FRANKFURT (Reuters) - France and Germany have agreed a common strategy for the planned $45 billion merger of Airbus parent EADS and Britain's BAE Systems, a German magazine reported on Sunday.
The plan foresees France and Germany each holding a 9 percent stake in the merged entity, which would be the world's largest defense and aerospace company, Der Spiegel magazine reported, citing high level civil servants.
The Franco-German agreement would form the basis for their negotiations with the British government in talks this week, the magazine added.
A spokesman for German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler declined to confirm or deny the report.
"The talks are continuing and the relevant questions are still being examined," the spokesman said.
A German government source told Reuters on Friday that Berlin will present France with a list of proposals, agreed by Chancellor Angela Merkel's office and the economy ministry, that aim to preserve a balance of power between the two countries in the new company.
France directly owns 15 percent of EADS, the maker of Airbus jets, and wants to retain its right to influence group strategy, currently conducted through a complex pact with 7.5-percent shareholder Lagardere .
Germany is not a direct shareholder but sees the transaction as a chance to tighten its grip on a stake currently held by Daimler AG and a group of banks.
The German source gave no further details but his comments confirmed a newspaper report on Friday which also said Germany was ready to buy up the shares of Daimler and the banks via the state development bank KfW if France kept its own stake intact.
(Reporting by Kerstin Doerr and Michael Nienaber, writing by Jonathan Gould; editing by Patrick Graham)
IRVING, Texas (AP) -- NFL officials ended their labor dispute with the league by approving a new eight-year contract with a 112-5 vote Saturday, then hustled off to the airport to get to work.
Next stop, stadiums around the country.
And, the officials hope, anonymity.
''The last Super Bowl that I worked, when we got in the locker room, I said, 'You know, the best thing about this game, nobody will remember who refereed this game,''' said Scott Green, president of the referees' association. ''That's how we like to work.''
The vote ended a labor spat that created three weeks of increasingly chaotic games run by replacement officials who drew criticism of everyone from the average fan to President Barack Obama.
''It was pretty much 'Come on in and vote,''' Green said. ''We're going to talk football now. We're going to stop talking about CBAs and lockouts and now we're going to talk about rules and video and getting ourselves ready to work football games.''
They may get ovations similar to the one bestowed on the crew that worked Thursday's Cleveland-Baltimore game with the tentative deal in place.
The referees met for about an hour and a half Friday night to go over the contract, then gathered for another 30 minutes Saturday morning before approving the contract.
''We are obviously pleased to hear it,'' NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an email to The Associated Press on Saturday.
Because they were aware of the financial parameters, most of the discussion by the referees involved non-economic issues such as year-round work and developmental squads, said Tim Millis, the association's executive director.
The deal came together quickly this week after an increasing chorus of complaints became impossible to ignore when a disputed touchdown call on the final play gave the Seattle Seahawks a victory over the Green Bay Packers on national television Monday night.
Many thought the ruling of a Seattle touchdown instead of a Green Bay interception was botched, and the labor dispute drew public comments from Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
By late Wednesday, the sides had a contract calling for refs' salaries to increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019. The current defined benefit pension plan will remain in place for current officials through the 2016 season or until the official earns 20 years' service.
The defined benefit plan will then be frozen. Retirement benefits will be provided for new hires, and for all officials beginning in 2017, through a defined contribution.
Beginning with the 2013 season, the NFL will have the option to hire a number of officials to work year-round. The NFL also can retain additional officials for training and development and assign those officials to work games. The number of additional officials will be determined by the league.
The officials that worked Thursday's Ravens-Browns game were cheered from the moment they walked onto the field. The difference between the regular crew and replacements was clear. The officials kept the game in control, curtailing the chippy play and choppy pace that had marred the first three weeks of the regular season.
''I think the thing we're most proud of is the lesson that we all learned,'' Green said. ''If you're going to be in a professional league, you've got top-notch coaches, you need professional officials as well.''
---
Online: http://bigstory.ap.org/NFL-Pro32 and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL
Buying a used car can be a stressful experience. ?Luckily the internet has revolutionized the auto buying process and made it more easier for consumers to conduct research and find the car of their dreams. Let?s take a look at websites that can facilitate the car buying process. Craigslist Is King One of the easiest ?.
Buying a used car can be a stressful experience. ?Luckily the internet has revolutionized the auto buying process and made it more easier for consumers to conduct research and find the car of their dreams. Let?s take a look at websites that can facilitate the car buying process.
Craigslist Is King One of the easiest and most user-friendly ways to buy a used car is Craigslist. Personally I prefer using Craigslist to browsing the newspaper classifieds because the site allows advertisers to post very detailed information about their car which generally would not fit in a small newspaper ad. ?Most ads also contain numerous images. Ads on the site are placed by both private sellers and dealerships. The main advantage of using Craigslist to look for a car is that it is easy to browse local ads. They also have a very useful ?search? bar which makes it easy to search for the make and model of your choice. Try Ebay For Rare Cars Ebay is a great source for rare and collectible cars. You can find everything from classic cars to celebrity owned cars on the popular auction site. The disadvantage to buying from Ebay is that it may be difficult to test drive a vehicle prior to making a purchase. In addition you also need to keep in mind that you many need to pick up the vehicle or have it shipped to you which can add to the overall cost. The site also offers a Vehicle Purchase Protection program in order to protect buyers from fraud. Always look at the seller?s feedback score and be on the watch for any negative reviews.
Edmunds Edmunds is a well-respected automotive site with lots of info about cars and the car buying process. They offer detailed car reviews on their site and all sorts of guides and interesting articles such as how to negotiate with a car sales person and which cars are good deals.
Carfax Always run a Carfax report before making a purchase. The report will show the number of previous owners, odometer, if the car has been in an accident and if it has any flood or water damage.
Enterprise Car Sales Enterprise Car Sales is a used car dealer that offers a no-haggle car buying experience. ?The company provides vehicle certification and a free Carfax Vehicle History Report. All vehicles have passed a 109 point inspection by an ACE certified technician. In addition, the site also offers a large selection of cars priced under $13,500.
Written by Jacqueline Starz ? Fiat Dealer Cincinnati Bob Ross Auto offers a large selection of used and pre-owned cars from Mercedes, Buick and GMC in OH.
A Used Car Checklist ? What To Look For When Buying A Vehicle.
The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Buying A Used Car
Licensed To Drive: Now Let?s Hit The Road
5 Websites Where Anyone Can Sell Their Products Online
In all honesty, Creston P. Smith isn't much of a television watcher, except when the Baltimore Orioles are trying to make the playoffs.
But he's planning to record a new legal drama that premieres Friday on CBS, to watch later and see if any of the scenarios he talked about with a script writer are actually included in Made in Jersey. As the network explains, the program revolves around a street-smart Jersey girl who has the law license and legal abilities to get a job as an associate at a prestigious New York City firm but lacks the Ivy League education to blend in with pedigreed colleagues.
After working as an assistant public defender for the city of Baltimore, Smith went into private practice as criminal defense attorney about seven years ago and is an associate at Baltimore-based Silverman Thompson Slutkin White. A call a year or so ago from a law school buddy at Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles led to Smith playing a volunteer role as a sounding board for that friend's client, who wanted to pitch a project to network television.
Dana Calvo called Smith about hypothetical situations, Smith said, and he told her how he might handle the issues presented, warning her that the applicable law in New York or New Jersey might be different than Maryland's. So, since he wasn't talking about any of his own current cases, he didn't have to worry about disclosing confidential details or conflicts. "I was just informally helping a writer," Smith told the ABA Journal, adding "I would assume she was probably asking prosecutor friends, too."
As a thank-you for his help, one of the characters in the legal drama is named Creston, although Smith says he doubts that the scripted character name will actually be used on camera.
A number of lawyers with a connection to the entertainment industry like Smith's might be trying to figure out a way to spend more time on legal dramas and less in actual courtooms. But Smith isn't looking for a career reconfiguration, although he's hoping Made in Jersey will be a hit.
"l love my job," Smith says, explaining that he enjoys being in the courtroom and working on cases that are always different, each presenting unique legal or factual issues.
While most of his time talking with Calvo was spent responding to her hypotheticals, Smith believes he did tell her about one of his former cases. It involved a client with tattoos, which he could prove he had prior to the robbery at issue. The crime took place on a bus with a security camera, and the video showed the suspect had no tattoos. Case dismissed.
Could a tattoo-based defense be part of a storyline for Made in Jersey? Those who want to know will have to watch and see.
Smith said he ordinarily doesn't watch legal dramas on his off time because he tends to get distracted by unrealistic scenes, such as extensive interaction between a defendant and the prosecutor. "As a criminal defense attorney, I would never let my client go in and talk with the state's attorney without my being there," he points out. Likewise, few judges and opposing counsel would tolerate the lengthy prefatory statements with which attorneys on television and in the movies introduce their questions.
A law firm press release provides additional details.
See the series premiere teaser:
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: "Those with Criminal Tendencies Who Like Tattoos Might Want to Rethink Ink"
Philadelphia Inquirer: " 'Made in Jersey' creator Dana Calvo discovers her star in England"
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Friday, September 28th, 2012 8:00 PM to 10:15 PM
The 13-member Just Us Dance Orchestra features vocalist Mary Nelson, backed by a big band--three trumpets, five saxes/clarinet, trombone, piano, bass and percussion. The group performs all the classic big band arrangements, as well as arrangements by band members. The band has performed monthly for more than a decade,
Scientists analyze statistical patterns in data, they do experiments, and they learn from other scientists.
Growing research indicates that young children learn about the world around them in similar ways, writes Alison Gopnick, who studies childhood learning and development at the University of California at Berkeley.??
Unlike scientists, preschool-age children don't understand statistics, they don't design their experiments, and they don't attend conferences. But experiments are showing that children can, for example, unconsciously grasp statistical patterns and use this information to solve problems.
In a podcast released by the journal Science, in which her review article appears, Gopnick describes a simple experiment done in her own lab, using a machine that lights up and plays music when certain objects are placed on it. Experimenters show children as young as 2 that, when placed on the machine, one of the blocks activated the lights and music two out of three times. A second block activated it two out of six times. The children are then asked to make the machine go.
"They have seen the machine go off two times in both cases, but if they are actually calculating the probability of the machine going off, they should prefer the two-out-of-three block to the two-out-of-six block," she said.
And this is what four and 2-year-olds did.
"That's a case where even 2-, 3-, 4-year-olds, who are just able to add and subtract seem to be unconsciously able to calculate these probabilities," Gopnick said. Other experiments have shown children can calculate much more complicated probabilities to draw more complicated conclusions, she added.
Another line of research done by others indicates that play is actually experimentation. [Top 5 Benefits of Play]
"What these experiments show if you give the children one of these causal problems like figuring out how the machine works and then just leave the video recorder running, what you see is when the child[ren] are just spontaneously playing. ? What they do is to do a bunch of experiments that will give them just information they need to figure out how the toy works," Gopnick said.
Young children can also learn about causal relationships by observing the actions of others and their consequences. Teachers and other mentors can also teach tots about cause and effect.
Being shown how to do something has advantages, for both young children and for scientists, as well as disadvantages. Most importantly, being taught something instead of exploring it for oneself discourages exploration that can lead to new conclusions, and research indicates this is the case for young children, Gopnick said.
Gopnick's findings have implications for preschool education, since there is pressure to make the early years more academic with a focus on skills such as reading and math.
"I think what this new research shows is children have amazing cognitive skills when they are 2, 3 and 4," she said. "And they are exercising those cognitive skills in the course of playing, of experimenting, of exploring, and when we make preschool more academic, more structured, more like school, we actually are not encouraging children to do the real deep scientific and cognitive work they are capable of doing."
The research is detailed in the Sept. 28 issue of the journal Science.
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Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Language and perception Insights from Psychological SciencePublic release date: 28-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
New research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, examines the nuanced relationship between language and different types of perception.
Bilingual Infants Can Tell Unfamiliar Languages Apart
Speaking more than one language can improve our ability to control our behavior and focus our attention, recent research has shown. But are there any advantages for bilingual children before they can speak in full sentences? We know that bilingual children can tell if a person is speaking one of their native languages or the other, even when there is no sound, by watching the speaker's mouth for visual cues. But Nria Sebastin-Galls of Universitat Pompeu Fabra and colleagues wanted to know whether bilingual infants could also do this with two unfamiliar languages. They studied 8-month-old infants, half of whom lived in either Spanish- or Catalan-speaking households and half of whom lived in Spanish-Catalan bilingual households. The researchers looked at whether the infants could discriminate between English and French, two unfamiliar languages, using only visual cues. They found that the bilingual infants could tell the difference between the two languages, while the infants who lived in single-language households could not. These findings suggest that infants who are immersed in bilingual environments are more sensitive to the differences in visual cues associated with the sounds of various languages.
Lead author: Nria Sebastin-Galls - nuria.sebastian@upf.edu
Skilled Deaf Readers Have an Enhanced Perceptual Span in Reading
Though people born deaf are better able to use information from peripheral vision than those who can hear, they have a harder time learning to read. Researchers have proposed that the extra information coming in could distract from, rather than enhance, the process of reading. But no research has actually compared visual attention in reading between hearing and deaf readers. In a new study, Nathalie Blanger of the University of California, San Diego and colleagues investigated this issue by measuring the perceptual span, or the number of letter spaces used when reading, of skilled deaf readers, less-skilled deaf readers, and hearing readers. The experimenters manipulated the number of letter spaces that the participants saw while reading text on a screen. They found that, compared to the other two groups, skilled deaf readers read fastest when they were given the largest number of letter spaces, showing that they had the largest perceptual span. Regardless, they were able to read just as fast as skilled hearing readers. Contrary to previous hypotheses, these findings suggest that enhanced visual attention and perceptual span are not the cause of reading difficulties common among deaf individuals.
Lead author: Nathalie N. Blanger nbelanger@ucsd.edu
###
Please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org for more information.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Language and perception Insights from Psychological SciencePublic release date: 28-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Anna Mikulak amikulak@psychologicalscience.org 202-293-9300 Association for Psychological Science
New research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, examines the nuanced relationship between language and different types of perception.
Bilingual Infants Can Tell Unfamiliar Languages Apart
Speaking more than one language can improve our ability to control our behavior and focus our attention, recent research has shown. But are there any advantages for bilingual children before they can speak in full sentences? We know that bilingual children can tell if a person is speaking one of their native languages or the other, even when there is no sound, by watching the speaker's mouth for visual cues. But Nria Sebastin-Galls of Universitat Pompeu Fabra and colleagues wanted to know whether bilingual infants could also do this with two unfamiliar languages. They studied 8-month-old infants, half of whom lived in either Spanish- or Catalan-speaking households and half of whom lived in Spanish-Catalan bilingual households. The researchers looked at whether the infants could discriminate between English and French, two unfamiliar languages, using only visual cues. They found that the bilingual infants could tell the difference between the two languages, while the infants who lived in single-language households could not. These findings suggest that infants who are immersed in bilingual environments are more sensitive to the differences in visual cues associated with the sounds of various languages.
Lead author: Nria Sebastin-Galls - nuria.sebastian@upf.edu
Skilled Deaf Readers Have an Enhanced Perceptual Span in Reading
Though people born deaf are better able to use information from peripheral vision than those who can hear, they have a harder time learning to read. Researchers have proposed that the extra information coming in could distract from, rather than enhance, the process of reading. But no research has actually compared visual attention in reading between hearing and deaf readers. In a new study, Nathalie Blanger of the University of California, San Diego and colleagues investigated this issue by measuring the perceptual span, or the number of letter spaces used when reading, of skilled deaf readers, less-skilled deaf readers, and hearing readers. The experimenters manipulated the number of letter spaces that the participants saw while reading text on a screen. They found that, compared to the other two groups, skilled deaf readers read fastest when they were given the largest number of letter spaces, showing that they had the largest perceptual span. Regardless, they were able to read just as fast as skilled hearing readers. Contrary to previous hypotheses, these findings suggest that enhanced visual attention and perceptual span are not the cause of reading difficulties common among deaf individuals.
Lead author: Nathalie N. Blanger nbelanger@ucsd.edu
###
Please contact Anna Mikulak at 202-293-9300 or amikulak@psychologicalscience.org for more information.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
President Barack Obama gestures during a rally in Virginia Beach, Va., Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
President Barack Obama gestures during a rally in Virginia Beach, Va., Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is practicing for his first debate with Republican Mitt Romney before spending the rest of Friday fundraising in Washington.
Obama is at Democratic National Committee headquarters for his latest prep session for Wednesday's debate in Denver.
The president was then holding three fundraising events.
The first was at the Capital Hilton, with about 700 guests. Ticket prices began at $250 per person.
Obama was then speaking to about 90 people at the home of Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat. Tickets cost $20,000 per person.
The final fundraiser, back at the Hilton, was for 200 people. Tickets for that event start at $2,500 a person.
The money will go to Obama's campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties.
RIM is holding its yearly developers conference this week, playing host to over a thousand developers still dedicated to the BlackBerry platform. The company detailed several novel features to BlackBerry 10 scheduled for release in early 2013. And yes, there was this bad music video, too. Anyway, a fellow TC editor strangely posted a RIM employee's OOO reply earlier tonight. He called it both epic and sad. He stated it was delusional, yet awesome. He then laid into this random employee for having a positive outlook and faith in his struggling employer. This RIM employee deserves better. Much better. He (or she) deserves a pat on the back for sticking to the mission in spite of all the mud that's been flung. Sure, the OOO reply was a bit over the top, but that's what it's going to take to save RIM. And RIM is worth saving.
Many Chinese American small business owners have fallen victim to fraud and exploitation recently, as callers posing as 'police associations' solicit cash donations, World Journal reports.
In many cases, businesses have donated hundreds of dollars at a time, especially since the callers seem to target recent immigrants, who may feel obligated to donate when someone says they are from a police agency.?Senior Lead Officer Danny Chao of the LAPD says that they are aware of these phone calls and advises that business owners not make any donations to groups claiming to be police organizations. Chao also pointed out that police departments do not solicit cash from businesses, nor are businesses ever obligated to make donations, even to law enforcement agencies.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New U.S. single-family home sales eased in August but held near two-year highs and prices vaulted to their highest level in more than five years, adding to signs of a broadening housing market recovery.
The Commerce Department said on Wednesday sales slipped 0.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted 373,000-unit annual rate. July's sales pace was revised up to a 374,000-unit pace, the highest level since April 2010, from the previously reported 372,000 units.
Economists polled by Reuters had forecast sales at a 380,000-unit rate last month. Compared to August last year, new home sales were up 27.7 percent.
Despite the month-on-month dip in sales, the report was consistent with other data that have suggested a turn-around in the housing market after collapsing in 2006 and igniting the 2007-09 recession.
Home resales surged last month and homebuilder sentiment jumped to a six-year high in September. However, the housing market recovery lacks sufficient strength to take the baton from manufacturing as the main driver of the economic recovery.
The Federal Reserve moved this month to bolster the economy, announcing it would buy $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities per month until the outlook for employment improved significantly.
Last month, the median price of a new home increased a record 11.2 percent to $256,000 -- the highest level since March 2007. Compared to August last year, the median sales price jumped 17 percent, the largest rise since December 2004.
The inventory of new homes on the market held near record lows last month. At August's sales pace it would take 4.5 months to clear the houses on the market, unchanged from July.
(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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I don?t want this to come across as rude or judgemental, but was it an active choice to have so many children? Have you always wanted a large family or just threw caution to the wind and allowed to happen what would happen? (I know there are many Christian families that believe in the quiverfull idea and therefore strive to create large families in order to serve God but I know that doesn?t apply to you.)
First of all, I don?t take this as rude or judgmental! ?I?m a pretty open book, and I?d rather people ask me questions than make assumptions. ?And I?m sure this is a subject quite a few people wonder about.
The short answer is: no, it was not an active choice to have so many children. ?It?s mostly been a case of carelessness.
And it?s funny that you bring up the Christian angle, Holly, because I?ve suspected for a while that people in my real life world who don?t know me well assume that Michael and I must be super-religious because we have so many kids. ?Other Christians seem to be genuinely shocked to learn that I don?t even believe in God, nor do I subscribe to any religion or dogma, and that we are raising our children religion-free.
Here?s basically the story of how we built our family:
When Michael and I got married, I already had a child (Kevin) from my first marriage. ?In my first marriage, believe it or not, there were fertility issues; my first husband and I were married for ten years before we had Kevin, and there were several years of trying to conceive in there, which included exploratory surgery and a few rounds of Clomid. ?It turned out to be male-factor infertility, but even though that was clinically diagnosed finally, I was so accustomed to trying to get pregnant only to have nothing come of it that I was convinced it would be the same with me and Michael. ?As it turned out, though, Michael and I are a combustible combination!
So, when we got married, we were both well into our 30s, I had Kevin who was 4 1/2, and Michael and I both wanted kids together. ?I remember that we talked about having maybe two more kids, making it a total of three. ?And based on our ages and Kevin?s age, and the fact that I was worried that it would take a while to get pregnant, we started trying within a couple of months after we got married. ?BOOM! ?I got pregnant the first month we tried. ?Surprise, surprise.
That was Joey, and he was born a few weeks shy of our first wedding anniversary. ?I never went back on the pill after that, for a variety of reasons ? I was nursing, I was in my mid-30s already, and I never did like the physical side effects of the pill. ?So we just started trying to be careful time-wise, if you get my drift. ?Something loosely based on the rhythm method and NFP.
I?ve always believed that anyone who is truly dead-set against getting pregnant will take whatever measures necessary to make sure they don?t get pregnant. ?Michael and I knew that this wasn?t a foolproof method of preventing pregnancy, but since we were open to having another baby at some point anyway, we were okay with the chance that I would get pregnant again. ?It worked for about a year and a half ? until we were ready to actively try for another baby.
BOOM! ?I got pregnant again the first month we tried. ?This would be baby number 3, and we would probably be done after that. ?Only somehow we ended up with TWINS! ?That was a shock. ?No twins in either of our families (although, contrary to popular belief, the hereditary component in conceiving fraternal twins ? which is releasing multiple eggs in a single cycle ? is passed down on the mother?s side and has nothing at all to do with the father?s family history; identical twins, on the other hand, which originate from a single egg that splits, is completely random and has no hereditary component), no fertility treatment, just a surprise two-for-one deal.
Four kids ? we should have been done, right? ?Only, neither of us were sure that we felt done ? as crazy as that sounds. ?It was (is!) a lot of work having so many little ones (Joey was only two when the twins were born ? I?ve had three in diapers at the same time multiple times in my child-rearing career), but there was a joy in it, too. ?And I think we had both fallen in love with the idea of our kids having numerous siblings and having their lives enriched in that way.
I still remember, clear as day, sitting in the bedroom with Michael, having a serious heart to heart about what we should do. ?The twins were about 16 months old. ?Were we going to have another baby or not? ?We talked about it for a long time, sitting there that morning ? about all the pros and cons, what it would mean for us, for the four kids we already had, to have another baby, or not to. ?Neither of us could settle on an answer, so we agreed to wait until the twins turned 2 later that year to make a decision, and in the meantime, we?d continue being ?careful.?
Only, a couple weeks later, I found out that I was already pregnant. ?I wasn?t even sure when it had happened, because I had been keeping careful track of my cycles, etc. ?I can?t even remember exactly what made me start suspecting, but I do remember that I was hosting book club at my house that night and I went to Target to buy martini glasses and a pregnancy test. ?What a combo. ?When the test came up positive, I was surprised, and, truthfully, a little upset, only because we hadn?t planned this one, and that was a new experience for me. ?Michael was totally okay with it from the get-go, and once I got over my surprise, I was thrilled, too.
That was Lilah ? baby number 5, and our first home birth. ?I was honestly thrilled that I would finally get to have a birth on my own turf, my own terms. ?I had hated my hospital births ? especially the twins? birth ? and I wanted for once to have a positive birth experience.
I loved midwifery care ? so much different, in so many ways, from OB care ? and my midwife and I really bonded (and are friends to this day). ?Lilah was born at home, nine days after her due date, after a very trying on-again off-again labor that lasted over a week. ?Her birth ? my first drug-free birth ? was not what I expected; I think I went into it mentally ill-prepared, and the reality of it was shocking to me, and in some ways, a let-down. ?I had envisioned this peaceful, serene birth, and instead, I screamed my way through it, convinced I was going to die through part of it.
Because of that, I wanted a do-over. ?I know very well how crazy and silly and selfish and irresponsible that sounds, but it was the truth. ?I wanted one more ? just one more ? so I could do it right. ?It makes me kind of sad now that that?s how I felt, like I had done Lilah?s birth wrong, that I had failed somehow, and that I needed to prove to myself (and to Michael and Sue, my midwife ? neither of whom felt in any way that I had failed) that I could do it better, the right way.
There was also a part of me that just didn?t want to close that chapter of my life ? childbearing. ?It?s always been a gargantuan thing to me, childbearing. ?My therapist has said that she thinks I?ve subconsciously set out on a mission to build the family I never had, and I absolutely think there is truth to that. ?A house full of people who love each other, not hate each other. ?A house full of people who share experiences and care for one another. ?It?s all about wanting to love and to be loved, isn?t it?
So once again, there Michael and I sat in our bedroom having a serious heart-to-heart about the possibility of having another baby. ?By this time, I had just turned 40 and Lilah was not quite a year old. ?I wanted another baby ? just one more, for good reasons or bad ? and Michael was ready to close that chapter of our life. ?His was obviously the more practical position. ?Five kids is a whole lotta kids, we weren?t getting any younger, and wasn?t it time to move on, to move past the always taking care of babies phase and onto all the possibilities life held with kids who were a little older and not quite so dependent? ?So I acquiesced, though my heart wasn?t in it. ?And I felt a loss. ?No more babies. ?That was it.
Well, I can?t say that I was exactly careful at that point about making sure it didn?t happen again. ?I kind of felt like, he?s the one who doesn?t want anymore kids, so let him make sure it doesn?t happen. ?And of course, he didn?t. ?And I kind of figured, well, he knows full well that he?s playing with fire here.
About a month later, I was pregnant again. ?I can?t say I was surprised. ?I was scared, though, about how Michael would feel about it. ?I took a pregnancy test when he was at work, and when it came up positive, I texted the news to him ? I couldn?t even bring myself to call him or wait until he got home to tell him face to face.
And you know what? ?He laughed. ?He was happy. ?Because Michael loves being a dad, he really does. ?What was one more when we already had a house full?
That was Finn, born 21 months after Lilah, and also born at home. ?This time I was better prepared for what to expect with a natural birth, and although I?m pretty sure I was just as loud, I knew I wasn?t going to die, and I didn?t come away feeling like I had failed.
But Finn came with a big surprise: Down syndrome. ?And not only that, he ended up in the hospital having major surgery when he was a day old to correct an intestinal atresia he was born with. ?He spent two weeks in the NICU, and the whole experience absolutely yanked the rug out from under me. ?The aftermath of his birth was a very sad, dark time for me, and I found myself once again wanting a do-over.
In time, that feeling passed, though. ?I recognized it for what it was ? part of the process of grieving upon the arrival of a child who was very different from what I had expected ? and I made peace with it as Finn grew older and burrowed his way deeper and deeper into my heart. ?And in time, we were finally able to start enjoying things as a family that were too difficult to do when I was constantly pregnant, nursing, and caring for infants.
And then, when Finn was only 7 months old, Michael was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer. ?The rug was yanked out from under us yet again. ?It was a horrific experience, for a long time not knowing if he was going to live or die, watching him go through a grueling, year-long treatment process of chemo, radiation, and multiple surgeries. ?His illness really gave me pause to consider how absolutely, horrendously difficult it would be to raise six children on my own should the worst happen to Michael. ?And maybe for the first time, I realized how irresponsible it was to have more kids than one could take care of on her own should it come to that. ?It scared the crap out of me ? it still does.
Michael?s cancer treatment left us with the impression that having anymore kids was off the table. ?As part of his treatment, he underwent 6 weeks of daily pelvic radiation, and although no doctor ever said, ?This will make you sterile,? they did ask Michael if we wanted to have more kids, and mentioned the possibility of banking sperm for those people undergoing this type of treatment who did wish to have children in the future. ?No, we were done. ?And this took the decision out of our hands, anyway, or so we thought.
And so, when in October of 2011 I discovered at the age of 44 that I was pregnant again, it was on the short list of Most Shocking Events Of My Life. ?We hadn?t been doing anything to prevent it because we just didn?t think it was even a possibility. ?And because I wasn?t keeping track of anything anymore, I couldn?t, for the life of me, even figure out when it had happened, and it wasn?t until I had my first ultrasound that I found out I was about three months along.
That was Scarlett, baby number 7.
It?s funny . . . I remember after Kevin was born, how much I missed being pregnant, and I thought to myself, ?I want to have TEN kids!? ?Never dreaming how close to that number I would actually come. ?I remember enjoying every one of my pregnancies so much that I joked, ?I?ll just keep getting pregnant until I?m in menopause,? never imagining how close I would actually come to doing just that.
No, never in my wildest dreams did I believe I would have this many kids, and no, we didn?t exactly set out to have this many kids. ?But here we are, and I wouldn?t change it. ?It?s not lost on either one of us how different, and in many ways easier, our life would be if we had stopped several kids ago. ?But it?s useless to think about that for too long, because here they all are, and the beauty of it usually far outweighs the could-have-beens.
No matter what I do in my life, I think I will always feel that growing life and giving birth, and yes, frustrating and taxing as it is, raising children, will have been the most profound experiences of my life. ?Maybe partly because initially it took me so long to get pregnant in the first place ? I spent years feeling like a part of me was missing, so deep was my longing to have a baby. ?And then when I finally did get pregnant, I savored it and mourned it when it was over, and longed for it again . . . and again.
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Sophomore student Whitney Kropp never saw herself as part of the "in" crowd at her high school, so she was surprised to find out she was voted to homecoming court. It turned out to be a prank, but now the community is rallying behind Whitney to show their support for her. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.
By Sevil Omer and Kevin Tibbles, NBC News
Businesses and neighbors in a tiny farming town in Michigan are rallying around a 16-year-old girl who was voted to be on a high school homecoming court as part of a prank.
Dale G. Young / The Detroit News
Whitney Kropp was named to the homecoming court as a joke by her classmates, but the tiny farm town of West Branch, Mich. has rallied around her.
Whitney Kropp, a sophomore at Ogemaw Heights High School in West Branch, Mich., said she was surprised to learn that she was picked by her classmates to be in the running for her school?s homecoming queen.
?I never thought I would be part of it because, really, it?s just for, like, the big popular people,? Kropp told NBC News' Kevin Tibbles on The TODAY Show on Tuesday.
But she was soon humiliated when she learned Sept. 13 that her selection to the homecoming court had been part of a prank by other students. She said students pointed at her in the hallways and laughed, and the boy who was picked with her withdrew.
?Some kids thought it would be funny just to put me in there as a joke to make fun of me,? Kropp said.?
But Whitney?s ridicule didn?t stop didn?t there. Her mother, Bernice Kropp, told NBC News on Monday that the bullying continued on Facebook.
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Bernice Kropp said her daughter, a sophomore, had been picked on before at school, but not to the extent of the peer vote that selects popular students to the court, which traditionally names a queen, king and?princes and princesses from each class. The high school has about 800 students.
?I felt like I wasn?t worthy. Why even be a part of this community, this world if I?m just going to be tossed around like basically a piece of trash?? Whitney Kropp said.
But then,?her mother said, ?other kids started coming up to her and saying, ?Whitney, don?t let them stop you from going to homecoming. You need to go ahead, you need to do it.?
Bernice Kropp described her daughter as quiet, polite and kind, rarely finding fault with peers and people. She said Whitney has decided to attend the dance despite the prank.?
Kropp said Whitney has a date for the dance this Saturday, "and it?s her boyfriend who has been very quiet and supportive through all of this."?
"You want to protect your kid, and you feel angry and mad at what has happened, but at the same time the outpouring to help her has been beyond expected," she said.?
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Word spread quickly through the community of about 2,100 residents in West Branch.?Resident Jamie Kline started a?Facebook support page, gaining more than 4,000 likes?in Michigan and nationwide. Personal stories of bullying and messages of encouragement filled the page, among them:
"You go, girl! From here in California, it looks like you won the vote legitimately but some of your "friends" got jealous and nasty about it. Their "joke" never really happened! Hold your head high and have a good time," Raymond Puffer.
"Whitney YOU are a beautiful gal inside and out and dont ever let anyone tell you any different,? Karen Morrison Gross.
"I am so proud of this young lady ((((You GO, Girl))))), her family and the awesome community we share! It's high time we ALL take a stand against bullies. They come in all sizes, ages and social arenas. Be Kind ALWAYS,? Ginger Warren.
Jen Case, who is with Whit?s End Salon in West Branch,?said the salon owner donated services?to cut, color and style Kropp?s hair. "Bullying is a big thing and we wanted to turn this into a positive moment," Case said.
Other local businesses are paying for Whitney?s dinner, gown, shoes and a tiara for the dance.
"We live in this community and we?re about the community and giving back," Case told NBC News. "We wanted to help this young lady have a special night."
?I?m excited to go because I can prove everyone wrong and say, you know, I?m not this joke that you guys thought of. You guys doing this has made me stronger and I?ve got more self-esteem than what I had," Whitney Kropp said.
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PFT's Morning After: Amazing Sunday, except for refs
PFT's Morning After: My choice for the best game of the day was that insane finish in Tennessee, where the Lions came back from 14 points down with 18 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime, only to end up losing 44-41. But the Chiefs-Saints battle was also lots of fun, and every time I looked at the Bengals? 38-31 win over the Redskins I saw one of the league?s bright young stars (either Cincinnati?s A.J. Green or Washington?s Robert Griffin III) making a big play. There was no shortage of greatness on display on Sunday.
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Given the shock they've had to endure as a result of the ongoing Secure Boot saga over the past year or so, Linux geeks may perhaps be forgiven if they're a tad sensitive to apparent attempts to exclude Linux from other new technological developments as well. It was perhaps less-than-entirely surprising, then, that FOSS fans reacted so swiftly to the initial news about Intel's Clover Trail Atom chip.
Fiery Muslim preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri in a file picture taken Jan. 20, 2003.
By Reuters
The European Court of Human Rights gave final approval on Monday for the extradition of one of Britain's most radical Islamist clerics and four others to the United States, where they face terrorism charges.
The decision caps a long legal battle and means Abu Hamza al-Masri could be extradited within weeks. Britain's Home Office, or interior ministry, said it would hand over the suspects "as quickly as possible."
The Egyptian-born al-Masri, 54, filed an appeal, along with the four other suspects, after the court in Strasbourg authorized Britain to transfer him to the United States on charges he supported al-Qaida and aided a fatal kidnapping in Yemen.
Al-Masri, who could face a sentence of more than 100 years in an ultrasecure "Supermax" prison, had argued such treatment would contravene Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits inhumane and degrading treatment.
"Today the Grand Chamber decided to reject the request. This means that the Chamber judgment of April 10, 2012, is now final," the court said in a statement.
The decision also concerned appeals lodged by four other defendants, Babar Ahmad, Syed Tahla Ahsan, Adel Abdul Bary and Khaled Al-Fawwaz, all of whom have been detained in Britain pending extradition to the United States.
A Home Office spokesman said that "we will work to ensure that the individuals are handed over to the U.S. authorities as quickly as possible."
The family of Ahmad called on the government to halt the extradition process, saying British prosecutors were in possession of the material that forms the basis of the U.S. indictment and should pursue the case in Britain.
Al-Masri is one of the most radical Islamists in Britain, a country he has attacked for its support of U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The one-eyed radical with a metal hook for a hand has praised the September 11, 2001, attacks, and was once a preacher at a North London mosque but was later convicted of inciting murder and racial hatred. He is being held in a British jail.
He was indicted in 2004 by a federal grand jury in New York, accused of providing material support to al-Qaida and of involvement in a hostage-taking in Yemen in 1998 in which four hostages -- three Britons and one Australian -- were killed.
He was also accused of providing material support to al-Qaida by trying to set up a training camp for fighters in Oregon and of trying to organize support for the Taliban in Afghanistan.
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The University of Cambridge?s mission is to contribute to society through the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. It is made up of 31 colleges and more than 100 departments that cater for some 12,000 undergraduate and 6,000 postgraduate students.
The University?s reputation for outstanding academic achievement is known worldwide and reflects the intellectual achievement of its students, as well as the world-class original research carried out by the staff of the University and the Colleges.
Some of the world?s most significant scientific breakthroughs have occurred at the University, including the splitting of the atom, invention of the jet engine and the discoveries of stem cells, plate tectonics, pulsars and the structure of DNA. ?From Isaac Newton to Stephen Hawking, the University has nurtured some of history?s greatest minds and has produced more Nobel Prize winners than any other UK institution with more than 80 laureates.
The University of Cambridge Judge Business School is one of the world?s leading business schools. ?Its mission is to advance knowledge and leadership through people who leave a mark on the world.
Based at the University of Cambridge Development Office the Associate Director, Fundraising, will be responsible for generating philanthropic income for Cambridge Judge Business School to enable it to engage globally.
Working collaboratively and confidently, your mission will be to bring a forward-thinking and innovative approach to developing new, and building on existing, high-value partnerships.
This is a unique chance to join one of the leading universities of the world and an outstanding opportunity for a motivated, entrepreneurial individual with a track record of success. ?For the right candidate, this is an opportunity to make your mark on a global stage.
Candidates should have a strong track record in major gifts or trusts fundraising, or equivalent sales or business development experience at a senior level.
To apply, please send your CV with a covering letter to our retained recruitment consultant, Joanna Logan, Director, Execucare at joanna.logan@execucare.comno later than Monday 8 October.
For further information about the role, please email Joanna or call her on 07885 658 764.??
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney poses for a picture with members of the California Highway Patrol before he boards his campaign plane in San Diego, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney poses for a picture with members of the California Highway Patrol before he boards his campaign plane in San Diego, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barak Obama addresses the crowd during a campaign stop in Milwaukee at the BMO Harris Pavilion on the Summerfest Grounds on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/West Bend Daily News, John Ehlke)
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign fundraising event in Del Mar, Calif., Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barak Obama addresses the crowd during a campaign stop in Milwaukee at the BMO Harris Pavilion on the Summerfest Grounds on Saturday afternoon, Sept. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/West Bend Daily News, John Ehlke)
Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a campaign fundraising event in Del Mar, Calif., Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is heading to battleground Colorado.
It's the first stop in what advisers call an "intense battleground state schedule" designed to counter GOP criticism that his campaign is moving in the wrong direction.
The former Massachusetts governor has the stage to himself on Sunday. President Barack Obama plans to be in Washington and has no official business or campaign activity scheduled.
For Romney, an evening rally in Denver represents his first public event of the weekend. With the election less than seven weeks away, he's facing pressure to spend less time raising money and more time explaining his plans to voters in swing states.
Later in the week, Romney launches an Ohio bus tour followed by a stop in Virginia.
KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --?Roshan, Afghanistan's leading total communications provider, today announced that the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology (MCIT) has issued the company with a license that will enable Roshan to further expand and develop its already market-leading, innovative data packages via the 3G platform. Roshan celebrated the issuance of the license in a signing ceremony presided by His Excellency, Minister Amir Zai Sangin and other honorable ministerial dignitaries at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Kabul. Roshan is aiming for a commercial roll out of its 3G service later in the year.
Roshan has brought to market a range of robust data platforms for Afghan individuals and business.? Most recently, Roshan launched "Kahkashaan," an innovative galaxy of web portal services that allows customers to access rich content on their mobile phones, including ringtones, pictures, games and applications. The company was also the first to bring Blackberry and M-Paisa mobile money services to Afghanistan.
"We are delighted to introduce 3G technology to Roshan's six million and counting customers, expanding access to data-rich products and converged solutions to meet their needs," said Karim Khoja, chief executive officer of Roshan at the ceremony. "Not only does the license further bolster Roshan's robust and high-performing data services, but it also complements our existing state-of-the-art network that currently offers the widest, most reliable and highest quality coverage across all of Afghanistan's 34 provinces," added Khoja.
"3G technology is vital for the economic growth and development of Afghanistan in a host of different sectors ? from education to health to commerce," said His Excellency, Minister Sangin. "In awarding this license to Roshan, we are embracing the mobile broadband revolution, expanding the country's data services and enhancing capacity, aimed at improving the lives of Afghans as they connect with each other and the rest of the world," added Sangin.
About Roshan
Roshan (Telecom Development Company Afghanistan Ltd) is Afghanistan's leading total communications provider with over 6 million active subscribers and a network that covers over 230 cities and towns in all of the country's 34 provinces.? Roshan is a true Afghanistan success story, serving as a catalyst for economic growth and actively contributing to the country's long-term development. Since its inception eight years ago, Roshan has invested over $550 million in Afghanistan and is the country's single largest investor and taxpayer, contributing approximately 5 percent of the Afghan government's overall domestic revenue. Roshan directly employs more than 1,300 people, 19 percent of whom are women, and provides indirect employment to more than 30,000 people. Roshan is deeply committed to Afghanistan's reconstruction and development. The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), part of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), is a major shareholder of Roshan and promotes private initiatives and building economically sound enterprises in the developing world. Also owned in part by Monaco Telecom International (MTI) and TeliaSonera, Roshan brings international expertise to the country and is committed to the highest standards of network quality and coverage for the people of Afghanistan.
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Media Contacts: Shaheen Shivji Manager, Public Relations Roshan Office:?+93 (0) 79 997 4845 E-mail:?shaheen.shivji@roshan.af Website:?www.roshan.af
Daniel Dean Hill+Knowlton Strategies Office:?+1 212 885 0477 E-mail:?daniel.dean@hkstrategies.com Website:?www.hkstrategies.com
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Public release date: 28-Sep-2012
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RIM is holding its yearly developers conference this week, playing host to over a thousand developers still dedicated to the BlackBerry platform. The company 
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well assume that Michael and I must be super-religious because we have so many kids. ?Other Christians seem to be genuinely shocked to learn that I don?t even believe in God, nor do I subscribe to any religion or dogma, and that we are raising our children religion-free.
I'm a 40-something woman. I have a husband, seven kids, a dog, a mortgage, a white picket fence, and lots of opinions. View all posts by Lisa 
