said China, a growing military power in its own right, must also be involved in the ongoing negotiations on US missile defense in Europe and Asia.

"We cannot view this system only within the framework of negotiations between Russia, the US, and NATO," Dvorkin said. "Because China is a crucial factor affecting the UN Security Council positions," he added.

Meanwhile, Alexey Arbatov, head of the International Security Center at the same institute, suggested that Russia should change the format of the negotiations on the US missile defense facilities in Europe.

"Negotiations on the European missile defense should be resumed and their format should be changed,? he said. ?It is necessary to talk about compatibility of the Russian aerospace defense system and the NATO program rather than about Russia's participation in the US?s or NATO's missile defense system."

Arbatov then suggested that the Americans may also want guarantees that Russia?s defense system is not aimed at their territory.

"Moscow demands that Washington provide legal guarantees that the European missile defense system is not targeted against Russia,? he noted. ?Then we should think what Russia could offer to the Americans to guarantee that the Russian aerospace defense system is not targeted against the US.?

In fact, these systems pursue the same goals, he added.

The negotiations on the US missile defense system in Eastern Europe should be held simultaneously with negotiations on a new treaty on slashing strategic offensive arms, high-precision weapons and conventional weapons, Arbatov said.

"I think that if the format is changed this way, a lot of issues will be viewed as pragmatic solutions rather than political propaganda," Arbatov concluded.

Robert Bridge, RT

Source: http://rt.com/politics/russia-china-us-missile-defense-pacific-803/

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Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program aims to equip troops mentally

Reporting from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.?

Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum found out what combat stress was in the back of a pickup during the first Gulf War in 1991 when one of her Iraqi captors unzipped her flight suit and, as she lay there with two broken arms and an injured eye, sexually assaulted her.

The reed-thin Army physician, whose Black Hawk helicopter had been shot down, became a symbol of everything America was worried about in sending women to war. Her successful return home ? sane and not that much the worse for her ordeal ? became a powerful argument for the irrelevance of gender in conditions of indiscriminate violence.

To Cornum, it was also an example of how a strong constitution and positive thinking can help soldiers, male and female, through unthinkable ordeals.

"As I was crashing, I knew that my only two choices were either I was going to be dead or I was going to be a prisoner, so when I became a prisoner, my first thought was how grateful I was [that] I was a prisoner," she said in an interview.

As the Army struggles to deal with an increase in suicides and combat-related stress stemming from 10 years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, Cornum has been deployed to lead the military's new mental fitness program. It is designed to prepare soldiers for the psychic trauma of war and its aftermath.

The $125-million Comprehensive Soldier Fitness program requires soldiers to undergo the kind of mental pre-deployment tests and training that they have always had to undergo physically. Already, more than 1.1 million have had the mental assessments.

"We send people to the range to learn marksmanship, and we first teach them how to sight the weapon, then how to hit stationary targets, then pop-up targets. You learn these kind of tactical things in a progressive, sequential, intelligent way, but prior to CSF, we didn't really have a deliberate training program to build psychological competence and health," Cornum said.

"We kind of assumed everybody would do well until they didn't, and then we tried to treat it. That's not the optimal approach."

The program has won broad support from the American Psychological Assn., which devoted an entire issue of its journal to it in January. But a few independent psychologists have said the program amounts to a high-risk psychological experiment on soldiers who have no way to opt out. Further, they say, by encouraging psychological "resilience" in the face of danger, the program could actually propel troops into perilous situations.

"It is indisputably a research project of enormous size and scope, one in which a million soldiers are required to participate," Roy Eidelson, past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, wrote in an article this year for Psychology Today.

"Master resilience trainers ? will not encourage soldiers to empathize with the humanity of the adults and children whom they may have killed as collateral damage," Eidelson wrote, "nor to use forms of restorative justice for apology and reconciliation that have a potential for deeper healing."

Army leaders say most soldiers come home from war mentally stronger than when they left ? the challenge is how to transmit those coping skills to the 20% who don't. And even those troops who do well after combat may feel stressed after multiple deployments.

"Even though Desert Shield [the first Gulf War] was a pretty large-scale thing, it only lasted a few months. I think everybody recognized, in the military and out, that in a protracted war on terror and contingency operations, where we're going to have not just one deployment but multiple in a career, that we really didn't have a strategy of preparing people for those kinds of things," Cornum said.

"Modern military service ? in the '80s and '90s it was a pretty safe life. And then came 2001, and now it isn't."

**

Army officials say the Army's ability to continue operating in Afghanistan depends on the resilience program's success.

"The suicide rate among our soldiers is at an all-time high. The number of soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress is also high. And the stress of long separations due to combat is felt by our family members too," Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army's chief of staff, wrote in an article about the program this year. "As such, we are starting not with a blank slate but rather with the challenge of having the preponderance of our force influenced in some way ? both positively and negatively ? by the effects of sustained, protracted conflict."

Where traditional military mental health programs have tended to target soldiers with known mental health or behavior problems, Comprehensive Soldier Fitness aims to take in everyone, teaching positive psychological skill-building in place of warning soldiers about what not to do.

"We don't specifically mention suicide," Cornum said. "We figure they're getting bombarded with suicide messaging. We don't mention drugs or alcohol. If you build psychological assets, people are less likely to use those maladaptive ones."

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/nationworld/nation/~3/he_utj23IRA/la-na-military-stress-resilience-20111226,0,4608209.story

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

More Schooling Might Raise IQ (HealthDay)

MONDAY, Dec. 26 (HealthDay News) -- Children who have more schooling may see their IQ improve, Norwegian researchers have found.

Although time spent in school has been linked with IQ, earlier studies did not rule out the possibility that people with higher IQs might simply be likelier to get more education than others, the researchers noted.

Now, however, "there is good evidence to support the notion that schooling does make you 'smarter' in some general relevant way as measured by IQ tests," said study author Taryn Galloway, a researcher at Statistics Norway in Oslo.

Findings from the large-scale study appear in this week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

IQ, or intelligence quotient, is a widely accepted measure of intelligence. The IQ score comes from several combined, standardized tests.

In 1955, Norway began extending compulsory middle school education by two years. Galloway and her colleague Christian Brinch, from the department of economics at the University of Oslo, analyzed how this additional schooling might affect IQ.

Using data on men born between 1950 and 1958, the researchers looked at the level of schooling by age 30. They also looked at IQ scores of the men when they were 19.

"The size of the effect was quite large," she said. Comparing IQ scores before and after the education reform, the average increased by 0.6 points, which correlated with an increase in IQ of 3.7 points for an addition year of schooling, Galloway said.

"We are only able to study men, because we use data on IQ from the Norwegian military's draft assessment, which basically all men undergo around the age of 19. Women are not included in the draft," she explained.

Education has lasting effects on cognitive skills, such as those broadly measured by IQ tests, Galloway said.

"Cognitive skills are, in turn, related to a large range of social and economic outcomes. A large part of the relevance of the study derives from the fact that there has been some controversy related to the question of whether education has an independent effect on IQ or whether people with higher IQs simply choose, or are better able, to attain higher levels of education," Galloway said.

By looking at a reform which increased mandatory schooling and prevented people from dropping out of school after the 7th grade, it is fairly certain that the effects seen are an effect of schooling on IQ, not vice versa, she explained.

"One subtle point of our findings is that we use IQ measures at roughly age 19, which is three to four years after the additional education generally was received. Thus, we are not simply picking up a short-lived effect that peters out shortly after people leave school," Galloway said.

The findings suggest that education as late as the middle teenage years may have a sizeable effect on IQ, but do not challenge the well-documented importance of early childhood experiences on cognitive development, according to the authors.

Robert Sternberg, a professor of psychology and provost at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, said that "these results -- that schooling has a substantial effect on IQ -- replicate those of other, perhaps not quite as well-controlled, studies."

"I am aware of no serious studies that show the opposite result," he added.

He said the results are also consistent with the huge literature on the so-called Flynn effect showing that IQs are modifiable across as well as within generations and have been rising since the beginning of the 20th century.

"The results of this study are problematical for the chorus of psychologists and educators still locked in century-old thinking that IQ is genetic, stable and non-modifiable," Sternberg said. "As, for these individuals, the belief in the stability of IQ is more a matter of religious faith than of scientific inference, I doubt they will be persuaded."

More information

For more about IQ, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111227/hl_hsn/moreschoolingmightraiseiq

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Video: LeBron shines on NBA opening day

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LeBron James had 37 points as Miami beat Dallas in one of five season-opening games on Christmas. The Knicks edged Boston by two points. Chicago topped the Lakers by one point. The Thunder beat the Magic, and Chris Paul led the Clippers to a win.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheGlobeAndMail-Front/~3/j6cjxmdfekA/

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Bob Ford: Eagles' hollow victory could have been costly

today's features

PHILLY.COM/FOOD

Craig LaBan recaps the Year in Bells: Green Acres was the theme this year for the Philadelphia dining scene, as restaurants from city to suburb hitched their wagons to local ingredients.

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Craig LaBan's reviews, mapped

YEAR IN REVIEW

It's been one weird year here. Acts of God truly put the Philadelphia area to the test: Record fatal heat, record rain, two earthquakes, and a hurricane are not your normal Philly fare. One Daily News cover even asked, "What's next, locusts?"

?

The Year in Justice

?

The Year in Sports

HEALTH

France's national health insurance agency will file a criminal complaint in a breast implant scandal, after authorities recommended that women with potentially faulty implants have them removed and agreed to pay for the procedure.

?

Keeping Kids Warm, Dry and Safe in Cold Weather

What's News

For more than a decade, James W. Ray was trapped in a fog of drugs and mental illness, but claimed to be rich.

Another woman has come forward to say former Daily News columnist Bill Conlin molested her back in the 1960s.

Northeast Philly's John Godzieba will play Gen. George Washington in today's 59th annual river crossing.

Rated among the best hotels in the world, Philly's posh Rittenhouse may get a new owner next year.

An avalanche of 1,607 bills aimed at immigrants hit this year, with 43 in Pennsylvania and 15 in New Jersey.

Source: http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=168381&44=136196588&32=3796&7=195322&40=http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/eagles/20111225_Bob_Ford__Eagles__hollow_victory_could_have_been_costly.html

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[News] Nelly Sued For Credit Card Debt By American Express

AMEX says Nelly owes them over $20,000.

American Express has filed suit against rapper Nelly to recover a rather sizable credit card bill.

TMZ reports that the suit, which was filed in Missouri in October, claims that Nelly never paid his $20,403.64 credit card bill, and is also asking for another $3,000 in attorney's fees.

A court hearing is scheduled for January 9.

Earlier this year. Nelly expressed plans to release a new album in 2011, but it will now be hitting shelves in 2012.

RELATED: Nelly Talks Staying Hip Hop Despite Pop Success

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/hiphopdx/news/~3/obEfGIpQ-5k/title.nelly-sued-for-credit-card-debt-by-american-express

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Is this North Korea's new leadership? Heir Kim Jong Un stands shoulder to shoulder with his uncle in full military regalia

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 5:13 PM on 25th December 2011

North Korea has aired footage showing heir Kim Jong Un standing with his uncle, suggesting the two will be the leaders of the secretive state.

The footage on state television showed Jang Song Thaek in uniform as he paid respect before Kim Jong Il?s body lying in state at Kumsusan Memorial Palace.

Seoul?s Unification Ministry says it?s the first time Jang, usually seen in business suits, has been shown wearing a military uniform on state TV.

Leadership: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's youngest known son and successor stands in front of his father's body displayed in a glass coffin. At far left is Jong Un's uncle Jang Song Thaek

Leadership: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's youngest known son and successor stands in front of his father's body displayed in a glass coffin. At far left is Jong Un's uncle Jang Song Thaek

Little by little, North Korea is offering hints on the details of Kim Jong Un?s rise and the future composition of his inner circle as millions continue to mourn for his father, who died just over a week ago. North Korea has also begun hailing Kim Jong Un as 'supreme leader' of the 1.2-million strong military as it ramps up its campaign to install him as ruler.

'Let?s become comrades of ... great comrade Kim Jong Un, the sun of the 21st century!' the North?s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried Sunday by the official Korean Central News Agency.

The new title, a public show of support from top military leadership and the symbolic appearance of Jang in uniform send a strong signal that the nation will maintain Kim Jong Il?s 'military first' policy for the time being.

Message: Kim Jong Un's new title, a public show of support from top military leadership and the symbolic appearance of Jang in uniform send a strong signal that the nation will maintain Kim Jong Il?s 'military first' policy for the time being

Message: Kim Jong Un's new title, a public show of support from top military leadership and the symbolic appearance of Jang in uniform send a strong signal that the nation will maintain Kim Jong Il?s 'military first' policy for the time being

Jang and his wife have risen to the top of North Korea?s political and military elite since the succession campaign began two years ago. Both 65, they also have the weight of seniority so important in a society that places a premium on age and alliances.

Kim Jong Un made a third visit Saturday to the palace where his father?s body is lying in state - this time as 'supreme leader of the revolutionary armed forces' and accompanied by North Korea?s top military brass.

Earlier, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper urged Kim Jong Un to accept the top military post: 'Comrade Kim Jong Un, please assume the supreme commandership, as wished by the people.'

The body of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il lies in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang

The body of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il lies in state at the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang

Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s and was unveiled in September 2010 as his father?s choice as successor, will be the third-generation Kim to rule the nation of 24 million. His father and grandfather led the country under different titles, and it remains unclear which other titles will be bestowed on the grandson.

Kim Il Sung, who founded North Korea in 1948, retains the title of 'eternal president' even after his death in 1994.

His son, Kim Jong Il, ruled the country in his capacity as chairman of the National Defense Commission while concurrently serving as supreme commander of the Korean People?s Army and general secretary of the Workers? Party.

?

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2078471/Is-North-Koreas-new-leadership-Heir-Kim-Jong-Un-stands-shoulder-shoulder-uncle-military-regalia.html?ITO=1490

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Apple iPhone market share slips in Europe: research firm (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? The long-awaited launch of the iPhone 4S has helped Apple win market share in the United States and Britain, although it is losing ground in the rest of Europe, data from research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech showed on Thursday.

"In Great Britain, the U.S. and Australia, Apple's new iPhone continues to fly off the shelf in the run-up to Christmas. However, this trend is far from universal," said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director.

The smartphone market is currently dominated by Google, which has stormed the market with its free Android platform.

Apple's market share in the 12 weeks to end-November rose to 36 percent in the United States from 25 percent a year earlier and in Britain to 31 percent from 21 percent, Kantar said.

Its share slipped in France to 20 percent from 29 percent a year earlier, in Germany to 22 percent from 27 percent, with similar drops also seen in Italy and Spain.

"The French market is showing increasing signs of price sensitivity," Sunnebo said.

In part, the European sales of the expensive Apple model were hit by weakening economies across the continent.

Google had market shares of between 46 and 61 percent in all markets. Cellphone makers like Samsung Electronics, Sony Ericsson, LG Ericsson and Motorola Mobility all use its Android platform in their phones.

"In Germany, Android achieved a dominant 61 percent share of smartphone sales in the latest 12 weeks, with the Samsung Galaxy S II the top selling handset," Sunnebo said.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki; Editing by Jodie Ginsberg)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111222/tc_nm/us_smartphones_europe

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AntLion Audio ModMic Detachable Boom Microphone Review

Can’t find a headset/mic combination you like?? Do you have a favorite pair of headphones but no mic?? Wouldn’t it be great to just add a microphone to your own headphones anytime you like?? You may remember my own attempts at using a hot glue gun to attach a microphone to my own comfy headphones… [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/12/23/antlion-audio-modmic-detachable-boom-microphone-review/

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Engadget Podcast 269 - 12.23.2011

It may be Christmas Eve Eve and the fourth day of Hannukah, but so far, this has felt like just another week in the consumer electronics biz. Another loco crazy, pre-CES, sink-or-swim, walk-a-dozen-miles-to-charge-your-cell kind of week. But that doesn't mean we don't have a couple of nice presents for you...including, of course, your very own Engadget Podcast.

Host: Brian Heater, Tim Stevens
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Just a Dream

01:37 - Engadget Distro now available on Android Market and iOS Newsstand!
04:46 - AT&T abandons T-Mobile merger plans (updated)
11:02 - Sony PlayStation Vita review (Japanese edition)
24:38 - Microsoft's CES 2012 keynote won't deliver 'significant news,' more of 'a wrap-up'
32:09 - SOPA hearing delayed until the new year as petition signatures top 25k
35:47 - T-Mobile, Motorola respond to Senator Franken's Carrier IQ questions
37:20 - Two days in the desert with Apple's lost founder, Ron Wayne
41:55 - Fusion Garage's website goes dark -- has it bitten the dust? (update: it's back?)
45:00 - The Engadget Interview: Fusion Garage's Chandra Rathakrishnan... post-fallout
50:02 - Indian villagers walk a dozen miles to charge cellphones
53:14 - Listener questions












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Engadget Podcast 269 - 12.23.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/23/engadget-podcast-269-12-23-2011/

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Open Thread (Balloon Juice)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/177773587?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Monday, December 19, 2011

Gunman opens fire at Southern Calif. utility office

Ringo H.W. Chiu / AP

Police officers walk through the office complex that houses offices of Southern California Edison on Friday after a man armed with a rifle shot two people dead, wounded others and then killed himself in Irwindale, Calif., police say.

By msnbc.com staff

Updated at 12:34 a.m., ET:

NBC News reported the two men who died after a?co-worker opened fire at a Southern California Edison facility in Irwindale?have been identified as Henry Serrano,?56,?of Walnut, and Robert Lindsay, 53, of Chino,?the Los?Angeles County Coroner's office confirmed Saturday.

The?gunman has also been identified as 48-year-old Andre?Turner of Norco.

In a press release, the Edison company promised to set up?a fund for victims and survivors, and said it would provide grief counseling and other services for employees and families.?The utility also confirmed that Turner?was an employee.?

Updated at 9 p.m. ET:?The Associated Press reports that three people were killed and two more injured Friday in a California office complex shooting, police said.

The suspected gunman was among the dead and is believed to have self-inflicted wounds, Baldwin Park police Capt. Michael Taylor said.

"As far as we know there was one shooting suspect, period," Taylor said.

The shooting occurred around 1:30 p.m. Friday at Southern California Edison offices inside a larger office complex in Irwindale.

There was no immediate word on what prompted the gunfire. Authorities were not saying whether the gunman worked at SoCal Edison or might have been a former employee.

Multiple media reports said the gunman was an Edison employee and?two of the?victims were believed to be company managers. Police said they could not confirm those reports.

One of the dead was discovered inside the building during a sweep, and police were continuing their search for more victims, said Taylor.

Another victim died en route to a hospital. The two wounded have unspecified injuries and their conditions are not known.

Taylor said police have not accounted for everyone in the building yet and were doing a sweep.

No gunfire was exchanged after officers arrived.

The building was quickly locked down and dozens of people were seen streaming out with their hands raised.

Gil Alexander, a spokesman for Southern California Edison, said the company has about 200 employees at the facility.??

Updated at 7:00 p.m. ET: Authorities issued conflicting reports about the number of dead at the hands of a gunman Friday afternoon at an office of?Southern California Edison utility.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department said three people were dead and three others were in critical condition.

The unidentified gunman shot and killed himself after shooting a man and woman, said Irwindale Police Chief Dennis Smith.

Reports varied as police continued evacuating the building and searching offices.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the gunman shot four people, killing one, before shooting himself. The Times cited Capt. Michael Taylor of the Baldwin Park Police Department, which is helping with the investigation.

A?source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the Times?that the gunman worked as a systems analyst.

Updated at 6:40 p.m. ET: A gunman stormed into an office of the Southern California Edison utility Friday and shot a man and woman before killing himself, police said.

The building was quickly locked down and dozens of people were seen streaming out with their hands raised. Two nearby schools also were locked down but no one on the campuses was hurt. The lockdowns at Walnut Elementary School and Olive Junior High School were later lifted and children were dismissed.

"One male gunman shot one female, one male and then apparently took his own life," Police Chief Dennis Smith told reporters.

The conditions of the two people he wounded were not immediately known. There was also no immediate word on what prompted the gunfire.

The utility's office is in a complex of buildings that also includes a business called California Lighting Sales.

Cindy Gutierrez, the controller for that company, said employees there didn't hear any shots fired and didn't realize anything was amiss until building management announced over the intercom that everyone should stay indoors.

"At that point we knew something was wrong, then 5 to 10 minutes later that's when we hear the police," she said, adding that she and her 20 colleagues have been locked in their office ever since.

Irwindale is a small industrial city of about 1,400 residents in the San Gabriel Valley, 22 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

It is home to the popular Irwindale Speedway auto racetrack. It is also home to the annual Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faire as well as sprawling rock and gravel quarries.

Southern California Edison is one of its largest companies, employing 2,100 people.

Updated at 6:05 p.m. ET:?Baldwin Park police Capt. Michael Taylor said at a press briefing that there are no confirmed deaths at the?Southern California Edison office in Irwindale.

There are "under six victims, and none of the wounds are life-threatening," Baldwin said.

The gunman was shot, but it isn't yet known whether his wound was self-inflicted, Baldwin said. It was not immediately clear whether the gunman was included among those with "non-life-threatening injuries."


Updated at 5:59 p.m. ET: Authorities now say only one person, the gunman, has been killed at the Southern California Edison office in Irwindale. Two other people are reported to have been injured.

Updated at 5:57 p.m. ET: Southern California Edison says it will hold a news conference shortly.

Updated at 5:48 p.m. ET: KTLA-TV quotes police as saying the gunman shot a man and a woman, killing one of them, before killing himself. Fire officials confirm that one person is being treated for injuries.

Original post: IRWINDALE, Calif. ? A building housing offices of Southern California Edison was evacuated Friday as police searched for possible victims of a gunman who shot and killed himself and a second person, local reports said.

SoCal Edison officials confirmed that there was a shooting at their office building in Irwindale, northeast of Los Angeles,?but were unable to provide further details.?

KTLA-TV of Los Angeles reported that the gunman and one other person were dead. Two schools near the building were locked down, but authorities said they did not believe there was a second gunman.

This is a developing story. Check back for further details. The Associated Press and NBC News contributed to this report.

More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/16/9501831-shooting-reported-at-southern-california-utility-offices

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Video: 5 amazing homes, priced to sell

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3041440/vp/45697056#45697056

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Zynga prices IPO at top end of range (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Online games maker Zynga Inc is expected to make a strong debut on the Nasdaq stock exchange on Friday after it priced its initial public offering at the top end of a preliminary range but did not increase the size of the $1 billion deal.

Analysts and investors had expected Zynga to raise the price or boost the number of shares it was selling, since demand had seemed strong in recent weeks. The IPO, from the maker of "CityVille" and "FarmVille" games, has been highly anticipated because it is seen as a way for investors to get a slice of Facebook's growth before the social network goes public itself.

Zynga sold 100 million shares of Class A common stock at $10 per share in the IPO, the top end of the $8.50 to $10 indicative range.

In addition, certain of Zynga's stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15 million shares to cover over-allotments, Zynga said in a statement late on Thursday. Zynga will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders.

Zynga publishes four of the top five games played on Facebook and has more than 200 million monthly users. Facebook, which takes a 30 percent cut of the revenue Zynga makes on its platform, is expected to go public next year.

"They could have easily raised the size and the price. I expect it to trade strongly when it opens," Scott Sweet, an analyst at IPO Boutique, said of Zynga.

The IPO, equivalent to about 11 percent of diluted shares, values Zynga at $8.9 billion. The company had been valued at roughly $14 billion in November, according to an internal estimate in a regulatory filing.

At $1 billion in proceeds, Zynga's IPO would still be the largest from a U.S. Internet company since Google Inc raised $1.9 billion in 2004.

Zynga and the lead underwriters on the deal, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, declined to comment.

Zynga, which is profitable, generates revenue from less than 3 percent of its players, who buy virtual items like trucks and poker chips in its free games.

Others said Zynga wanted to play it safe with the IPO given the volatile financial markets and what happened to another online game company, Nexon, whose shares fell on their first day of trade in Japan this week.

"The market's been pretty tough this past week, so they probably took a more conservative approach," said Dan Niles, chief investment officer of AlphaOne Capital Partners.

Groupon Inc, another closely watched Internet IPO this year, jumped on its first day of trading in November, but slumped below its $20 issue price about three weeks later.

But unlike Groupon, Zynga is profitable. It posted net income of $12 million during the third quarter and is on track to make $1 billion in revenue this year. But profit growth has been lumpy as the company invested in new games.

Greencrest Capital analyst Max Wolff said Zynga's shares on Friday "could easily go to $12 and change," before stabilizing.

CHALLENGES AHEAD

Zynga's near $9 billion valuation is less than videogame maker Activision Blizzard Inc's $13.6 billion market capitalization and higher than Electronic Arts Inc's $6.9 billion, even though they earn much more in revenue.

Zynga is valued at nine times its sales for the last 12 months, while Activision's multiple is three times its 12-month sales, reflecting the growth potential investors see in online social games.

While Zynga's exposure to Facebook could be enticing to some investors, it also poses a major risk. In the future, Zynga will have to show Wall Street that it can diversify and make money from mobile and other new ventures.

Zynga now generates 95 percent of its revenue from Mark Zuckerberg's social network. If Facebook's user growth slows, Zynga's growth is likely to lose momentum as well. Zynga's growth rate of bookings, which is the money it makes upfront when its users buy items, is also slowing, raising concerns among investors.

"It's not a trend that seems to be stabilizing yet. We believe investors will likely question Zynga's premium valuation," said Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia in a research note.

Another concern analysts have cited is Zynga CEO Mark Pincus' influence over the company. He owns a special class of C shares that carry 70 times more voting power than regular A shares. This is high compared to many other companies. LinkedIn Corp, for example, has a 10-1 voting ratio.

Still, Greencrest Capital's Wolff said investors may look past Pincus' controlling stake because of the company's dominance on Facebook.

"While there are a lot of reasons to be skeptical about the company, including Mr. Pincus' 70 (times) share class voting rights, the bottom line is they have five of the top six games (on Facebook)," he said.

(Reporting By Liana B. Baker in New York and Alistair Barr in San Francisco, Additional reporting by Sinead Carew in New York, Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco and Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/bs_nm/us_zynga

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

RIM reports Q3 2011 earnings: $5.2b revenue, $265m net income and 14.1 million handsets shipped

News out of Waterloo isn't all bad today, as Research in Motion has revealed its financial results for the third quarter of 2011. While the company previously had to scale back its earlier earnings projections of $5.6 billion in the quarter, it's apparent the firm came close to meeting that mark. After close of the markets today, RIM reported $5.2 billion in revenue with $265 million in net income and 14.1 million handsets shipped. The company was only able to eke out 150,000 PlayBook tablets during this time frame, however, which no doubt contributed to these reduced numbers. Unfortunately, the market hasn't taken so kindly to the revelation, as RIM's stock has fallen seven-percent in after hours trading. In a small bit of positive news, the firm reports that its subscriber count is up 35-percent year-over-year, which now totals 75 million subscribers.

Looking forward, the company expects to bring in between $4.6 and $4.9 billion in revenue for the next quarter, where it hopes to ship between 11 and 12 million units. Co-CEO Jim Balsillie referred to the last few quarters as among the most trying in the company's history, and promised to re-evaluate RIM's product portfolio, R&D strategy and to "leave no stone unturned" as it seeks to regain prominence in the smartphone world. Meanwhile, co-CEO Mike Lazaridis reaffirmed the commitment to the PlayBook OS 2.0, which remains on track for a February launch. As for the QNX-based BlackBerry 10 smartphones that we've been looking forward to, Lazaridis said to not expect anything until late 2012. Apparently, its availability will be hampered by a critical chipset supply that's not expected to become available until mid-next year. In other words, unless consumers develop a love for BlackBerry 7 OS real quick, 2012 may sadly be another ugly year for the folks in Waterloo.

RIM reports Q3 2011 earnings: $5.2b revenue, $265m net income and 14.1 million handsets shipped originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SEC charges ex-Fannie, Freddie CEOs with fraud

(AP) ? Two former CEOs at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Friday became the highest-profile individuals to be charged in connection with the 2008 financial crisis.

In a lawsuit filed in New York, the Securities and Exchange Commission brought civil fraud charges against six former executives at the two firms, including former Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd and former Freddie CEO Richard Syron.

The executives were accused of understating the level of high-risk subprime mortgages that Fannie and Freddie held just before the housing bubble burst.

"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives told the world that their subprime exposure was substantially smaller than it really was," said Robert Khuzami, SEC's enforcement director.

Khuzami noted that huge losses on their subprime loans eventually pushed the two companies to the brink of failure and forced the government to take them over.

The charges brought Friday follow widespread criticism of federal authorities for not holding top executives accountable for the recklessness that triggered the 2008 crisis.

Before the SEC announced the charges, it reached an agreement not to charge Fannie and Freddie. The companies, which the government took over in 2008, also agreed to cooperate with the SEC in the cases against the former executives.

The Justice Department began investigating the two firms three years ago. In August, Freddie said Justice informed the company that its probe had ended.

Many legal experts say they don't expect the six executives to face criminal charges.

"If the U.S. attorney's office was going to be bringing charges, they would have brought it simultaneously with the civil case," said Christopher Morvillo, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in Manhattan.

Robert Mintz, a white-collar defense lawyer, says he doubts any top Wall Street executives will face criminal charges for actions that hastened the financial crisis, given how much time has passed.

Mudd, 53, and Syron, 68, led the mortgage giants in 2007, when home prices began to collapse. The four other top executives also worked for the companies during that time.

In a statement from his attorney, Mudd said the government reviewed and approved all the company's financial disclosures.

"Every piece of material data about loans held by Fannie Mae was known to the United States government and to the investing public," Mudd said. "The SEC is wrong, and I look forward to a court where fairness and reason ? not politics ? is the standard for justice."

Syron's lawyers said the term "subprime had no uniform definition in the market" at that time.

"There was no shortage of meaningful disclosures, all of which permitted the reader to assess the degree of risk in Freddie Mac's" portfolio, the lawyers said in a statement. "The SEC's theory and approach are fatally flawed."

According to the lawsuit, Fannie and Freddie misrepresented their exposure to subprime loans in reports, speeches and congressional testimony.

Fannie told investors in 2007 that it had roughly $4.8 billion worth of subprime loans on its books, or just 0.2 percent of its portfolio. That same year, Mudd told two congressional panels that Fannie's subprime loans represented didn't exceed 2.5 percent of its business.

The SEC says Fannie actually had about $43 billion worth of products targeted to borrowers with weak credit, or 11 percent of its holdings.

Freddie told investors in late 2006 that it held between $2 billion and $6 billion of subprime mortgages on its books. And Syron, in a 2007 speech, said Freddie had "basically no subprime exposure," according to the suit.

The SEC says its holdings were actually closer to $141 billion, or 10 percent of its portfolio in 2006, and $244 billion, or 14 percent, by 2008.

Syron also authorized especially risky mortgages for borrowers without proof of income or assets as early as 2004, the suit alleges, "despite contrary advice" from Freddie's credit-risk experts. He rejected their advice, "in part due to his desire to improve Freddie Mac's market share."

Fannie and Freddie buy home loans from banks and other lenders, package them into bonds with a guarantee against default and then sell them to investors around the world. The two own or guarantee about half of U.S. mortgages, or nearly 31 million loans.

During the financial crisis, the two firms verged on collapse. The Bush administration seized control of them in September 2008.

So far, the companies have cost taxpayers more than $150 billion ? the largest bailout of the financial crisis. They could cost up to $259 billion, according to their government regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Administration.

Mudd was paid more than $10 million in salary and bonuses in 2007, according to company statements. He was fired from Fannie after the government took over. He's now the chief executive of the New York hedge fund Fortress Investment Group.

Syron made more than $18 million in 2007, according to company statements. His compensation increased $4 million from 2006 because of bonuses he received ? part of them for encouraging risky subprime lending, according to company filings. It's not clear what portion of the bonuses was for his efforts to promote subprime lending.

Syron resigned from Freddie in 2008. He's now an adjunct professor and trustee at Boston College.

The other executives charged were Fannie's Enrico Dallavecchia, 50, a former chief risk officer, and Thomas Lund, 53, a former executive vice president; and Freddie's Patricia Cook, 58, a former executive vice president and chief business officer, and Donald Bisenius, 53, a former senior vice president.

Lund's lawyer, Michael Levy, said in a statement that Lund "did not mislead anyone." Lawyers for the other defendants declined to comment Friday.

Based on the outcomes of similar cases, the lawsuit might not yield much in penalties against the former executives.

In July, Citigroup paid just $75 million to settle similar civil charges with the SEC. Its chief financial officer and head of investor relations were accused of failing to disclose more than $50 billion worth of potential losses from subprime mortgages. The two executives charged paid $100,000 and $80,000 in civil penalties.

Fines against executives charged in SEC civil cases can reach up to $150,000 per violation. SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro has asked Congress to raise the limit to $1 million.

The SEC has brought other cases related to the financial crisis since it began a broad investigation into the actions of Wall Street banks and other financial firms about three years ago.

Goldman Sachs & Co., for example, agreed last year to pay $550 million to settle charges of misleading buyers of a complex mortgage investment. JPMorgan Chase & Co. resolved similar charges in June and paid $153.6 million.

Citigroup Inc. agreed to pay $285 million to settle similar charges, though that settlement was recently struck down by a federal judge in New York City.

Most cases, however, didn't involve charges against prominent top executives.

An exception was Angelo Mozilo, the co-founder and CEO of failed mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. He agreed to a $67.5 million settlement with the SEC in October 2010 to avoid trial on civil fraud and insider trading charges that he profited from doling out risky mortgages while misleading investors about the risks.

Associated Press writers Marcy Gordon in Washington and Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-16-Fannie%20Freddie%20Charges/id-9e0a58a80e6f48978686289343514663

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Friday, December 16, 2011

Russell Brand Lands Late-Night FX Show (omg!)

Russell Brand steps out at BBC Radio One in London on April 20, 2011  -- Getty Premium

Late-night will be getting a dose of British comedy from actor/comedian Russell Brand!

FX announced on Thursday that Russell will host six half-hour installments of an unscripted as-yet-untitled show in front of a live audience.

PLAY IT NOW: Katy Perry Gets Ready To Host ?Saturday Night Live?

The show will give the funnyman's "unvarnished, unfiltered take on current events, politics and pop culture," the network said in a statement to Access Hollywood - with plenty of audience interaction too.

"I am so excited I'm on the point of climax, in fact I will put the 'O' into FX, which spells FOX, which is actually the channel's real name," the actor/comedian said in a statement. "That's the only thing that worries me about all this to be honest. At least I'll be able to have a Christmas drink with Bill O'Reilly."

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Katy Perry & Russell Brand

"Flight of the Conchords" producer Troy Miller is teaming up with Russell for the series - something the network believes will push the envelope of TV comedy.

"We're very excited to add Russell Brand's bracingly funny, original, and honest voice to the FX comedy line-up," Nick Grad, Executive Vice President, Original Programming at FX said in a statement. "We look forward to supporting Russell and his partner Troy Miller's ambition to strip down the hosted comedy format to its most fundamental elements and to create something daring and unfiltered for the FX audience."

Russell's late-night show is slated to debut in spring 2012.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: ?California Gurl? Katy Perry

Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_russell_brand_lands_night_fx_show193049166/43918474/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/russell-brand-lands-night-fx-show-193049166.html

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Kids won't eat veggies? Try rewards, a study says (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? If your preschoolers turn up their noses at carrots or celery, a small reward like a sticker for taking even a taste may help get them to eat previously shunned foods, a U.K. study said.

Though it might seem obvious that a reward could tempt young children to eat their vegetables, the idea is actually controversial, researchers wrote in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

That's because some studies have shown that rewards can backfire and cause children to lose interest in foods they already liked, said Jane Wardle, a researcher at University College London who worked on the study.

Verbal praise, such as "Brilliant! You're a great vegetable taster," did not work as well.

"We would recommend that parents consider using small non-food rewards, given daily for tasting tiny pieces of the food -- smaller than half a little finger nail," Wardle said in an email.

The study found that when parents gave their three- and four-year-olds a sticker each time they took a "tiny taste" of a disliked vegetable, it gradually changed the children's attitudes.

Over a couple of weeks, children rewarded this way were giving higher ratings to vegetables, with the foods moving up the scale from between 1 and 2 -- somewhere between "yucky" and "just okay" -- to between 2 and 3, or "just okay" and "yummy."

The children were also willing to eat more of the vegetables -- either carrots, celery, cucumber, red pepper, cabbage or sugar snap peas -- in laboratory taste tests, the study said.

Researchers randomly assigned 173 families to one of three groups. In one, parents used stickers to reward their child each time they took a tiny sample of a disliked vegetable.

A second group of parents used verbal praise. The third group, where parents used no special veggie-promoting tactics, served as a "control."

Parents in the reward groups offered their child a taste of the "target" vegetable every day for 12 days.

Soon after, children in the sticker group were giving higher ratings to the vegetables -- and were willing to eat more in the research lab, going from an average of 5 grams at the start to about 10 grams after the 12-day experience.

The turnaround also seemed to last, with preschoolers in the sticker group still willing to eat more of the once-shunned veggie three months later.

Why didn't the verbal praise work? Wardle said the parents' words may have seemed "insincere" to their children. SOURCE: http://bit.ly/tvqPoN

(Reporting from New York by Amy Norton at Reuters Health; editing by Elaine Lies)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111214/hl_nm/us_little_reward

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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Diamond, Streep, Ma feted at Kennedy Center

Meryl Streep received her next film assignment over the weekend from a friend ? to play the role of Hillary Rodham Clinton in a future film ? as Streep and four others were saluted with the Kennedy Center Honors.

Writer Nora Ephron said Streep's talent, versatility and resemblance to Clinton made it "inevitable" that she would one day play the secretary of state and former first lady. Clinton, who flew home for 36 hours to celebrate the honorees over the weekend, just laughed, while Streep stood up for a better look at the nation's top diplomat.

Along with Streep, pop singer Neil Diamond, Broadway singer Barbara Cook famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma and jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins joined in receiving the nation's top award Sunday night for those who have influenced American culture through the arts.

Caroline Kennedy, who hosts the show as part of a living memorial to her father, John F. Kennedy, acknowledged her personal connection to one honoree.

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In a nod to Diamond, she said he was "a Brooklyn lad with a gift of melody who grew into a solitary man, 'reaching out, touching me.'" That was enough to draw big laughs as the crowd of celebrities and politicians recalled that Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" was named for her.

"I'm going to have to thank her for that," Diamond said before the show, noting that the song is a story about he and his former wife. But he took the name from Kennedy.

Smokey Robinson sang "Sweet Caroline" with help from Kennedy and fans brought in from Boston's Fenway Park where it's a favorite anthem.

Lionel Richie, who sang, "I Am ... I Said," told The Associated Press he got into the music business because he wanted to be Diamond.

"He's a great storyteller," Richie said. "He's not an acrobatic singer. Basically he told the story in a very simple voice."

Classical music stole the show's finale, though, with surprise tributes from Stephen Colbert ? who seemed lost at first ? and the puppet Elmo from TV's "Sesame Street."

"Tonight we celebrate the greatest living cellist," Colbert said "We chell-ebrate, if you will."

Story: Meryl Streep's daughter Mamie Gummer weds

Ma, one of the best-known classical musicians, has played cello since he was 4. At age 7, he played for presidents Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Now at 56, he is hailed as a musical ambassador to the world who has spanned styles from Bluegrass to sounds from the Silk Road with an ensemble he founded. Many of his friends performed in his honor.

Elmo, dressed in a tux, said he came to honor his friend, Ma who taught him that "music is like a playground" that makes everybody happy.

James Taylor and conductor John Williams joined in a performance of "Here Comes the Sun" with a string ensemble.

CBS will broadcast the show on Dec. 27.

Earlier President Barack Obama lauded the actors and musicians at the White House.

"They have different talents, and they've traveled different paths," Obama said. "And yet they belong here together because each of tonight's honorees has felt the need to express themselves and share that expression with the world."

He said everyone has that desire for self-expression in common.

"That's why we dance, even if, as Michelle says, I look silly doing it," he added to laughter.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton flew home between visits to Myanmar and Germany to honor the artists with a dinner Saturday night. After visiting the isolated Southeast Asian country also known as Burma, Clinton said such U.S. artists have worldwide influence by using their freedom of creativity.

"You may not know it, but somewhere in a little tiny room in Burma or even in North Korea, someone is desperately trying to hear you or to see you, to experience you," Clinton said. "And if they are lucky enough to make that connection, it can literally change lives and countries."

Streep, 62, has made more than 45 movies and won two Oscars in her career. Her movies have spanned Shakespeare and "Angles in America" to portraying chef Julia Child in "Julie and Julia."

In her upcoming film, Streep will play British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the upcoming "The Iron Lady."

Streep said she was in awe of the accolades from the president and others.

"Look where we are, look who's here," Streep told The Associated Press. "It's overwhelming. I feel very proud."

Emily Blunt and Anne Hathaway who co-stared with Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada," joined Kevin Kline and Stanley Tucci for a musical tribute to Streep.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick opened the tributes to Cook, recalling the days when they first started dating and went to hear Cook sing at the Caf? Carlyle in New York.

"I don't think Matthew at the time knew what kind of special memory he was creating for us," Parker said.

"Oh, I knew," Broderick said back.

Cook, 84, made her Broadway debut in 1951, and later Leonard Bernstein cast her in his musical "Candide." She topped that performance as Marian the Librarian in 1957's hit musical "The Music Man," for which she won a Tony Award.

A film tribute noted Cook went silent for a decade, due to drinking and depression, but she came back.

Glenn Close called her an icon for anyone who has worked on Broadway.

"I think we have the biggest respect for her because she really has survived, survived and prevailed," Close said.

Rollins, 81, is a jazz saxophonist who has shared the stage with Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie, among others.

"America is the home of jazz. It's what we started," he said. "By the way, hip hop music is a part of jazz, believe it or not."

Friend Bill Cosby marveled about how he has heard Rollins' distinctive sax around the world in Greece, Hong Kong, Italy ? and found so many people who knew the musician's work.

"All over the world, Sonny Rollins," Cosby said.

Benny Golson and Herbie Hancock joined in playing some of Rollins' tunes.

Fellow sax player and former President Bill Clinton said earlier that he has been a fan since the age of 15 or 16 when he bought his first Rollins LP and played it until it was worn out.

"His music can bend your mind, it can break your heart, and it can make you laugh out loud," Clinton said. "He has done things with improvisation that really no one has ever done."

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

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45550505/ns/today-entertainment/

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