Nintendo Wii Helped Budding Surgeons Move To Head Of The Class : Shots - Health News : NPR

How's this for a tough assignment?<br /><br><br /><br>A group of Italian researchers forced 21 surgical residents to play video games on a Nintendo Wii for an hour a day, five days a week, for four weeks. Whew!<br /><br><br /><br>Then the researchers had the residents perform a simulated keyhole surgery. They found that the gamers performed significantly better than another group of residents who didn't undergo this grueling video game training.<br /><br><br /><br>"We had a lot of fun," said Dr. Gregorio Patrizi, a professor at the University of Rome Medical School who worked on the study. "Research doesn't need to be boring."<br /><br><br /><br>Keyhole, or laparoscopic, surgery involves inserting tiny video cameras and instruments into your body so surgeons can operate without having to make a large incision. The approach reduces recovery times for patients, and the risk of infection goes down as well.<br /><br><br /><br>However, Patrizi said laparoscopy can be difficult for surgeons not used to staring at a video monitor during an operation. "You have to move in a three-dimensional space but you have a two-dimensional image on your screen," he said.<br /><br><br /><br>That's where the Wii comes in. Several earlier studies suggested that playing video games can boost laparoscopic skills, but those studies were largely based on surveys of surgeons' prior video gaming habits. Patrizi's study is one of the first randomized trials that had some surgeons undergo a structured game-playing routine and also maintained a separate control group.<br /><br><br /><br>Patrizi and his team had surgical residents play three Wii games — tennis, ping pong and one that involved shooting balloons from an aircraft. As the researchers write in their articlepublished online by PLOS ONE, they chose these games because they all required strong hand-eye coordination and three-dimensional visualization of a space.<br /><br><br /><br>Compared with the unlucky doctors in the control group, who didn't have an excuse to play video games for five hours a week, the residents who played the Wii games showed significantly more improvement on a laparoscopy simulator.<br /><br><br /><br>Though it might seem like this study was designed by Nintendo as an advertisement for the Wii, Patrizi said the video game maker had nothing to do with it. He said his team received no outside funding to conduct the experiment and didn't even notify Nintendo they were doing it.<br /><br><br /><br>In an email to Shots, a Nintendo spokeswoman said the company is "thrilled to hear" that the Wii might someday provide a benefit to medical science, even if that wasn't what its designers had in mind. "Did we think that the Wii would improve the performance of surgeons?" she writes. "No."<br /><br><br /><br>Patrizi said these results suggest that the Wii and other motion-sensing gaming consoles like Microsoft's Kinect could be used to supplement surgical training at a very low cost, especially when compared with expensive laparoscopy simulators.<br /><br><br /><br>To Dr. Brant Oelschlager, chief of the University of Washington's Center for Videoendoscopic Surgery, it makes sense that a video game would help a surgeon perform these procedures. "There's probably a lot of overlap in that bit of learning," he said. "Both are very unnatural environments to the novice."<br /><br><br /><br>But that doesn't mean hospitals should be putting Wii systems in the doctors lounge just yet. Oelschlager said video games would only be beneficial to inexperienced surgeons.<br /><br><br /><br>"I'm skeptical that at an advanced level that would help the surgeon become better," Oelschlager said. "At some point, it starts to have diminishing returns and you have to gain the rest of your skills in a real patient."<br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/02/27/173076773/nintendo-wii-helped-budding-surgeons-move-to-head-of-the-class">http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/02/27/173076773/nintendo-wii-helped-budding-surgeons-move-to-head-of-the-class</a>

Nintendo Wii Helped Budding Surgeons Move To Head Of The Class : Shots - Health News : NPR

How's this for a tough assignment? A group of Italian researchers forced 21 surgical residents to play video games on a Nintendo Wii for...

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Shots - Health News : NPR

Shots is the online channel for health stories from the NPR Science Desk. We report on news that can make a difference for your health and show how policy shapes our choices about health. <br /><br><br /><br><a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/">http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/</a>

Shots - Health News : NPR

Shots is the online channel for health stories from the NPR Science Desk. We report on news that can make a difference for your health and s...

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Fwd: Medicare Needs Fixing, but Not Right Now - NYTimes.com

<br><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">What's the rush? For all the white-knuckled wrangling over spending cuts set to start on Friday, the fundamental partisan argument over how to fix the government's finances is not about the immediate future. It is about the much longer term: how will the nation pay for the care of older Americans as the vast baby boom generation retires? Will the government keep <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about Medicare." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">Medicare</a> spending in check by asking older Americans to shoulder more costs? Should we raise taxes instead?</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">It might not be a good idea to try to resolve these questions quite so urgently. Partisan bickering under the threat of automatic budget cuts is unlikely to produce a calm, thoughtful deal.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">"We don't have to solve this tomorrow; not even next year," said Jonathan Gruber, an economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who worked on the design of President Obama's <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_insurance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival news about healthcare reform." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">health care reform</a>.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">More significantly perhaps, some economists point out that the problem may already be on the way toward largely fixing itself. The budget-busting rise in health care costs, it seems, is finally losing speed. While it would be foolhardy to assume that this alone will stabilize government's finances, the slowdown offers hope that the challenge may not be as daunting as the frenzied declarations from Washington make it seem.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The growth of the nation's spending slowed sharply over the last four years. This year, it is expected to increase only 3.8 percent, <a title="Data on health care spending." href="https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/index.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services</a>, the slowest pace in four decades and slower than the rate of nominal economic growth.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Medicare spending is growing faster — stretched by baby boomers stepping out of the work force and into retirement. But its pace has slowed markedly, too. Earlier this month, <a title="Related C.B.O. report." href="http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43947" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">the Congressional Budget Office said</a> that by 2020 Medicare spending would be $126 billion less than it predicted three years ago. Spending over the coming decade, it added, would be $143 billion less than it forecast just last August.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">While economists acknowledge that the recession accounts for part of the decline, depressing incomes and consumption, something else also seems to be going on: insurers, doctors, hospitals and other providers are experimenting with new, cheaper and more efficient ways to deliver care.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Prodded by President Obama's Affordable Care Act, which offers providers a share of savings reaped by Medicare from any efficiency gains, many doctors are dropping the costly practice of charging a fee for each service regardless of its contribution to patients' health. Doctors are joining hundreds of so-called Accountable Care Organizations, which are paid to maintain patients in good health and are thus encouraged to seek the most effective treatments at the lowest possible cost.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">This has kindled hope among some scholars that Medicare could achieve the needed savings just by cleaning out the health care system's waste.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Elliott Fisher, who directs <a title="Dartmouth Atlas." href="http://www.dartmouthatlas.org/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">Dartmouth's Atlas of Health Care</a>, which tracks disparities in medical practices and outcomes across the country, pointed out that Medicare spending per person varies widely regardless of quality — from $7,734 a year in Minneapolis to $11,646 in Chicago — even after correcting for the different age, sex and race profiles of their populations.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">He noted that if hospital stays by Medicare enrollees across the country fell to the length prevailing in Oregon and Washington, hospital use — one of the biggest drivers of costs — would fall by almost a third.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"Twenty to 30 percent of Medicare spending is pure waste," Dr. Fisher argues. "The challenge of getting those savings is nontrivial. But those kinds of savings are not out of the question."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">We could be disappointed, of course. Similar breakthroughs before have quickly fizzled. Just think back to that brief spell in the mid-1990s when health maintenance organizations seemed to beat health care inflation — until patients rebelled against being denied services and doctors dropped out of their networks rather than accept lower fees.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services already expects spending to rebound in coming years. Without tougher cost control devices, be it vouchers to limit government spending or direct government rationing, counting on savings of the scale needed to overcome the expected increase in Medicare rolls may be hoping for pie in the sky.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"It makes no sense," said Eugene Steuerle, an economist at the Urban Institute, to expect the government will reap vast Medicare savings without having an impact on the quality of care.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The Affordable Care Act already contemplates fairly big cuts to Medicare. In its latest long-term projections published last year, <a title="C.B.O. long-term projections." href="http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/06-05-Long-Term_Budget_Outlook_2.pdf" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">the Congressional Budget Office estimated</a> that under current law, growth in spending per beneficiary over the coming decade would be about half a percentage point slower than the rate of economic growth per person.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">To understand how ambitious this is, consider that Medicare spending per beneficiary since 1985 has exceeded the growth of gross domestic product per person by about 1.5 percentage points per year. Slowing down that spending would require deep cuts in doctor reimbursements that, though written into law, Congress has never allowed to happen — repeatedly voting to cancel or postpone them.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Under a more realistic situation, the Budget Office projected that the growth of Medicare spending per capita over the next 10 years would be in fact 0.6 percentage points higher than under current law and accelerate further after that.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Yet despite the ambition of these targets, they would not be enough to stabilize future Medicare spending as a share of the economy. A report by three health care policy experts, Michael Chernew and Richard Frank of Harvard Medical School, together with Stephen Parente of the University of Minnesota, concluded that to do that would require limiting the growth of spending per beneficiary at 1.25 percentage points less than the growth of our gross domestic product per person.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">"The Affordable Care Act places Medicare spending on a trajectory that is historically low," Mr. Chernew said, noting his opinion was not an official statement as vice chairman of Medicare's Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on Medicare. "Could we do better? Of course. Will we? That requires a little more skepticism."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Yet even if it is unrealistic to expect that newfound efficiencies will stabilize Medicare's finances, the slowdown in health care spending suggests that politicians in Washington calm down. It offers, at the very least, more breathing room to carefully consider reforms to the system to raise revenue or trim benefits in the least damaging way.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><a title="Policy proposals made at a Brookings Institution conference." href="http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/15_ways_to_rethink_the_federal_budget/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">There are many ideas out there</a> — from changing Medicare's premiums, deductibles and coinsurance to introducing a tax on carbon emissions to raise revenue. Some of them are not as good as others. Until recently, President Obama favored increasing the eligibility age for Medicare. Then <a title="The Kaiser study." href="http://www.kff.org/medicare/8169.cfm" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none;">research by the Kaiser Family Foundation</a> concluded that raising the age would increase insurance premiums and cost businesses, beneficiaries and states more than the federal government would save. The nation would lose money in the deal.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">"As we do this, there are smarter and dumber ways to do it," Mr. Gruber said. "It would be a problem if we were to do things in a panic mode that set us backward."</p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/business/medicare-needs-fixing-but-not-right-now.html?src=recg&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/business/medicare-needs-fixing-but-not-right-now.html?src=recg&pagewanted=print</a>

Fwd: Medicare Needs Fixing, but Not Right Now - NYTimes.com

What's the rush? For all the white-knuckled wrangling over spending cuts set to start on Friday, the fundamental partisan argument over ...

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Study Finds Genetic Risk Factors Shared by 5 Psychiatric Disorders - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><nyt_text style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div id="articleBody"><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The psychiatric illnesses seem very different — <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/schizophrenia/overview.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">schizophrenia</a>, <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/bipolar-disorder/overview.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">bipolar disorder</a>, <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/autism/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">autism</a>, <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/symptoms/depression/overview.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">major depression</a> and <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder-adhd/overview.html" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">attention deficit hyperactivity disorder</a>. Yet they share several genetic glitches that can nudge the brain along a path to mental illness, researchers report. Which disease, if any, develops is thought to depend on other genetic or environmental factors.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Their study, <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2962129-1/fulltext" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">published online Wednesday</a> in the Lancet, was based on an examination of genetic data from more than 60,000 people worldwide. Its authors say it is the largest genetic study yet of psychiatric disorders. The findings strengthen an emerging view of mental illness that aims to make diagnoses based on the genetic aberrations underlying diseases instead of on the disease symptoms.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Two of the aberrations discovered in the new study were in genes used in a major signaling system in the brain, giving clues to processes that might go awry and suggestions of how to treat the diseases.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"What we identified here is probably just the tip of an iceberg," said Dr. Jordan Smoller, lead author of the paper and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. "As these studies grow we expect to find additional genes that might overlap."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The new study does not mean that the <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/specialtopic/genetics/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Genetics." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">genetics</a> of psychiatric disorders are simple. Researchers say there seem to be hundreds of genes involved and the gene variations discovered in the new study confer only a small risk of psychiatric disease.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Steven McCarroll, director of genetics for the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of Harvard and M.I.T., said it was significant that the researchers had found common genetic factors that pointed to a specific signaling system.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"It is very important that these were not just random hits on the dartboard of the genome," said Dr. McCarroll, who was not involved in the new study.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The work began in 2007 when a large group of researchers began investigating genetic data generated by studies in 19 countries and including 33,332 people with psychiatric illnesses and 27,888 people free of the illnesses for comparison. The researchers studied scans of people's DNA, looking for variations in any of several million places along the long stretch of genetic material containing three billion DNA letters. The question: Did people with psychiatric illnesses tend to have a distinctive DNA pattern in any of those locations?</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Researchers had already seen some clues of overlapping genetic effects in identical <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/twins/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about twins." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">twins</a>. One twin might have schizophrenia while the other had bipolar disorder. About six years ago, around the time the new study began, researchers had examined the genes of a few rare families in which psychiatric disorders seemed especially prevalent. They found a few unusual disruptions of chromosomes that were linked to psychiatric illnesses. But what surprised them was that while one person with the aberration might get one disorder, a relative with the same mutation got a different one.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Jonathan Sebat, chief of the Beyster Center for Molecular Genomics of Neuropsychiatric Diseases at the University of California, San Diego, and one of the discoverers of this effect, said that work on these rare genetic aberrations had opened his eyes. "Two different diagnoses can have the same genetic risk factor," he said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">In fact, the new paper reports, distinguishing psychiatric diseases by their symptoms has long been difficult. Autism, for example, was once called childhood schizophrenia. It was not until the 1970s that autism was distinguished as a separate disorder.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">But Dr. Sebat, who did not work on the new study, said that until now it was not clear whether the rare families he and others had studied were an exception or whether they were pointing to a rule about multiple disorders arising from a single genetic glitch.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"No one had systematically looked at the common variations," in DNA, he said. "We didn't know if this was particularly true for rare mutations or if it would be true for all genetic risk." The new study, he said, "shows all genetic risk is of this nature."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The new study found four DNA regions that conferred a small risk of psychiatric disorders. For two of them, it is not clear what genes are involved or what they do, Dr. Smoller said. The other two, though, involve genes that are part of <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/test/serum-calcium/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Serum calcium." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">calcium</a> channels, which are used when neurons send signals in the brain.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"The calcium channel findings suggest that perhaps — and this is a big if — treatments to affect calcium channel functioning might have effects across a range of disorders," Dr. Smoller said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">There are drugs on the market that block calcium channels — they are used to treat <a href="http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/hypertension/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="In-depth reference and news articles about Hypertension." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">high blood pressure</a> — and researchers had already postulated that they might be useful for bipolar disorder even before the current findings.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">One investigator, Dr. Roy Perlis of Massachusetts General Hospital, just completed a small study of a calcium channel blocker in 10 people with bipolar disorder and is about to expand it to a large randomized clinical trial. He also wants to study the drug in people with schizophrenia, in light of the new findings. He cautions, though, that people should not rush out to take a calcium channel blocker on their own.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"We need to be sure it is safe and we need to be sure it works," Dr. Perlis said.</p><nyt_correction_bottom><div class="articleCorrection" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "></div></nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></nyt_text><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; "></span></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/health/study-finds-genetic-risk-factors-shared-by-5-psychiatric-disorders.html?src=me&ref=general&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/health/study-finds-genetic-risk-factors-shared-by-5-psychiatric-disorders.html?src=me&ref=general&pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Study Finds Genetic Risk Factors Shared by 5 Psychiatric Disorders - NYTimes.com

The psychiatric illnesses seem very different —  schizophrenia ,  bipolar disorder ,  autism ,  major depression  and  attention deficit hyp...

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28 in 28, Recap

<i>February was Book Month on A Daily Dose of Architecture. Below is a recap of the "<a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/search/label/28%20in%2028">28 in 28</a>" series, which featured a different book every day of the month.</i><br /><ol><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-1-key-buildings-from.html"><b><i>Key Buildings from Prehistory to the Present: Plans, Sections and Elevations</i></b></a> by Andrew Ballantyne</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-2-guide-to-archigram-1961-74.html"><b><i>A Guide to Archigram 1961-74 </i></b></a> by Dennis Crompton</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-3-evidence.html"><b><i>Evidence: The Work of Robert A. M. Stern Architects</i></b></a> by Robert A.M. Stern</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-4-le-corbusier-redrawn.html"><b><i>Le Corbusier Redrawn: the Houses</i></b></a> by Steven Park</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-5-sourcebook-of-scandinavian.html"><b><i>Sourcebook of Scandinavian Furniture: Designs for the Twenty-First Century</i></b></a> by Judith Gura</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-6-west-coast-modern.html"><b><i>West Coast Modern</i></b></a> by Zahid Sardar with photographs by Matthew Millman</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-7-qualities-of-duration.html"><b><i>Qualities of Duration: The Architecture of Phillip Smith and Douglas Thompson</i></b></a> by Alastair Gordon</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-8-townhouses.html"><b><i>Construction and Design Manual: Townhouses</i></b></a> by Hans Stimmann</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-9-dutch-architecture-in-250.html"><b><i>Dutch Architecture in 250 Highlights</i></b></a> edited by Netherlands Architecture Institute</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-10-from-ground-up.html"><b><i>From the Ground Up: Innovative Green Homes </i></b></a> edited by Peggy Tully</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-11-understanding-architecture.html"><b><i>Understanding Architecture</i></b></a> by Juhani Pallasmaa and Robert McCarter</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-12-cycle-space.html"><b><i>Cycle Space: Architectural and Urban Design in the Age of the Bicycle</i></b></a> by Steven Fleming</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-13-best-highrises-201213.html"><b><i>Best Highrises 2012/13: The International Highrise Award 2012</i></b></a> edited by Michaela Busenkell and Peter Cachola Schmal </li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-14-detail-in-contemporary.html"><b><i>Detail in Contemporary Concrete Architecture</i></b></a> by David Phillips and Megumi Yamashita</li><li><a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-15-modern-views.html"><b><i>Modern Views</i></b></a>, The Farnsworth House and the Philip Johnson Glass House </li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-1617-two-dom-architectural.html"><b><i>Japan Architectural Guide</i></b></a> by Botond Bognar </li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-1617-two-dom-architectural.html"><b><i>Taiwan Architectural Guide</i></b></a> by Ulf Meyer</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-18-everything-all-at-once.html"><b><i>Everything All at Once: The Software, Videos, and Architecture of MOS</i></b></a> by Michael Meredith and Hilary Sample</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-19-design-bureau-special.html"><b><i>Architecture: The People, Places, and Ideas Driving Contemporary Design</i></b></a>, Design Bureau Special Edition</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-20-intensities.html"><b><i>Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis: Intensities</i></b></a> by Paul Lewis, Mark Tsurumaki, David J. Lewis</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-21-bim-in-small-scale.html"><b><i>BIM in Small-Scale Sustainable Design</i></b></a> by François Lévy</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-22-post-ductility.html"><b><i>Post-Ductility: Metals in Architecture and Engineering</i></b></a> edited by Michael Bell, Craig Buckley<b> </b></li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-23-24-two-nyc-books.html"><b><i>New York Neon</i></b></a> by Thomas E. Rinaldi</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-23-24-two-nyc-books.html"><b><i>New York Nights</i></b></a> by James T. and Karla L. Murray<b></b></li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-25-wiel-arets-autobiographical.html"><b><i>Wiel Arets: Autobiographical References</i></b></a> edited by Robert McCarter</li><li> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-26-beyond-zuccotti-park.html"><b><i>Beyond Zuccotti Park: Freedom of Assembly and the Occupation of Public Space</i></b></a> edited by Ron Shiffman, Rick Bell, Lance Jay Brown, and Lynne Elizabeth, with Anastassia Fisyak, and Anusha Venkataraman</li><li><a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-27-at-39-40.html"><b><i>a+t 39-40: Reclaim Remediate Reuse Recycle</i></b></a> edited by Aurora Fernandez Per and Javier Mozas</li><li><a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2013/02/28-in-28-28-architecture-concepts-red.html"><b><i>Architecture Concepts: Red Is Not a Color</i></b></a> by Bernard Tschumi</li></ol>

28 in 28, Recap

February was Book Month on A Daily Dose of Architecture. Below is a recap of the " 28 in 28 " series, which featured a different b...

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Wandering Down Memory Lane

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="MsoNormal">Hola y’all! A week ago Matt-Man took a little <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2013/02/grappling-with-nostalgia.html" target="_blank">stroll downmemory lane</a> and talked about some of the things he misses. Not family and friends who have passed away or drifted apart from, those are obvious, but some people places and things from his far and recent past that he misses for different reasons. So, I thought I would do the same this week. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_iHQVdcAEmBDXHVl956NyXbzudlwFA0Xelk11RJ6WX3EEX155eHM_YsIV3SuGUuH9_PswyRDxY8sAhLDv7ya66r7otsz1WRAgesGKmO305QDiaq7QX7dX2XhwrZKF4VBlH6KpSmEPHa8/s1600/Andy+and+Opie+fishing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_iHQVdcAEmBDXHVl956NyXbzudlwFA0Xelk11RJ6WX3EEX155eHM_YsIV3SuGUuH9_PswyRDxY8sAhLDv7ya66r7otsz1WRAgesGKmO305QDiaq7QX7dX2XhwrZKF4VBlH6KpSmEPHa8/s320/Andy+and+Opie+fishing.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Fishing on the White River and Playing Golf:</b> Fishing for trout on the White River and playing golf are pretty much the only things I ever did with my dad when it was just the two of us. We weren’t close and didn’t talk to each other about our lives or anything like that. Mostly we talked politics and sports when we were together. I’ll never play golf again mostly because of my back and I sold all of my fishing gear after dad died 16 years ago. Maybe someday I’ll buy some more gear and go out there to the Fisherman’s Friend (assuming it’s still there) and fish from their banks again. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Rocket Restaurant: </b>The Rocket was your typical greasy spoon. They served cheeseburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken sandwiches and fries and onion rings and whatever else could be deep friend. But, their food wasn’t all that memorable. What I miss is their chocolate milkshakes. They were amazing! They used real, premium chocolate ice cream that didn’t taste like the usual chocolate ice cream you could get at the store pour in some Hershey’s Syrup. Then they would mix it for the perfect length of time to make it thick yet creamy and it was pure Heaven! <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The Old HGTV shows.</b> I’ve said many times that I never and have possibly never will own a home, but I love home improvement and gardening/landscaping shows. HGTV had cool shows like “Help Around the House,” “Weekend Warriors,” “Gardening by the Yard” and “Designer’s Challenge” where they ALWAYS brought the inside out, and the outside in. They weren’t just real estate investment or house flipping shows, they actually taught us how to do things. Things like fixing door jams, replacing windows, patching hardwood floors and other small jobs that can be so annoying to do. Gardening by the Yard’s host was this goofy guy who lived over in Tulsa then moved to Nashville. He gave so much great advice on keeping your garden, shrubs, flowers and lawn in tip-top shape. Now all they do is build “water features.” <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The old Bloggerhood.</b> Back in the day I just couldn’t wait to get on the computer and wander the Bloggerhood to see what people were up to. So many creative and funny people were blogging and we really did seem to build a community. We laughed and each other’s jokes and hilarious adventures. We got angry when someone was wronged in some way. And we cried when people lost family members or struggled with life. Then we all joined Facebook and that was that. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>Glass Pepsi Bottles.</b> Pepsi (or any pop/soda/soft drink) is soooooo much better in a glass bottle than it is in the can or yucky plastic bottle. It gets colder in glass bottles and I think that’s what makes the taste better. The only place I can still find it in bottles is over at the Mexican Market in Green Forrest. Sometimes it’s worth the 20 minute drive over there just to enjoy Pepsi the way God meant it to be drunk. And maybe while I’m drinking that Pepsi I’ll sit there in the car and listen to good old 70’s and 80’s heavy metal music. <o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">Jayman3768@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/Jayman68" target="_blank">Facebook.com/Jayman68</a><br /><a href="http://www.twitter.comjayman_iws/" target="_blank">@Jayman_IWS </a><o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div>

Wandering Down Memory Lane

Hola y’all! A week ago Matt-Man took a little stroll downmemory lane and talked about some of the things he misses. Not family and friends ...

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Alex Smith shows nice gius don't always finish last

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><h3 class="byline" style="background-color: white; color: #58595b; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">BY MATTHEW BARROWS</h3><h3 class="credit_line" style="background-color: white; color: #58595b; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">THE SACRAMENTO BEE</h3><div class="entry-content" id="storyBodyContent" style="background-color: white; color: #1a2732; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dateline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img src="http://news.google.com/news/tbn/XuXVAL14HNwqwM/1.jpg" /></span></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dateline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- </span>Two and a half years after 49ers fans chanted, "We want Carr!", the NFL was saying, "We want Alex!"</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">How else to explain the richer-than-expected compensation the 49ers will receive for their backup quarterback?</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">It wasn't just that the Chiefs were interested in Alex Smith, it was that they were more interested than the other squads that came calling. At least two other teams - Arizona likely was one of them - were in the running, and the competition increased the price tag.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">That speaks to an abnormally bad year for passers at the top of the draft and in free agency (Derek Anderson or Tyler Thigpen, anyone?).</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">It also should be validation for a quarterback who has been kicked around at various times during his career but who has two rare qualities these days � dignity and patience � that have allowed him to rise above his circumstances.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">The last time Smith stepped onto the field in a 49ers uniform? It was for the coin toss at the Super Bowl, an image that underscores just how bizarre and aggravating and heartbreaking it was for Smith in his final season in San Francisco.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">Before the season, he was voted as a team captain by his peers. By its end he was relegated to a largely ceremonial role as Colin Kaepernick led the 49ers to their first Super Bowl in 18 years and captivated the nation along the way. (The Kaepernick love affair continues: On Thursday the Turlock, Calif., native was in Chicago alongside First Lady Michelle Obama and other athletes to promote exercise in schools.)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">Smith seethed at his situation. But he did so inwardly. Pouting or protesting would have damaged a 49ers locker room as the team prepared for the playoffs.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">He told reporters he was unhappy, and he said he felt the only thing he did to lose his job was get a concussion. But that tiny bit of frustration was all he let loose. Otherwise, he acted professionally, took on the role of the No. 2 quarterback, and the teammates who supported him took their cue and went about their business as well.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">Smith is very much the antithesis of a modern athlete: He's a quiet leader.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">He doesn't have a Facebook page or a Twitter account. He's been active in the community but doesn't call attention to the fact.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">His foundation to help foster kids was cited recently in study by the Bosto</div><h3 class="byline" style="color: #58595b; font-size: 10px; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">BY MATTHEW BARROWS</h3><h3 class="credit_line" style="color: #58595b; font-size: 10px; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px 0px 3px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;">THE SACRAMENTO BEE</h3><div class="entry-content" id="storyBodyContent" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;"><span class="dateline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- </span>Two and a half years after 49ers fans chanted, "We want Carr!", the NFL was saying, "We want Alex!"</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">How else to explain the richer-than-expected compensation the 49ers will receive for their backup quarterback?</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">It wasn't just that the Chiefs were interested in Alex Smith, it was that they were more interested than the other squads that came calling. At least two other teams - Arizona likely was one of them - were in the running, and the competition increased the price tag.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">That speaks to an abnormally bad year for passers at the top of the draft and in free agency (Derek Anderson or Tyler Thigpen, anyone?).</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">It also should be validation for a quarterback who has been kicked around at various times during his career but who has two rare qualities these days � dignity and patience � that have allowed him to rise above his circumstances.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">The last time Smith stepped onto the field in a 49ers uniform? It was for the coin toss at the Super Bowl, an image that underscores just how bizarre and aggravating and heartbreaking it was for Smith in his final season in San Francisco.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">Before the season, he was voted as a team captain by his peers. By its end he was relegated to a largely ceremonial role as Colin Kaepernick led the 49ers to their first Super Bowl in 18 years and captivated the nation along the way. (The Kaepernick love affair continues: On Thursday the Turlock, Calif., native was in Chicago alongside First Lady Michelle Obama and other athletes to promote exercise in schools.)</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">Smith seethed at his situation. But he did so inwardly. Pouting or protesting would have damaged a 49ers locker room as the team prepared for the playoffs.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">He told reporters he was unhappy, and he said he felt the only thing he did to lose his job was get a concussion. But that tiny bit of frustration was all he let loose. Otherwise, he acted professionally, took on the role of the No. 2 quarterback, and the teammates who supported him took their cue and went about their business as well.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">Smith is very much the antithesis of a modern athlete: He's a quiet leader.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">He doesn't have a Facebook page or a Twitter account. He's been active in the community but doesn't call attention to the fact.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">His foundation to help foster kids was cited recently in study by the Boston Globe as the paragon of athlete-run charities.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">When 15-year-old Sierra LaMar was missing last offseason in Morgan Hill, Smith showed up unannounced at a searching station and asked how he could help.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">During the lockout, Smith organized player workouts despite the fact that he wasn't under contract at the time. He even sprung for a plane ticket for one of the incoming rookies and let him drive his car � OK, it was his wife's car � when the rookie was in town.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">There's no question Smith would rather be the 49ers' starting quarterback, lead the team to a Super Bowl victory and complete the rags-to-riches story that began when the then-moribund franchise drafted him No.1 overall in 2005.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">But the new chapter isn't a bad one.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">He'll work in Kansas City under Andy Reid, an offensive-minded head coach who knows quarterbacks. He'll operate in a passer-friendly West Coast offense. The Chiefs have a good defense, an excellent running game and a No.1 pick they'll likely use on an offensive lineman to protect Smith. And they reside in perhaps the weakest division in the NFL, meaning the turnaround won't be as daunting as it was when he arrived in San Francisco.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">Just think, 21/2 years ago, Smith was booed in his home stadium. One year ago, he was dismissed as merely a game manager. Today he's a hot commodity.</div></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">Nice guys might wind up in Kansas City, but they don't always finish last. n Globe as the paragon of athlete-run charities.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">When 15-year-old Sierra LaMar was missing last offseason in Morgan Hill, Smith showed up unannounced at a searching station and asked how he could help.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">During the lockout, Smith organized player workouts despite the fact that he wasn't under contract at the time. He even sprung for a plane ticket for one of the incoming rookies and let him drive his car � OK, it was his wife's car � when the rookie was in town.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">There's no question Smith would rather be the 49ers' starting quarterback, lead the team to a Super Bowl victory and complete the rags-to-riches story that began when the then-moribund franchise drafted him No.1 overall in 2005.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">But the new chapter isn't a bad one.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">He'll work in Kansas City under Andy Reid, an offensive-minded head coach who knows quarterbacks. He'll operate in a passer-friendly West Coast offense. The Chiefs have a good defense, an excellent running game and a No.1 pick they'll likely use on an offensive lineman to protect Smith. And they reside in perhaps the weakest division in the NFL, meaning the turnaround won't be as daunting as it was when he arrived in San Francisco.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">Just think, 21/2 years ago, Smith was booed in his home stadium. One year ago, he was dismissed as merely a game manager. Today he's a hot commodity.</div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 19px; margin-bottom: 12px; padding: 0px;">Nice guys might wind up in Kansas City, but they don't always finish last.</div><div style="color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; height: 1px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; width: 1px;"><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/02/28/3259813/alex-smith-shows-nice-gius-dont.html#storylink=cpy</div></div></div>

Alex Smith Alex Smith shows nice gius don't always finish last

BY MATTHEW BARROWS THE SACRAMENTO BEE SANTA CLARA, Calif. --  Two and a half years after 49ers fans chanted, "We want Carr!", the ...

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American pianist Van Cliburn dies at 78

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Photos of Van Cliburn, an internationally celebrated pianist, who died early Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, at his Fort Worth home following a battle with bone cancer. Cliburn had a spectacular career and enjoyed rock star status. His triumph at a 1958 Moscow competition helped thaw the Cold War and launch a spectacular career that made him the rare classical musician to enjoy rock star status.<span id="more-56999" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div><div><img alt="022813_VenCliburn_02.JPG" src="http://mediacenter.smugmug.com/photos/i-fvPTZs3/1/L/i-fvPTZs3-L.jpg" /></div><div><img alt="022813_VenCliburn_01.JPG" src="http://mediacenter.smugmug.com/photos/i-r9BPH8P/1/L/i-r9BPH8P-L.jpg" /></div><div><img alt="022813_VenCliburn_03.JPG" src="http://mediacenter.smugmug.com/photos/i-ZMkQVsg/1/L/i-ZMkQVsg-L.jpg" /></div><div><img alt="022813_VenCliburn_04.JPG" src="http://mediacenter.smugmug.com/photos/i-jPskNKL/1/L/i-jPskNKL-L.jpg" /></div><div><img alt="022813_VenCliburn_05.JPG" src="http://mediacenter.smugmug.com/photos/i-CkTmsZJ/1/L/i-CkTmsZJ-L.jpg" /></div><div><img alt="022813_VenCliburn_06.JPG" src="http://mediacenter.smugmug.com/photos/i-sM9H5sf/1/L/i-sM9H5sf-L.jpg" /></div><div><img alt="022813_VenCliburn_07.JPG" src="http://mediacenter.smugmug.com/photos/i-bwMMH5L/1/L/i-bwMMH5L-L.jpg" /></div><div><img alt="022813_VenCliburn_08.JPG" src="http://mediacenter.smugmug.com/photos/i-9xx37NQ/1/L/i-9xx37NQ-L.jpg" /></div><div><img alt="022813_VenCliburn_09.JPG" src="http://mediacenter.smugmug.com/photos/i-mcwzNwJ/1/L/i-mcwzNwJ-L.jpg" /></div><div><img alt="022813_VenCliburn_10.JPG" src="http://mediacenter.smugmug.com/photos/i-BDPpHV6/1/L/i-BDPpHV6-L.jpg" /></div><div class="p402_premium" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="contentsmug" id="gallery_smug" style="border: 0px; font-family: sans-serif; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 10px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="slideshow-container" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;"></div></div></div></div>

Van Cliburn American pianist Van Cliburn dies at 78

Photos of Van Cliburn, an internationally celebrated pianist, who died early Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, at his Fort Worth home following a ba...

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After Jimmy Kimmel/Morrissey fight, ‘Duck Dynasty’ lands biggest numbers in A&E history

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/02/26/Style/Images/img_0088_0.jpg?uuid=4f30ToBQEeKjUEmGavq1hA" /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><span class="imgfull" style="float: left; margin: 4px 10px 10px 0px; width: 454px;"><span class="blog_caption" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 14px;">Jep Robertson, John Martin, Jase Robertson, Willie Robertson on “Duck Dynasty” Season 3. ( Art Streiber - A&E)</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">A <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/jimmy-kimmel-mocks-morrissey-for-canceling-appearance/2013/02/27/7716b496-80e5-11e2-a350-49866afab584_blog.html" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">Jimmy Kimmel/Morrissey catfight</a> over a show about duck-call manufacturers has handed A&E network its biggest audience ever.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Nearly 9 million people watched Wednesday night’s third-season debut of “Duck Dynasty” — one night after “DD” family members appeared on Kimmel’s ABC late-night show, getting Morrissey’s knickers in a knot.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">“Duck Dynasty” is now the No. 1-rated nonfiction series on cable this year.</div><a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8896966065785019252" name="pagebreak" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: underline;"></a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px;"></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">The back-to-back episodes with which “Duck Dynasty” opened its third season more than doubled the franchise’s second-season launch.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">According to Blufin Labs, Trendrr.TV and Social Guide, “Duck Dynasty” also had more activity across social-media platforms Wednesday night than “American Idol.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">In case you’re among the uninitiated: “Duck Dynasty” follows the Robertson family, whose business making products for duck hunters (primarily a duck call) has become a multimillion-dollar deal. The Robertson men don’t like to shave; the women look like extras on a “Real Housewives” franchise.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">To put the show’s nearly 9 million fans in perspective: That’s a bigger crowd than achieved by any of NBC’s prime-time shows on any night last week. <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-09-13/entertainment/35496221_1_chicago-fire-taylor-kinney-eamonn-walker" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">NBC’s most-watched series, “Chicago Fire,”</a> averaged 6.5 million viewers.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">It’s also a bigger audience than anything watched on Fox except “American Idol.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">It’s a crowd that only a handful of ABC shows exceeded last week — the handful being “The Bachelor,” “Castle,” “Modern Family,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and the Academy Awards.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">And it goes without saying that “Duck Dynasty” beat everything on CW.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">But wait — there’s more!</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">“Duck Dynasty’s” audience was about 3 million more people than tuned in to ABC’s “Good Morning America” last week to watch the much-ballyhooed, star-studded return of <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/robin-roberts-will-return-to-good-morning-america-on-feb-20-video/2013/02/07/d5186e14-713f-11e2-8b8d-e0b59a1b8e2a_blog.html" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">co-host Robin Roberts</a>. That “GMA” featured welcome-back messages from no less than President Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Denzel Washington, Sally Field, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lopez and the cast of “Modern Family”!</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Roberts had been on medical leave from the show since August in order to undergo a bone marrow transplant after <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/robin-roberts-to-undergo-treatment-for-rare-blood-disorder-tells-gma-viewers-im-going-to-beat-this/2012/06/11/gJQAFioiUV_blog.html#comments" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">being diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS)</a>, a rare blood disorder that affects bone marrow; the condition likely was caused by treatment for breast cancer five years earlier.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Not only that: <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/good-morning-america-on-track-to-beat-today-again/2012/04/26/gIQAJfGQjT_blog.html" style="color: #0c4790;" target="_blank">“Good Morning America’s”</a> audience last week also was that franchise’s biggest audience in more than 19 years.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">(On Wednesday of last week, when Roberts <i>actually </i>returned, nearly 7 million viewers tuned in.)</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">And finally, the “Duck Dynasty” season-debut audience is about 6 million stronger than Kimmel’s audience last week.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Kimmel worked like a beaver this week to hype the “Duck Dynasty” debut.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">First, he invited the clan to be his guests the night before their return on A&E. That caused former Smiths frontman Morrissey, who was supposed to perform on the show that night, to cancel.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Morrissey is well-known as an animal-rights campaigner — the kind of guy who insists that Los Angeles’s Staples Center be a meat-free zone the night of his performance, and who refers to the Robertsons as “animal serial killers.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">That night on his show, Kimmel said he respected Morrissey’s position, but that he had not dumped the Robertsons because “they have guns and Morrissey doesn’t.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Morrissey, Kimmel concluded, “keeps finding ways to depress us.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">At which point, Kimmel’s opening blah, blah, blah was interrupted by an “ad” in which the Robertsons plugged their newest product: a carrot caller, which makes a noise that causes young carrots to jump out of the soil and into their mouths.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Morrissey was not amused, issuing another sternly worded statement that said he was disappointed to see Kimmel “ridicule depression,” “ridicule healthy eating” and ridicule “the notion that animals should be entitled to the possession of their own lives.”</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">“Furthermore, he found time to jokingly promote gun ownership — hugely amusing for the parents at Sandy Hook, no doubt,” Morrissey added for good measure.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">“None of the above issues are, of course, as important as Jimmy Kimmel himself,” Morrissey concluded, like he meant it to sting.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Before Kimmel and Morrissey began taking swipes at each other, “Jimmy Kimmel Live” said that Morrissey would be rescheduled on a non-“Duck Dynasty” night.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;">Now, don’t hold your breath.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px; width: auto;"><br /></div></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/I_XqjHv_43w?feature=player_embedded" width="640"></iframe></div>

Duck Dynasty After Jimmy Kimmel/Morrissey fight, ‘Duck Dynasty’ lands biggest numbers in A&E history

Jep Robertson, John Martin, Jase Robertson, Willie Robertson on “Duck Dynasty” Season 3. ( Art Streiber - A&E) A  Jimmy Kimmel/Morrissey...

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Parents react to possible school closings and teacher cutbacks

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="Story" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"><div class="KonaBody"><div class="StoryBody"><div class="StoryBlockFirst"><div class="StoryText">BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)- "I think that it's ridiculous and I don't know what happening to this school system and it seems like it's deteriorating minute by minute," said Emily Walker.<br /><br />Emily Walker has two children who attend Center Street Middle School. It is on the list for possible closure. Walker wants the school to stay open.<br /><br />"Both of my girls are honor roll students, they're active in sports and I went here also so I know the learning process is extravagant," mentioned Walker.<br /><br />The Birmingham School Board plans to bus Center Street students to Richard Arrington Jr. Middle School as well as Carver High School. Transportation to and from school will become an nightmare for Walker.<br /><br />"It's kind of heartbreaking because right now I'm a nursing student. I don't know how the bus system is going to run or anything like that," mentioned Walker.<br /><br />As of right now, from Emily Walker's home to Center Street Middle School, it takes her children two and half miles to get there. But if that school closes, the amount of time and mileage it takes to get Arrington Middle school will change.<br /><br />She will have to add at least another mile and a half onto her trip.<br /><br />Parents at Arrington Middle are also unhappy with the consolidation plans.<br /><br />"The teachers, they also have a whole lot on them now, and I'm kind of worried if they don't have the one on one classroom time with the children that are here, what are the possibilities of them getting that," mentioned Angela Walton.<br /><br />If the plan goes through, there will be a need for more buses. The school board plans to purchase more.<br /><br />The Birmingham City Schools released the following information:<br /><br />The plan calls for consolidating and reconfiguring schools across the district:<br /><br />•Carver and Woodlawn high schools would add seventh and eighth grades in a school-with-a-school model. Students in the seventh and eighth grades would be in separate areas of the schools with separate staffs and administrations.<br /><br />•Center Street Middle School would close, with students moving to Arrington Middle School and Carver.<br /><br />•Councill Elementary School would consolidate with Bush Middle School to create a K-8 school.<br /><br />•Daniel Payne Middle School would close, with sixth-graders moving to South Hampton Elementary School and seventh- and eighth-graders going to Carver.<br /><br />•Hemphill Elementary School would close, with students moving to Jackson Elementary School and West End Academy.<br /><br />•Norwood Elementary School would close, and students would attend Phillips Academy.<br /><br />•Putnam Middle School would close, and students would move to Ossie Ware Mitchell Middle School and Woodlawn.<br /><br />•North Roebuck Elementary School would close and relocate to the Martha Gaskins Middle School building. Martha Gaskins students would go to Smith and Ossie Ware Mitchell middle schools.<br /><br />•Avondale Elementary School, Barrett Elementary School, Hayes K-8 School, Hudson K-8 School, Inglenook K-8 School, Oliver Elementary School and South Hampton Elementary School would become K-6 schools.<br /><br />•The new Oxmoor K-8 School would open this summer as a K-5 school.<br /><br />•Kennedy Alternative School would be closed and the program would be moved to the Daniel Payne Middle School building.<br /><br />The proposal also includes a reduction in force, which would result in the loss of 133 positions across the district, 108 in schools and 30 in central offices. Those positions in schools would include 15 Child Nutrition Program workers, 10 teacher assistants, 17 clerical workers, two bookkeepers, 13 custodians, 15 teachers, seven principals, 15 assistant principals, seven counselors and seven library media personnel.<br /><br />Central office positions that would be eliminated would include four program specialists, three clerical workers, one bookkeeper, five custodians, three data entry technicians, one director/assistant director and eight maintenance employees.<br /><br />The total savings projection from the plan totals $8,018,786.21.</div></div></div></div><div class="Copyright" style="float: left;">Copyright 2013 WIAT-TV CBS 42</div></div><div class="StoryOptions" style="background-color: white; border-top-color: rgb(136, 136, 136); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; display: inline-block; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; height: 38px; margin: 8px 0px 40px; padding-bottom: 50px; width: 675px;"><div class="StoryTags StoryTagsEnhanced" style="clear: right; margin: 1em 0px 25px; padding-bottom: 50px;"></div></div></div>

school closings Parents react to possible school closings and teacher cutbacks

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT)- "I think that it's ridiculous and I don't know what happening to this school system and it seems like ...

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Rick Barry on Stephen Curry: 'He shot the hell out of the ball'

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="articleByline" id="articleByline" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author vcard" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="fn" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="bylinejb" style="padding: 0px;">By Marcus Thompson II</div><div class="bylineaffiliation" style="padding: 0px;"><a href="mailto:mthomps2@bayareanewsgroup.com" style="color: #003399; text-decoration: none;">mthomps2@bayareanewsgroup.com</a><span class="source-org vcard" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></span></div></span></span></div><div class="articleDate" id="articleDate" style="background-color: white; color: #848080; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Posted:   02/28/2013 02:24:48 PM PST</div><div class="articleSecondaryDate" id="articleDate" style="background-color: white; color: #000088; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Updated:   02/28/2013 03:32:07 PM PST</div><div class="articleSecondaryDate" id="articleDate" style="background-color: white; color: #000088; font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="articleByline" id="articleByline" style="color: #555555; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author vcard" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="fn" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="bylinejb" style="padding: 0px;"></div><div class="bodytext" style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px;">NEW YORK -- Warriors legend Rick Barry didn't watch Stephen Curry go for 54 points at Madison Square Garden. But the highlights were enough to earn a tip of the cap from one of the 50 greatest players of all time.</div><div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px;">"Any time you can score 54 points, it's pretty impressive," Barry said in a phone interview. "He did it a lot of different ways -- going to the basket, floaters, 3s, creating his own shot, coming down in transition and pulling up. He shot the hell out of the ball."</div><div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px;">Curry snatched the attention of the basketball world, even though the Warriors lost 109-105 to the host Knicks on Tuesday. Curry was 18 of 28 shooting and only missed two of his 13 attempts from 3-point range. <span style="font-size: 10px;">Barry, who scored 58</span></div><div class="articlePosition2" style="color: black; float: left; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0px; padding: 0px; width: 300px;"><div class="articleImageBox" style="border-style: none; color: #888888; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 300px;"><span class="articleImage" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=4974057" style="color: rgb(92, 92, 92) !important;" target="_new"><img alt="" border="0" height="223" src="http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site568/2013/0228/20130228_042742_stephencurry_300.JPG" title="" width="300" /></a></span><div class="articleImageCaption" style="font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 300px;">Stephen Curry #30 of the Warriors is greeted by Draymond Green #23 after breaking the 50 point mark en route to a total of 54 in the game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on February 27, 2013 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)</div></div></div><span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;">at the Garden on Dec. 14, 1965, said he liked how Curry mixed it up. But he also liked how he set up his teammates when the defense called for it.</span><div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px;">The Hall of Famer said he knew Curry had that kind of game. He said he hopes the performance reveals to Curry the kind of player he can be when he is aggressive.</div><div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal; margin-top: 15px; padding: 0px;">"That's the way he needs to play all the time," Barry said. "You've got to play with that aggressive mentality. As unselfish as he is, and with the vision he has, it opens up so much more when he plays that way. The entire team benefits when he plays that aggressively. I don't know how Mark (Jackson) feels, but I'd be mad if he doesn't take 20 shots per game."</div><div><br /></div></span></span></div></div></div>

Stephen Curry Rick Barry on Stephen Curry: 'He shot the hell out of the ball'

By Marcus Thompson II mthomps2@bayareanewsgroup.com Posted:   02/28/2013 02:24:48 PM PST Updated:   02/28/2013 03:32:07 PM PST NEW YORK -- W...

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Mariah Carey joins wardrobe malfunction club

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Mariah Carey" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/02/28/mariahcslip-3_4_r536_c534.jpg?1b79b3da202957124496e3768cfb7b67cdb10c81" /><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">This one may barely qualify.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">But if you enlarge, enlarge, enlarge, you'll be able to see what we're talking about. Or maybe you can see the shadowy offending bit of skin just fine.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Mariah Carey, whose breasts were bulging on last night's <i>American Idol</i> show in a strapless dress, was presenting at the So So Def 20th Anniversary Concert in Atlanta over the weekend in another strapless dress, helping celebrate with pal Jermaine Dupri. She <a href="http://twitter.com/MariahCarey/status/305536770345414656/photo/1" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://twitter.com/MariahCarey/status/305536770345414656/photo/1">tweeted some backstage photos</a>, along with her best wishes to "JD."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Onstage, at the Saturday night event, she raised her hands up a little bit, and her strapless dress slipped down just enough. And now the photo is making the rounds. As <a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/392479/mariah-carey-nip-slip-at-so-so-def-anniversary-concert" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.eonline.com/news/392479/mariah-carey-nip-slip-at-so-so-def-anniversary-concert">E! put it</a>: It was the emancipation of Mariah's little Mimi.</div></div>

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey joins wardrobe malfunction club

This one may barely qualify. But if you enlarge, enlarge, enlarge, you'll be able to see what we're talking about. Or maybe you can ...

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Castel Gandolfo: The Colorful History of the Pope's Summer Home

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Photo Gallery: The Storied Papal Summer Residence" src="http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-466106-breitwandaufmacher-kfvh.jpg" /><br /><strong style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18.483333587646484px;">Pope Benedict has withdrawn to Castel Gandolfo while his successor is chosen. But few know that the papal summer residence of almost 400 years has a curious history, serving as a hideout for Jews, delivery ward and target for paparazzi.</strong><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">In the late evening of Aug. 6, 1978, a heavy iron chain was pulled across the door of the papal summer palace. All the lights in the area were turned off, and the flag was set at half-mast. The fountain on the village square in front of the palace ran dry, and the bells of the nearby church began to ring. These symbolic signs marked the end of Pope Paul VI's term in office. He had died at his summer residence at 9:40 p.m., a few hours after having a massive heart attack.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">Just like his predecessors, Pope Paul had withdrawn from the Vatican when the hot summer months began, heading to Castel Gandolfo to enjoy the cool climate and relax during long strolls through the gardens at the almost 400-year-old papal palace.</span><br /><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">At 8 p.m. on Feb. 28, 2013, the third papacy in the history of the <a class="spTextlinkInt" href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/topic/catholic_church/" style="color: #990000;" title="Catholic Church">Catholic Church</a> will come to an end at this history-rich location in the Alban Hills, where <a class="spTextlinkInt" href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/topic/pope_benedict_xvi/" style="color: #990000;" title="Pope Benedict XVI">Pope Benedict XVI</a> will go while a conclave is held to choose his successor. It's a striking place, and not just because of its long history. It was here that Emperor Domitian (AD 81-96) once ordered the bloody persecution of early Christians. Roman emperors had come to appreciate the climate it offered at 426 meters (1,400 feet) above sea level, and Domitian had a palace erected here. Around 1200, the Gandolfi family from Genoa, which Castel Gandolfi would later be named after, built a villa here. Since 1596, the main part of what is now the papal summer residence has been owned by the Vatican.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;"><b>Italian Occupiers</b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">Urban VIII (1623-1649) had the massive summer palace built and was the first pope to vacation here. German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the palace in 1787, while on his famous Italian journey, and gushingly praised its idyllic location on the deep-blue Lake Albano. The popes held it in equal esteem, and almost all of them would make annual pilgrimages to the site.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">This tradition came to a sudden end in 1870, when Italian soldiers took control of the Papal State and declared then-Pope Pius IX a "prisoner in the Vatican." Legend holds that the pope lived out the last eight years of his life without setting foot outside Rome's Apostolic Palace, the residence of modern-day popes. The same fate awaited his successors, leaving Castel Gandolfo to fall into a type of hibernation for several decades.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">This all ended in 1929, when the Lateran Treaty, signed with what was then the Kingdom of Italy, guaranteed the Holy See its summer residence in perpetuity. Castel Gandolfo was designated part of the territory of the Vatican City State and would enjoy extraterritorial status from then on.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;"><b>Secret Refuge for Jews</b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">In 1934, Pius XI became the first 20th-century pope to visit the palace. He had the old masonry repaired and outfitted the residence with radios, telephones, heating, electric lights and an elevator. A year later, he celebrated the establishment of a new telescope for the Vatican Observatory on the palace's roof. The astronomers of the Papal See migrated from the Vatican Gardens to Castel Gandolfo because all the electric lights in the Eternal City had made things too bright. Along with them came the Vatican's meteorite collection, one of the most significant collections of cosmic rocks in the world.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">Pius XI also had greenhouses and cattle barns set up so that the Vatican could provide itself with food -- a far-sighted decision. In May 1938, when Hitler made an official state visit to Rome to meet with Mussolini and the entire city was decked with Nazi flags, Pius XI and Cardinal Secretary of State Pacelli, the later Pope Pius XII, demonstrably withdrew to Castel Gandolfo. The pope was intent on avoiding having to meet with the German dictator, whom he had sharply criticized -- without naming Hitler directly -- as a "prophet of delusion" a year earlier in his "Mit brennender Sorge" ("With burning concern") encyclical. Pius XI remained at Castel Gandolfo for six months before returning to Rome in late October 1938, where he died shortly thereafter.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">In August 1939, the new pope, Pius XII, made a global appeal to the world from Castel Gandolfo: "Nothing is lost with peace, everything may be lost in a war." But his warnings were ignored and, within a few years, both war and Nazi terror would also reach Rome and its surroundings. In 1943, German soldiers would occupy the Eternal City and began deporting Roman Jews. Pius XII initially didn't react to the persecution of Jews taking place outside his windows. Later, he would order churches, cloisters and other Vatican properties -- including Castel Gandolfo -- to be used to shelter for those being targeted.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">Several hundred Jews were supposedly kept hidden and provided with kosher food at the summer residence. Gaining more precise information about this matter is difficult because the related Vatican files are still sealed. What is certain, however, is that in October 1943, the Vatican dispatched a contingent of papal Palatine Guards to stand guard at Castel Gandolfo. This unit was then gradually strengthened by volunteers until the Vatican exclave was protected by thousands.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;"><b>Papal Bedroom as Birthing Chamber</b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">In the spring of 1944, thousands of people from nearby took advantage of the special legal status of Castel Gandolfo to seek refuge from Allied bombing raids. The territory of the neutral Vatican was considered inviolable and safe from attack. Even so, on the morning of February 10, a bomb dropped from a plane fell on the summer residence right when a crowd of people was gathering for the distribution of the daily milk ration. Over the following days, more than 500 corpses were dug out from beneath the wreckage.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">At roughly the same time, the papal chambers had come to resemble a maternity ward. Pregnant refugees had sought safety there, and the screams of newborn babies were heard in the papal bedroom. The Vatican says that some 40 children were born at Castel Gandolfo during this period. In thanks, many mothers even named their children after Pius XII, christening them Pio, the Italian version of Pius, or Eugenio, the pope's given first name.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">Pius XII himself didn't return to Castel Gandolfo until 1946, and his last visit was on July 24, 1958. By that point, he only had two months to live. In early October, he suffered two strokes in the papal summer residence, which left him in agony for several days. For the first time, the eyes of the world were directed not on Rome, but on Castel Gandolfo, some 25 kilometers away.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;"><b>'I Want the Dead Pope Live!'</b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">The TV crews arrived, Vatican Radio set up a makeshift radio studio in the summer palace, and newspapers dispatched special correspondents, who were forced to sit outside its doors around the clock. In the competition to be the first to report the pope's death, there were a number of premature announcements. The news coordinator in Brussels of Eurovision, the pan-European television network that was launched in 1950 to share content (and that organizes the annual song contest), reportedly exhorted his counterparts at Rai, the Italian public broadcaster, to stay vigilant with the words "I want the dead pope live!" He finally died early on the morning of Oct. 9, 1958.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">John Paul II precipitated a media event of a completely different sort, as the first pope to use the papal summer residence for athletic activities. He played tennis, kicked around a ball with the sons of the gardeners and swam laps in a pool specially built for him. To those who criticized the pool's construction, he countered that electing a new pope would be even more expensive. Paparazzi took advantage of the opportunity and snapped photographs of the pope in his swimming trunks.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">In the mid-1980s, the Polish pope once again made his summer residence a topic of conversation by inviting prominent philosophers and theologians for visits. During the so-called Castel Gandolfo Talks, held in the Swiss Hall, the pope would sit in his armchair in the corner listening in silence. If he was interested in or disagreed with something in one of the lectures, he would invite the person who delivered it to eat lunch with him in his dining room.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;"><b>A Place</b> <b>for Decisions</b></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;"></div><div class="spMInline" style="background-color: white; float: right; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;"></div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">Benedict XVI, the professor pope, continued this tradition of inviting prominent figures to the summer residence. In addition to former Ph.D. students and classmates, he would host others at Castel Gandolfo, including church critic Hans Küng, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bernand Fellay, the superior general of the ultraconservative Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), and the ambassadors of several Muslim countries. The latter were quickly summoned to Gandolfo in September 2006 to smooth things over after he had sparked an uproar with an address he delivered in the German city of Regensburg that leading figures in Islam criticized as "hate speech."</span><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;"></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">The elderly pope is now withdrawing to Castel Gandolfo while his successor is being chosen in Rome. But there he will also be confronted with the dark sides of his papacy. This residence in the Alban Hills might have also been the place where he reached his decision to step down. It was here that he withdrew to in early April 2012, after an exhausting trip to Mexico and Cuba and the energy-sapping Easter celebrations.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.5px;">Less than a year later, he is returning here from Rome as a pope emeritus. Once his successor is installed, he will return to the Vatican and reside in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery.</div></div>

Castel Gandolfo Castel Gandolfo: The Colorful History of the Pope's Summer Home

Pope Benedict has withdrawn to Castel Gandolfo while his successor is chosen. But few know that the papal summer residence of almost 400 yea...

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NEWS/American Idol Recap: 5 More Guys Kicked Off—Who Hit Nicki Minaj "Somewhere"?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="entry_container clear" style="background-color: white; clear: both; float: left; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: -1px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="entry_content clear" style="clear: both; line-height: 1.7em; margin: 0px; min-height: 250px; padding: 10px 0px 0px;"><div class="entry_img_left" style="float: left; margin: 10px 10px 10px 0px; padding: 0px; width: 295px;"><img alt="Vincent Powell, American Idol" border="0" height="473" src="http://www.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2013128/reg_634.ai.cm.22813_copy.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); display: block;" title="Vincent Powell, American Idol" width="293" /><span class="photo_credit" style="clear: both; color: grey; display: block; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 5px 0px 0px;">Michael Becker / FOX</span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><em>American Idol</em> has a new top 20.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">The final 10 male semifinalists took the floor in Las Vegas tonight, to varying degrees of success, and the judges picked five of them to round out the field for next week's first live round.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">So, who managed to impress just enough to make the main stage?</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/392812/american-idol-recap-5-ladies-survive-sudden-death-nicki-minaj-cries" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank"><strong>Miss the last 10 girls performing last night? Read our recap!</strong></a></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><strong>Mathenee Treco </strong>kicked the night off with<strong>Elvis Presley</strong>'s "A Little Less Conversation,"<em>Ocean's Eleven</em>-style, which didn't challenge his voice nearly enough. Snooze.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">"It didn't feel current, it felt very cheesy and karaoke—but that's just me," offered <strong><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/nicki_minaj" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;">Nicki Minaj</a></strong>, her British accent out in full force. "The song choice was so wrong for you,"<strong><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/randy_jackson" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;">Randy Jackson</a></strong> added, "it makes me question what kind of artist you want to be."</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">Enter the self-proclaimed Turbanator, <strong>Gurpreet Singh Sarin</strong>, who pretty much horrified the judges by his rendition of <strong>James Morrison</strong>'s "Nothing Ever Hurt Like You."</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/392970/kimberly-caldwell-s-american-idol-blog-why-zoanette-deserved-to-stay-and-why-nicki-minaj-is-the-best-new-judge" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank"><strong>Get the real <em>Idol</em> inside scoop from Kimberly Caldwell's blog</strong></a></div><div class="entry_img_right" style="float: right; margin: 10px 0px 15px 10px; padding: 0px 20px 0px 0px; width: 302px;"><img alt="Gurpreet Singh Sarin, American Idol" border="0" height="300" src="http://www.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/2013128/reg_600.ai2.cm.22813.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); display: block;" title="Gurpreet Singh Sarin, American Idol" width="300" /><span class="photo_credit" style="clear: both; color: grey; display: block; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.2em; margin: 5px 0px 0px;">Michael Becker / FOX</span></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">"Honey child, hell no," Nicki warned him, telling the usually very impressive singer that he should have brought his guitar on tonight of all nights. "Honestly? That was terrible," Randy agreed, while <strong><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/mariah_carey" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;">Mariah Carey</a></strong> asked Gurpreet, "Do you also play other instruments, like the sitar or anything?"</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">Lucky for her, Gurprett promised some classical Indian influences should he stay in the competition. </div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><strong>Vincent Powell </strong>woke the place up moments later, however, with "Cause I Love You" by <strong>Lenny Williams</strong>.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/392536/nicki-minaj-god-bless-mariah-carey-but-i-ll-never-perform-with-her-on-american-idol" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank"><strong>Nicki Minaj says she'll "never" perform with Mariah Carey on <em>American Idol</em></strong></a></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">"Preach on, Brother Vincent!" <strong><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/keith_urban" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;">Keith Urban</a></strong> praised the 29-year-old worship leader. "I loved it."</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">Sure enough, Randy agreed that the night <em>really</em> began with this performance. Nicki purred, "It was a good old-fashioned. It was a sexy old-fashioned...I could picture a bunch of 30-year-olds and 40-year-olds throwing their panties at you. That hit me <em>somewhere</em>."</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">"All I can say is, finally," Mariah concluded.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><strong><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/390712/latin-american-idol-winner-martha-heredia-arrested-for-allegedly-smuggling-heroin" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank">Times are tough for <em>Latin American Idol</em> winner Martha Heredia, charged with drug smuggling</a></strong></div><div class="clear" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="expandable-blog-video-players" id="expandable-blog-video-player-9" style="float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="video-engine-players newsExpandableBlog clear" data-player-id="EXPANDABLE_INBLOG" data-player-type="newsExpandableBlog" id="video-engine-player-0" style="clear: both; float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="video-thumbnails-groups" id="video-thumbnails-group-0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="video-thumbnail-roots" id="video-thumbnail-root-203117" style="background-color: transparent; clear: left; float: left; font-weight: bold; height: 110px; margin: 12px 25px 13px 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 196px;"><span class="evp-thumbnails" id="evp-thumbnail-203117" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><img a="" again="" alt="Video Thumbnail: " alum="" american="" border="0" class="images" dad="" height="110" id="image-203117" idol="" is="" src="http://thumbnails.eonline.com/p/newsnow_20130228_i_203117_196x110_2339581857.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); display: block; float: left; margin-left: 0px !important;" title="Video Thumbnail: " width="196" /></span><span class="play-btns" id="play-btn-203117" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://images.eonline.com/static/uberblog/images/play-btn.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; height: 56px; margin: 27px 0px 0px -126px; position: absolute; width: 56px;"></span><span class="titles" id="title-203117" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://images.eonline.com/static/photogallery/images/thumb_overlay.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; height: 16px; left: 0px; line-height: 13pt; padding: 5px; position: absolute; top: 86px; width: 187px;">”American Idol” Alum Is a Dad Again</span></div><div class="video-thumbnail-roots" id="video-thumbnail-root-203119" style="background-color: transparent; clear: left; float: left; font-weight: bold; height: 110px; margin: 12px 25px 13px 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 196px;"><span class="evp-thumbnails" id="evp-thumbnail-203119" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><img alt="Video Thumbnail: Honey Boo Boo Shut Down By Girl Scouts" border="0" class="images" height="110" id="image-203119" src="http://thumbnails.eonline.com/p/newsnow_20130301_b_203119_196x110_2339577902.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); display: block; float: left; margin-left: 0px !important;" title="Video Thumbnail: Honey Boo Boo Shut Down By Girl Scouts" width="196" /></span><span class="play-btns" id="play-btn-203119" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://images.eonline.com/static/uberblog/images/play-btn.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; height: 56px; margin: 27px 0px 0px -126px; position: absolute; width: 56px;"></span><span class="titles" id="title-203119" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://images.eonline.com/static/photogallery/images/thumb_overlay.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; height: 16px; left: 0px; line-height: 13pt; padding: 5px; position: absolute; top: 86px; width: 187px;">Honey Boo Boo Shut Down By Girl Scouts</span></div><div class="video-thumbnail-roots" id="video-thumbnail-root-203061" style="background-color: transparent; clear: left; float: left; font-weight: bold; height: 110px; margin: 12px 25px 13px 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative; width: 196px;"><span class="overlays" id="overlay-203061" style="border: 3px solid red; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 106px; position: absolute; width: 192px; z-index: 2;"></span><span class="evp-thumbnails" id="evp-thumbnail-203061" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><img alt="Video Thumbnail: Backstage Exclusive With " border="0" class="images" height="110" id="image-203061" idol="" judges="" src="http://thumbnails.eonline.com/p/enews_20130228_highlight_b_203061_thumb_196x110_2339569700.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); display: block; float: left; margin-left: 0px !important;" title="Video Thumbnail: Backstage Exclusive With " width="196" /></span><span class="play-btns" id="play-btn-203061" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://images.eonline.com/static/uberblog/images/play-btn-over.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; cursor: pointer; height: 56px; margin: 27px 0px 0px -126px; position: absolute; width: 56px;"></span><span class="titles" id="title-203061" style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: transparent; background-image: url(http://images.eonline.com/static/photogallery/images/thumb_overlay.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; bottom: 0px; color: white; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 9pt; height: 16px; left: 0px; line-height: 13pt; padding: 5px; position: absolute; top: 86px; width: 187px;">Backstage Exclusive With “Idol” Judges</span></div></div></div></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">Alas, <strong>Nick Boddington</strong> disappointed, picking the wrong tune in James Morrison's "Say Something Now." (Damn that James Morrison!)</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">"I kept waiting for that connection to happen," Keith lamented. Meanwhile, Mariah heard a moment, "the third to last ad lib you did," but Randy heard none.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><strong>Josh Holliday</strong>, he of the <a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/388634/american-idol-ladies-go-solo-and-one-guy-splits-his-pants" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank">split pants</a> in Hollywood, took a huge risk by singing an original ballad that was full of falsetto, but not enough familiarity.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/390700/american-idol-5-guys-eliminated-nicki-minaj-wants-to-have-elijah-liu-s-babies" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank"><strong>Which five guys and five girls made it last week?</strong></a></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">"I just don't know if I was wowed by it in this moment," Randy explained.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><strong>David Willis </strong>wowed <em>us</em>, meanwhile, by strumming out a really interesting rendition of "Fever," but while we thought it showed a great deal of artistic creativity, the judges quibbled over the vocal.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">At least Randy, grizzled veteran that he is, was "a little intrigued" by it at least. "I don't really know what I was expecting," mused Mariah. "I feel like the crowd enjoyed it and I've heard you go vocally a bit more...but the crowd seemed to love it."</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/388432/didi-benami-s-american-idol-blog-the-real-scoop-on-hollywood-week" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank"><strong><em>Idol</em> alum Didi Benami fills us in on Hollywood Week</strong></a></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><strong>Bryant Tadeo</strong> of Hawaii surprised by choosing the East Coastiest song of all to sing, <strong><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/billy_joel" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;">Billy Joel</a></strong>'s "New York State of Mind," but he sang with conviction and his voice was rock-solid.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">"I think that was a really good song for you and you handled it really well," Keith sweetly agreed with us. Nicki, however, didn't like <em>anything </em>but one riff! Mariah thought that the standing ovation he received may have stemmed from him sounding "professional."</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">The judges were unanimous, however, when it came to <strong>Burnell Taylor</strong>' performance of<strong><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/john_legend" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;">John Legend</a></strong>'s "This Time."</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/393161/the-bachelorette-ladies-where-are-they-now" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank"><strong><em>The Bachelorette</em>: Where are they now? And do we care?!</strong></a></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">"Literally, today, I would pay to see you sing," raved Nicki. "The best by <em>far</em> tonight...Nobody else was even in your lane tonight, period!"</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><strong>Lazaro Arbos</strong> covered Keith's "Tonight I Wanna Cry," and although Keith thought "the song was just ahead of you and you were trying to catch up," the other judges really enjoyed. "You played it safe, but in a good way," observed Nicki. "It's very truthful to you."</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><strong>Cortez Shaw</strong> closed the show with the very ballsy choice of <strong>David Guetta</strong>'s "Titanium." He was no <strong>Sia</strong>, but he did enough.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">"That was a really bold and brave move," praised Keith. And, despite some big misses, "it hit the mark in a big, big way."</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">Then, it was time to halve the field.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><a href="http://www.eonline.com/news/391943/the-bachelor-recap-sean-lowe-picks-his-final-2-ladies-reveals-he-s-ready-to-propose" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank"><strong>Find out who's got a 50-50 shot at Sean Lowe's proposal on <em>The Bachelor</em> finale</strong></a></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">In the end, Cortez, Lazaro, Burnell, Nick and, of course, Vincent joined the top 20, meaning it was the end of the road for all the rest.</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">Here's the complete <em>American Idol</em> top 20:</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">Lazaro Arbos, 20<br />Charlie Askew, 17<br />Nick Boddington, 27<br />Curtis Finch Jr., 24<br />Paul Jolley, 22<br />Elijah Liu, 18<br />Vincent Powell, 29<br />Cortez Shaw, 21<br />Burnell Taylor, 19<br />Devin Velez, 18</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;">Janelle Arthur, 23<br />Aubrey Cleland, 19<br />Candice Glover, 23<br />Kree Harrison, 22<br />Amber Holcomb, 18<br />Zoanette Johnson, 20<br />Adriana Latonio, 17<br />Angela Miller, 18<br />Breanna Steer, 18<br />Teena Torres, 28</div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><strong>Do you think the judges sent the right guys through? How about the whole top 20? Sound off in the comments!</strong></div><div style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.4em; max-width: 600px; padding: 0.5em 0px;"><a href="http://www.eonline.com/photos/4756/american-idol-all-time-greatest-hits" style="color: #336699; text-decoration: none !important;" target="_blank"><strong>Check out <em>American Idol</em>'s all-time greatest hits</strong></a></div><ul class="blog_gallery clear" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; clear: both; list-style: none; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; width: 590px;"><li style="float: left; height: 102px; list-style: none inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 110px;"><a data-omniture="news_detail:gallery_id_4756" href="http://www.eonline.com/photos/4756/american-idol-all-time-greatest-hits/192192" style="color: #336699; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none !important;" target=""><img alt="Phillip Phillips, American Idol" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.eonline.com/resize/100/100/0-0-293-293/eol_images/Entire_Site/2012417/reg_634.idol.ls.51712.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); display: inline; height: 100px; width: 100px;" title="Phillip Phillips, American Idol" width="100" /></a></li><li style="float: left; height: 102px; list-style: none inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 110px;"><a data-omniture="news_detail:gallery_id_4756" href="http://www.eonline.com/photos/4756/american-idol-all-time-greatest-hits/175729" style="color: #336699; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none !important;" target=""><img alt="Jennifer Hudson, American Idol" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.eonline.com/resize/100/100/0-0-293-293/eol_images/Entire_Site/2012212/293.hudson.ls.31212.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); display: inline; height: 100px; width: 100px;" title="Jennifer Hudson, American Idol" width="100" /></a></li><li style="float: left; height: 102px; list-style: none inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 110px;"><a data-omniture="news_detail:gallery_id_4756" href="http://www.eonline.com/photos/4756/american-idol-all-time-greatest-hits/175737" style="color: #336699; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none !important;" target=""><img alt="American Idol, Adam Lambert" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.eonline.com/resize/100/100/0-0-293-293/eol_images/Entire_Site/20090226/293.adam.idol.lr.022609.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); display: inline; height: 100px; width: 100px;" title="American Idol, Adam Lambert" width="100" /></a></li><li style="float: left; height: 102px; list-style: none inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 110px;"><a data-omniture="news_detail:gallery_id_4756" href="http://www.eonline.com/photos/4756/american-idol-all-time-greatest-hits/175785" style="color: #336699; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none !important;" target=""><img alt="Jessica Sanchez, American Idol" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.eonline.com/resize/100/100/0-0-293-293/eol_images/Entire_Site/2012212/reg_634.2idol.ls.31212.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); display: inline; height: 100px; width: 100px;" title="Jessica Sanchez, American Idol" width="100" /></a></li><li style="float: left; height: 102px; list-style: none inside none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 110px;"><a data-omniture="news_detail:gallery_id_4756" href="http://www.eonline.com/photos/4756/american-idol-all-time-greatest-hits/175726" style="color: #336699; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none !important;" target=""><img alt="Clay Aiken, American Idol" border="0" height="100" src="http://www.eonline.com/resize/100/100/55-0-370-315/eol_images/Entire_Site/2012212/425.aiken.ls.31212.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); display: inline; height: 100px; width: 100px;" title="Clay Aiken, American Idol" width="100" /></a></li></ul><div style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></div></div></div><div class="entry_footer clear" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; text-align: right;"></div></div>

Nicki Minaj NEWS/American Idol Recap: 5 More Guys Kicked Off—Who Hit Nicki Minaj "Somewhere"?

Michael Becker / FOX American Idol  has a new top 20. The final 10 male semifinalists took the floor in Las Vegas tonight, to varying degree...

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