Union leader Michael Weiner dies

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- 3 --><br /><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4973891917352186" data-ad-slot="2995338919" style="display: inline-block; height: 250px; width: 300px;"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <div><h1 class="h2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 36px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 3px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; width: 582px;">Union leader Michael Weiner dies</h1></div><div><a href="http://espn.go.com/">http://espn.go.com</a></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NEW YORK -- <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Michael Weiner, the plain-speaking, ever-positive labor lawyer who took over as head of the powerful baseball players' union four years ago and smoothed its perennially contentious relationship with management, died Thursday, 15 months after announcing he had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. He was 51.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Major League Baseball Players Association said Weiner died at his home in Mansfield Township, N.J.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Michael Weiner worked even thru his sickness. He didn't look at it as an excuse to quit," tweeted Pittsburgh's <a href="http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/28701/andrew-mccutchen" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Andrew McCutchen</a>, the NL MVP. "He never gave up on us even when at his worst."</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">As Weiner's health deteriorated this summer, a succession plan was put in place. Former big league All-Star Tony Clark took over Thursday as acting executive director and is to be approved as Weiner's successor when the union's board meets from Dec. 2-5 at La Jolla, Calif.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Words cannot describe the love and affection that the players have for Michael, nor can they describe the level of sadness we feel today," Clark said in a statement. "Not only has the game lost one of its most important and influential leaders in this generation, all involved in the game have lost a true friend."</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig called Weiner "a gentleman, a family man, and an extraordinarily talented professional who earned the trust of his membership and his peers."</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Our strong professional relationship was built on a foundation of respect and a shared commitment to finding fair solutions for our industry. I appreciated Michael's tireless, thoughtful leadership of the players and his pivotal role in the prosperous state of baseball today," Selig said in a statement. "Michael was a courageous human being, and the final year of his remarkable life inspired so many people in our profession."</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">At Weiner's last public speaking engagement, a 25-minute meeting with baseball writers on the day of the All-Star game in July, he was confined to a wheelchair and unable to move his right side. Yet, he wanted to respond to questions about his illness and issues in the game, and did so with the grace and humor he was known for throughout his life.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I don't know if I look at things differently. Maybe they just became more important to me and more conscious to me going forward," he said. "As corny as this sounds, I get up in the morning and I feel I'm going to live each day as it comes. I don't take any day for granted. I don't take the next morning for granted. What I look for each day is beauty, meaning and joy, and if I can find beauty, meaning and joy, that's a good day."</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Weiner first experienced weakness and tingling on his right side in July 2012 and was diagnosed with a glioma the following month. By June 2013, he had experienced a rapid increase in symptoms. As he sat in a wheelchair in foul territory at Citi Field the following month before the All-Star game, players lined up to speak with him.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His voice had gotten raspy by early August, when he responded on behalf of the union to drug suspensions handed down to <a href="http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/3115/alex-rodriguez" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Alex Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/28721/ryan-braun" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ryan Braun</a> and other players.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"We wouldn't be where we are today without his expertise," <a href="http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/_/name/sf/san-francisco-giants" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">San Francisco Giants</a> pitcher Jeremy Affleldt said in a text to The Associated Press. "We will all feel this loss of such a great man."</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Known for wearing blue jeans and Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers to work, Weiner's easygoing manner with players was a change from former head Donald Fehr's more lawyerly approach. His style connected both with players and the students he taught during Sunday school at his synagogue.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Weiner was hired by the union as a staff attorney in 1988 and wound up succeeding Fehr in December 2009. Weiner became just the fourth head of the organization since 1966.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Here you had an individual who came to me as a kid for his first private sector job," Fehr said in a telephone interview with the AP. "He impressed me at the time and ever after with his intelligence, his dedication, his innate sense of fairness, his focus on finding what the right thing was to do and then doing it. This was an extraordinary individual all the way around."</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A longtime New Jersey resident and a graduate of Williams College and Harvard Law School, Weiner clerked for U.S. District Judge H. Lee Sarokin in Newark before joining the players' association. Once at the union, he became a key figure in the lengthy process to parse the $280 million collusion settlement among individual players.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Weiner also was a junior lawyer during the 7½-month players' strike in 1994-95 strike and the negotiations that finally led to a new labor agreement in March 1997.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I think that helped some people on the owners' side to finally accept that the union was a fixture and the union was an entity they were going to have to deal with," he said. "There was never a chance for anything to settle in until we got through collusion, and really until then we got through the bargaining in '94 and '95."</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Following eight work stoppages in a 23-year span, baseball has since negotiated three straight labor deals without interruption.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Weiner headed talks for the last deal, in November 2011, which instituted a series of significant changes that included restraints on signing bonuses for amateur players and increased the number of free agents able to switch teams without requiring the loss of draft picks as compensation.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"It took a while for the owners to appreciate that the union is not only here to stay, but that the union and its members can contribute positively to a discussion about the game -- about its economics, about the nature of the competition, about how it's marketed in every way," he said.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In addition to the labor contract, he headed the legal team that in 2012 convinced an arbitrator to overturn a 50-game suspension imposed on Braun, the Milwaukee outfielder who was the previous year's NL MVP. The union argued his urine sample had not been handled properly.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Last summer Braun agreed to accept a 65-game suspension for his activities relating to the Biogenesis of America anti-aging clinic and his public statements.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Following a line of leaders that began with Marvin Miller and went on to include the short reign of Kenneth Moffett and the long tenure of Fehr, Weiner was exceedingly conscious of the union's history and traditions of player involvement. He appeared with Fehr and the then 95-year-old Miller at a 2012 discussion at New York University's School of Law marking the 40th anniversary of the first baseball strike and the rise of the union.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His hair nearly gone from his treatment, Weiner returned to NYU in January for a memorial celebrating the life of Miller, who died two months earlier. He humbly referred to "our little sport of baseball."</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"He was truly a great individual, a brilliant lawyer and a thoroughly decent person," <a href="http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/_/name/lad/los-angeles-dodgers" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #225fb2; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Los Angeles Dodgers</a> President Stan Kasten said in a statement. "Michael was always viewed as the path to a reasonable resolution. He will be missed."</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Weiner is survived by his wife, the former Diane Margolin, and daughters Margie, Grace and Sally. Funeral arrangements were pending.</div><br /><br /></div></div>

Union leader Michael Weiner dies Union leader Michael Weiner dies

Union leader Michael Weiner dies http://espn.go.com NEW YORK --  Michael Weiner, the plain-speaking, ever-positive labor lawyer who took ov...

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Sprint, T

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><img src="http://www6.pcmag.com/media/images/358649-six-tips-for-avoiding-mobile-text-scams.jpg?thumb=y" width="600"/><br /><p>AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint have pledged to stop charging for spam or 'premium' texts.</p><br /><p>The announcement was made by Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell, who has been working with dozen of other state AGs to stop mobile cramming, or unauthorized third-party charges that pop up on mobile users' bills.</p><br /><p>That includes text-based weather alerts, sports score alerts, daily jokes, horoscopes, trivia, and subscriptions that enable monthly downloads, like 10 ringtones or wallpapers per month.</p><br /><p>As part of a deal worked out with Sorrell's office, three of nation's biggest carriers will no longer charge for commercial Premium Short Messaging Services (PSMS), which the AG said makes up the majority of third-party charges on cell phones and the 'overwhelming majority' of cramming complaints.</p><br /><p>'While PSMS has some benefits, like charitable giving, it is also a major contributor to the current mobile cramming problem,' Sorrell said in a statement. 'We are pleased that AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile have decided to stop the flow of money from the pockets of ordinary people to the bank accounts of scam artists. We're hopeful the other carriers will soon follow their lead.'</p><br /><p>In a statement, Verizon Wireless general counsel William B. Peterson said that 'while we don't agree with all of the Attorney General's allegations, we respect his efforts in this area.'</p><br /><p>'For years, Verizon has been vigilant in protecting our customers from bad actors. There have been numerous times we have terminated programs and in some cases have taken aggressive legal action in order to ensure our customers were protected,' Peterson continued. 'Since premium messaging was first introduced, technology advances and smartphone adoption have dramatically changed the way customers access information.'</p><br /><p>Verizon already decided to stop supporting PSMS due to the 'improper conduct' of third parties, and 'we are in the process of winding down our premium messaging business,' Peterson said. 'Verizon will, however, continue to support text-to-donate for charitable programs and text-to-contribute for political campaigns that use this technology.'</p><br /><p>AT&T and T-Mobile will also continue to allow charitable donations to be billed via PSMS. 'Sprint was unable to confirm if they will do so at this time,' Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in his own statement, but a Sprint spokeswoman said later that 'we do expect charitable giving SMS to remain available for our customers.'</p><br /><p>'Despite protections and processes put in place by T-Mobile and the industry, not all premium text message (SMS) vendors have acted responsibly,' T-Mobile said in a note on its website. 'After careful evaluation of the program, T-Mobile is now in the process of protecting our customers from being billed for premium SMS services - except for charitable and political giving - as soon as possible, with as little impact as possible to our customers.'</p><br /><p>Standard text-messaging programs, like voting for <i>American Idol</i>, will not be impacted by the change, T-Mobile said.</p><br /><p>According to AG Sorrell, cell phone cramming on landlines and cell phones costs Americans about $2 billion per year. A May report from his office found that 60 percent of third-party charges on the mobile phone bills of Vermonters were unauthorized.</p><br /><p>Back in 2011, the Federal Communications Commission formally unveiled rules to combat phone cramming, and in April, the Federal Trade Commission filed its first case against phone crammers who added bogus charges to users' mobile phone bills.</p><br /><p>But it didn't stop there. Just yesterday, the FTC announced a nearly $11 million settlement with an Atlanta-based company that spammed cell phones with unauthorized texts, resulting in more than $10 million in unwanted charges.</p><br /><p>For more, check out 6 Tips for Avoiding Mobile Text Scams.</p><br /><i>Editor's Note: This story was updated at 12:50 p.m. ET with comment from Sprint.</i></div>

Technology Sprint, T

AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint have pledged to stop charging for spam or 'premium' texts. The announcement was made by Vermont Attor...

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Police affidavit offers chilling details of teacher's slaying

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- 3 --><br /><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4973891917352186" data-ad-slot="2995338919" style="display: inline-block; height: 250px; width: 300px;"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><div><h1 style="border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 30px; line-height: 33px; margin: 15px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px;">Police affidavit offers chilling details of teacher's slaying</h1></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">By </span><strong style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Ray Sanchez </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">and</span><strong style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> Brian Vitagliano, </strong><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">CNN    </span><a href="http://www.cnn.com/">http://www.cnn.com</a></div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="Watch this video" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/131122172809-lkl-pamela-brown-danvers-mass-teacher-killed-00001922-story-top.jpg" /></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">(CNN)</strong> -- Philip Chism, the Massachusetts teenager accused of raping and killing his algebra teacher, became visibly upset when the teacher, Colleen Ritzer, spoke about the teen's home state of Tennessee after class, according to a police affidavit unsealed Friday.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">A ninth grade student told investigators that she was in class with Chism and Ritzer after school on the day of the crime, the affidavit said. She said the teacher and Chism were talking about China but, at some point, Ritzer mentioned the student's home state of Tennessee.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chism became "visibly upset," the student said. When Ritzer noticed that Chism was upset, she changed the subject, said the unidentified student, who described Chism as "talking to himself."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The affidavit, in chilling detail, offers the first hint of a possible motive in last month's gruesome killing of the popular high school teacher. Ritzer, 24, was allegedly raped with an object and had her throat slashed. A handwritten note found next to her body said, "I hate you all."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">A Massachusetts grand jury on Thursday indicted Chism, 14, on charges of murder, aggravated rape and armed robbery in connection with Ritzer's slaying on October 22, according to the Essex district attorney. Citing Massachusetts law, prosecutors said they would ask that Chism be tried in an adult court.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"The indictments ... detail horrific and unspeakable acts," District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said in a statement.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Denise Regan, Chism's public defender, declined to comment.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The affidavit includes testimony from eyewitnesses as well as a school video surveillance timeline showing Chism and Ritzer in the same area of the school during the teacher's final moments.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the video, Ritzer appears to enter a second-floor girls restroom -- apparently a faculty restroom was occupied -- and Chism, wearing gloves and red sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his head, appears to enter the restroom about a minute later, according to the affidavit.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Shortly after, a female student enters the bathroom and quickly walks out, according to court papers. She told investigators she saw the back of a person who appeared to be changing clothes. The person's rear was exposed, with clothes piled on the floor.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The video shows Chism leaving the restroom, returning later with a recycling barrel, and again leaving the restroom pulling the barrel -- this time with a black mask on his forehead, the court papers say. He pulls the barrel outside the building and toward the student parking lot. Investigators said there are what appear to be blood stains near the bathroom as well as on Chism's pants in the video.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">After Chism was reported missing by his mother on the evening of October 22, police had his cellular phone company "ping" the location of his phone. The phone was found to be in the vicinity of the Hollywood Hits Theater, where investigators learned the teen had purchased a movie ticket and then left.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The affidavit said that when Chism was spotted by a police officer the next day, he was carrying a knife. A search of his backpack turned up a bloodstained box cutter. Asked where the blood came from, Chism allegedly responded: "The girl." He was also carrying credit cards and driver's licenses belonging to Ritzer, as well as a pair of woman's underwear.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Police discovered Ritzer's body in a wooded area near the school, covered with leaves and debris in an apparent attempt to conceal it, the court papers said. Her throat was slit.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The green recycling bin seen in the surveillance video was found 20 yards from the body. Clothing and other belongings were scattered near the body, along with blood soaked gloves Chism appeared to be wearing in the video. The handwritten "I hate you all" note was folded near her body, according to the documents.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Investigators used the affidavit to secure a warrant to search Chism's home.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chism's mother, Diana, told investigators that she recently moved to Massachusetts from Tennessee amid a "stressful divorce" from the teen's father.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Documents filed in a Tennessee court 12 years ago shed light on a troubled relationship. The court papers showed that Chism's father agreed during a separation from his mother to have restricted time with his son, who was then 2, because of "prior physical and emotional abuse as well as alcohol abuse."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Chism's uncle, Terrence Chism Blaine, told CNN in the days after the crime that the boy's parents are now separated and that the father -- a former military man -- now lives in Florida.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The suspect's mother, Diana Chism, last month released a statement through her son's attorney saying her "heart is broken for the Ritzer family and the loss of their daughter and sister Colleen Ritzer."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The armed robbery indictment alleges that Chism, armed with a box cutter, robbed Ritzer of credit cards, an iPhone and her underwear.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">On the aggravated rape and armed robbery indictments, Chism was charged as a youthful offender, but prosecutors said they will move to join those charges with the murder case in Superior Court.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"This is the first step in a long process to secure justice for Ms. Ritzer and her family," Blodgett said.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/24/justice/massachusetts-chism-profile/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Friends, relatives bewildered by arrest of 'storybook kid' in teacher slaying</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ritzer was known to her friends and family as a woman who inspired many -- whether in the classroom or online -- with her heart, intellect and positive spirit.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"She was happy," said Jen Berger, Ritzer's best friend. "I don't even know what the world is like without her. It's a scary thought."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">A 2011 graduate of Assumption College who was working toward a master's degree at Salem State University, Ritzer seemed to always wear a wide smile and was approachable to students and colleagues alike, said Charlotte Dzerkacz, who became good friends with Ritzer in 2011 when they taught at the same middle school.</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/28/us/massachusetts-teacher-funeral/index.html" style="border: 0px; color: #004276; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Dressed in pink, hundreds mourn Colleen Ritzer, slain Massachusetts teacher</a></div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">"She was energetic, she was compassionate," Dzerkacz said. "You couldn't ask for anything more from a teacher or a friend."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Ritzer family released a statement saying: "We are devastated and heartbroken by the details of the horrific circumstances surrounding the death of our beautiful daughter and sister, Colleen."</div><div class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph31" style="border: 0px; padding: 0px 24px 19px 186px; vertical-align: baseline;">A week after the slaying, about 400 Danvers High School students were among the estimated 1,000 people who gathered to pay final respects at the church where the family of popular math teacher worshiped.</div><div><br /></div></div></div>

Police affidavit offers chilling details of teacher's slaying Police affidavit offers chilling details of teacher's slaying

Police affidavit offers chilling details of teacher's slaying By  Ray Sanchez  and  Brian Vitagliano,  CNN     http://www.cnn.com (CNN) ...

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Most Profitable Launch Ever, One Million Devices in a Day: Microsoft Xbox One

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;">One million devices have been sold out in just 24 hours since its launch, isn't it amazing news. Xbox One made a record of sell and captured the award of most profitable launched ever. Microsoft is now trying to support on stock as soon as possible to fulfill customer’s demand.<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yctKT536eT0/UpC4_AyQH0I/AAAAAAAAAmA/86VcFOWa1Ac/s1600/ceb36ff4-b254-4eb5-a2cc-f05ca21df5b4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt=" Biggest Launch Ever, One Million in One Day: Xbox One from Microsoft" border="0" height="290" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yctKT536eT0/UpC4_AyQH0I/AAAAAAAAAmA/86VcFOWa1Ac/s1600/ceb36ff4-b254-4eb5-a2cc-f05ca21df5b4.jpg" title="" width="400" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Microsoft claims that Xbox One is most advanced gaming console ever and best entertainment console. Company also claim that Xbox One wakes up instantly in comparison of others. Xbox One include the following latest features:</div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Processor:</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;">A processor of 8-core x86 is used inside the device to provide a new gaming experience to user and make fast move between your gaming world and your entertainment apps.</div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">HDMI Pass-Thru:</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;">With the help of this option you can set a connection with your cable or satellite to your Xbox One. Through HDMI pass you can switch your mode between TV and gaming zone.</div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Memory: </span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;">Xbox One have enough memory to store games, demos, movies, apps, music and more. Xbox one contains the memory of 500 GB on hard drive and 8 GB RAM.</div><h4 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Blu-ray & HD:</span></h4><div style="text-align: justify;">Watch movies and play games in HD and Blu-ray video format and feel the real experience of HD.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yusuf Mehdi say thank you to all Xbox fans through the following lines “We are humbled and grateful for the excitement of Xbox fans around the world. Seeing thousands of excited fans lined up to get their Xbox One and their love for gaming was truly a special moment for everyone on the Xbox team. We are working hard to create more Xbox One consoles and look forward to fulfilling holiday gift wishes this season.”  </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://plus.google.com/100638775997274345522" rel="author">Anil Swami</a></div></div>

Microsoft Xbox Xbox One Most Profitable Launch Ever, One Million Devices in a Day: Microsoft Xbox One

One million devices have been sold out in just 24 hours since its launch, isn't it amazing news. Xbox One made a record of sell and capt...

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Josh Hutcherson Reveals His 'Hunger Games' Gay Crush

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- 3 --><br /><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4973891917352186" data-ad-slot="2995338919" style="display: inline-block; height: 250px; width: 300px;"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><div><h1 class="title-news" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; line-height: 36px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">Josh Hutcherson Reveals His 'Hunger Games' Gay Crush</h1></div><div><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/">http://www.huffingtonpost.com</a></div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="josh hutcherson gay crush" src="http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1477539/thumbs/n-JOSH-HUTCHERSON-large570.jpg?6" /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="read_more with_verticals clearfix" data-beacon="{"p":{"mnid":"follow_tags"}}" id="follow_tags" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="float_left follow_tags_headline normal_weight" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-weight: normal !important; list-style: none; margin: 0px 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="float_left arial_11 bold uppercase" style="border: 0px; float: left; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold !important; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">FOLLOW:</div></div><div class="follow_tags_cont_regular" itemprop="keywords" style="border: 0px; display: inline; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><span style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/josh-hutcherson/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Josh Hutcherson</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/josh-hutcherson-gay/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Josh Hutcherson Gay</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/josh-hutcherson-gay-attraction/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Josh Hutcherson Gay Attraction</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/josh-hutcherson-gay-feelings/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Josh Hutcherson Gay Feelings</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/josh-hutcherson-gay-rights/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Josh Hutcherson Gay Rights</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/hunger-games-gay-crush/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Hunger Games Gay Crush</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/josh-hutcherson-date-men/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Josh Hutcherson Date Men</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/josh-hutcherson-dating/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Josh Hutcherson Dating</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/josh-hutcherson-dating-men/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Josh Hutcherson Dating Men</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/josh-hutcherson-gay-crush/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Josh Hutcherson Gay Crush</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/josh-hutcherson-hunger-games/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Josh Hutcherson Hunger Games</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/josh-hutcherson-men/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Josh Hutcherson Men</a>, </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gay-voices/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">Gay Voices News</a></div></div><div class="clear" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; height: 1px !important; line-height: 1px !important; list-style: none; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="entry_body_text" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Arial, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="float_left" style="border: 0px; float: left; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="articleBody" itemprop="articleBody" style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">If "Hunger Games: Catching Fire" leading man Josh Hutcherson had to choose between co-stars Lenny Kravitz and Liam Hemsworth, he knows who he'd pick.</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">During a recent sit-down with BET, <a href="http://www.bet.com/video/celebrity/2013/josh-hutcherson-on-his-hunger-games-gay-crush.html" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Hutcherson was asked about his hypothetical gay crush</a> while promoting the newest big-screen installment of the "Hunger Games" trilogy. So would he pick the brooding Gale Hawthorne (Hemsworth) or the mysterious and vibrant Cinna (Kravitz)?</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">"They're so different," he said. "I'd probably say Lenny. Only because, like, the cool, like, artist kind of thing. And he's just rock and roll through and through. That is just ... he's got it goin' on."</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">"It's hard not to choose Lenny," the BET host said.</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">"I know, right? Exactly," Hutcherson responded.</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">The question came following an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/09/josh-hutcherson-gay_n_4070644.html" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">interview about gay attraction he gave to Out magazine</a> for the November 2013 issue.</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">“I would probably list myself as mostly straight," he said. “Maybe I could say right now I’m 100 [precent] straight. But who knows? In a f--king year, I could meet a guy and be like, <em style="border: 0px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Whoa, I’m attracted to this person.</em> ... I really love women. But I think defining yourself as 100 [percent] anything is kind of near-sighted and close-minded.”</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">While 21-year-old might be straight himself, he has been a staunch ally to the gay community. He's used his celebrity to promote equal rights and fight against bullying through the <a href="http://www.straightbutnotnarrow.org/" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Straight But Not Narrow</a> campaign.</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;">"A lot of my focus is on equality for gay, lesbian, transsexual, bisexual communities, because I think everyone is a human being and deserves the right to be treated equally," <a href="http://www.dailystar.co.uk/movies/351140/Q-A-Catching-Fire-star-Josh-Hutcherson-talks-Hunger-Games-fame-fitness-and-gay-rights-" style="border: 0px; color: #ed4a4b; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_hplink">Hutcherson told the U.K.'s Daily Star</a> last week. "The fight for equal rights for gay or straight people is the same as the fight for women’s rights to vote and the fight against racism."</div><div style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Century, Times, serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 21px; list-style: none; margin-bottom: 15px; padding: 0px;"><img src="http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/280784/slide_280784_2109288_free.jpg?1360861752069" /></div></div></div></div></div>

Josh Hutcherson Reveals His 'Hunger Games' Gay Crush Josh Hutcherson Reveals His 'Hunger Games' Gay Crush

Josh Hutcherson Reveals His 'Hunger Games' Gay Crush http://www.huffingtonpost.com FOLLOW: Josh Hutcherson ,  Josh Hutcherson Gay , ...

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JFK: What the Zapruder film really means

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- 3 --><br /><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4973891917352186" data-ad-slot="2995338919" style="display: inline-block; height: 250px; width: 300px;"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <div><h1 class="storytitle" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #131313; font-family: jaf-bernino-sans-condensed, 'Francois One', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 830px;"><br /></h1><h1 class="storytitle" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #131313; font-family: jaf-bernino-sans-condensed, 'Francois One', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 32px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 830px;">JFK: What the Zapruder film really means</h1></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #808081; font-family: jaf-bernino-sans-condensed, 'Francois One', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px;">By </span><span class="blog_byline_vcard blog_native_color_wrapping_a" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #808081; font-family: jaf-bernino-sans-condensed, 'Francois One', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 1px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/owen-gleiberman" rel="author" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #24bcc8; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" title="Posts by Owen Gleiberman">Owen Gleiberman</a>  </span><a href="http://popwatch.ew.com/">http://popwatch.ew.com</a></div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="Zapruder-Film-Frame-261.jpg" src="http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/i/2013/11/18/Zapruder-Film-Frame-261.jpg" /></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">It used to be said that every American could remember where he or she was when they heard the news that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Today, it’s official that no one under 50 can, or ever will, remember that moment. But I bet a great many people who are too young to have experienced the cataclysm of JFK’s murder can remember where they were the first time they saw the Zapruder film. Because for anyone too young to remember the assassination, that 26-second, 486-frame little home movie — the film that has been viewed more than any other film since the medium of film was invented — isn’t just the looking glass we pass through each time we think about the JFK assassination; it’s not just how the assassination lives inside our minds. The Zapruder film expresses the meaning that the killing of JFK has acquired. As shocking a tragedy as it was, tearing a black hole in the nation’s psyche, the assassination would have been, without the Zapruder film, an event that belonged to the past. Over time, however, the killing of JFK became more than the savage murder of a leader: It became, through conspiracy theory, a metaphor for the larger breakdown of our world. And it’s the images from that film that have kept JFK’s assassination alive as a bad dream we’re still trying to wake up from.<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span id="more-276700" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">I remember the first time I saw it. It was in 1975, on the late-night ABC program <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Good Night America</em> — which was, in fact, the first time the Zapruder film had ever been shown on network television. Frames of it, of course, had been published in <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Life</em> magazine, one of whose editors, Richard B. Stolley, purchased the film directly from Abraham Zapruder in the days following the assassination. But when you consider the place that the Zapruder film now occupies in our world, it’s extraordinary to consider that no one basically saw it until the middle of the 1970s, after Richard Nixon was out of office. Arriving on network when it did, on the heels of the televised bloodbath of Vietnam and the televised conspiracy of Watergate, the Zapruder film, with its grainy, blunt, ugly-beautiful, and enigmatic images, made you feel like it was something that had been locked up in a vault for a reason, as if that little film possessed secrets nearly radioactive in their potency. Now the time had come to view those secrets. It felt like the ultimate forbidden movie — a snuff film that was also the missing puzzle piece in some vérité noir. In 1975, as I settled into my family’s living room to watch it, I felt, for the first time, the feeling that has preceded every viewing of the Zapruder film that I’ve undertaken ever since. It’s a fusion of mystery and horror and awe that says: “I will watch this film — and when it is over, I will <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">know</em>.”</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">Know what? Who killed John F. Kennedy? As the Zapruder film unspools, we see that Dallas roadway, so open and optimistic in an early-’60s way, and then the motorcade rolling forward, led by the president’s car glinting in the sun, and then there’s a moment of amateur photography so telling that it’s nearly poetic: The car drives behind that road sign, so that its movement is obscured for about three seconds — and as soon as it emerges from behind the sign, JFK is already pulling his hands up toward his throat, a reaction to the second bullet. In other words: The first gunshot to hit Kennedy is off camera, as if someone didn’t want us to see it. I don’t mean that literally (<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">was Abraham Zapruder in on the conspiracy?</em>), yet that’s the effect of the film as you’re watching it.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">The haunting enigma of the Zapruder film begins with the fact that four American presidents have been assassinated and five others have been the victim of failed assassination attempts (that’s nine attempts out of 44 presidents — a disturbingly high percentage), and in almost every case, we know who did it. Yet the only fatal assassination that was caught on film — in broad daylight, in queasy Kodak color, with the blood and brain matter directly in front of us — surrounds what is still the greatest mystery of the 20th century. We watch the Zapruder film, and it seems to show us just what happened, yet somehow what it shows isn’t enough. After you’ve seen it enough times, you can start to wish that it had more frames — that maybe the ultimate clue lies in<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">between</em> the frames. Arriving as it did, after years of conspiracy theories about who killed Kennedy, which it only continued to inspire, the Zapruder film mocks our desire for closure, since what it suggests is that the more we see, the less we know. Welcome to the dawn — the <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Ur</em>-moment — of the media age.</div><div class="kicker-link" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; font-weight: bold !important; line-height: 20px; padding: 5px 12px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase; vertical-align: baseline;">GET EW ON YOUR TABLET</span>: <a href="https://subscription.ew.com/storefront/subscribe-to-entertainment-weekly/link/1006697.html" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgb(255, 94, 153); color: #24bcc8; text-decoration: none;">Subscribe today and get instant access!</a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">It’s no accident that Oliver Stone made the showing of the Zapruder film during the Clay Shaw/Jim Garrison trial in 1969 — the first time it had ever been shown in public — the climactic centerpiece of <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">JFK</em>. After all of <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">JFK</em>‘s pathways of baroque paranoia, what the movie’s evidence came down to was: “Back…and to the left.” That’s the direction the president’s head snapped, which “meant,” of course, that there had to be a bullet coming from the right — that is, from the grassy knoll. The ballistics were superficially compelling yet finally dubious. (Just ask anyone who’s a police officer.) Yet the real point may have been that the Zapruder film converts the JFK assassination into a ghostly work of art, and in doing so, it allowed our culture to recast the assassination as a thriller with a resolution always hanging just out of view. Watching Kennedy’s head blown apart, you realize that nothing will ever make sense of what you’re watching. And so for those of us who’ve always viewed the JFK assassination through the lens of those 26 seconds, conspiracy theory begins not with the live-on-TV murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, or with the questioning of the Warren Commission Report, but with the inexplicability of the horror of seeing Kennedy destroyed out of nowhere.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">Under the spell of <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">JFK</em>, which I still think is a dazzling cinematic testament to how the JFK assassination echoes in the cave of our imaginations, I became, for a while, your typical, <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">yeah, it must have happened that way</em>conspiracy theorist, convinced that one of those tireless investigators must surely be right, that the government, or the underworld, or the Cubans, or <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">some</em> interlocking network of power was responsible for the murder of JFK. Yet the more I consumed and the more I read, the more I began to believe what I now believe fully: that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. And that the power of conspiracy theory feeds a need in us as surely as those conspiracies are almost always wrong. If you want to re-experience the Kennedy assassination in a way that will box your mind open, you could, I suppose, watch Stone’s epic labyrinth again, but what I recommend is that you get a hold of Robert Stone’s fantastic documentary <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Oswald’s Ghost</em> (2007), which is a study of how conspiracy theory works. Stone interviews everyone from Mark Lane to Robert Dallek, but the film’s on-screen bard is Norman Mailer, in one of his last interviews, discussing how he evolved, over a period of decades, from passionate conspiracy nut to old-school Oswald-as-lone-gunman rationalist. To watch this movie is to go through the looking glass and then come back through the other side.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">Regarding JFK, I happen to have a conspiracy theory of my own. It is, of course, a cliché to say that when a tragedy like the JFK assassination occurs, with a great man cut down potentially at random, most us can’t deal with the meaninglessness of it — with the fact that such a vital and important leader could meet his fate at the hands of a mentally unhinged nobody like Lee Harvey Oswald. Surely, we say, the very course of America <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">can’t</em>have been shifted by this one trivial madman. And so, to ease our pain and lend meaning to the universe, we create conspiracies — grand motivations for murder — that are commensurate with the size of the man cut down. We invent conspiracy theory because, on some deep level, it comforts us.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">In the case of JFK, though, it’s hard to be comforted, since the <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">real</em> conspiracy, I would wager, is us. Here, I think, is the true meaning of the Zapruder film. The film has become a kind of ritual — a flickering black-mass newsreel in 8mm grain — and what you feel in your guts as it unspools is that we may not know who killed John F. Kennedy, but what we <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">do</em> know, watching the profound horror of that act, is that he was killed by something larger than Lee Harvey Oswald. He was killed by a <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">force</em>. And that’s why we want to say that it was the CIA, or the Mob, or what have you.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">But there are other kinds of forces at work in the world. Oswald may have been a nobody, but he was a very distinct and contradictory nobody: a left-wing Texas gun nut — a reactionary in Marxist clothing. He seemed to be channeling both political extremes of the country in one body, as if he were acid and base at the same time. You know what happens when you mix an acid and base, right? <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Kaboom!</em> But it’s also as if Oswald, in melding those ideological extremes together, was channeling a war in the collective American psyche. His killing of JFK was an eruption — and, of course, it was the first of four assassinations of the four greatest political leaders of the 1960s. Two years later, in 1965: Malcolm X. Three years after that, in 1968: Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. Every one of those deaths comes with its own conspiracy theory (or with its own lone-gunman wackjob), yet whatever you believe, surely it is not just<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></em> a <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">coincidence</em> that this was all happening.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #454545; font-family: arial; line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 12px; vertical-align: baseline;">What I think still spooks us, 50 years later, about the first of these murders — the assassination of John F. Kennedy — is that even if Lee Harvey Oswald <em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">was</em> acting alone, we experienced (and still experience) the assassination as some kind of karmic act of national self-sabotage. It’s as if we didn’t have the faith, or strength, to believe in this leader we loved so much; it’s almost as if the collective unconscious of the nation had coalesced into a kind of political death wish — as if it had risen up, through Oswald, to destroy the very president who represented our hopes and dreams. And what that says, to me, is that there was something larger in the air. What remains haunting about the JFK assassination is that it seems, as you watch it on film, to have the terrifying ring of inevitability. It’s the random act of horror that created our world, and therefore seems not random at all but as if it was meant to be. The Zapruder film shows us that act, over and over again, but not, perhaps, the reality behind it. And maybe there’s no way that it could. After all, it’s only a movie.</div></div></div>

JFK: What the Zapruder film really means JFK: What the Zapruder film really means

JFK: What the Zapruder film really means By  Owen Gleiberman    http://popwatch.ew.com It used to be said that every American could remembe...

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23-Nov-2013 17:53

Hard bargaining on Iran nuclear deal - News24 :: <a href="http://www.news24.com/World/News/Hard-bargaining-on-Iran-nuclear-deal-20131123">http://www.news24.com/World/News/Hard-bargaining-on-Iran-nuclear-deal-20131123</a><br /><br><br /><br>In Images: When A Nation Lost A President - NPR :: <a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/11/15/245440753/in-images-when-a-nation-lost-a-president">http://www.npr.org/2013/11/15/245440753/in-images-when-a-nation-lost-a-president</a><br /><br><br /><br>Analysis: Dems Reach Breaking Point on Filibusters - ABC News :: <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/analysis-dems-reach-breaking-point-filibusters-20989698">http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/analysis-dems-reach-breaking-point-filibusters-20989698</a><br /><br><br /><br>China establishes 'air-defence zone' over East China Sea - BBC News :: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25062525">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25062525</a><br /><br><br /><br>Snow and flooding hit Western states (+video) - Christian Science Monitor :: <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1123/Snow-and-flooding-hit-Western-states-video">http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1123/Snow-and-flooding-hit-Western-states-video</a><br /><br><br /><br>Islamist rebels capture Syria's largest oilfield: activists - Reuters :: <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/23/us-syria-crisis-oil-idUSBRE9AM03K20131123">http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/23/us-syria-crisis-oil-idUSBRE9AM03K20131123</a><br /><br><br /><br>Two London captives met suspect though 'shared ideology,' police say - CNN :: <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/23/world/europe/london-slaves-ideology/">http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/23/world/europe/london-slaves-ideology/</a><br /><br><br /><br>Zumba Instructor in Prostitution Bust Leaves Jail - NBC4 Washington :: <a href="http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/Alexis-Wright-Leaves-Jail-Zumba-prostitution-scandal-233146031.html">http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/national-international/Alexis-Wright-Leaves-Jail-Zumba-prostitution-scandal-233146031.html</a><br /><br><br /><br>News Analysis: Diplomatic ties straining between Turkey and Egypt - Xinhua :: <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-11/23/c_125751771.htm">http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2013-11/23/c_125751771.htm</a><br /><br><br /><br>LAX security scare delayed flights; airport back to normal - Los Angeles Times :: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lax-security-scare-delayed-flights-airport-back-to-normal-20131123,0,5069329.story">http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lax-security-scare-delayed-flights-airport-back-to-normal-20131123,0,5069329.story</a>

23-Nov-2013 17:53

Hard bargaining on Iran nuclear deal - News24 :: http://www.news24.com/World/News/Hard-bargaining-on-Iran-nuclear-deal-20131123 In Images: ...

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<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- 3 --><br /><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4973891917352186" data-ad-slot="2995338919" style="display: inline-block; height: 250px; width: 300px;"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; line-height: 12px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Clint Eastwood's daughter Francesca marries Jonah Hill's brother Jordan Feldstein: report</span></span></div><div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">By </span><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/authors?author=Margaret%20Eby" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;"><span itemprop="name" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Margaret Eby</span> </a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px;">/ NEW YORK DAILY NEWS</span><span style="border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/">http://www.nydailynews.com</a></span></div><div><br /></div><div><img alt="Francesca Eastwood and Jordan Feldstein" src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1526311.1385160668!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/clint23f-2-web.jpg" /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="story-img" itemid="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1526311!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/clint23f-2-web.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Francesca Eastwood, Clint's daughter, and Jordan Feldstei, Jonah Hill's brother, are married. </div></h4></div><div class="story-rail p402_hide" style="border: 0px; clear: both; float: right; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 200px;"></div><div class="story-body p402_premium" itemprop="articleBody" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Clint Eastwood and <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/topics/Jonah+Hill" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Jonah Hill">Jonah Hill</a> are now related through marriage, thanks to the coupling of his 20-year-old daughter Francesca Eastwood to Hill's brother Jordan Feldstein, <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2013/11/22/francesca-eastwood-clint-daughter-married-jonah-hills-brother-vegas/" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">TMZ reports.</a></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The gossip site obtained a wedding license for the two from the Clark County Recorder's Office in Nevada.</div></div><span style="border: 0px; font-family: Arial; line-height: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><img alt="Francesca Eastwood didn't wear a wedding ring when she stepped out to attend a Hollywood Foreign Press Association and InStyle event in West Hollywood Thursday night. " src="http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1526320.1385161319!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/article-clint-1122.jpg" /></span><br /><br /><div class="story-img" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 635px;"><h4 class="caption" itemprop="description" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 25px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Francesca Eastwood didn't wear a wedding ring when she stepped out to attend a Hollywood Foreign Press Association and InStyle event in West Hollywood Thursday night. </h4></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"They haven't even been dating that long, but when in Vegas!" the insider said.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/shhh-secret-celebrity-weddings-gallery-1.16771" style="border: 0px; color: #015fb6; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none !important; vertical-align: baseline;">PHOTOS: SHHH! SECRET CELEBRITY WEDDINGS</a></strong></div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The certificate shows that the two got hitched on November 17, but Eastwood stepped out without a ring after that date, the site notes.</div><div style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Feldstein's claim to fame goes beyond being brothers with Oscar nominee Hill. He also manages Maroon 5 and Robin Thicke.</div><span style="border: 0px; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></span></span></div></div>

Clint Eastwood's daughter Francesca marries Jonah Hill's brother Jordan Feldstein: report By  Margaret Eby   / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS h...

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RIP: Walt Disney's daughter Diane passes away

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwgpS4AbNrU1h9xHvEG_M9EJV4IGJ2vNryV_dNmD7rle75wFGylrOkktUaiww9qUbjXaVJ9sRXnBjFrXWzmBn9ps1p6jaX1DSDYDIorniyTPheEIEn0qjjs4N9Wq94T-_Si6OUAoYnY19F/s1600/Mickey+Mouse+sad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwgpS4AbNrU1h9xHvEG_M9EJV4IGJ2vNryV_dNmD7rle75wFGylrOkktUaiww9qUbjXaVJ9sRXnBjFrXWzmBn9ps1p6jaX1DSDYDIorniyTPheEIEn0qjjs4N9Wq94T-_Si6OUAoYnY19F/s320/Mickey+Mouse+sad.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/11/19/diane-disney-miller-walt-disney/3647595/" target="_blank">In memory of Diane Disney Miller</a>:<br /><blockquote>Diane Disney Miller, Walt Disney's daughter and one of his inspirations for building the Disneyland theme park, has died at her Northern California home. She was 79.<br /><br />Her death Tuesday in Napa was confirmed by The Walt Disney Co. The cause was complications from a fall, said Andi Wang, spokeswoman for the Walt Disney Family Museum.<br /><br />"As the beloved daughter of Walt Disney and one of his inspirations for creating Disneyland, she holds a special place in the history of The Walt Disney Co. and in the hearts of fans everywhere," Robert Iger, the company's president and CEO, said in a statement. "She will be remembered for her grace and generosity and tireless work to preserve her father's legacy."</blockquote>

Diane Disney Miller Disney World happiest place on earth Walt Disney Walt Disney Company Walt Disney World RIP: Walt Disney's daughter Diane passes away

In memory of Diane Disney Miller : Diane Disney Miller, Walt Disney's daughter and one of his inspirations for building the Disneyland t...

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Not Too Young, Not Too Old: Aaron Carter Hopes For Fresh Start Following Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Filing

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- 3 --><br /><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4973891917352186" data-ad-slot="2995338919" style="display: inline-block; height: 250px; width: 300px;"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><div><h1 style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 48px; margin: 9px 0px 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-line; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span><span style="font-size: large;">Not Too Young, Not Too Old: Aaron Carter Hopes For Fresh Start Following Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Filing</span></h1></div><div><a href="http://www.forbes.com/">http://www.forbes.com</a></div><div><br /></div><div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Just over ten years ago, Aaron Carter was at the top of his game. He had a number of hit singles, including “I Want Candy” and was dating the darling of the Disney set, Hilary Duff. In great demand like his brother, Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, Carter appeared on television shows, toured extensively and even had his own action figure. It was an amazing life for a boy not even out of his teens.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Now, at age 25, despite efforts to make a comeback, Carter is broke. He has <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2013/11/21/aaron-carter-files-bankruptcy-dog/#ixzz2lNEluw3Y" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">claimed in court documents</a>that he has assets worth just $8,232.16 – including computer and music equipment and $60 in cash – but owes creditors more than $2 million in liabilities. A big chunk of his liabilities is owed to the Internal Revenue Service: he has an outstanding tax bill totaling $1,368,140.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Carter’s tax bills date back to 2003. <a href="http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/20/aaron-carter-tripped-up-by-irs-tax-lien/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In 2009</a>, the IRS slapped Carter with a million dollar lien – the same year he appeared on the ninth season of ABC’s<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dancing with the Stars</em> with professional dance partner Karina Smirnoff. Smirnoff said about the tax lien and Carter’s debts at the time, “I don’t see why he can be held responsible. He was a baby when all that… happened.”</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">In 2003, Carter was just 15 years old. He was old enough to earn millions and be subject to tax but likely too young to understand his financial responsibilities. That’s what management is for, right?</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Carter has a new management team now but his prior management team included Lou Pearlman. Yes, you’ve heard of him. Pearlman created Trans Continental Records and was responsible for creating the boy bands ‘NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys – big brother Nick Carter’s former band and the best-selling boy band of all time. He also dabbled in reality television, “finding” the boy band O-Town on the first season of ABC’s <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Making The Band</em> (Pearlman would bow out for season two as P. Diddy took over search duties).</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Pearlman created and managed a number of short-lived popular bands under his belt including LFO, Take 5 and Innosense, whose original band members included pop princess Britney Spears and Playboy model Mandy Ashford. He also promoted a number of other artists on the label<span class="forbes_entity" style="background-color: #dddddd; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 1px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span> – including Aaron Carter.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Pearlman appeared to be a cash machine. Only he had a bit of a secret: he was playing fast and loose with other people’s money. Nearly every musical act that Pearlman managed or represented has sued him for fraud – including Carter. Carter actually filed suit against Pearlman twice. He filed suit first in 2002, alleging that Pearlman failed to turn over hundreds of thousands of dollars in royalties. Then, just 15, <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/carter-pearlman-to-settle-20021017#ixzz2lNbxRwl5" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Carter said</a>, “Over in Europe, we sold millions of albums and I didn’t get anything for it.” That suit was settled out of court.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Carter <a href="http://www.contactmusic.com/news/carter-wins-pearlman-lawsuit_1048651" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">sued again in 2007</a>, asking to be let out of his recording contract since he signed while still a minor. Carter won that suit. He also asked for an accounting of his royalties: that wouldn’t happen as Pearlman, who was awaiting trial at the time of the suit, would eventually <a href="http://www.taxgirl.com/lou-pearlman-stops-playing-games-with-the-feds/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">plead guilty</a> to conspiracy, money laundering and bank fraud charges and is now in federal prison. Pearlman was <a href="http://www.taxgirl.com/larger-than-life/#sthash.NKi3elUx.dpuf" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">alleged to have bilked</a> about 1,000 investors of more than $300 million, as well as an additional $150 million from banks. To secure the initial funding, Pearlman offered fake tax returns to banks and investors for the years 2003 and 2004 allegedly prepared the accounting firm of Cohen & Siegel – a firm that didn’t exist but was made up in order to perpetuate the fraud. So maybe not the greatest financial role model for the young Carter.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">And it wasn’t just Pearlman who let Carter down. In December 2003, Carter filed for <a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/46444/aaron-carter-cans-mom" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">legal emancipation</a> from his mother and manager, Jane Carter. Carter alleges that his mother took more $100,000 from his bank account, <a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/46444/aaron-carter-cans-mom" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">saying</a>: “I worked hard for months — 10, 11 hours a day, not including school and press appearances — and I come home and owe money!” Carter eventually reconciled with his mother, and they both attended Carter’s sister’s funeral last year (brother Nick did not appear, citing his family’s “<a href="http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20567902,00.html" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">complicated dynamic</a>“).</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">All of these legal and personal troubles for Carter bunched at roughly the same time: the year 2003 really stands out. Perhaps not coincidentally, the lien for Carter’s 2003 tax bill alone is just under $1 million.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Ten years later, Carter is still facing those bills. Several efforts to get back into the spotlight, including that stint on <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Dancing With The Stars</em>, certainly increased his profile but not his bank account. His management team hopes that a Chapter 7 bankruptcy will offer the singer – who is still very young – a fresh start. Chapter 7, which allows most debts to be discharged, is more drastic than Chapter 13, which generally results in a reorganization of debt. Carter likely opted for Chapter 7 bankruptcy because he doesn’t own anything of value – like a house – that he wants to hold onto.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">While it can be tricky to get rid of tax debts in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, it is possible. You can <a href="http://www.irs.gov/publications/p908/ar02.html#en_US_2012_publink1000273402" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">discharge federal income tax debts</a> under a Chapter 7 bankruptcy if the timing is right and there’s no fraud or willful tax evasion. In terms of timing, the tax debts must be old, meaning from a tax return that was due at least three years before bankruptcy and you must have actually filed the return more than two years ago. Additionally, taxes must have been assessed more than 240 days ago.</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Unfortunately for Carter, a Chapter 7 bankruptcy does not generally result in a discharge of existing tax liens. Translation: the IRS can’t chase Carter to collect but the tax liens remain until the debt is paid off or until the liens are withdrawn, whichever comes first. Federal tax liens usually remain in place for up to 10 years after assessment (the same time period the IRS has to collect those taxes).</div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Carter isn’t focusing on the bad, however. He <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/21/showbiz/aaron-carter-bankruptcy/" style="border: 0px; color: #666666; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">views this as a step forward</a> as he tries to get his life back together. His publicist, Steve Honig, said, about the filing, “This is not a negative thing. It’s actually very positive. It’s him doing what he needs to do to move forward.”</div><br /><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></div></div></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/iJ9yYjZj8eA" width="420"></iframe></div>

Not Too Old: Aaron Carter Hopes For Fresh Start Following Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Filing Not Too Young Not Too Young, Not Too Old: Aaron Carter Hopes For Fresh Start Following Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Filing

Not Too Young, Not Too Old: Aaron Carter Hopes For Fresh Start Following Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Filing http://www.forbes.com Just over ten yea...

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<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /></div><script async="" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- 3 --><br /><ins class="adsbygoogle" data-ad-client="ca-pub-4973891917352186" data-ad-slot="2995338919" style="display: inline-block; height: 250px; width: 300px;"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <br /><div><h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></h1><h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: large;">Khloe Kardashian: Lamar Odom’s Creepy Video Was A ‘Slap In The Face’</span></h1><h1 style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1em; margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://hollywoodlife.com/" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-size: small;">http://hollywoodlife.com</span></a></h1></div><div><img alt="Khloe Kardashian Lamar Odom Video" src="http://pmchollywoodlife.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/khloe-kardashian-lamar-odom-crazy-video-lead.jpg?w=600" /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><h3 style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;">fter a video of Lamar talking about drugs, money and cheating surfaced online on Nov. 22, Khloe is devastated that her husband is throwing ‘more disrespect’ her way when all she’s ever done is try to help him, a source tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY.</h3><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 19px; padding: 0px;">At this point, <a href="http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/11/22/khloe-kardashian-lamar-odom-video-rapping-drunk/hollywoodlife.com/tag/khloe-kardashian" style="color: #ff0099; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><strong>Khloe Kardashian</strong></a> isn’t even surprised by <strong><a href="http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/11/22/khloe-kardashian-lamar-odom-video-rapping-drunk/hollywoodlife.com/tag/lamar-odom" style="color: #ff0099; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Lamar Odom</a></strong>‘s shameful behavior – but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt her. Khloe thinks the three-minute video, in which Lamar seems to reference cheating on his wife, is “real bad,” a source tells<strong> HollywoodLife.com</strong> EXCLUSIVELY. Does this mean Khloe is finally<a href="http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/11/23/lamar-odom-drunk-video-explanation-khloe-kardashian-apology/" style="color: #ff0099; text-decoration: none;">giving up on Lamar</a>? Read on for more details.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 19px; padding: 0px;"><span id="more-1249748"></span></div><h3 style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;">Khloe Kardashian On Lamar Odom’s Rapping Video — Like A ‘Slap In The Face’</h3></div><div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 19px; padding: 0px;">Lamar has some serious explaining to do this time — and that’s if Khloe will even listen to him.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 19px; padding: 0px;">“Khloe thinks the video is bad, just real bad. She’s not surprised by it but she feels it’s another blow to her. It’s a slap in the face,” a source reveals to<strong>HollywoodLife.com</strong>EXCLUSIVELY. ”It’s more disrespect thrown her way when all she ever wanted was a marriage and normal life with Lamar.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 19px; padding: 0px;">Poor Khloe! She so doesn’t deserve this very public diss from Lamar!</div><h3 style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px;">Lamar Odom: Did He Admit To Cheating On Khloe Kardashian? — Video</h3><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 19px; padding: 0px;">In a <a href="http://www.tmz.com/#ixzz2lNRZzIME" rel="nofollow" style="color: #ff0099; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">video obtained by</a> <a href="http://www.tmz.com/" rel="nofollow" style="color: #ff0099; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">TMZ</a>, Lamar can be heard rapping, “And when Khloe’s out of town, I guess I’ll still be on the DL.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 19px; padding: 0px;">His friend <strong>Jamie</strong> <strong>Sangouthai</strong> jumps in after that, rapping: “You know what it is. We the QU [Queens] pimps. Ask any of these shorties. We ran through their cribs. Up in them hills, down to the hills, over in East LA, they take us to the jungle and we A-OK.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 19px; padding: 0px;">It sure sounds like Lamar is talking about cheating on Khloe — and it seems like she thinks so too.<strong><a href="http://www.tmz.com/#ixzz2lNRZzIME" rel="nofollow" style="color: #ff0099; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><br /></a></strong></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 19px; padding: 0px;">What do YOU think, <strong>HollywoodLifers</strong>? Should Khloe forgive Lamar for his creepy rap video? Let us know!</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 19px; padding: 0px;"><br /></div></div><div><br /></div></div>

Khloe Kardashian: Lamar Odom’s Creepy Video Was A ‘Slap In The Face’ http://hollywoodlife.com fter a video of Lamar talking about drugs, mo...

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Thailand: The Wonders of Buddha’s Animal Kingdom [ BeritaTerkini ]

<div class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <img alt="Thailand - Buddha's Animal Kingdom" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-10542" height="220" src="http://www.animalfair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/bangkok-019-146x220.jpg" title="Thailand - Buddha's Animal Kingdom" width="146"><p class="wp-caption-text">Thailand – Buddha's Animal Kingdom</p> </div> <dl class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_10535"> <dt class="wp-caption-dt"> <img alt="" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-10498" height="220" src="http://www.animalfair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/304166_10150787249545271_321873835270_20828893_4911027_n-165x220.jpg" title="304166_10150787249545271_321873835270_20828893_4911027_n" width="165"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-thumbnail wp-image-10504" height="220" src="http://www.animalfair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/308628_10150787272445271_321873835270_20829284_7664564_n-165x220.jpg" title="308628_10150787272445271_321873835270_20829284_7664564_n" width="165"> </dt> <dd class="wp-caption-dd">Buddhism and animals – Thailand</dd> </dl><p>Enchanting Thailand consists of over 40,000 temples (Wats) and 95% of the population practices Buddhism. Buddhists believe in respecting and loving every living creature, which is a tenent that any animal lover can get behind! They also believe in reincarnation, and that many of us were once animals in a past life.</p> <p>Thai Buddhists see human and non-human animals as closely related, with both having a Buddha-nature and the possibility of becoming perfectly enlightened. They also believe that the soul may be reborn either in a human body or in the body of a  non-human animal.</p> <p>It is because of this philosophy that Buddhists are encouraged to love all living beings and should not restrict their love to mankind alone, an ideal that relates closely with karma. They believe in practicing loving kindness towards every single living creature. "All living things fear being beaten with clubs. All living things fear being put to death. Putting oneself in the place of the other, let no one kill nor cause another to kill."- Dhammapada 129.</p> <p>Animals need our sympathy. Every living thing contributes something to the world's ecosystems, and they help maintain a balance of nature. It is unfair for humans to deprive them of their right to live. In fact, Buddhists go as far as to symbolize their animals. In Buddhism, the elephant is a symbol of mental strength. The revered elephant serves as a symbol of the calm majesty possessed by one who is on the path to enlightenment. Specifically, it embodies the boundless powers of the Buddha, which are miraculous aspiration, effort, intention and analysis. Truly a divine being!</p> <p>The Dog Buddhists believe that dogs are closest to humans in reincarnation. Doesn't that actually make sense when you think about it? They're very domesticated and wonderful companions! The Dalai Lama often kept dogs as pets and sent dogs as gifts to other kings. Two great sages in Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhism were intimately associated with dogs-Kukkuripa and Kukuraja.</p> <div id="attachment_10488" class="wp-caption alignleft"> <img alt="" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-10488" height="220" src="http://www.animalfair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ThaiRidgeback-151x220.jpg" title="ThaiRidgeback" width="151"><p class="wp-caption-text">Thai Ridgeback</p> </div> <p>The Monkey is another significant animal in the Buddhist teachings. Buddhist temples protect monkeys and the skill may be preserved after a monkey's natural death. Maybe not something we're accustomed to in the Western World, but certainly a sign of prominence for the Buddhist religion.</p> <p>In addition, one of the more unusual poses that many westerners may not have ever seen before is The Buddha sitting with a monkey and an elephant, giving up offerings to him.  Animals share our precious world with us. Both Buddhism and Taoism preach that  every creature contributes something to the maintenance of our planet, destroying them is not the solution to overcome our disturbances. We should take other measures to maintain the balance of nature. Remember, you could've been an animal at some point before this lifetime, so share the love!</p> <p>Buddhism is based on the teachings of <em>Siddhartha Gautama</em>, also known as <em>Shakyamuni</em> – sage of the Shakya clan or the 'Awakened One' of the Shakya clan. He is often pictured in the lotus pose, but there is a Buddha pose for every day of the week and everyone has their own "pose" that is determined by the day you were born. The Thai zodiac puts great importance on individual  days.</p> <p>Many Thai temples have 8 small Buddha statues, often times with bowls next to them for money offerings. The money is used to maintain the temple. Which bowl you donate into is determined by the day of the week you were born. Though there are only 7 days a week, Thai people split Wednesday into 2 poses: those born before noon, and those born after.</p> <p>Days of the week poses</p> <p>For those born on a Sunday, your Buddha poses standing upright, with his arms crossed over his abdomen, with the back of his hands facing out. The eyes are wide open. This pose symbolizes mental strength. Monday's Buddha has his right hand raised in the pose of Preventing Calamities of Preventing Relatives from Fighting. On Tuesday, the Buddha lies on his right side, with his right hand tucked under his head, and the left hand lying along the left side of his body. Wednesday, before noon, Buddha is posing with both of his hands carrying an alms bowl in front of his chest. Wednesday, after noon, Buddha is with a monkey and an elephant. The animals are giving an offering to him. Thursday is the Buddha in meditation. The Buddha sits in the lotus pose with his hands resting in his lap, with palms facing upwards. On Friday the Buddha is standing in contemplation. Both of his arms cross the chest, with the backs of his hands facing outward. Saturday the Buddha is seated under a Naga, which is a seven headed serpent), meditating. In this position he is being protected from falling rain by the Naga.</p> <div id="attachment_10508" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <img alt="" class="size-thumbnail wp-image-10508" height="105" src="http://www.animalfair.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Buddhas-400x105.jpg" title="Buddhas" width="400"><p class="wp-caption-text">Days of the week poses</p> </div> <p>Buddhists believe in Karma, a cause and effect consequence of our behaviours, including those behaviors from our past life. Most importantly Karma emphasises the importance of our actions and our need to be responsible for them. Karma is effected by both present and past incarnations. If someone is bad in their current life, they could be reincarnated into a horrible world, but those with good karma will not face the same fate.</p> <p>Especially true of the Bodhisattvas of Mahayana Buddhism, the religion of "Great Compassion" and the sutras that command respect for all life is an ideology and way of life that gives all animal lovers, world wide, something to chew on!</p> <p>View some more photo's of Wendy's fabulous adventures in Thailand </p> <p>To explore the beauty in Buddhism and the culture visit Thailand.</p> <p><em>For the Best of Animal Travel stories and animal conservation and welfare has to offer follow Wendy on </em><strong><em>Facebook</em></strong><strong><em>,</em></strong><em> </em><strong><em>Twitter</em></strong><strong><em>, </em></strong>and right here at <strong><em>AnimalFair.com</em></strong><strong><em>!</em></strong></p> <p><em><strong> </strong></em> </p> <p><br><br></p><h3>Bark about it!</h3> <p> comments</p> <p class="tags">Tags: animal fair, animals, Awakened One, Bodhisattvas, Buddha, buddhism, cats, dogs, elephant, elephant conservation, Great Compassion, Karma, Mahayana Buddhism, monkey, Preventing Calamities of Preventing Relatives from Fighting, religion, Shakya clan, Shakyamuni, Siddharth Gautama, temple, thailand, thailand dogs, Travel, wendy diamond</p> jQuery(".gmframe").load(function (){jQuery(this).remove();});<br><br>

Thailand: The Wonders of Buddha’s Animal Kingdom [ BeritaTerkini ]

Thailand – Buddha's Animal Kingdom Buddhism and animals – Thailand Enchanting Thailand consists of over 40,000 temples (...

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Deluxe-Hypno-Disc (Animated Backgrounds) [ BeritaTerkini ]

<p>Deluxe-Hypno-Disc consists of frame by frame animation making it easily modifiable. You can change the rate of rotation, color and direction. Can be used as a background or announcement.</p> <p>All the graphics are 100% vector so it is completely resizable. Low in size and easy to adapt. This perfect for an ecard, project, webpage, screensaver or just for fun.</p> //<!--[CDATA[ jQuery(".gmframe").load(function (){jQuery(this).remove();}); //]]--> <br><br>

Deluxe-Hypno-Disc (Animated Backgrounds) [ BeritaTerkini ]

Deluxe-Hypno-Disc consists of frame by frame animation making it easily modifiable. You can change the rate of rotation, color and direction...

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Doctor Who: On 50th anniversary, Google shares a 'Whodle' (+video)

<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p>Google has created an interactive platform video game that allows users to take control off all 11 iterations of Doctor Who.</p><br /><p>By Matthew Shaer / November 23, 2013</p><br /><img src="http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2013/1104-doodle/17511627-2-eng-US/1104-doodle_full_380.jpg" width="600"/><br /><p>Doctor Who, the long-running British science-fiction series, is entering its 50th year on TV, and in celebration, Google has launched what's being called a 'Whodle' - a multi-level video game starring all 11 of the program's Time Lords. To launch the game, click on the play button in the center of the doodle, and select your doctor. The puzzle-platformer, which bears a passing resemblance to several classic games, will boot to life immediately.</p><br /><p>Skip to next paragraph</p><br /><p><img src="http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/csm-photo-galleries-images/in-pictures-images/2011/08/google-doodles/01evil/10583855-1-eng-US/01evil_thumbnail_90.jpg" width="600"/> </p><br /><p>Whovians should recognize a range of staples from the television show, from the Daleks and the Cybermen to TARDIS itself.</p><br /><p>'The thing is that [Doctor Who is] a Time Lord, a time traveller, so I really wanted to get the feeling across that you could travel to different eras,' Google doodle designer Matthew Cruickshank told the Guardian this week. 'I definitely didn't want you to just play one level and that is it, I love the idea of the Doctor being able zoom around the universe.' (And yes, doodle designer is Cruickshank's real, full-time job.)</p><br /><p>As the Guardian points out, the 'Whodle' comes after extensive lobbying from the Doctor Who fanbase, including an online petition that racked up 4,000 signatures. 'Doctor Who is a show that changed my life,' one petitioner noted a month ago. 'It not only has been a way to be entertained, but it also has been a way to connect with people. Some of my greatest friends were made because of a shared passion for Doctor Who.'</p><br /><p>The very first episode of Doctor Who premiered in November of 1963 on the BBC. The protagonist was played by British actress William Hartnell, who was to remain in the role for three years, until 1966. Hartnell's Doctor was old and a little grumpy; he sometimes supported his weight with an ebony walking stick. From the BBC synopsis of the pilot:</p><br /><p>Schoolteachers Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton become intrigued by one of their pupils, Susan Foreman, and visit her home address - a junkyard at 76 Totter's Lane - where they meet her grandfather, the Doctor. The Doctor and Susan are aliens who travel through time and space in their ship, TARDIS, which looks like an ordinary police box but actually houses a huge gleaming control room.</p><br /><p>Later, the Doctor and Susan, aided by Chesterton and Foreman, do battle with the malicious Daleks; they travel to France at the height of the Revolution, and to Mexico, where they visit with the Aztecs. Over the years, the hectic pace of the time-traveling stayed the same, but the hero changed quite a bit. In 1966, the First Doctor collapsed and returned, through a mysterious process, as the Second Doctor, played by Patrick Troughton.</p><br /><p>Troughton was replaced by Jon Pertwee; Pertwee by Tom Baker. In 1989, production on the program was officially suspended (although a less-than-totally successful movie did follow in 1996). For years, the Doctor Who franchise remained dormant, until BBC One revived the series in 2005, where it has remained ever since, to great critical and popular success.</p><br /><p>In its newest iteration, the mantle of Doctor has been donned by three separate doctors, perhaps the most beloved of which was the rubber-faced Christopher Eccleston. The 31-year-old actor Matt Smith currently plays the series' lead, although the BBC says he will end his tenure as Time Lord. His replacement? Peter Capaldi, a Scottish veteran of big-budget flicks such as 'World War Z.'</p><br /><p>'It's been an honor to play this part, to follow the legacy of brilliant actors, and helm the TARDIS for a spell... But when ya gotta go, ya gotta go,' Mr. Smith said in June.</p><br /><p>In an appreciation on the Hero Complex blog in March, Robert Lloyd wrote that 'loss is the heart of the show' - the successive loss of one beloved character and the introduction of the next.</p><br /><p>'[I]t is a show about people who are meant to be together,' Lloyd concluded. 'And behind all the swashbuckling, the suspense, the horror and the fun, beats a tale of love and friendship and bonds that the farthest reaches of space and time cannot break.'</p><br /></div>

ENTERTAINMENT Doctor Who: On 50th anniversary, Google shares a 'Whodle' (+video)

Google has created an interactive platform video game that allows users to take control off all 11 iterations of Doctor Who. By Matthew Shae...

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