American Idol viewers eliminated their fifth consecutive female singer Thursday. In a development that left contestants, judges and the studio audience stunned, Pia Toscano was exercise bike sent packing. Though the judges had told her she needed to work on her stage presence and had criticized her for singing too many ballads, many considered Pia to have given Wednesday's best performance and to be almost a lock for the finals.
Jennifer's in tears. "I have no idea what just happened here. I'm shocked. I'm angry. I don't even know what to say."
"What a shock, what a surprise," Ryan says as boos axial fan rain down from the audience.
"A mistake is one thing, but a lack of passion is unforgivable," Steven says. "They're wrong."
"We're all in shock," says Randy. "I'm gutted."
Pia's exit almost guarantees a male winner for the fourth consecutive year. But with such unpredictable voting from week to week, a once-promising season suddenly looks much, much different.
As her swansong, Pia sings The Pretenders' I'll Stand by You, breaking down at the end and receiving a standing ovation impact crusher from everyone in the room, many of them in tears.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Crave Caffeine? It May Be in Your Genes
DNA may play a large role in determining how much caffeine people consume in beverages such as coffee, tea, and soda and food such as chocolate, new research indicates.
Scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health, the National Cancer Institute, electronic ballast and other institutions say they have discovered two genetic variations that influence the metabolism of caffeine and are associated with how much caffeine people consume. People with particular variations of two specific genes are more likely to consume caffeine, and to drink more of it when they do, study leader Marilyn C. Cornelis, PhD, of the Harvard School of Public Health, tells WebMD.
The researchers say in a news release that their conclusions are based on an analysis of five studies conducted between 1984 and 2001. Average caffeine consumption via coffee, tea, caffeinated sodas, or chocolate was recorded.
So what does this mean?
Caffeine is implicated in a number of medical and physiological conditions. Caffeine affects mood, sleep patterns, energy levels, and mental and physical performance.
“Clearly these genetic variants are affecting stainless steel pipe how our body processes caffeine,” she tells WebMD.
About 80% of the caffeine intake among participants involved in the analysis was from coffee, similar to the adult caffeine consumption in the U.S. “We propose that those with the genotype corresponding to ‘higher caffeine consumption’ are metabolizing caffeine at a different rate vs. those with the ‘lower caffeine consumption’ genotype, and so require a different level of intake to maintain or achieve physiological caffeine levels that produce pleasurable effects,” Cornelis tells WebMD.
“Caffeinated products, particularly coffee, have long been implicated in various health conditions.”
She says that “studying the effects of caffeine, say, on the cardiovascular system, would be challenging if the group of subjects we’re studying process caffeine differently.”
The genes are identified as CYP1A2, long known to play some role in caffeine metabolism, bridge rectifier and another called AHR, which affects regulation of CYP1A2.
Cornelis says her own father may carry the variations that correspond to higher caffeine consumption because he drinks “at least 10 cups” daily.
“He’s not trying to achieve pleasurable effects,” she tells WebMD. “Rather, he’s trying to maintain levels as a means to avoid the withdrawal symptoms. Without a cup he’d wake up in the middle of the night with a headache.”
All people have both genes, but the study, involving more than 47,000 middle-aged Americans of European descent, finds that people with the highest-consumption variant for either gene consumed about 40 milligrams more caffeine than people with the lowest-consumption gene varieties. Forty milligrams is the equivalent of 1/3 cup of caffeinated coffee or one can of soda.
That suggests he “could possibly have the genetic profile of a fast caffeine metabolizer,” she says in an email.
The researchers say it’s likely that genetics plays a major role in other behaviors, such as alcohol consumption and smoking.
This genetic knowledge could be used “to advance caffeine research and potentially identify subgroups, Coach Bags defined by genotype, of the population most susceptible to the effects of caffeine,” Cornelis tells WebMD. “More research on the precise function of these variants is needed, however, and there are likely more ‘caffeine genes’ to be identified.”
She tells WebMD that her team’s findings “demonstrate that our search approach -- scanning the entire human genome -- works.”
Also, it shows for the first time that genetics may be responsible for inherited differences in how people drink coffee.
Scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health, the National Cancer Institute, electronic ballast and other institutions say they have discovered two genetic variations that influence the metabolism of caffeine and are associated with how much caffeine people consume. People with particular variations of two specific genes are more likely to consume caffeine, and to drink more of it when they do, study leader Marilyn C. Cornelis, PhD, of the Harvard School of Public Health, tells WebMD.
Coffee Consumption
The researchers say in a news release that their conclusions are based on an analysis of five studies conducted between 1984 and 2001. Average caffeine consumption via coffee, tea, caffeinated sodas, or chocolate was recorded.
So what does this mean?
Caffeine is implicated in a number of medical and physiological conditions. Caffeine affects mood, sleep patterns, energy levels, and mental and physical performance.
“Clearly these genetic variants are affecting stainless steel pipe how our body processes caffeine,” she tells WebMD.
About 80% of the caffeine intake among participants involved in the analysis was from coffee, similar to the adult caffeine consumption in the U.S. “We propose that those with the genotype corresponding to ‘higher caffeine consumption’ are metabolizing caffeine at a different rate vs. those with the ‘lower caffeine consumption’ genotype, and so require a different level of intake to maintain or achieve physiological caffeine levels that produce pleasurable effects,” Cornelis tells WebMD.
“Caffeinated products, particularly coffee, have long been implicated in various health conditions.”
She says that “studying the effects of caffeine, say, on the cardiovascular system, would be challenging if the group of subjects we’re studying process caffeine differently.”
Genes and Coffee
The genes are identified as CYP1A2, long known to play some role in caffeine metabolism, bridge rectifier and another called AHR, which affects regulation of CYP1A2.
Cornelis says her own father may carry the variations that correspond to higher caffeine consumption because he drinks “at least 10 cups” daily.
“He’s not trying to achieve pleasurable effects,” she tells WebMD. “Rather, he’s trying to maintain levels as a means to avoid the withdrawal symptoms. Without a cup he’d wake up in the middle of the night with a headache.”
All people have both genes, but the study, involving more than 47,000 middle-aged Americans of European descent, finds that people with the highest-consumption variant for either gene consumed about 40 milligrams more caffeine than people with the lowest-consumption gene varieties. Forty milligrams is the equivalent of 1/3 cup of caffeinated coffee or one can of soda.
That suggests he “could possibly have the genetic profile of a fast caffeine metabolizer,” she says in an email.
The researchers say it’s likely that genetics plays a major role in other behaviors, such as alcohol consumption and smoking.
More ‘Caffeine Genes’ May Be Identified
This genetic knowledge could be used “to advance caffeine research and potentially identify subgroups, Coach Bags defined by genotype, of the population most susceptible to the effects of caffeine,” Cornelis tells WebMD. “More research on the precise function of these variants is needed, however, and there are likely more ‘caffeine genes’ to be identified.”
She tells WebMD that her team’s findings “demonstrate that our search approach -- scanning the entire human genome -- works.”
Also, it shows for the first time that genetics may be responsible for inherited differences in how people drink coffee.
Lawyers want grim Jackson autopsy photos excluded from trial
Showing the pictures of the "Thriller" singer's autopsy risk jeopardizing the trial in May of Dr. Conrad Murray, they said. Murray is charged with inadvertently causing Jackson's June 2009 death by giving him the bridge rectifier powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid, as well as other sedatives.
They argued that "admission of these photographs to the jurors will jeopardize Dr. Murray's right to a fair trial because of the significant risk that the jury will base their decision not on the evidence presented, but on emotional grounds which play no part in a criminal action."
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Opening arguments in the trial are scheduled for May 9. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor is expected to rule later this month on the defense request.
"These photographs are graphic, gruesome and highly prejudicial," Murray's attorneys wrote in the court papers.
Murray's attorneys, Ed Chernoff and Nareg Gourjian, stainless steel pipe argued that, "there is absolutely no relevance whatsoever to all of this sexually scandalous information."
Jackson, 50, chose Murray as his personal physician as he rehearsed for a series of comeback concerts in London.
v
Murray's lawyers also want references to Murray's trips to strip clubs, where he met at least one woman with whom he had an affair, to be excluded from evidence at the trial.
Jury selection for the trial has been underway for more than two weeks.
Murray's attorneys have suggested in electronic ballast previous court hearings that Jackson had grown dependent on propofol, and plan to argue at trial that the singer administered the fatal dose of the anesthetic to himself.
A 29-page questionnaire, publicly released on Thursday, asks potential jurors if they are fans of Jackson or his family. It also asks whether they know anyone with addiction to prescription medication; if they think celebrities are jaw crusher treated differently in the court system; and if they are familiar with the anesthetic propofol and other medications.
They argued that "admission of these photographs to the jurors will jeopardize Dr. Murray's right to a fair trial because of the significant risk that the jury will base their decision not on the evidence presented, but on emotional grounds which play no part in a criminal action."
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Opening arguments in the trial are scheduled for May 9. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor is expected to rule later this month on the defense request.
"These photographs are graphic, gruesome and highly prejudicial," Murray's attorneys wrote in the court papers.
Murray's attorneys, Ed Chernoff and Nareg Gourjian, stainless steel pipe argued that, "there is absolutely no relevance whatsoever to all of this sexually scandalous information."
Jackson, 50, chose Murray as his personal physician as he rehearsed for a series of comeback concerts in London.
v
Murray's lawyers also want references to Murray's trips to strip clubs, where he met at least one woman with whom he had an affair, to be excluded from evidence at the trial.
Jury selection for the trial has been underway for more than two weeks.
Murray's attorneys have suggested in electronic ballast previous court hearings that Jackson had grown dependent on propofol, and plan to argue at trial that the singer administered the fatal dose of the anesthetic to himself.
A 29-page questionnaire, publicly released on Thursday, asks potential jurors if they are fans of Jackson or his family. It also asks whether they know anyone with addiction to prescription medication; if they think celebrities are jaw crusher treated differently in the court system; and if they are familiar with the anesthetic propofol and other medications.
FOREX-Yen downtrend pauses,euro rally pause file
* Yen off lows but downtrend firmly in place
* Euro rally takes a breather after expected ECB rate hike
* Aussie also pauses after scaling fresh peak vs USD
The broad selloff in the yen stalled early in Asia on Friday as shaded pold motor investors took profit on short positions following a major aftershock in northeast Japan, while comments from the European Central Bank head saw the euro retreat from 14-month highs.
Following a widely expected 25 basis-point interest rate hike to 1.25 percent, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said the central bank had not decided that Thursday's rate rise was the first in a series of moves.
"The EUR experienced a classic "buy the rumor, sell the fact" reaction to the ECB rate hike ... which proved to be one of the most universally expected events of the year," said Michael Woolfolk, analyst at BNY Mellon.
Economists polled by Reuters expect the ECB to stand pat for a couple of months before raising rates again in July.
"With Trichet failing to provide any guidance on further rate hikes and the phrase "strong vigilance" removed from the policy statement, players took profit on long EUR positions."
The euro last traded just under $1.4300, having slipped to a low of $1.4240, down from a 14-month peak around $1.4350 set on Wednesday.
Its downside, however, was limited by a calm bond market reaction to Portugal's plea autoclave for financial help from the European Union. Fears of contagion to Spain also eased after Madrid comfortably sold 4.1 billion euros of a new three-year bond.
Indeed, traders said there is demand for short-term upside strikes in the $1.4400 region as market players looked to protect against a further rise in the euro.
On the charts, a break of the key $1.4280 level is positive for the euro and BNP Paribas analysts expect the euro to next aim for $1.4375.
Still, some analysts expect a deeper pullback given exercise bike the common currency had risen 3.8 percent since early March when Trichet first hinted at an April rate hike, far earlier than markets had then been expecting.
Meanwhile, the yen's decline stalled as investors booked some profits after a 7.4 magnitude quake hit northeast Japan late on Thursday.
* Euro rally takes a breather after expected ECB rate hike
* Aussie also pauses after scaling fresh peak vs USD
The broad selloff in the yen stalled early in Asia on Friday as shaded pold motor investors took profit on short positions following a major aftershock in northeast Japan, while comments from the European Central Bank head saw the euro retreat from 14-month highs.
Following a widely expected 25 basis-point interest rate hike to 1.25 percent, ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said the central bank had not decided that Thursday's rate rise was the first in a series of moves.
"The EUR experienced a classic "buy the rumor, sell the fact" reaction to the ECB rate hike ... which proved to be one of the most universally expected events of the year," said Michael Woolfolk, analyst at BNY Mellon.
Economists polled by Reuters expect the ECB to stand pat for a couple of months before raising rates again in July.
"With Trichet failing to provide any guidance on further rate hikes and the phrase "strong vigilance" removed from the policy statement, players took profit on long EUR positions."
The euro last traded just under $1.4300, having slipped to a low of $1.4240, down from a 14-month peak around $1.4350 set on Wednesday.
Its downside, however, was limited by a calm bond market reaction to Portugal's plea autoclave for financial help from the European Union. Fears of contagion to Spain also eased after Madrid comfortably sold 4.1 billion euros of a new three-year bond.
Indeed, traders said there is demand for short-term upside strikes in the $1.4400 region as market players looked to protect against a further rise in the euro.
On the charts, a break of the key $1.4280 level is positive for the euro and BNP Paribas analysts expect the euro to next aim for $1.4375.
Still, some analysts expect a deeper pullback given exercise bike the common currency had risen 3.8 percent since early March when Trichet first hinted at an April rate hike, far earlier than markets had then been expecting.
Meanwhile, the yen's decline stalled as investors booked some profits after a 7.4 magnitude quake hit northeast Japan late on Thursday.
Snooki And JWoww Reveal 'Jersey Shore' Spin-Off Details
On Thursday (April 7), MTV announced that we will be seeing a lot more of Snooki, JWoww and Pauly D. The three "Jersey Shore" castmembers will be featured in two untitled reality projects cold room set to debut on MTV in 2012.
"The 'Jersey Shore' cast is at the center of the show's ongoing success, and Nicole, Pauly D and Jenni have become household names as a result of their unique, sometimes outrageous and often hilarious personalities," said Chris Linn, MTV executive vice president of programming and head of production.
The inseparable dynamic duo of Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and best friend Jenni "JWoww" Farley will give viewers a look at what life, love and friendship is like away from Seaside Heights.
"It's pretty much just the concept of me and Jenni being on our own without our roommates," Snooki told MTV News recently.
The two best friends mobile crusher will be living in a yet-announced location, but it seems the girls planned to be roommates even if the cameras weren't rolling.
"It was a concept before the show [was green-lit]. We legitimately just wanted to buy a house together,"
JWoww revealed. "She wanted to get out of her dad's, and I wanted to move out of the home that everyone could see on TV, so they were like, 'Let's shoot it!' "
JWoww and Snooki will share the spotlight with fellow castmember DJ Pauly D. The cameras will follow him (and his blowout) as he continues to pursue his dream of becoming one of the most successful and recognized DJs in the music business.
"I used to be this DJ in Rhode Island, DJing two sets a week, hustling, promoting," he earlier this year, "and all of a sudden, I'm on this show, and now they're sending private jets for me to DJ for these electronic ballast huge crowds, yet I'm still the same guy that was DJing for 200 people, just loving life."
Both untitled series will be 12 episodes, and production begins later this year.
"The 'Jersey Shore' cast is at the center of the show's ongoing success, and Nicole, Pauly D and Jenni have become household names as a result of their unique, sometimes outrageous and often hilarious personalities," said Chris Linn, MTV executive vice president of programming and head of production.
The inseparable dynamic duo of Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and best friend Jenni "JWoww" Farley will give viewers a look at what life, love and friendship is like away from Seaside Heights.
"It's pretty much just the concept of me and Jenni being on our own without our roommates," Snooki told MTV News recently.
The two best friends mobile crusher will be living in a yet-announced location, but it seems the girls planned to be roommates even if the cameras weren't rolling.
"It was a concept before the show [was green-lit]. We legitimately just wanted to buy a house together,"
JWoww revealed. "She wanted to get out of her dad's, and I wanted to move out of the home that everyone could see on TV, so they were like, 'Let's shoot it!' "
JWoww and Snooki will share the spotlight with fellow castmember DJ Pauly D. The cameras will follow him (and his blowout) as he continues to pursue his dream of becoming one of the most successful and recognized DJs in the music business.
"I used to be this DJ in Rhode Island, DJing two sets a week, hustling, promoting," he earlier this year, "and all of a sudden, I'm on this show, and now they're sending private jets for me to DJ for these electronic ballast huge crowds, yet I'm still the same guy that was DJing for 200 people, just loving life."
Both untitled series will be 12 episodes, and production begins later this year.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Cleaning Japanese radioactive water may need for decades
For nearly four weeks, Japanese emergency crews have been spraying water on the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, a desperate attempt to avert the calamity of a full meltdown.
Now, that improvised solution to one nuclear nightmare is spawning another: what to do with hydraulic orbital motor the millions of gallons of water that has become highly radioactive as it washes through the plant.
The water being used to try to cool the reactors and the dangerous spent fuel rods is leaking through fissures inside the plant, seeping down through tunnels and passageways to the lowest levels, where it is accumulating into a sea of lethal waste.
No one is sure how to get rid of it safely.
"There is nothing like this, on this scale, that we have ever attempted to do before," says Robert Alvarez, a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Energy Department.
Japanese officials estimate that they already have accumulated about 15 million gallons of highly radioactive water. Hundreds of thousands of gallons are being added every day as the plant's operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Co., continues to feed coolant damper into the leaky structures.
Ultimately, the high-level radioactive substances in the water will have to be safely stored, processed and solidified, a job that experts say will almost certainly have to be handled on a specially designed industrial complex. The process of cleaning up the water could take many years, even decades, to complete. The cost could run into the tens of billions of dollars.
Victor Gilinsky, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and longtime advisor on nuclear waste, said the problems facing Japan are greater than even the most highly contaminated nuclear weapons site in the U.S., the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state.
The Department of Energy is decommissioning eight reactors at Hanford and plans to process about 58 million gallons of radioactive sludge now in leaky underground tanks, all at an estimated cost of $100 billion to $130 billion, according to outside estimates. But unlike Fukushima Daiichi, none of the Hanford reactors melted down and virtually all of the site is accessible to workers without risking exposure to dangerous levels of radioactivity.
"It will be a big job, bigger than Hanford," Gilinsky said, though he cautioned that U.S. costs are unnecessarily high and that the Japanese may be able to do the work more economically.
The immediate problem facing the Japanese is how to store all that water until the led flexible strip reactors and the spent fuel pools are brought under control. The plant's main storage tanks are nearly full. To make room, Tokyo Electric Power, known as Tepco, released a couple of million gallons of the least contaminated water into the ocean this week, with the expectation that its radioactive elements would be diluted in the ocean's mass.
But international law forbids Japan from dumping contaminated water into the ocean if there are viable technical solutions available down the road.
So Tepco is considering bringing in barges and tanks, including a "megafloat" that can hold about 2.5 million gallons. Japan has also reportedly asked Russia to send a floating radiation treatment plant called the Suzuran that was used to decommission Russian nuclear submarines in the Pacific port of Vladivostok. The Suzuran was built in Japan a decade ago.
Yet even using barges and tanks to temporarily handle the water creates a future problem of how to dispose of the contaminated vessels.
U.S. and Japanese experts say the key to solving the disposal cable ties problem involves reducing the volume of water by concentrating the radioactive elements so they can be solidified into a safer, dry form. But waste experts disagree on exactly how to do that.
The difficulty of concentrating and then solidifying the contaminants depends on how much radioactivity is in the water, the type of isotopes and whether the work can be done on the Fukushima site.
UC Berkeley nuclear engineering professor Edward Morse said the water needs to be diverted into a concrete-lined holding pond fairly soon, where natural evaporation can help reduce its volume.
Youichi Enokida, a specialist in nuclear chemical engineering at Nagoya University in Japan, agrees that the material should be put into some type of storage that would concentrate it through evaporation, though Japanese experts generally talk golf irons about the need for a sealed pool.
Now, that improvised solution to one nuclear nightmare is spawning another: what to do with hydraulic orbital motor the millions of gallons of water that has become highly radioactive as it washes through the plant.
The water being used to try to cool the reactors and the dangerous spent fuel rods is leaking through fissures inside the plant, seeping down through tunnels and passageways to the lowest levels, where it is accumulating into a sea of lethal waste.
No one is sure how to get rid of it safely.
"There is nothing like this, on this scale, that we have ever attempted to do before," says Robert Alvarez, a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Energy Department.
Japanese officials estimate that they already have accumulated about 15 million gallons of highly radioactive water. Hundreds of thousands of gallons are being added every day as the plant's operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Co., continues to feed coolant damper into the leaky structures.
Ultimately, the high-level radioactive substances in the water will have to be safely stored, processed and solidified, a job that experts say will almost certainly have to be handled on a specially designed industrial complex. The process of cleaning up the water could take many years, even decades, to complete. The cost could run into the tens of billions of dollars.
Victor Gilinsky, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and longtime advisor on nuclear waste, said the problems facing Japan are greater than even the most highly contaminated nuclear weapons site in the U.S., the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state.
The Department of Energy is decommissioning eight reactors at Hanford and plans to process about 58 million gallons of radioactive sludge now in leaky underground tanks, all at an estimated cost of $100 billion to $130 billion, according to outside estimates. But unlike Fukushima Daiichi, none of the Hanford reactors melted down and virtually all of the site is accessible to workers without risking exposure to dangerous levels of radioactivity.
"It will be a big job, bigger than Hanford," Gilinsky said, though he cautioned that U.S. costs are unnecessarily high and that the Japanese may be able to do the work more economically.
The immediate problem facing the Japanese is how to store all that water until the led flexible strip reactors and the spent fuel pools are brought under control. The plant's main storage tanks are nearly full. To make room, Tokyo Electric Power, known as Tepco, released a couple of million gallons of the least contaminated water into the ocean this week, with the expectation that its radioactive elements would be diluted in the ocean's mass.
But international law forbids Japan from dumping contaminated water into the ocean if there are viable technical solutions available down the road.
So Tepco is considering bringing in barges and tanks, including a "megafloat" that can hold about 2.5 million gallons. Japan has also reportedly asked Russia to send a floating radiation treatment plant called the Suzuran that was used to decommission Russian nuclear submarines in the Pacific port of Vladivostok. The Suzuran was built in Japan a decade ago.
Yet even using barges and tanks to temporarily handle the water creates a future problem of how to dispose of the contaminated vessels.
U.S. and Japanese experts say the key to solving the disposal cable ties problem involves reducing the volume of water by concentrating the radioactive elements so they can be solidified into a safer, dry form. But waste experts disagree on exactly how to do that.
The difficulty of concentrating and then solidifying the contaminants depends on how much radioactivity is in the water, the type of isotopes and whether the work can be done on the Fukushima site.
UC Berkeley nuclear engineering professor Edward Morse said the water needs to be diverted into a concrete-lined holding pond fairly soon, where natural evaporation can help reduce its volume.
Youichi Enokida, a specialist in nuclear chemical engineering at Nagoya University in Japan, agrees that the material should be put into some type of storage that would concentrate it through evaporation, though Japanese experts generally talk golf irons about the need for a sealed pool.
Beck and Fox End Relationship Grown Cold
The negotiations that led Glenn Beck to announce his departure from the Fox News Channel on Wednesday ended with an expression of “let’s part as friends,” according to several people with knowledge of the talks. But behind that moment was a torrent of acrimony that underscored just how fractious the relationship between Mr. Beck and the network had become high pressure sodium lamp during his three-year run on Fox.
Mr. Beck’s official departure was preceded by conversations over a period of months with the Fox News chairman, Roger Ailes. Even as Mr. Beck and Mr. Ailes described how much they liked each other in an interview with The Associated Press, the message conveyed between the lines by both sides was that, despite ratings that would normally bring about an automatic contract renewal, this was a relationship that had grown cold — and run its course.
On Wednesday, the two sides made it official, announcing that Mr. Beck would end his top-rated show at some unspecified point later this year. His contract with Fox ends in December, but he is expected to sign off well before then.
Hired away from CNN’s Headline News in 2008, Mr. Beck found a home at Fox News, giving voice to disaffected Americans who were deeply troubled by President Obama’s election. He reached as many as three million viewers on some nights, setting time-slot records for Fox. Although his ratings have since declined — he averaged 1.9 million viewers in March — he still dominates the 5 p.m. hour among the cable news networks.
Notably, Mr. Beck became a daily broadcast platform for a libertarian strain of politics that is also evident in the Tea Party, a movement he embraced. Critics loudly condemned him for living with his own facts — but that only seemed to widen the golf irons conspiracy that he outlined each night, aided by a growing number of chalkboards in his studio.
But at that studio, he was unhappy from almost his first day on the job, which happened to be the day before Mr. Obama was inaugurated. Even in his first year, he was contemplating an exit from Fox and wondering if he could start his own channel.
Beck supporters presented a picture of constant sniping, planted stories about his declining ratings, and discomfort with his ability to build a career for himself outside the Fox News brand.
From Fox’s perspective, the facts about Mr. Beck’s run on the network have been public and indisputable. Among those were the refusal of hundreds of Fox advertisers to allow their commercials to be placed on Mr. Beck’s program, and a history of incendiary comments that attracted harsh backlash, including one where the host called President Obama a racist and another where cable ties he compared Reform Judaism to radical Islam. (He later apologized for both comments.)
Mr. Ailes suggested in the interview Wednesday that he was happy with the departure being characterized as either a cancellation or a decision by Mr. Beck to quit. Fox has retained all its other high-rated hosts in the past, but they didn’t come under the intense scrutiny that Mr. Beck has faced, nor the mass opposition from advertisers.
As onerous as that might have been to Fox financially, it did not seem to be an issue for Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of theNews Corporation. In two recent comments to shareholders, Mr. Murdoch defended Mr. Beck. He said of the advertiser boycott, “They don’t boycott watching it. We’re getting incredible numbers.” He followed that by pointing out that even with his diminished ratings, Mr. Beck’s show provided a “terrific kickoff” to the lineup of Fox shows that followed.
But the ratings clearly could not overcome the fractures in the led bulbs relationship. “By the end both sides had had enough,” said one executive who was involved in the decision to end the deal.
Mr. Beck’s new deal with Fox allows him to develop and produce new projects for Fox and its Web sites. But those projects are likely to amount to occasional specials and appearances, nothing more.
Mr. Beck is known to have contemplated an expansion of his subscription Web site and a takeover of a cable channel in whole or in part. Already, his growing media company produces several hours of shows on the Web each weekday.
A spokesman for Mr. Beck declined to say whether the agreement included a noncompete clause that would preclude Mr. Beck from hosting a TV show elsewhere for a period of time. On his show on Wednesday, Mr. Beck said to damper his viewers, “We will find each other,” adding later, “I’m going to be showing you other ways for us to connect.”
A senior Fox News executive, Joel Cheatwood, will join Mr. Beck at Mercury Radio Arts later this month.
Notably, descriptions of Mr. Beck’s future plans drew derisive comments in some quarters of Fox News, where they argued that Mr. Beck needed the huge platform of his Fox show to build his media empire.
At times, Mr. Beck and his managers said they sensed that Fox was retaliating in public, although they did not prove it.
Last month, when Mr. Cheatwood was first said to be moving over to Mercury, his Fox salary was suddenly leaked to a reporter. That day, a staff member who had been working with Fox on Mr. Beck’s show was asked if he could imagine working at an institution that would leak a salary figure. The staff member replied, “Not only can I imagine it, we’ve done it for 27 months,” referring to the precise hydraulic orbital motor number of months Mr. Beck had been at Fox. “It’s not fun.”
Mr. Beck’s official departure was preceded by conversations over a period of months with the Fox News chairman, Roger Ailes. Even as Mr. Beck and Mr. Ailes described how much they liked each other in an interview with The Associated Press, the message conveyed between the lines by both sides was that, despite ratings that would normally bring about an automatic contract renewal, this was a relationship that had grown cold — and run its course.
On Wednesday, the two sides made it official, announcing that Mr. Beck would end his top-rated show at some unspecified point later this year. His contract with Fox ends in December, but he is expected to sign off well before then.
Hired away from CNN’s Headline News in 2008, Mr. Beck found a home at Fox News, giving voice to disaffected Americans who were deeply troubled by President Obama’s election. He reached as many as three million viewers on some nights, setting time-slot records for Fox. Although his ratings have since declined — he averaged 1.9 million viewers in March — he still dominates the 5 p.m. hour among the cable news networks.
Notably, Mr. Beck became a daily broadcast platform for a libertarian strain of politics that is also evident in the Tea Party, a movement he embraced. Critics loudly condemned him for living with his own facts — but that only seemed to widen the golf irons conspiracy that he outlined each night, aided by a growing number of chalkboards in his studio.
But at that studio, he was unhappy from almost his first day on the job, which happened to be the day before Mr. Obama was inaugurated. Even in his first year, he was contemplating an exit from Fox and wondering if he could start his own channel.
Beck supporters presented a picture of constant sniping, planted stories about his declining ratings, and discomfort with his ability to build a career for himself outside the Fox News brand.
From Fox’s perspective, the facts about Mr. Beck’s run on the network have been public and indisputable. Among those were the refusal of hundreds of Fox advertisers to allow their commercials to be placed on Mr. Beck’s program, and a history of incendiary comments that attracted harsh backlash, including one where the host called President Obama a racist and another where cable ties he compared Reform Judaism to radical Islam. (He later apologized for both comments.)
Mr. Ailes suggested in the interview Wednesday that he was happy with the departure being characterized as either a cancellation or a decision by Mr. Beck to quit. Fox has retained all its other high-rated hosts in the past, but they didn’t come under the intense scrutiny that Mr. Beck has faced, nor the mass opposition from advertisers.
As onerous as that might have been to Fox financially, it did not seem to be an issue for Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of theNews Corporation. In two recent comments to shareholders, Mr. Murdoch defended Mr. Beck. He said of the advertiser boycott, “They don’t boycott watching it. We’re getting incredible numbers.” He followed that by pointing out that even with his diminished ratings, Mr. Beck’s show provided a “terrific kickoff” to the lineup of Fox shows that followed.
But the ratings clearly could not overcome the fractures in the led bulbs relationship. “By the end both sides had had enough,” said one executive who was involved in the decision to end the deal.
Mr. Beck’s new deal with Fox allows him to develop and produce new projects for Fox and its Web sites. But those projects are likely to amount to occasional specials and appearances, nothing more.
Mr. Beck is known to have contemplated an expansion of his subscription Web site and a takeover of a cable channel in whole or in part. Already, his growing media company produces several hours of shows on the Web each weekday.
A spokesman for Mr. Beck declined to say whether the agreement included a noncompete clause that would preclude Mr. Beck from hosting a TV show elsewhere for a period of time. On his show on Wednesday, Mr. Beck said to damper his viewers, “We will find each other,” adding later, “I’m going to be showing you other ways for us to connect.”
A senior Fox News executive, Joel Cheatwood, will join Mr. Beck at Mercury Radio Arts later this month.
Notably, descriptions of Mr. Beck’s future plans drew derisive comments in some quarters of Fox News, where they argued that Mr. Beck needed the huge platform of his Fox show to build his media empire.
At times, Mr. Beck and his managers said they sensed that Fox was retaliating in public, although they did not prove it.
Last month, when Mr. Cheatwood was first said to be moving over to Mercury, his Fox salary was suddenly leaked to a reporter. That day, a staff member who had been working with Fox on Mr. Beck’s show was asked if he could imagine working at an institution that would leak a salary figure. The staff member replied, “Not only can I imagine it, we’ve done it for 27 months,” referring to the precise hydraulic orbital motor number of months Mr. Beck had been at Fox. “It’s not fun.”
Portugal aid could mark end of spreading crisis
Investors had believed for months that a bailout for Portugal was almost inevitable, so the announcement by caretaker Prime Minister Jose Socrates on Wednesday is unlikely to hurt financial markets. The euro barely moved in the initial hours hydraulic orbital motor after the announcement.
The expected size of the bailout, 60-80 billion euros ($86 billion - $115 billion) according to a senior euro zone source, will not strain the euro zone's 440 billion euro bailout fund, especially since the International Monetary Fund is likely to be involved. Based on past bailouts, it would contribute about a third of the amount.
Many investors will see the request for aid as positive since it promises to avoid a worst-case scenario in which Portugal would have limped along under a minority government until general elections scheduled for June 5, refusing to seek help and digging an ever-bigger economic hole for itself.
This would have continued to push up Portuguese bond yields and threatened a collapse of its finances that might have prompted markets to start attacking Spain, widely seen as the next potential domino in the euro zone.
Other governments in the zone have therefore been pressing Portugal to damper request a bailout, and Lisbon's willingness to comply -- despite its bad memories of IMF-ordered austerity in the 1980s -- suggests the region remains able to summon enough political unity to address its debt problems.
"This is good news. We've been saying for a while that Portugal's finances were not sustainable at these rates," Erik Nielsen, chief European economist at Goldman Sachs, told Reuters. "We think the contagion stops here."
As recently as the turn of the year, it seemed likely that markets would target Spain if Portugal followed Greece and Ireland in seeking a bailout.
But the government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has unveiled a series of reforms of the labor market, pensions and banking sector in past months. A stabilization of Spanish bond spreads shows many investors now believe it can avoid the fate of its smaller neighbor.
Portugal will have to agree to tough austerity targets to obtain a bailout, and how quickly a deal can be negotiated is unclear. Socrates resigned abruptly last month after his latest package of austerity measures was voted down in parliament, and his caretaker government has said it lacks the authority to negotiate an economic adjustment program.
European Union officials may also be loath to pursue an agreement led bulbs before a new government emerges in the aftermath of the June 5 elections. In the case of >Ireland, the EU sealed a bailout deal with a lame duck administration only to face demands for changes from a new government in Dublin.
However, now that it is requesting aid, Portugal has much better prospects of obtaining some kind of bridging loan if that is necessary to tide it over until a full bailout deal.
And unlike Ireland, where crumbling banks have been a black hole for state funds, and Greece, which is struggling against ingrained tax evasion and corruption, Portugal may be a relatively straightforward case for the EU and the IMF.
The country already has an austerity plan in place which has received the blessing of EU governments and IMF officials.
Also, Europe has learned lessons from the two previous bailouts. There is now a broad consensus in policymaking circles that the rescue terms for Greece and Ireland were too onerous, straining their economies and finances, so Portugal can hope to get somewhat softer terms in some areas.
"Investors no longer seem to be worried about a full-blown euro zone crisis and the potential demise of the common currency because they assume mechanisms are now in place to prevent the crisis from escalating out of control," said Jane Caron, chief economic strategist at U.S. firm Dwight Asset Management.
DEBT, BANK RISKS
Still, while a Portuguese bailout may end the geographical spread of sovereign debt problems in the euro zone, it will not remove two big risks faced by the weakest countries: the possibility of sovereign debt restructurings, and the cable ties threat of deeper problems in the banking sector.
Some senior government officials in the zone are now acknowledging for the first time in private that some form of debt restructuring for Greece may be inevitable, even though officials publicly deny it will happen.
A number of economists believes the same fate may await Ireland and Portugal, although probably at a later
date.
Those fears are likely to keep market interest rates in all three countries very high for years, even if the countries do carry out the economic and fiscal reforms demanded by the EU and the IMF.
Joao Leite, head of investment at Banco Carregosa in Lisbon, said international aid would solve Portugal's financing problems but that the country still faced a daunting task addressing its large deficits, competitiveness golf irons problems and weak growth.
"Unfortunately, the solutions to these problems will only have an impact over the longer term. Until then the Portuguese have a hard road ahead."
The expected size of the bailout, 60-80 billion euros ($86 billion - $115 billion) according to a senior euro zone source, will not strain the euro zone's 440 billion euro bailout fund, especially since the International Monetary Fund is likely to be involved. Based on past bailouts, it would contribute about a third of the amount.
Many investors will see the request for aid as positive since it promises to avoid a worst-case scenario in which Portugal would have limped along under a minority government until general elections scheduled for June 5, refusing to seek help and digging an ever-bigger economic hole for itself.
This would have continued to push up Portuguese bond yields and threatened a collapse of its finances that might have prompted markets to start attacking Spain, widely seen as the next potential domino in the euro zone.
Other governments in the zone have therefore been pressing Portugal to damper request a bailout, and Lisbon's willingness to comply -- despite its bad memories of IMF-ordered austerity in the 1980s -- suggests the region remains able to summon enough political unity to address its debt problems.
"This is good news. We've been saying for a while that Portugal's finances were not sustainable at these rates," Erik Nielsen, chief European economist at Goldman Sachs, told Reuters. "We think the contagion stops here."
As recently as the turn of the year, it seemed likely that markets would target Spain if Portugal followed Greece and Ireland in seeking a bailout.
But the government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has unveiled a series of reforms of the labor market, pensions and banking sector in past months. A stabilization of Spanish bond spreads shows many investors now believe it can avoid the fate of its smaller neighbor.
Portugal will have to agree to tough austerity targets to obtain a bailout, and how quickly a deal can be negotiated is unclear. Socrates resigned abruptly last month after his latest package of austerity measures was voted down in parliament, and his caretaker government has said it lacks the authority to negotiate an economic adjustment program.
European Union officials may also be loath to pursue an agreement led bulbs before a new government emerges in the aftermath of the June 5 elections. In the case of >Ireland, the EU sealed a bailout deal with a lame duck administration only to face demands for changes from a new government in Dublin.
However, now that it is requesting aid, Portugal has much better prospects of obtaining some kind of bridging loan if that is necessary to tide it over until a full bailout deal.
And unlike Ireland, where crumbling banks have been a black hole for state funds, and Greece, which is struggling against ingrained tax evasion and corruption, Portugal may be a relatively straightforward case for the EU and the IMF.
The country already has an austerity plan in place which has received the blessing of EU governments and IMF officials.
Also, Europe has learned lessons from the two previous bailouts. There is now a broad consensus in policymaking circles that the rescue terms for Greece and Ireland were too onerous, straining their economies and finances, so Portugal can hope to get somewhat softer terms in some areas.
"Investors no longer seem to be worried about a full-blown euro zone crisis and the potential demise of the common currency because they assume mechanisms are now in place to prevent the crisis from escalating out of control," said Jane Caron, chief economic strategist at U.S. firm Dwight Asset Management.
DEBT, BANK RISKS
Still, while a Portuguese bailout may end the geographical spread of sovereign debt problems in the euro zone, it will not remove two big risks faced by the weakest countries: the possibility of sovereign debt restructurings, and the cable ties threat of deeper problems in the banking sector.
Some senior government officials in the zone are now acknowledging for the first time in private that some form of debt restructuring for Greece may be inevitable, even though officials publicly deny it will happen.
A number of economists believes the same fate may await Ireland and Portugal, although probably at a later
date.
Those fears are likely to keep market interest rates in all three countries very high for years, even if the countries do carry out the economic and fiscal reforms demanded by the EU and the IMF.
Joao Leite, head of investment at Banco Carregosa in Lisbon, said international aid would solve Portugal's financing problems but that the country still faced a daunting task addressing its large deficits, competitiveness golf irons problems and weak growth.
"Unfortunately, the solutions to these problems will only have an impact over the longer term. Until then the Portuguese have a hard road ahead."
A conversation about the cars and trucks we drive
Microsoft and Toyota announced today a joint venture to create a system for energy management of plug-in cars for now -- and perhaps to oversee energy use in the home, as well, in the future.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer held a high pressure sodium lamp joint webcast to announce creation of Toyota Media Service, a Toyota subsidiary that will provide the data service to drivers. The two companies will invest about $12 million in the venture.
The first application of the system -- which will be based on the Windows Azure cloud computing platform -- will be to manage energy use for the plug-in version of the Prius due in the first half next year. That Prius will be able to go about 13 miles on electric power only with a full charge from the power grid.
The system eventually will manage every electric thing in your life, including making your coffee in the morning:
Just kidding about the coffee, but not about everything else: Toyoda said, the system could link owners with their cars, their home appliances, heating and AC and control and their utility company's "smart grid" to minimize energy use, to schedule use for times when rates are lowest, to have your car ready when you are with its temperature preset and your most efficient route already dialed up in the navigation system. The link could dial down the energy use of your home while you're away and ramp up the heating or air conditioning as you approach so the house is just right.
"Our cars will play a big role in the global expansion of what we call 'smart centers' … on-board systems capable of better managing overall energy consumption of cars… driving trips…and homes," said Toyoda. " For example, this new system will include advanced car telematics like virtual operators with voice recognition … management of vehicle charging to reduce stress on energy supply…and remote control of appliances, heating and lighting at home."
For Toyota, which is trying to build up the infotainment and energy management tools for its electrified vehicles, the access to "Microsoft's vast information infrastructure" will, said Toyoda, "boost the value of golf irons automobiles by making them 'information terminals' …moving beyond today's GPS navigation and wireless safety communications, while at the same time enhancing driver and traffic safety."
Microsoft gets a high-profile user for Windows Azure, its software in the "cloud" -- i.e. that delivers services via the Internet rather than being loaded on a particular computer.
"Starting in 2012, customers who purchase one of Toyota's electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles will be able to connect via the cloud to control and monitor their car from anywhere," said Ballmer. "For example, customers will be able to turn on the heat or AC in their car while their vehicle is plugged into the grid or dynamically monitor miles until the next charging station right from their GPS system."
Ballmer said the cloud-based system will be particularly important for the car company in emerging markets, "Toyota will be able to deliver these new applications and services in the 170 countries where Toyota cars are sold. Historically, this type of service was limited to only major markets where the automotive maker could build and maintain a data center." Toyota will also have the benefit of paying cable ties for only the computing power it uses while being able to quickly scale to support spikes in demand or entry into new markets."
Toyota President Akio Toyoda and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer held a high pressure sodium lamp joint webcast to announce creation of Toyota Media Service, a Toyota subsidiary that will provide the data service to drivers. The two companies will invest about $12 million in the venture.
The first application of the system -- which will be based on the Windows Azure cloud computing platform -- will be to manage energy use for the plug-in version of the Prius due in the first half next year. That Prius will be able to go about 13 miles on electric power only with a full charge from the power grid.
The system eventually will manage every electric thing in your life, including making your coffee in the morning:
Just kidding about the coffee, but not about everything else: Toyoda said, the system could link owners with their cars, their home appliances, heating and AC and control and their utility company's "smart grid" to minimize energy use, to schedule use for times when rates are lowest, to have your car ready when you are with its temperature preset and your most efficient route already dialed up in the navigation system. The link could dial down the energy use of your home while you're away and ramp up the heating or air conditioning as you approach so the house is just right.
"Our cars will play a big role in the global expansion of what we call 'smart centers' … on-board systems capable of better managing overall energy consumption of cars… driving trips…and homes," said Toyoda. " For example, this new system will include advanced car telematics like virtual operators with voice recognition … management of vehicle charging to reduce stress on energy supply…and remote control of appliances, heating and lighting at home."
For Toyota, which is trying to build up the infotainment and energy management tools for its electrified vehicles, the access to "Microsoft's vast information infrastructure" will, said Toyoda, "boost the value of golf irons automobiles by making them 'information terminals' …moving beyond today's GPS navigation and wireless safety communications, while at the same time enhancing driver and traffic safety."
Microsoft gets a high-profile user for Windows Azure, its software in the "cloud" -- i.e. that delivers services via the Internet rather than being loaded on a particular computer.
"Starting in 2012, customers who purchase one of Toyota's electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles will be able to connect via the cloud to control and monitor their car from anywhere," said Ballmer. "For example, customers will be able to turn on the heat or AC in their car while their vehicle is plugged into the grid or dynamically monitor miles until the next charging station right from their GPS system."
Ballmer said the cloud-based system will be particularly important for the car company in emerging markets, "Toyota will be able to deliver these new applications and services in the 170 countries where Toyota cars are sold. Historically, this type of service was limited to only major markets where the automotive maker could build and maintain a data center." Toyota will also have the benefit of paying cable ties for only the computing power it uses while being able to quickly scale to support spikes in demand or entry into new markets."
Eat freeze-dried strawberry may help prevent esophageal cancer
Freeze-dried strawberries may play a role in the prevention of esophageal cancer, a new study suggests.
"Strawberries may be an alternative or work together with other hydraulic orbital motor chemopreventive drugs for the prevention of esophageal cancer," said lead researcher Tong Chen, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, division of medical oncology, department of internal medicine at the Ohio State University.
Study findings were presented at the ongoing 102nd annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Orlando, Florida, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on Wednesday.
"We concluded from this study that six months of eating strawberries is safe and easy to consume. In addition, our preliminary data suggests that strawberries can decrease histological grade of precancerous lesions and reduce cancer- related molecular events," said Chen, who is also a member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program in the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The study involved a group of participants who consumed 60 grams of freeze-dried strawberries daily for six months and completed a dietary diary chronicling their strawberry consumption.
The researchers obtained biopsy specimens before and after strawberry consumption. The results showed that 29 out of 36 participants damper experienced a decrease in histological grade of the precancerous lesions during the study.
Using freeze-dried strawberries was important because by removing the water from the berries, they concentrated the preventive substances by nearly 10-fold, Chen said.
Esophageal cancer is the third most common gastrointestinal cancer and the sixth most frequent cause of cancer death in the world, she noted.
Chen and her team are studying esophageal squamous cell led bulbs carcinoma (SCC) which makes up 95 percent of cases of esophageal cancer worldwide. China, where this study took place, has the highest incidence of esophageal SCC, according to the AAAS.
In a previous study, Chen and colleagues found that freeze- dried strawberries significantly inhibited tumor development in the esophagus of rats. Based on these results, they embarked on a Phase Ib trial that included participants with esophageal precancerous lesions cable ties who were at high risk for esophageal cancer.
"Our study is important because it shows that strawberries may slow the progression of precancerous lesion in the esophagus," Chen said.
But she said they need to test this in randomized placebo- controlled trials in the future.
"Strawberries may be an alternative or work together with other hydraulic orbital motor chemopreventive drugs for the prevention of esophageal cancer," said lead researcher Tong Chen, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor, division of medical oncology, department of internal medicine at the Ohio State University.
Study findings were presented at the ongoing 102nd annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Orlando, Florida, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on Wednesday.
"We concluded from this study that six months of eating strawberries is safe and easy to consume. In addition, our preliminary data suggests that strawberries can decrease histological grade of precancerous lesions and reduce cancer- related molecular events," said Chen, who is also a member of the Molecular Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program in the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The study involved a group of participants who consumed 60 grams of freeze-dried strawberries daily for six months and completed a dietary diary chronicling their strawberry consumption.
The researchers obtained biopsy specimens before and after strawberry consumption. The results showed that 29 out of 36 participants damper experienced a decrease in histological grade of the precancerous lesions during the study.
Using freeze-dried strawberries was important because by removing the water from the berries, they concentrated the preventive substances by nearly 10-fold, Chen said.
Esophageal cancer is the third most common gastrointestinal cancer and the sixth most frequent cause of cancer death in the world, she noted.
Chen and her team are studying esophageal squamous cell led bulbs carcinoma (SCC) which makes up 95 percent of cases of esophageal cancer worldwide. China, where this study took place, has the highest incidence of esophageal SCC, according to the AAAS.
In a previous study, Chen and colleagues found that freeze- dried strawberries significantly inhibited tumor development in the esophagus of rats. Based on these results, they embarked on a Phase Ib trial that included participants with esophageal precancerous lesions cable ties who were at high risk for esophageal cancer.
"Our study is important because it shows that strawberries may slow the progression of precancerous lesion in the esophagus," Chen said.
But she said they need to test this in randomized placebo- controlled trials in the future.
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