YaCy's a new free-software search engine aiming to wrest control of your private data back from the Googles and Bings of this world. There's no targeted advertising here, just a global network of peers all connected with the site's software. It currently has 600 peer operators servicing 130,000 queries monthly, with each user able to create individual search rankings so results improve over time. Project head Michael Christen said it's important no person decides what is listed, or in what order -- which makes us wonder what would happen if the Justin Bieber fan club decided to game the system. The software is available on GNU/Linux, Windows 7 and OS X and you can try a web-based tester (if you can get it working) at the source link below.
27 November 2011Last updated at 06:38 ETBy Richard BlackEnvironment correspondent, BBC News
Some of the developing world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters are bidding to delay talks on a new climate agreement.
To the anger of small islands and other vulnerable countries, India and Brazil are joining rich nations such as the US and Japan in wanting to start talks on a legal deal no earlier than 2015.
The EU and climate-vulnerable blocs want to start as soon as possible, and have the deal finalised by 2015.
The UN climate summit opens on Monday in Durban, South Africa.
Some observers say small island states, which traditionally aim their criticism at the industrialised world's big emitters, may begin "naming and shaming" developing countries that are also delaying progress.
"They're on the edge of a mess," one experienced delegate told BBC News, "and they may not be able to resolve this mess".
Developing countries will certainly target rich governments such as Japan, Canada and Russia over their refusal to commit to new emission cuts under the Kyoto Protocol, whose current targets expire at the end of next year.
They see this as a breach of previous commitments and of trust.
But some of the most vulnerable nations say the impasse should not delay talks on a new deal, arguing that to do so would be, in one delegate's wording, "the politics of mutually-assured destruction".
However, on one of the summit's other main topics - financial aid for poor countries - there is a strong chance of progress at the fortnight-long summit.
Seismic shift Continue reading the main story
?Start Quote
The global response to climate change simply does not have time for advancing self-serving national interests?
End QuoteMark RobertsEIA
The politics of the UN climate process are undergoing something of a fundamental transformation.
Increasingly, countries are dividing into one group that wants a new global treaty as soon as possible - the EU plus lots of developing countries - and another that prefers a delay and perhaps something less rigorous than a full treaty.
The divide was evident earlier this month at the Major Economies Forum (MEF) meeting in Arlington, US - the body that includes 17 of the world's highest-polluting nations.
There, the UK and others argued that the Durban summit should agree to begin work on a new global agreement immediately, to have it in place by 2015, and operating by 2020 at the very latest.
The US, Russia and Japan were already arguing for a longer timeframe.
But BBC News has learned that at the MEF meeting, Brazil and India took the same position.
Brazil wants the period 2012-15 to be a "reflection phase", while India suggested it should be a "technical/scientific period".
China, now the world's biggest emitter, is said by sources to be more flexible, though its top priority for Durban is the Kyoto Protocol.
"The planet has no other sustainable alternative other than to ensure the continuity of the Kyoto Protocol, through a second commitment period starting in 2013," said Jorge Arguello, leader of the Argentinian delegation, which this year chairs the powerful G77/China bloc of 131 nations.
"The adoption of a second commitment period for the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions under the Kyoto Protocol is not only a political imperative and a historical responsibility, but a legal obligation that must be faced as such."
Although the EU does not oppose a second commitment period, other developed nations do.
And as the US left the protocol years ago, nations still signed on account only for about 15% of global emissions - which is why there is so much emphasis on a new instrument, with some legal force, covering all countries.
Cooling wish
The US, Russia, Japan and Canada have all argued for delaying negotiations on this for various domestic political reasons.
But the news that big developing countries are also lobbying for a delay is likely to lead to fireworks in Durban.
Continue reading the main story
Many of the countries most at risk from climate impacts want to cut emissions fast enough to hold the global average temperature rise from pre-industrial times under 1.5C.
Scientific assessments say that for this to happen, global emissions should peak and begin to fall before 2020, adding urgency to these nations' quest for a new and effective global agreement.
President Nasheed of the Maldives is virtually the only leader who has spoken openly of the need for major developing countries to begin cutting emissions soon.
Equating the need to develop with the right to emit greenhouse gases is, he has said, "rather silly".
But sources in Durban indicate that delegates from other small developing countries may join him before the fortnight elapses, and demand more of the big developing nations.
China, Brazil and India are also being blamed for blocking moves to phase out the climate-warming industrial HFC gases, which small island states tabled at the Montreal Protocol meeting in Bali last week.
"The global response to climate change simply does not have time for advancing self-serving national interests," said Mark Roberts, international policy advisor for the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA).
Funding gap
Sources say, however, that there is real prospect of agreement in Durban on rules and mechanisms for a Green Climate Fund.
This would raise and disburse sums, rising to $100bn per year by 2020, to developing nations.
There is no agreement on where the money should come from.
Developing countries say the public coffers of industrialised nations should be the main source, whereas western governments say the bulk must come from private sector sources.
That is unlikely to be resolved until the end of next year.
But finalising the fund's rules in Durban would be a concrete step forward.
Tim Gore, Oxfam's chief policy adviser, said UK Climate Minister Chris Huhne must push for "getting the money flowing through the Green Climate Fund that poor people need to fight climate change now.
"A deal to raise resources from international transport could be on the table, and Huhne must convince other ministers to strike it," he said.
However, there is widespread scepticism about the much smaller funds - $10bn per year - that developed nations are already supposed to be contributing under the Fast Start Finance agreement made in 2009.
Developing countries say only a small fraction of what has been pledged is genuinely "new and additional", as it is meant to be; and that little has actually materialised.
The summit may also see a row over the EU's imminent integration of aviation into the Emission Trading Schemen, which India and some other developing nations oppose.
New York (6-5) moves into second place in AFC East with 28-24 win
Jeff Zelevansky / Getty Images
Jets receiver Plaxico Burress celebrates a touchdown catch. Burress and the Jets beat the Bills on Sunday.
By DENNIS WASZAK Jr.
updated 4:06 p.m. ET Nov. 27, 2011
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - One down for the New York Jets ? barely. Five more to go in their desperate playoff push.
Mark Sanchez threw a career-high four touchdown passes, including the winning 16-yard score to Santonio Holmes with just over a minute remaining, as the New York Jets kept pace in the AFC playoff race with a 28-24 comeback victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
With several Jets players saying they needed to win each of their last six games to reach the postseason, things appeared bleak with New York (6-5) trailing 24-21 after Dave Rayner's 53-yard field goal and facing a third-and-11 from the Bills 36.
But Sanchez connected with Plaxico Burress, who made an impressive one-handed grab for 18 yards and the first down. Sanchez quickly ran a quarterback sneak and then, on the next play, rolled out to his right to buy some time and found Holmes alone in the right corner of the end zone to give the Jets the lead with 1:01 left.
The Jets then had to overcome a valiant comeback attempt by the Bills (5-6), who have lost four straight. With Buffalo driving for a winning score, a wide-open Stevie Johnson dropped a pass that would have gone for a long gain. Ryan Fitzpatrick also threw behind Johnson in the end zone with 8 seconds left that might have been a touchdown.
Sanchez wasn't great in this one, going 17 of 35 for 180 yards and an interception, but came through with the game on the line. He also threw two touchdown passes to Dustin Keller and another to Burress as the Jets rebounded from a disappointing loss to Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos 10 days ago.
Fitzpatrick was 26 of 39 for 264 yards and three touchdowns, but couldn't pull out one more in the end. Buffalo played without several injured starters, including Fred Jackson and George Wilson.
Johnson had one of the Bills' touchdown catches late in the first half when he got up and mocked being shot in the thigh, clearly making fun of Burress who served 20 months in prison for shooting himself in the leg in a nightclub in 2008 while he was with the Giants. Johnson then ran to the left side of the end zone mocking the "flight" celebration the Jets often use after scoring and fell to the ground, getting flagged 15 yards for excessive celebration on the play that gave Buffalo a 14-7 lead.
That penalty was enforced on the kickoff and helped the Jets score the tying touchdown.
New York was already going to have good field position, but Rayner flubbed a squibbed onside-kick attempt that hit off the Jets' Marquice Cole, who recovered the ball at Buffalo's 36.
The Jets moved to the 14 when Buffalo's Marcell Dareus was hit for a 15-yard penalty for using his helmet to make contact with Sanchez. Three plays later, Burress caught a 14-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone to tie it at 14 with 1:03 left in the half. Burress simply bowed to the crowd and ran to the stands and handed the ball to his son Elijah, as he always does after scoring receptions.
The Jets' offense started the third quarter with a nice drive capped by Keller's second touchdown catch of the game that gave New York a 21-14 lead with 3:50 remaining in the period. Keller had a nice leaping 22-yard grab earlier in the drive, and two plays later, the Jets tight end caught a pass from Sanchez at the 6, broke the tackle of Da'Norris Searcy and trudged into the end zone for the score.
After the Jets held the Bills to three-and-out late in the third quarter, Buffalo got the ball right back when cornerback Antonio Cromartie ? who doesn't normally return punts ? muffed the fair catch and Leodis McKelvin recovered at New York's 36. McKelvin injured his ribs on the play and left the game.
Fitzpatrick went for a big play right away, throwing a ball up deep down the right sideline to Brad Smith, who got a hand on it ? along with Cromartie ? and tapped the ball up, grabbed it out of the air as the defender fell and took off into the end zone for a 36-yard touchdown that tied it at 21 with 2:11 remaining in the third quarter.
Buffalo took a 7-0 lead with 1:38 left in the first quarter on an 8-yard touchdown catch by David Nelson, capping a 13-play drive that covered 90 yards. The Bills had three third-down conversions on the drive, which was also helped by a 15-yard facemask penalty on Brodney Pool on the second play.
On first-and-20 from the Jets 46 following a holding penalty on the Bills' Chad Rinehart, Fitzpatrick connected with Johnson for 15 yards. Two plays later, Spiller had a 13-yard grab on third-and-2 to put the ball at the 15. Facing a third-and-1 from the 6, the Bills went with an option play ? shades of what the Jets saw often against Tebow and the Broncos in their last game ? and Spiller got a yard. Two plays later, Fitzpatrick found Nelson in the back of the end zone.
One play after nearly connecting with Holmes for a touchdown, Sanchez pulled off a nice play-action fake and found a wide-open Keller in the left corner of the end zone to tie it at 7 less than 3 minutes into the second quarter.
? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Sanchez's 4 TD passes boost Jets
Mark Sanchez threw four touchdown passes, including the winning score to Santonio Holmes with just over a minute remaining, as the New York Jets kept pace in the AFC playoff race with a 28-24 comeback victory over the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
If you don?t already have any type of health insurance plan, or know someone who does and who can refer you to a great health insurance company, the quickest way to get a quote is to probably search for one on the Internet.
When you search for affordable family and individual health insurance on the Internet, you?ll to be required to answer several questions before you can get your family and individual health insurance quote. Those questions include, but are not limited to:
. Your location. This helps determine whether or not the insurance company offers family and individual health insurance plans in your area. If the health insurance company does not offer family and individual health insurance plans in your area, it may offer alternative health insurance plans that provide similar coverage. Or, you may need to search other health insurance companies for an affordable family and individual health insurance plan.
. The gender and date of birth of the applicant, as well as the spouse and any children who are going to be included on the family and individual health insurance plan.
. The tobacco use of everyone who is going to be included on the family and individual health insurance plan. You shouldn?t provide false information about your tobacco use; in the end, if you need health care related to illnesses caused by smoking, your family and individual health insurance plan may not provide coverage if your false information is discovered.
. Whether or not the applicant, or anyone who is going to be included on the family and individual health insurance plan, is a full-time student. Many family and individual health insurance plans are purchased by full time college or university students who have dependents.
. Your contact information. If you qualify for an affordable family and individual health insurance plan, the company is going to want to contact you with a quote and further steps.
HTML Ready Article You Can Place On Your Site. (do not remove any attribution to source or author)
JOHANNESBURG ? As delegates gather in South Africa to plot the next big push against climate change, Western governments are saying it's time to move beyond traditional distinctions between industrial and developing countries and get China and other growing economies to accept legally binding curbs on greenhouse gases.
It will be a central theme for the 25,000 national officials, lobbyists, scientists and advocates gathering under U.N. auspices in the coastal city of Durban on Nov. 28. Their two weeks of negotiations will end with a meeting of government ministers from more than 100 countries.
The immediate focus is the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 agreement requiring 37 industrialized countries to slash carbon emissions to 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. Each country has a binding target and faces penalties for falling short. The U.S., then and now the world's largest polluter per capita, refused to join Kyoto because it imposed no obligations on countries like China, which has since surpassed the U.S. in overall emissions.
Now, with the Kyoto pact's expiry date looming, poor countries want the signatories to accept further reductions in a second commitment period up to at least 2017.
"The Kyoto Protocol is a cornerstone of the climate change regime," and a second commitment period "is the central priority for Durban," says Jorge Arguello of Argentina, the chairman of the developing countries' negotiating bloc known as G77 plus China.
But with growing consensus, wealthy countries are saying they cannot give further pledges unless all others ? or at least the major developing countries ? accept commitments themselves that are equally binding.
The European Union is bringing a proposal to Durban calling for a timetable for everyone to make these commitments by 2015.
Separately, Norway and Australia set out a six-page proposal for all governments to adopt a phased process of scaling down emissions.
Japan, Canada and Russia, three key countries in the Kyoto deal, announced last year they will not sign up to a second commitment period. Russia has submitted a proposal calling for a review and periodic amendments to the criteria for being judged rich or poor under Kyoto's legal prescriptions.
"We need to discuss whether we can continue to divide the world in the traditional thinking of the North and the South, where the North has to commit to a binding form whereas the South will only have to commit in a voluntary form," Connie Hedegaard, the European commissioner on climate policies, told reporters this month.
It's an old debate that has been intensifying with the rapid growth of economies like those of China, India and some in Latin America and the wealth as well as high carbon emissions they generate.
The division of the globe into two unequal parts was embedded in the first climate convention adopted in 1992. At that time China was struggling to liberalize its economy, India was just opening its borders to international commerce, South Africa was breaking out of the apartheid era, and Brazil ? the host of the Earth Summit where the convention was adopted ? was an economic shambles with inflation topping 1,100 percent that year.
Everyone agrees that the few wealthy nations have the primary responsibility for reducing carbon emissions, since it was their industries that pumped carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for 200 years. Climate scientists say the accumulation of CO2 traps the Earth's heat, is already changing some weather patterns and agricultural conditions, and is heightening risks of devastating sea level rise.
The industrial countries ? the U.S. chief among them ? have long questioned whether those definitions of rich and poor, drawn up 20 years ago, should still apply. That was one reason why the U.S. backed out of the Kyoto Protocol.
The European Union also dismisses the poor countries' argument that, "you created the problem, now you fix it."
The EU is responsible for just 11 percent of global emissions, says the EU's Hedegaard, and it can't solve global warming without the help of those emitting the other 89 percent.
Despite their swelling national bank accounts, China, India, South Africa and others say they are still battling poverty and that tens of millions of their people lack electricity or running water.
To accept legal equality with wealthy countries would jeopardize their status as developing societies ? even though few countries are doing more than China to rein in the growth of their emissions.
It is a world leader in producing wind and solar energy and has closed thousands of outdated and heavily polluting power plants, replacing many with cleaner-burning coal plants. Its fuel efficiency standard already surpasses the 35 miles per gallon (14.7 kilometers per liter) for passenger cars that the U.S. government hopes to reach in 2016.
And so the stalemate continues leading up to Durban.
"The North-South divide over historical responsibility still has more weight than the forward-looking approach of respective capabilities," says Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Jennifer Morgan, climate analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based World Resources Institute, says serious discussions are going on behind the scenes over the European timetable plan, although it was not clear this week if an agreement was possible in Durban.
Other experts agree that China privately is showing more flexibility than in public.
If no deal can be concluded, Figueres said last month, a patchwork of interim arrangements may be needed to keep negotiations alive.
"What arrangements? We don't know yet. According to what rules? We don't know yet. Interim for how long? We don't know yet," she said.
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. ? Cargill MacMillan Jr., the multibillionaire heir to the Cargill, Inc. agribusiness fortune, has died in Southern California. He was 84.
MacMillan died of natural causes shortly after 1 p.m. Monday at his home in Indian Wells, where he was under hospice care, Riverside County sheriff's spokesman Angel Ramos said.
MacMillan was worth an estimated $2.6 billion based on his share in the family company, according to Forbes magazine, which placed him and other relatives on its list of the 400 richest Americans.
The family, which has a reputation for secrecy, holds 88 percent of Cargill. The Minnesota-based conglomerate, founded in 1865, has international interests that range from cocoa plantations to livestock and steel mills to commodities trading.
It is the largest private company in the world, with nearly $119.5 billion in revenue and 138,000 employees in 63 countries.
Cargill made headlines earlier this year when it recalled 36 million pounds of ground turkey following back-to-back salmonella incidents that were linked to one death and 129 illnesses across the country. The company also reported its fiscal first-quarter earnings fell 66 percent amid a volatile global grain market.
While MacMillan was a longtime board member, he had no day-to-day role in the company.
The Yale graduate and his wife, Donna, moved from Minnesota to Indian Wells in 1990 and were philanthropists, donating a $20 million art collection to the Palm Springs Art Museum, the Desert Sun newspaper (http://mydesert.co/v3eInx) reported.
TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran rejects Bahrain's allegations that a terror cell uncovered in the tiny island nation has links to the Shiite powerhouse's Revolutionary Guard, an Iranian deputy foreign minister said.
Bahrain's public prosecutor on Sunday alleged the cell planned attacks against high profile sites, such as the Saudi Embassy in the Bahraini capital Manama and a Gulf causeway linking Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
The cell purportedly had contact with Iran's Guard, according to a Bahrain News Agency report, which gave no further details to back up the allegations.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Amir Abdollahian said the claims were "baseless and fabricated" and urged the Bahraini government to focus instead on repairing the "deep schism" between its ruling Sunni monarchy and Shiite majority.
Abdollahian spoke to the Arabic Language al-Alam channel late on Sunday.
"We reject such deceptive allegations," he said. "We believe it is necessity to deal peacefully and democratically with legitimate demands voiced over the past months by the Bahraini people."
Bahrain's Sunni leaders have repeatedly accused Iran of encouraging Shiite-led protests that erupted in February in the kingdom, a charge Iran denies.
The Bahraini claim followed recent U.S. accusations that an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guard ? which is closely tied to Iran's ruling clerics ? was involved in a foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington. Iran has denied the American charges.
Bahrain's majority Shiites insist they have no political links to Iran. Bahrain's Sunni monarchy and its Gulf allies claim that Iran seeks to gain another foothold in the Arab world through unrest in the tiny strategic nation, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
The unrest in Bahrain has killed more than 35 people since it began nearly nine months ago, inspired by Arab uprisings elsewhere. Protesters say they are seeking greater rights and an end to the Sunni dynasty's hold on top political decisions. Bahrain's rulers have offered some compromises, such as expanding the powers of parliament, but not enough to satisfy the opposition.
The Iran-Bahrain tensions are not limited to politics.
On Saturday, Iran summoned Bahrain's envoy to Tehran to protest what it called mistreatment of Iranian football players and supporters following a 2014 World Cup qualifier in Manama.
Iran's official IRNA agency said security forces failed to confront some Bahraini supporters who threw water bottles and other objects at the Iranian players and supporters.
Serving as a stark reminder that there are people on the Internet who are way, way too damned clever, the guys over at the iPhone design/development house Applidium claim to have cracked open Siri to take an unsanctioned look at its (her? his?) inner workings. In a rare ? but quite welcome (I mean, by us. Probably not by Apple) ? move, they've gone on to do a rather detailed debriefing of how they got through. So, what does this mean to you? Theoretically, it means that support for Apple's voice-powered portable assistant could be hacked not only onto devices like the iPhone 4, but to anything from laptops to Android phones as well. As the italics on "theoretically" imply, though, there's a bit of a catch.
Firefox 8 Now Available (Windows,Mac,Linux) Firefox 8 officially releases on Mozilla's site on November 8th, but technology blog GHacks discovered this morning that the Firefox 8.0 final version is already available for download for Windows, Mac, and Linux on Mozilla's FTP servers.
Reeder for Chrome Transforms Google Reader into a Clean Feed Reading Experience (Chrome) Reeder for Chrome is inspired by Reeder for Mac OS and iOS, but it's not from the same developers. Nevertheless, it retains the clean and easy-to-use look and feel of the original, and completely re-skins Google Reader into a clean and attractive three-paned feed reader that looks just like the desktop and mobile app.
ArchBang Brings Arch Linux's Greatest Features to Your PC Without the Stressful Installation (Linux) If you're in love with Arch Linux but are tired of the painstaking installation process, ArchBang is the perfect distribution for you. It has everything you love about Arch, but installs in just a few minutes with everything you need.
Enqueue Is the First Music Player That Could Actually Replace iTunes on the Mac (Mac) Music junkies looking for a full-featured, local-library program other than iTunes can rejoice. Enqueue is an attractive, lightweight player with a configurable interface, an "on-the-go" playlist mode, and lots more.
Awesome New Tab Page Is a Widget-Friendly, Windows Metro-Inspired New Tab Page for Chrome (Chrome) Like the name suggests, the Awesome New Tab Page extension adds a new New Tab page to Google Chrome. The result is a Windows 8 Metro UI-inspired new tab page that's fully customizable with apps, widgets, bookmarks, and so on.
Win7s? Brings Mac-Like Screen Corners to Windows 7 (Windows) Win7s? brings one of Mac OS X's best features to Windows, letting you trigger different actions by moving your mouse to one of the corners on your screen.
This Mac OS-Themed Userstyle Transforms Google Reader into a Clean, Well-Spaced Reader (Firefox/Chrome) If Google Reader's new layout is too cluttered or busy for your taste and you'd prefer a layout that's a little cleaner and well arranged, this Mac OS-themed userstyle looks at home on a Mac, but offers a clean and attractive reading experience on any system.
Namerick Makes Sure You Remember the Name of That Person You Just Met (iOS) Need a little help cementing your new acquaintance's name in your brain so you won't need to embarrass yourself next time you meet? iPhone application Namerick uses tried-and-true techniques to help you remember the name of a person you've just met, creating memory mnemonics, sending you followup reminders, and more.
Oink Finds You the Best Item on Any Restaurant's Menu (iOS) New app Oink aims to fill a gap in the location-based review services where, instead of rating places, you rate the things inside those place, so you always get the best experience.
Any.DO Is a Crazy Intuitive, Gesture-Based To-Do App for Android (Android) Android has a lot of great to-do apps, but few of them are as easy to use as Any.DO. You can add tasks by voice, manage them with simple gestures, and even use its predictive features to instantly add common tasks to your to-do list.
The lowly blanket has been used as a plaything in hundreds of ways by Linus and other children.
By Marisa Taylor
Linus would be pleased.
The National Toy Hall of Fame, which previously has recognized such classic "toys" as the stick and the ball, has added the blanket to its list of immortals enshrined in?Rochester, N.Y.
The toy hall, which has been shining the spotlight on America?s favorite childhood playthings since the 1998, also recognized?Hot Wheels?and the?dollhouse as classics worthy of induction.
Courtesy National Toy Hall of Fame
Some Hot Wheels cars were so fast they required a drag chute.
The winners were?selected from a list of 12 finalists, which included items as diverse as Dungeons & Dragons, the Pogo Stick, the Rubik?s Cube, Jenga, Simon, "Star Wars"?action figures, Transformers, Twister, the puppet, and radio-controlled?vehicles.
But those contenders were edged out in a vote of educators and historians who selected Hot Wheels, the miniature-sized toy cars made by Mattel, which has produced over 3 billion of them in some 800 models and 11,000 variations, according to the toy hall, part of The Strong, which also operates?the National Museum of Play in Rochester.
The toy hall also recognized?the dollhouse, which was traced to??baby houses? in which wealthy European women would display miniature furnishings as far back as?the 16th century. German toymakers began making dollhouses in the 17th and 18th centuries, and they were mass-produced by the 19th century.
And of course, who could forget the blanket? The NTHF pointed out its uses a superhero?s cape or a bride?s veil in ?imaginative play,? in addition to its well-known utility for building tents and forts. ?The blanket joins the cardboard box, inducted in 2005, and the stick, inducted in 2008, as honored toys of the imagination,??the hall said in a statement.
What do you think should be the next inductee to the Toy Hall of Fame?
Hot Wheels, the dollhouse and the blanket are inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York.
Google was teasing us all earlier by letting us know they had a treat coming for everyone and now -- we know what it is. Google has held quite a few contests in the past but this one is big for those looking to get a free Samsung Galaxy Nexus:
Announcing the Galaxy Nexus Challenge: 10 chances in 10 days for @googlenexus followers to win a tasty Galaxy Nexus w/ Android 4.0 #ICS
Challenge 1 goes live Saturday 11/12 9am Pacific Time. Galaxy Nexus Challenge eligibility: must follow @googlenexus and include @googlenexus in body of posts. Limit one entry per person per day. Galaxy Nexus Challenge open to residents of Australia,Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong,Japan, Netherlands,Singapore, Spain,South Korea, United Kingdom or 50 United States and District of Columbia. Void in certain areas as described in full rules. And speaking of those full rules, you can find them linked here as a PDF.
The Four Worlds I, 2002, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 84 x 144 inches, Courtesy Bonita Helmer and George Billis Gallery
Bonita Helmer is a long-standing artist based in LA, who has been exhibiting her work for the past 20 years. Just last year at her gallery, George Billis, she had a mini-retrospective of her work called "The Unseen Structure". Currently Helmer is having a Mark Rothko moment. Between 2002 and 2004, Helmer created four, four-panel pieces called "The Four Worlds." Each four-panel piece measures 84"x144" and combines themes Helmer has been fascinated by since she first started painting. Marlena Doktorczyk-Donohue aptly describes Helmer's work in the preface for the 2010 catalog, "Einstein's imaginings of deep space equated energy, matter and light into one system; more recently, particle physics looked deep inside the smallest matter to find that in and through it there is anti matter -- its doppelganger or mirror entity lacking dimension, space, or charge but no less "present." String Theory and cosmic consciousness start looking like neighbors and these complexities fascinate and inspire Helmer.
The Four Worlds II, 2003, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 84 x 144 inches, Courtesy Bonita Helmer and George Billis Gallery
Over the past seven years, Helmer has had many offers to purchase one panel or set of panels, but it has been her vision that all four panel sets be kept together to create a Mark Rothko like chapel environment. For the first time since the completion of the four sets, they are installed in an unlikely but perfect setting; The Ohr Hatorah Congregation and Cultural Center in Los Angeles. At a time when museum funding has been cut and many galleries are geared more than ever to finding sellable works in this tough economy, many artists have turned to alternative spaces. It has always been Helmer's desire to see the work together in a space that is large enough to not only accommodate their size, but that would also provide an alternative contemplative space, away from the chaos of daily life.
Helmer began studying the science of deep space in the 1980's, long before Hubble telescope images became common. Quantum Physics play into Helmer's own theories on the interconnectedness of the smallest particles in existence and imperceptible age-old mysticism. "The Four Worlds" addresses an aspect of the Kabbalah, which deals with ancient physics, and the construction of the universe.
The Four Worlds III, 2004, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 84 x 144 inches, Courtesy Bonita Helmer and George Billis Gallery
Viewing Helmer's work, one feels the expanse of a universe that is familiar yet unknown; it's personal because it is something we sense in the night sky surrounding us, yet it is intangible because it is physically distance. At the same time this imagery is replicated on the earth in oceans, volcanic remains, wind carved desert walls, and in precious metals. There is an inherent contrast in gaseous solar systems millions of miles away that remind of materials that exist so densely on our own planet.
It is this mix of the heavenly, scientific and corporeal that is so fascinating about Helmer's work. The combination of these contrasting elements makes for a chapel that is calming and stimulating at the same time.
The cultural center is open Saturdays 1-4.
Ohr Hatorah Congregation and Cultural Center 11827 Venice Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90066
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) ? Dozens of relatives of people killed in a November 2009 shooting at Fort Hood -- as well as some of the wounded -- are filing administrative claims against the Army, seeking more than $750 million in total damages.
The lawyer representing the more than 80 claimants said on Thursday that the Army "acted in total disregard" for the safety of soldiers and civilian employees by allowing Major Nidal Hasan -- an Army psychiatrist charged in the killings -- to serve on active duty.
"They enabled him, they put him in a position to commit fratricide, and allowed him to commit the only deadly terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11, and they knew all about it," the lawyer, Neil M. Sher of New York City, told Reuters.
Thirteen people died and 31 were wounded at the massive Texas Army post in the worst shooting ever at a U.S. military facility.
"The Army knew all about his beliefs, his radicalization, and, even knowing that, his superiors did absolutely nothing except promote him," Sher said. "That is inexcusable."
A Fort Hood spokesman said: "We are aware of the cases but are not able to speak to the specifics. The cases will be taken seriously and we will follow due process."
Among the claimants are family members of eight soldiers killed in the attack, and nine soldiers and one civilian who were wounded.
Those participating include Kimberly Munley, the civilian police officer credited with firing the shots that stopped Hasan, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.
"I brought this claim because I strongly believe this tragedy was totally preventable, and that the Army swept under the rug what they knew about Hasan," Munley said in a statement.
Sher said the claims, which demand varying amounts of compensation, were filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The government has six months to respond and act, he said. If the Army denies the claims, Sher said he would be allowed to sue the government in federal court.
Hasan, who uses a wheelchair because of the injuries he suffered the day of the shooting, faces the death penalty if convicted at a court martial set to begin at Fort Hood in March.
(Additional reporting by Chris Baltimore; Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Jerry Norton)
You've already heard Nokia's Peter Skillman talk design regarding the N9, and now it's Nokia's turn to show you what kind of magical mayhem went into the the making of the Lumia 800. It's an eight-minute long clip discussing the decisions behind the company's "first Windows Phone," with Nokia calling it "as much a story about collaboration and taking risks as it is about design." Taking risks, indeed. It's a good watch regardless of your platform affiliation, and it can be found just after the break.
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Serving as a stark reminder that there are people on the Internet who are way, way too damned clever, the guys over at the iPhone design/development house 
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