scimitar terrazzo

Friday, December 14, 2012

Cardinal George Says His Cancer Prognosis Is 'Very, Very Hopeful ...

Cardinal Francis George (Credit: CBS)

CHICAGO (CBS) ? Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Francis George is looking ahead, expressing hope he?s winning his second bout with cancer.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine spoke with the cardinal about what he?s been through the past for months, and George seemed upbeat and optimistic.

Although the cardinal is tired at times, and disappointed at having to cut back his public schedule due to a weakened immune system from his chemotherapy, all in all, George seemed better than you might expect.

Told he looks good, the cardinal joked, ?That?s what everybody says. I get no sympathy.?

?Kindness is enough, and I get a lot of that,? he added.

His monthly chemotherapy treatments at Loyola University Medical Center have left him a bit weak, but apparently improved.

?The big question is then, is it working? And the preliminary scans have been very, very hopeful,? he said.

This is the cardinal?s second with cancer. He was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2006; this past summer, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer.

But he said he?s given no thought to stepping down, at least temporarily, while fighting for his life.

?Bishops can?t do that temporarily,? he said. ?If you can?t do the job, you should step aside, period.?

But what if he can?t do the job for a few months?

?How do you know that? I mean, you?d never know that: I?ll be back in six months. I don?t know that. I don?t know if I?ll be alive in six months, really,? he said.

But said he hopes he will, and that the time until the Pope accepts his resignation in a year or two will be productive.

?I?ve tried to do my job, done some things well, some things less well. The next person will come along and do his job, too,? George said.

His biggest challenge, and also his biggest disappointment, he admitted, was dealing with the Catholic Church?s sex abuse scandal.

?I thought we had it all under control, and the controls failed, and that was a huge shock to me,? the cardinal said.

He was referring to West Side priest Rev. Dan McCormack, who was arrested in early 2006 on charges of criminal sexual assault, and ended up pleading guilty and serving a prison sentence on those charges. The Archdiocese has paid a $3.2 million settlement to a victim of McCormack, who sued the church for allegedly failing to remove McCormack from having contact with children even though they had knowledge of the alleged abuse.

Asked what he would like people to say about him after he leaves his job, George said, ?He tried to be a good bishop. That?s all. That?s plenty.?

The fact is Cardinal George has been one of the most influential bishops in the world, as the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He?s well-respected at the Vatican, and was once considered ?papabili,? which is the Italian term for a possible candidate for Pope.

But his plan for retirement is much more modest. The lifelong Chicagan wants the one-on-one contact with parishioners from hearing confessions at Holy Name Cathedral.

Source: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/12/12/cardinal-george-says-his-cancer-prognosis-is-very-very-hopeful/

consumer financial protection bureau casey anthony video recess appointment eastman kodak eastman kodak richard cordray shannon de lima

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Cassini spots mini Nile River on Saturn's moon Titan

Dec. 12, 2012 ? Scientists with NASA's Cassini mission have spotted what appears to be a miniature, extraterrestrial likeness of Earth's Nile River: a river valley on Saturn's moon Titan that stretches more than 200 miles (400 kilometers) from its "headwaters" to a large sea. It is the first time images have revealed a river system this vast and in such high resolution anywhere other than Earth.

Scientists deduce that the river, which is in Titan's north polar region, is filled with liquid hydrocarbons because it appears dark along its entire length in the high-resolution radar image, indicating a smooth surface.

"Though there are some short, local meanders, the relative straightness of the river valley suggests it follows the trace of at least one fault, similar to other large rivers running into the southern margin of this same Titan sea," said Jani Radebaugh, a Cassini radar team associate at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. "Such faults -- fractures in Titan's bedrock -- may not imply plate tectonics, like on Earth, but still lead to the opening of basins and perhaps to the formation of the giant seas themselves."

The new image is available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia16197.html .

Titan is the only other world we know of that has stable liquid on its surface. While Earth's hydrologic cycle relies on water, Titan's equivalent cycle involves hydrocarbons such as ethane and methane. In Titan's equatorial regions, images from Cassini's visible-light cameras in late 2010 revealed regions that darkened due to recent rainfall. Cassini's visual and infrared mapping spectrometer confirmed liquid ethane at a lake in Titan's southern hemisphere known as Ontario Lacus in 2008.

"Titan is the only place we've found besides Earth that has a liquid in continuous movement on its surface," said Steve Wall, the radar deputy team lead, based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "This picture gives us a snapshot of a world in motion. Rain falls, and rivers move that rain to lakes and seas, where evaporation starts the cycle all over again. On Earth, the liquid is water; on Titan, it's methane; but on both it affects most everything that happens."

The radar image here was taken on Sept. 26, 2012. It shows Titan's north polar region, where the river valley flows into Kraken Mare, a sea that is, in terms of size, between the Caspian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea on Earth. The real Nile River stretches about 4,100 miles (6,700 kilometers). The processes that led to the formation of Earth's Nile are complex, but involve faulting in some regions.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and ASI, the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The radar instrument was built by JPL and the Italian Space Agency, working with team members from the US and several European countries. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/n0Qo40m5dLQ/121212164028.htm

Election Results Map Early voting results BBC Dick Morris Daily Show provisional ballot npr

Philip Leonetti: The Mafia Prince Next Door

My name is Philip Leonetti, or I should I say that was my name.

For the last twenty years I have lived under a different name since my defection from the mob, or as we called it, La Cosa Nostra, which means this thing of ours in Italian.

My decision in 1989 to become the highest ranking member of La Cosa Nostra to break the sacred vow of omerta, the mafia's code of silence, has made me a marked man for the rest of my life.

As I write this, there is a reported $500,000 bounty on my head to anyone who can find me and kill me.

Today I am 59 years old and living far away from the Atlantic City Boardwalk I once controlled with my uncle, a man named Nicodemo Scarfo.

Back then they called us "Little Nicky" and "Crazy Phil."

Murder, loan-sharking, extortion, beatings, illegal gambling, you name it, we did it all.

We were the real Boardwalk Empire.

Movies like The Godfather, Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale and Casino and television shows like The Sopranos have offered dramatic interpretations of our life, but my life wasn't a movie, or a TV show; it was the real thing.

One time, my uncle used me as a decoy to help him following a murder that he had just committed.

As we were driving in the pick-up truck that had just been used to transport the dead man's body to a freshly dug hole in the woods where he was buried, my uncle told me what he had done and why he had done it.

My uncle told me he had to gone to a bar in South Jersey and killed a man because the man had disrespected the honor of a very powerful man in La Cosa Nostra.

My uncle told me that in our life, honor and respect meant everything, and that the man he killed was not an honorable man and that's why my uncle had to kill him by stabbing him repeatedly with an icepick.

I was 8 years old at the time; this is how I was raised.

As I got older I too became a killer, personally killing two men who my uncle said were not honorable and had to die as a result.

I shot both men in the back of the head and at the time, thought nothing of it.

Murder was a part of our life.

When I was 27, my uncle proposed me for membership into La Cosa Nostra and the boss of our family, a man named Philip Testa, who was nicknamed "The Chicken Man" and was one of my uncle's best friends, watched as my uncle pricked my trigger finger with a gold tie pin, making it bleed, and handed me a card with the picture of a saint on it, which was lit on fire, and said, "May I burn like this saint if I betray my friends" as I juggled the picture and repeated the phrase until the flames went out.

When it did, I was formally initiated into La Cosa Nostra, this thing of ours.

I was a made man.

For a young gangster, this was like being a baseball player and getting drafted by the New York Yankees.

Less than a year later, Philip Testa was dead; having been killed by a powerful nail-bomb that was planted and detonated by members of a rival faction within our crime family.

Bruce Springsteen wrote about the bombing in his song "Atlantic City", when he wrote the lyrics:

Well, they blew up the Chicken Man in Philly last night
Now, they blew up his house, too
Down on the Boardwalk they're getting ready for a fight
Gonna see what them racket boys can do

My uncle and I were "the racket boys down on the Boardwalk" that Springsteen sang about and what we did was kill everyone who had been involved in the murder of Phil Testa.

Following the murders, my uncle became the boss of the Philadelphia/Atlantic City La Cosa Nostra and I eventually became his underboss, which means I was second in command.

We were making millions of dollars and we were untouchable, or so it seemed.

By 1989, when I was just 36 years old, me, my uncle and more than dozen members of our family were convicted and sentenced to lengthy federal prison terms.

I was convicted of participating in ten mob murders and got 45 years and my uncle got 55.

Instead of life being over for me, in many ways it was just beginning.

In my new book Mafia Prince: Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family and The Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra (Running Press / Perseus), which came out today , I talk about my life both inside the mob and out in brutal, painstaking detail, pulling no punches.

Readers will get the inside story on all the murders, all the treachery and the real reason I decided to betray both my uncle and La Cosa Nostra and how I am currently living my life today, away from the mob that still wants to kill me.

You will read about my dealings with some of the most notorious gangsters in the history of La Cosa Nostra, men like John Gotti, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Vincent "The Chin" Gigante and for the first time anywhere, the definitive account of the bloody rise and treacherous fall of my uncle Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo and The Boardwalk Empire that he and I created together in Atlantic City and that I destroyed when I left La Cosa Nostra.

Today I am a law-abiding citizen who works a 9-to-5 job.

My friends, neighbors and co-workers have no idea who I was or what I did in my previous life.
If they read Mafia Prince they would think it was fiction, but it is not.

It is the story of my life.

Headshot is of Uncle Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, the jailed-for-life Philadelphia/Atlantic City mob boss.

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-leonetti/mafia-prince-next-door_b_2280929.html

south carolina debate lauren scruggs william shatner seattle weather skier sarah burke gingrich wife cheryl burke

Easy Writing Package : Writing and Speaking - neglectfulness mindoro

Easy Writing Package Winner ? Writer?s Digest Best Writer?s Site ? Critters Best Writer?s Info The "World?s Foremost Writing Guru" Wants to Make YOU a Very Special Offer ? My Entire Easy Writing System ? Available Right Now!

We all make resolutions ? and writers in particular have their favorite ? to write that novel!

Well, now you have no excuse ? I?ve put together my very best resources to help you. Including the opportunity to be personally mentored ? by me ? for 30 days and beyond!

If you aspire to be a best selling author, this proven and acclaimed Easy Writing System is all you?ll ever need ? and that?s guaranteed!

Because writing good and profitable fiction is fast and fun ? especially if you do it The Easy Way!

Do you yearn for the prestige, fame and riches that result from being an author?

Do you want to get out of debt, tell your boss where to go and become a happy and successful published writer?

Would you like to know all the tricks and strategies of the professionals ? without having to spend YEARS learning them!

Listen. A mere month from now, you could have written a brilliant novel, full of excellent characters, compelling action and an ingenious plot. Wouldn?t your friends and family be totally amazed? Wouldn?t you feel fantastic about it? Sure you would!

And that?s not all ? with a good book to your name, soon you could be a published author. Imagine that ? fame, money, respect, the ability to do whatever you wanted, whenever you wanted! Does all this sound like your dream come true? It doesn?t have to be a dream. It?s all perfectly possible. Ask yourself:

Are there events in your life you?ve always had a desire to write about?

Do you then tell yourself (wrongly!) that you don?t have the time, the talent or the energy to write a whole book?

Here?s what an international literary agent has to say about the Easy Way to Write a Novel System:

Because with step by step, no nonsense tips, techniques and simple strategies, this system will enable you to turn your most treasured dreams into reality.

Best of all, whilst writing for no more than an hour or two a day, you?ll be able to finish an entire novel ? easily ? in less than a month. Guaranteed!

Most people &ndash even some professional writers ? think that writing a novel is hard. That it?s something that requires dedication, talent and heaps of spare time.

Amateurs think it?s something that only others can do. These are some of the most persistent myths that surround the writing process.

Based on uniquely valuable information gleaned from twenty-five years of writing and working with hundreds of writers, artists, screenwriters, agents, producers, directors, managers and publishers, I promise this program will take you on an exciting journey.

It?s a frank and thorough road map to success. You will learn how to write fast and well and easily ? in fact, probably faster and better than you ever thought possible!

A Guide to Bare Boating Adventures

Bare boating is a very unique leisure pursuit. It is quite expensive but definitely rewarding. You need to plan this adventure carefully and make the necessary preparations so it will be an enjoyable cruise. Yet, remember that bare boating is for those who are physically fit. It is also important to possess basic abilities and knowledge in vessel navigation. This includes steering functions under the supervision of the captain or crew members; docking; and, securing the boat at the marina. The charter company is ready to provide you with some orientation before going out to sea. Besides, the skipper and crew will be in command to guide you and ensure a pleasant voyage.

The bare boating escapade is not only stimulating. It also affords you the opportunity to meet more people and members of exclusive yachting associations. Your social network will expand as you interact with these boating buffs. This can also be a way of developing new business contacts during your vacation spree. Moreover, it is a deviation from the usual holiday in beach resorts or outdoor camping. You only have to be familiar with weather conditions, interesting sights and different ports of call. Try to take sailing lessons so you will become more adept in this undertaking.

Contact reputable bare boating charter firms. Research on the background and capabilities of these companies before you take your pick. Finalize all arrangements verbally and ask for a contract. Read the terms and conditions carefully prior to signing this agreement. Take only the most important items for your trip and avoid unnecessary or bulky objects. Go for baggage which is not difficult to keep. Include a small cooler for beverages so you will not have to go down to the boat's pantry every time you need a drink. Find out if the leasing company will provide sporting equipment such as snorkel mask, diving gear and surf board. Bring your own stuff if these are not included in the package and rentals are quite expensive.

Do not forget kitchen utensils such as knives, spoons, forks, cups, glasses, plates and serving bowls. Although barbecue grills are normally provided by the vessel owner, there is no harm in having your own. Basic medical supplies and first-aid kits will also come in handy. Finally, know the house rules and listen to any instructions given by the vessel's skipper. This is supposed to be a vacation so all possible issues should be anticipated and managed properly.

If you are looking for bareboat yacht charter in the Whitsundays, you can head over to http://www.ccy.com.au/fleet/yachts.asp. Or you can visit the CCY website at CCY.com.au

Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/a-guide-to-bare-boating-adventures-307217

country music awards 2012 wrestlemania 28 results earl scruggs game of thrones wrestlemania 28 game of thrones season 2 dierks bentley

Miley Cyrus Publicly Mourns the Death of Her Dog Lila

It's time to offer Miley Cyrus condolences. The pet-loving celebrity has lost one of her beloved dogs. Cyrus shared the news of her adorable dog Lila's death with her Twitter followers on Dec. 11.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/miley-cyrus-publicly-mourns-death-her-dog-lila/1-a-508118?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Amiley-cyrus-publicly-mourns-death-her-dog-lila-508118

Ledecky Nadia Comaneci Rebecca Soni Snoop Lion London 2012 Table Tennis badminton Dominique Dawes

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Rare fossil related to crabs, lobsters, shrimp: Exceptionally well preserved, including shell and soft parts

Dec. 12, 2012 ? An international team of researchers have made an extremely rare discovery of a species of animal -- related to crabs, lobsters and shrimps -- that is new to science.

Scientists from the universities of Leicester, Oxford, Imperial and Yale have announced their discovery of a new and scientifically important fossil species of ostracod in the journal Proceedings of The Royal Society B. The research was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.

The discovered species, which is up to 10 millimetres long, is special because it is exceptionally well preserved, complete with not only the shell but also the soft parts -- its body, limbs, eyes, gills and alimentary system. Such discoveries are extremely rare in the fossil record.

The discovery of the tiny shelled arthropod was made in 425 million year old rocks in Herefordshire, Welsh Borderland. The rocks at the site date to the Silurian period of geological time, when southern Britain was a sea area on a small continent situated in warm, southerly subtropical latitudes. The ostracods and associated marine animals living there were covered by a fall of volcanic ash that preserved them frozen in time.

Professor David Siveter, of the University of Leicester Department of Geology, said: "The two ostracod specimens discovered represent a genus and species new to science, named Pauline avibella. The genus is named in honour of a special person and avibella means 'beautiful bird', so-named because of the fancied resemblance of a prominent feature of the shell to the wing of a bird."

"Ostracods are the most abundant fossil arthropods, occurring ubiquitously as bivalved shells in rocks of the last 490 million years, and are common in most water environments today. The find is important because it is one of only a handful preserving the fossilised soft-tissues of ostracods. Its assignment to a particular group of ostracods based on knowledge of its biology is at odds with its shell form, thus urging caution in interpreting the classification of fossil ostracods based on shell characters alone."

"The preservation of soft-parts of animals is a very rare occurrence in the fossil record and allows unparalleled insight into the ancient biology, community structure and evolution of animals -- key facts that that would otherwise be lost to science. The fossils known from the Herefordshire site show soft-part preservation and are of global importance."

The fossils were reconstructed 'virtually', by using a technique that involves grinding each specimen down, layer by layer, and photographing it at each stage. Ten millimetres is relatively tiny, but at an incremental level of 20 ?m (micrometres) that yields 500 slices, which can then be pieced together in a computer to provide a full, three-dimensional image of each fossil, outside and in.

Professor Siveter added: "Fossil discoveries in general help elucidate our own place in the tree of life. This discovery adds another piece of knowledge in the jigsaw of understanding the diversity and evolution of animals."

"It is exciting to discover that a common group of fossils that we thought we knew a lot about may well have been hood-winking us as to their true identity, which we now realise because we have their beautifully fossilised soft-parts. A case of a 'wolf in sheep's clothing'."

The research was undertaken together with Professor Derek Siveter and Dr Sarah Joomun (Oxford), Dr Mark Sutton (Imperial College London) and Professor Derek Briggs (Yale, USA).

Note: The genus is named in honour of Pauline Siveter, in memoriam, late wife of the lead author of the paper.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Leicester, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Siveter DJ, Briggs DEG, Siveter DJ, Sutton MD, Joomun SC. A Silurian myodocope with preserved soft-parts: cautioning the interpretation of the shell-based ostracod record. Proc R Soc B, 2012; 20122664

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/2waa52GFwUA/121211193116.htm

kennedy demi moore roy oswalt kevin martin 2012 senior bowl chuck series finale welcome back kotter