PFT: Big Ben expected to start after full practice

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On the surface, it?s easy to shrug at Sunday?s slate of games, given the sense that only a few postseason loose ends remain.? But as our good friend Ricky Diamond, producer extraordinaire at NBC Sports, points out, all but three of the games have meaning.

Unfortunately for FOX, all three of the meaningless games ? Redskins-Eagles, Bears-Vikings, Seahawks-Cardinals ? will be televised on its network.

Here are the implications of each of the other games.

Bills at Patriots:? New England clinches the top seed in the AFC with a win.? A loss combined with a win by the Steelers or Ravens would push the Pats to No. 2.

Jets at Dolphins:? New York remains alive for the second wild-card berth in the AFC.

Titans at Texans:? Ditto for the Titans.

Colts at Jaguars:? The Colts secure the No. 1 pick if they lose; if they win (and if the Rams lose to the 49ers), the pick goes to St. Louis.

Ravens at Bengals:? The Ravens need a win to clinch the AFC North and the No. 2 seed.? The Bengals must win to secure the second wild-card berth in the AFC.

Steelers at Browns:? A Steelers win plus a Ravens loss gives Pittsburgh the AFC North title and the No. 2 seed.? Throw in a Patriots loss, and the Steelers emerge with the No. 1 seed.

Chiefs at Broncos:? Denver clinches the AFC West with a victory.

Chargers at Raiders:? Oakland takes the AFC West with a victory and a loss by the Broncos.? The Raiders with a win also have a shot at the second AFC wild-card berth.

Panthers at Saints:? The Saints can capture the No. 2 seed in the NFC with a win and a 49ers loss.

Buccaneers at Falcons:? With a Falcons win and a Lions loss, Atlanta secures the No. 5 seed in the NFC, avoiding a potential return trip to New Orleans.

Lions at Packers:? With a win, the Lions clinch the fifth seed, avoiding the Saints in the wild-card round.

49ers at Rams:? A win by San Fran nails down the No. 2 seed; a loss by the Rams could deliver the top pick in the draft, if the Colts beat the Jaguars.

Cowboys at Giants:? A true playoff play-in game, the winner takes the NFC East.? The loser goes home.

And so be sure to ring in the New Year by keeping your eyes on every NFL game on Sunday.? (Except the three that don?t matter.) We?ll be watching them all ? including the three that don?t matter ? and bringing you all the pertinent information right here.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/28/roethlisberger-expected-to-start-after-full-practice/related/

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Brent E. Sasley: Israel and the Arab Spring: But the Season Doesn't Matter

At first glance, it appears that the Arab Spring has had an isolating effect on Israel, and damaged its regional position and strategic calculus. But this is only impressionistic, because the Arab Spring has coincided with changed domestic politics in Israel: a right-wing government more or less supportive of illiberal efforts among secular nationalists, religious Zionists, and the haredi.

Indeed, Israeli leaders and commentators themselves feed into this impression of the Arab Spring as a new development Israel must contend with. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees a dark tide of intolerance of religious fundamentalism diametrically opposed to Israel's democratic values. The (not unexpected) rise of Islamist parties where open elections have taken place is a trend that Defense Minister Ehud Barak has called "very, very disturbing." The Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff stated that these trends "are redrawing the range of threats faced by Israel."

Others argue that the Arab Spring provides an opportunity for Israel to connect to the publics who have taken control of their destiny and will soon be in control of their countries, and together build a new Middle East.

But the reality is that the Arab Spring hasn't changed Israel's regional position or strategic calculus to any great degree -- at most, it has augmented existing trends. Instead, the challenges the Arab Spring poses for Israel are no different from the broader cyclical challenges Israel has been facing since 1948.

First, there is the claim that the Arab Spring had nothing to do with Israel. But Israelis -- particularly in the wake of the attack on the embassy in Cairo -- came to see it as another element in the "siege" of Israel.

Ari Shavit at Haaretz says

The combination of the Arab spring with the Palestinian September could create a perfect storm. Since the big Arab revolution is not offering real hope, it awakens rage and hatred. The first wave of rage and hatred was focused on Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Gadhafi and Bashar Assad. The second wave will be focused on Israel.

This is not different from the threats Israel faced from a region-wide Arab nationalism in the aftermath of the 1948 War, the emergence of Nasser's pan-Arabism, and the efforts to redress the "Arab loss" in both the 1948 and the 1967 wars, and then liberate Palestine.

Second, there is nothing new about the fact that the Arab Spring, ostensibly about domestic issues, also drags Israel in, particularly in Egypt. This is no different from the rousing anti-Israel rhetoric found pre-Arab Spring in state-run media, religious sermons, and among professional associations.

Third, the argument that the Arab Spring is isolating Israel does not pose a new condition for Israel. Pre-Arab Spring, Turkish-Israeli relations were already growing cold; the global BDS movement was already advancing; and the peace process with the Palestinians has been in constant crisis since the Oslo Accords were signed -- indeed, the Accords themselves were subject to several crises that some feared would derail them before they were put into place.

This is no different from the isolation Israel experienced after the 1967 War, when African, Eastern European, and Asian states began severing ties with Israel; when delegitimization of Zionism -- that it is a racist ideology -- was promoted at the United Nations; and peace talks with the Arab states were alternately called for and rejected.

Finally, discussions of how Israel must respond to these conditions are also recycled. Reports that Israel is searching for new friends (e.g., those it can count on to be at odds with Islamists or other Middle Eastern states for geostrategic reasons) are no different from David Ben-Gurion's "periphery strategy," in which Israel would leap over its immediate Arab neighbors to strategic ties with Iran, Turkey, and some African states.

An overly-assertive strategy is not warranted under the current circumstances. Rather, a wait-and-see posture allows Israel to gauge where these dynamics are going, and to respond accordingly to specific changes and issues.

Israel is on edge as a result of the Arab Spring, as to be expected. But it will not be affected in a major way because it has already dealt with these similar circumstances. Certainly Israel needs to construct clear tactical policies for responding to the Arab Spring and the changed regional dynamic. But this, too, shall pass. Israel has successfully made it through (most would say muddled through) past changes. This is in part because the changes that take place in the region are new only in the form they take, but not the patterns and conditions they represent.

The Arab Spring is of course an important development in the Middle East, restructuring parts of Arab politics. But nobody knows how things will turn out, even in the short-term. It's not clear how strong the moderate Islamists parties who've won in Tunisia and Egypt will be in parliament and in governing, faced with harder-line Islamists, non-Islamists, and remnants of the old regimes. And the successes of the regimes in the Gulf have also demonstrated that the Arab Spring is a contained phenomenon.

Already, there are signs that the Arab Spring has changed Hamas's calculations: the organization has announced it would accept non-violence as a tactic against Israel, would accept the pre-1967 borders as the foundation for a Palestinian state, and might even consider a peace treaty with Israel under the right conditions -- even as it reduces ties with Syria.

This only strengthens the sense that Israel can do little but go slow.

First published at Mideast Matrix, on December 27, 2011.

?

Follow Brent E. Sasley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/besasley

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brent-sasley/israel-arab-spring_b_1171821.html

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Rescue group in crisis mode after cat euthanized (AP)

PHOENIX ? Animal lovers threatened to pull donations to an animal rescue group and the public flooded the agency with scathing comments and calls after a man's cat was euthanized when he couldn't afford its medical care, prompting the Arizona Humane Society to go into damage-control mode Wednesday.

The group has hired a publicist, removed dozens of comments on its Facebook page and directed a team of five volunteers to respond to the overwhelming calls and emails it has received since The Arizona Republic published a weekend story about Daniel Dockery and his 9-month-old cat, Scruffy.

Dockery, a 49-year-old recovering heroin addict, told the Phoenix newspaper that he took Scruffy to a Humane Society center on Dec. 8 because she had a cut from a barbed-wire fence, an injury that he described as non-life-threatening. The agency said it would cost $400 to treat Scruffy, money he didn't have.

The Humane Society cited policy when it declined to accept a credit card over the phone from Dockery's mother in Michigan or to wait for her to wire the money. The staff said if he signed papers surrendering the cat, Scruffy would be treated and put in foster care, he said.

Instead, Scruffy was euthanized several hours later.

Dockery told the Republic that he was devastated.

"Now I've got to think about how I failed that beautiful animal," Dockery said. "I failed her. ... That's so wrong. There was no reason for her not to be treated."

He described the cat as helping him stay off drugs for more than a year, the longest he had ever been clean. He hand-fed the feline before she opened her eyes at 4 days old, giving her fresh tuna and letting her sleep on his pillow.

Dozens of scathing comments have since inundated the group's Facebook page, with animal lovers demanding to know why the cat was put down. Stacy Pearson, who was hired by the agency specifically to deal with media questions about the cat, said angry comments were removed because of their content: One called for the staff to be euthanized, while another said what happened to Scruffy was murder.

Pearson said Scruffy was put down over a number of reasons, including Dockery's lack of immediate funds, a lack of veterinarians to treat her and what Pearson described as a very serious cut on Scruffy from her abdomen to her knee that went to the muscle.

She said the Arizona Humane Society doesn't accept credit card payments over the phone because of possible fraud and can't treat pets with only a promise from owners that they can pay the next day. She said staff had every intention of getting Scruffy the help she needed but the number of animals requiring help at the group's second-chance clinic was too much for the resources available.

If Dockery had been able to pay, Scruffy would have been treated at the facility where he brought her, Pearson said.

"There was no malicious intent to take Scruffy away from her father," Pearson said. "Pulling funding is only going to make a problem like this worse."

On Facebook, where only the agency's executive director is allowed to post comments now, Guy Collison wrote that "Scruffy's story is heartbreaking, and underscores the worst-case-scenario of need eclipsing resources available." He said that his agency has always done what's best for animals.

In less than an hour after his statement was posted, more than 100 people responded, with most slamming the agency and some defending it as doing the best it can with available resources.

Pearson said the Humane Society was reviewing its credit card policy and other practices because of Scruffy's case.

She said the group told Dockery on Tuesday that when he's ready for another pet, he could come in and pick one out, but he declined, telling them: "No thanks."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/pets/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_re_us/us_euthanized_cat_outrage

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The 5 best fiction books of 2011 (The Week)

New York ? As the year draws to a close, critics honor best-seller Ann Patchett, newcomer?T?a Obreht, and the late David Foster Wallace

1. The Tiger's Wife
by T?a Obreht
(Random House, $15)
T?a Obreht's debut novel is "unusual in content, wise beyond its author's years, and completely engrossing," said Maya Muir in the Portland Oregonian. Set in an unspecified Balkan country in the aftermath of a brutal war, The Tiger's Wife follows a young doctor named Natalia who travels many miles to deliver medicine to orphans while she deals with the news of her grandfather's death. As she works, she recalls the "fantastical stories" the old man used to tell. In one, he met what he called a "deathless man." In another, a tiger that escapes a bombed zoo develops a singular relationship with a village woman. Just 26, Obreht, who was born in the former Yugoslavia, writes with "remarkable authority and eloquence," said Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times. Her stories "move seamlessly between the gritty realm of the real and the primary-colored world of the fable."
A caveat: Obreht has created a collection of "stand-alone stories," not a cohesive narrative, said Rayyan Al-Shawaf in Salon.com.

2. The Art of Fielding
by Chad Harbach
(Little, Brown, $26)
Like a good baseball game, The Art of Fielding is "unhurried, engrossing, a universe unto itself," said David Daley in USA Today. Building on the sport's rich literary tradition, Chad Harbach's excellent debut introduces college shortstop Henry Skrimshander, whose Zen-like mastery of his position deserts him after a single errant throw nails one of his teammates on the Westish College Harpooners. Harbach's book might be most striking "in the unpretentious way it has of joining a love of baseball with a love of literature," said Wyatt Mason in The New Yorker. Herman Melville looms large in these pages, but the allusions are never intrusive. Harbach knows he's here to entertain, and his hand is sure as he unspools an elegant story about what happens when "virtuosity and promise" are replaced by doubt. It's a tale about our national pastime, but also "about how we become ourselves."
A caveat: At times, the novel feels more "Young Adult" than a serious work of fiction, said Dennis Drabelle in The Washington Post.

SEE MORE: The 4 biggest scientific breakthroughs of 2011

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3. State of Wonder
by Ann Patchett
(Harper, $27)
Ann Patchett's "vivid, magical" novel is an intricately plotted "Heart of Darkness story," said Caroline Leavitt in The Boston Globe. Updating Joseph Conrad's classic by sending a female protagonist on a 21st-century trek into the Amazon, the "prodigiously talented" author of Bel Canto slices open the jungle and many thorny ethical questions to create a riveting medical thriller. Patchett's Marlow is Marina Singh, a researcher with Big Pharma who's been sent to the Southern Hemisphere to extract a Kurtz-like female colleague who's gone rogue while investigating a tribal treatment that seems to promote lifelong fertility. Patchett does more than borrow, giving Marina "a history Marlow never had, including daddy issues and a haunting episode from her earlier medical career," said Caryn James in TheDaily?Beast?.com. Better still, Patchett is Conrad's equal when it comes to taking readers "on a journey deep into a jungle of secrets" and returning them home changed.
A caveat: State of Wonder "veers between silliness and brilliance," said Jocelyn McClurg in USA Today. It specializes in both "lowbrow cinematic moments" and "highbrow literary aspirations."

4. Open City
by Teju Cole
(Random House, $25)
Open City doesn't follow any of the rules of a "breakout first novel," said Taylor Antrim in TheDailyBeast.com. It doesn't "put on an antic show," but instead ambles, ruminatively, around the streets of New York. Its narrator, Julius, is a Nigerian psychiatrist who has immigrated to Manhattan. He's also a walker and an observer. Across a year's worth of wanderings, he encounters fellow immigrants "of all kinds," listens to their stories, and recalls his own African boyhood. His account "achieves its resonance obliquely ? meaning you have to pay attention." If you do, you'll be rewarded, said Tyrone Beason in The Seattle Times. The walks turn into "oddly metaphysical pursuits," yet "at every turn, Julius must confront his own reality as a foreigner in a terror-obsessed city." Open City is "a magnificent portrait of post-9/11 New York City," and for Teju Cole, a "remarkably resonant feat of prose."
A caveat: Julius is a pedant and a showy intellect, said Vadim Rizov in the A.V. Club. Readers might be annoyed by his "aloof reserve."

SEE MORE: The 8 wackiest inventions of 2011

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5. The Pale King
by David Foster Wallace
(Little, Brown, $28)
There are plenty of good reasons "not to read The Pale King," said Sam Thielman in Newsday. For one, its primary subject is boredom, as experienced by a handful of Internal Revenue Service agents. It's also an unfinished novel: David Foster Wallace committed suicide in 2008, leaving The Pale King a work in progress. Yet "when you actually sit down with the thing, none of this matters." Its surviving vignettes display Wallace's "astonishing ability to mimic trains of thought with prose." They're also "very, very funny," and together hint that there might exist a kind of peace somewhere beyond the tedium of many people's everyday lives. "Every few block paragraphs or so, a sentence will bubble to the surface that's so genuine, it makes you realize how artificial, by comparison, so much other fiction is," said Maureen Corrigan in NPR.org. Finished or not, The Pale King "further illuminates why Wallace's work was so profound and startling."
A caveat: Wallace's novel is "probably best read as a book-length guide to a particular circle of hell ? a tour readers must decide for themselves whether to take," said Margaret Quamme in the Columbus, Ohio, Dispatch.

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SEE MORE: The 5 best non-fiction books of 2011

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How the books were chosen
Rankings are based on end-of-year recommendations published by The Atlantic, CSMonitor.com, GQ, The Kansas City Star, Minneapolis Star Tribune, The New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR?.org, Publishers Weekly, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Salon.com, The Seattle Times, Slate.com, Time, and The Washington Post.

SEE MORE: The 8 craziest lawsuits of 2011

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The List: The 7 biggest political downfalls of 2011

Only in America: The 8 craziest lawsuits of 2011

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20111228/cm_theweek/222707

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Sena WalletSlim for iPhone 4S Video Review

Posted on 26 December 2011 by Dan Cohen

The other day we reviewed Sena?s gorgeous Hampton Wallet for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. The case completely protects the iPhone and doubles as a highly functional wallet with three card slots and an additional space behind them for stowing receipts or a few dollars. In day-to-day use, however, the case can be a tiny bit cumbersome since it requires you to unsnap the cover to access the screen. It also can be challenging to use the iPhone with one hand. That doesn?t mean it isn?t an awesome case. It IS but it might not be the right case for you. If you can deal with something a bit simpler and don?t want the screen covered, Sena?s?WalletSlim for iPhone 4S?might be the ticket. This open-faced case gives you two card slots and doesn?t interfere with trying to use the iPhone with a single hand. Here?s a brief video look?

From Sena:

The WalletSlim combines your iPhone 4S with a slim premium leather wallet. This form-fitting case is composed of ultra-thin premium leather providing a soft layer of skin to gently protect your iPhone 4S. It is similar to our LeatherSkin case with an additional wallet feature. Offered in various solid colors in classic leather and in croco leather, the WalletSlim is perfect for a slim curve-hugging leather design while adding the convenience of a wallet. The secure snap closure provides a snug fit to your iPhone 4S. Its rigid protective layer reinforces additional backbone support for durability. It is individually handcrafted from the finest Italian Napa leather with Sena?s well-known quality and strong attention to detail. The WalletSlim is a perfect solution for the individual who likes the form-fitting design of the LeatherSkin while combining the benefit of a premium leather wallet.

Features:

Hand-crafted from the finest quality full grain, Italian leather

Slim curve-hugging leather design

Doubles as a 2 pocket wallet

Soft velvet lining with light protective layer

Cutouts for play-thru functionality

Proximity sensor opening

Charge/sync port opening

Camera lens/flash opening

Secure snap closure

Easy device access

Use iPhone 4S while in case

Sena craftsmanship and quality

Video Review:

Because there is nothing covering the screen of the iPhone, the WalletSlim solves one of the main issues I am finding with the Hampton Wallet. At the same time, however, it doesn?t protect the screen. If you need complete protection and want a wallet-case the Hampton Wallet may still be the way to go for you. If, on the other hand, you want something that is just about as simple as you are going to find AND you want to carry two or three cards with you this case is worth serious consideration. Because it comes from Sena you know it is going to last a long time. And because it is leather you know it will wear in and get softer the more you use it. You can find details and order the case here on the Sena website.

MSRP: $44.95

What I Like: Protects the iPhone?s sides and back while leaving the screen fully accessible; Two slots would work well for carrying a license and one or two credit cards; Sena quality

What Needs Improvement: Limited in storage capacity; Leather around the iPhone?s screen will take time to wear in

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This post was written by:

Dan Cohen - who has written 2649 posts on Gear Diary.

Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan?s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a ?pre-release? touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the ?#? and ?*? buttons were his dad said, ?Some day, far in the future, we?ll have some use for them.?) Technology seemed to be in Dan?s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him.

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Source: http://www.geardiary.com/2011/12/26/sena-walletslim-for-iphone-4s-video-review/

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Holiday Gifts Drive Apple iOS 12x Higher; Android Leads in More Countries

Apple iOS and Android devices were apparently popular gifts worldwide over the holiday weekend, with the number of new devices seen by Localytics over 12 times higher than previous weekends. Global growth in the two competing platforms was virtually tied, but with strong regional differences across the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Localytics provides mobile analytic services to top app publishers across over 200 million devices. A key metric tracked by publishers is how many new devices, or customers, use their applications. By calculating the number of new devices across its entire publisher base, Localytics can estimate the growth of iPhones, iPads, Android phones and other devices.

Among the top 20 countries for mobile devices, Localytics saw a huge increase in both Apple iOS and Android devices over the December 23 - 26 weekend compared to previous weekends since November 25. The US and Germany registered the highest growth rates for iOS while South Korea and Sweden had the highest growth rates for Android.

Over all, Localytics saw a total increase of 12.5 times more iOS devices over the weekend. Although iPhone is still the most popular iOS device by far, the strong growth of iPad and iPod touch certainly contributed. In the US, Localytics registered 21x more iPods compared to 14x more iPhones.

Android Grows More Quickly in 14 of top 20 Countries

Interestingly, Android finished in a virtual tie with a 12x increase over the same period. But at least in terms of recent growth, Android appears to now lead Apple iOS in a greater number of markets, despite a number of legal battles between manufacturers.

Android saw the strongest relative growth in South Korea, besting the iOS family by over 80%. Sweden and Japan followed with new Android device growth 45% to 50% ahead of Apple iOS. Apple maintained a lead in new device growth in 6 markets; US, Germany, Great Britain (UK), Italy and Malaysia.

Top 10 Countries (Ranked by recent growth in new devices)

Apple iOS - US, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Italy, France, Australia, Spain, Canada, Sweden

Google Android - South Korea, Sweden, Spain, Japan, Hong Kong, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, China, Canada

Source: http://www.mobiletechnews.com/info/2011/12/27/153535.html

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The 7 biggest political downfalls of 2011 (The Week)

New York ? From Mubarak to Weiner, it was a banner year for fallen despots, dictators, congressmen, and presidential hopefuls

If global politics had an annual awards show, the segment devoted to eulogizing those statesmen we lost in 2011 would be long and impressive. From deposed international despots to sexually reckless U.S. politicians who were forced to leave the political sphere, it was a bad year to get caught on the wrong side of revolutions and popular revulsion. Here, seven of the most dramatic, unexpected falls from power in 2011:

1. Hosni Mubarak
Egypt's president for 30 years, Mubarak was forced out?on Feb. 11, after 18 days of mostly peaceful protests centered in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Mubarak was hardly sent into a comfortable retirement: International banks froze billions of dollars of his and his family's assets, and Mubarak ? reportedly in grave health ? was locked up to face murder and corruption charges. Mubarak's downfall is right up there with "the fall of communism 20 years ago" as a "validation to all those around the world who believe in democracy, the power of peaceful protest, and the right of all people to seek redress of their grievances," said The Baltimore Sun in an editorial.

SEE MORE: The 4 biggest scientific breakthroughs of 2011

?

2. Moammar Gadhafi
The Libyan strongman ruled for 12 years longer than Mubarak, but his end was more gruesome and more final. After months of battle with rebel forces aided by NATO airstrikes, Gadhafi went into hiding in late August when he lost control of Libya's capital, Tripoli. Then, on Oct. 20, Gadhafi was discovered by enemy forces in Sirte, where he was beaten, humiliated, and killed. "Libyans suffered terribly under Gadhafi for decades," said Amy Davidson in The New Yorker. But, in the interest of justice, clearing up the murkiness surrounding the dictator's brutal death "matters, even for him."

3. Silvio Berlusconi
By the time Italy's colorfully controversial prime minister was forced into retirement?on Nov. 12, nearly two decades after taking office, he had achieved a profound unpopularity. Berlusconi presided?over his country's slide toward insolvency, and he was long plagued by allegations of corruption and myriad sex scandals, including charges that he slept with an underage prostitute. The real surprise isn't that "the undisputed clown of international politics has finally been forced out of the circus," said Alex Fusco in Britain's The Independent. It's that he wasn't "led out of office in handcuffs."

4. Dominique Strauss-Kahn
The International Monetary Fund chief and early frontrunner in France's 2012 presidential race was arrested in New York City on May 15, after hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo accused Strauss-Kahn of raping her. New York prosecutors dropped the criminal charges?on Aug. 23 after doubts emerged about Diallo's credibility, but Strauss-Kahn's IMF career and presidential prospects were already in tatters. The collapse of the New York case "doesn't mean that Strauss-Kahn is innocent, of course," said Doug Mataconis at?Outside the Beltway, but I think he has a right to ask "where he goes to get his reputation back."

5. Anthony Weiner
In one of the oddest sex-related scandals of the year, Rep. Weiner (D-N.Y.) resigned from Congress in disgrace on June 16 after he was caught sending sexually suggestive or lewd photos of himself to a group of women he never met in real life. Weiner was busted by a conservative blogger on May 27 when the congressman accidentally posted a photo of his underwear-clad erection to his public Twitter feeed, then clumsily tried to cover his tracks. Finally, Weiner tearfully admitted to being a serial sexter. "Weiner can be described, I think, as Twitter?s first major political casualty," said Greg Sargent at?The Washington Post.

6. John Ensign
Though more old-school than Weiner's mess, the Nevada Republican's sex scandal was perhaps?equally "salacious."?Ensign resigned from the Senate on May 3, barely dodging the Senate Ethics Committee's scathing report, which was released on May 12. The report detailed?Ensign's affair with his campaign treasurer, his attempts to buy her silence and that of her husband ? another longtime aide ? with his parents' cash and a lobbying job, and Ensign's potentially illegal attempts to cover that up. The committee's made-for-TV retelling of the affair is "astounding and a hell of a read," said Taylor Marsh at her blog. "Ensign is actually lucky he resigned," because the Senate would have expelled him after this bombshell.

7. Herman Cain
The one-time Republican frontrunner for the presidential nomination effectively dropped out of the race?on Dec. 3, after badly mishandling several documented accusations of sexual harassment and an alleged extramarital affair. Cain also faced widespread criticism for breezily fumbling routine foreign policy and economic questions. The Cain campaign will "go down as one of the most hapless and bumbling operations in modern presidential politics," said Jonathan Martin at?Politico.

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LATimescitybeat: California chief justice urges a reevaluation of the death penalty: http://t.co/vgEBCIir

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Cuban-Americans stream to the island for holidays (AP)

MIAMI ? Deborah Labrada was giddy as she stood in line at Miami-Dade International Airport, waiting to fly to the town of Guantanamo, Cuba.

It is the place she visits roughly once a year to see her grandfather, aunts and uncles and cousins. She still considers it a second home, even though she has lived nearly all her 17 years in South Florida.

"The first thing I'm going to do when I get there is cry, and then give everyone hugs," she said Monday, as she leaned against her cart of bags secured in the festive, neon green airport plastic wrap. The duffel bags ? cheaper to ship through than heavier, traditional luggage ? bulged with food, over the counter medicine, toys and other necessities hard to obtain in Cuba's struggling economy.

Labrada was among thousands of Cuban-Americans flying to the island this week to celebrate the new year. These types of annual pilgrimages would have been sharply curtailed if two South Florida, GOP Cuban-American congressmen had succeeded in returning to the Bush-era limit of once every three years. The measure backed by U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart and David Rivera was tucked into the congressional spending bill, but Republican leaders jettisoned it last week as part of a last minute compromise.

Labrada said Monday she didn't appreciate the effort to restore the old restriction.

"I think it was very disappointing, because the least we can do is help our own families," she said. "We should go and take advantage of the opportunity to bring them things and help any way we can."

President Barack Obama allowed unlimited family visits by Cuban-Americans shortly after taking office and removed the $1,200 annual cap on remittances. Exact numbers are difficult to come by, but the Cuban government said earlier this year it expected about 500,000 U.S. visitors annually, the vast majority of them Cuban-Americans. Cuban officials did not immediately respond to requests for corresponding statistics from past years, but they have previously said there were nearly 300,000 visits from Cubans living outside the island in 2009. It was not immediately clear whether that included repeat travelers.

Many Cuban-Americans, like Labrada have already been traveling to Cuba for years. They just had to go through special church trips or through a third country to get around the three year ban.

Of nearly a dozen families interviewed at the Miami Airport, all but two said they'd last visited the island in the last year or two.

"I don't think it should be any different for us than it is for anyone else going to visit family in any other country," Labrada said.

Except it is different.

Most Cubans who come to the U.S. are able to immigrate here as a result of U.S. policy that views them as victims of political oppression. And as Diaz-Balart is quick to note, not everyone can travel. While average Cubans may be able to visit family off the island, their visa requests can easily be denied. The Cuban government has refused to allow blogger and internationally renowned activist Yoani Sanchez to travel to the U.S. and Europe to accept human rights awards.

But Professor Andy Gomez of the University of Miami's Institute for Cuba and Cuban-American Studies says the flood of travelers isn't likely to stop any time soon, and he says trying to stem the flow makes no sense.

"I was at the Miami airport last week, and there were flights on the hour," he said. "Stopping it? Impossible. It is the people-to-people contact we want and need, and it is already happening."

Most of the flights to Cuba still originate from South Florida, with nearly 300,000 people departing to the island just from Miami International Airport in 2010. Numbers for 2011 were not yet available. But they also now leave from places such as Tampa, Fla.; Oakland, Calif.; Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta and Puerto Rico.

Flights to Cuba from the Tampa International Airport began in early September after a 50-year hiatus, and local officials are banking on it as a new source of revenue. Airport officials said about 45,000 passengers will travel the route in 2012.

Manny Martinez, a 21-year-old Tampa resident, was standing at the back of the long line four hours before Tuesday's flight. He said he's spending two weeks on the island and staying with family. Like Labrada, he said Cuba still feels like home, even though he's lived in the U.S. for 11 years.

When asked to name the first thing he would do once he arrived, he laughed.

"Party," he said. "Just go out with my old friends and have fun."

Not everyone goes just to see family.

Gomez said his maintenance man just returned from a trip to Cuba to visit his dentist because he has no health care insurance in the U.S. and can't afford the visit here. Meanwhile, media reports are on the rise in South Florida about Cuban-Americans involved in Medicare fraud fleeing to the island.

Back at the Miami airport, Isabel Baez, 39, teared up as she talked about visiting her family in Santiago de Cuba. Yet, she said she knows of people who also go as "mules," taking much needed provisions for others on the island who are not relatives, sometimes even for resale.

"But most of those people still go to see their family," she said. "They bring the packages as a way to get a free ticket."

___

Associated Press writer Tamara Lush contributed to this report from Tampa, Fla.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111223/ap_on_re_us/us_cuba_travel

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Queen to host royals' Christmas, Kate's first

FILE - In this June 11, 2011 file photo, from left, Britain's Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William the Duke of Cambridge, Countess of Wessex Sophie, Prince Edward the Earl of Wessex, their daughter Louise, Princess Anne, partially seen, her husband Tim Lawrence, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry, Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Andrew, watch a Royal Air Force flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after returning from the Trooping the Colour ceremony marking the Queen's official birthday in London. Queen Elizabeth II's extended family will gather at Sandringham Estate for a traditional holiday weekend that will mark Kate Middleton's first Christmas as a royal, Palace officials said Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Akira Suemori, File)

FILE - In this June 11, 2011 file photo, from left, Britain's Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William the Duke of Cambridge, Countess of Wessex Sophie, Prince Edward the Earl of Wessex, their daughter Louise, Princess Anne, partially seen, her husband Tim Lawrence, Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry, Prince Philip the Duke of Edinburgh, and Prince Andrew, watch a Royal Air Force flypast on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after returning from the Trooping the Colour ceremony marking the Queen's official birthday in London. Queen Elizabeth II's extended family will gather at Sandringham Estate for a traditional holiday weekend that will mark Kate Middleton's first Christmas as a royal, Palace officials said Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Akira Suemori, File)

LONDON (AP) ? It will be a traditional Christmas weekend for Queen Elizabeth II's extended family, which now includes the former Kate Middleton, with the quiet holiday break to be followed by a year's worth of festivities to mark the queen's 60th year on the throne.

Most of the senior royals, including Prince William and his wife, now formally known as the Duchess of Cambridge, will be dispatched across the globe to help the aging monarch celebrate her Diamond Jubilee in grand style.

Elizabeth and her husband, Prince Philip, are planning to mark the event with a series of tours throughout England to culminate with a celebration in London in early June that will include an unprecedented pageant on the River Thames with up to 1000 boats taking part.

In a carefully choreographed scenario, the flotilla will be led by the queen aboard the Royal Barge.

"They're hoping the Diamond Jubilee will be as successful as the Golden Jubilee in 2002," said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine. "The media then thought the public wasn't interested, but by the big weekend there were 1 million people in the streets celebrating. I think that will happen again."

He said the queen was surprised by the outpouring of affection in 2002.

"Even after 60 years she is very self-effacing, and she's always amazed when people turn out to celebrate her achievements," he said. "You'd think by now she'd know how loved she is."

The Diamond Jubilee will mean extra overseas travel for many royals: Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will jet off to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea; William and Kate will represent the queen in Malaysia, Singapore, the Solomon Islands and the tiny island of Tuvalu; while Prince Harry is being sent to the Caribbean to tour Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas.

The queen and Philip plan a series of trips throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from late March to mid-July. She is then expected to help open the Olympic Games in July before beginning her summer holiday.

With so many public events planned, it is not surprising that most of the Christmas festivities will be held in private at Sandringham, the queen's sprawling estate in rural Norfolk.

Palace officials said Friday that the royals plan to attend a Christmas service at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene on the estate grounds. This gives well-wishers a chance to see the royals briefly, and also provides photographers a chance to snap pictures of the queen ? and Kate.

The family traditionally exchanges gifts at Sandringham on Christmas Eve.

After the church service, the royals usually walk on the grounds, have a gala lunch, and gather to watch the queen's prerecorded television broadcast, a tradition that began with a radio address by King George V in 1932.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-23-Britain-Queen/id-3469bdf6c7de44d6bb58ed890463274f

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Careers going global

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A spell abroad used to be a luxury ? now it's becoming the norm if you want to get ahead in science

APART from Nobel prizes, what do physicists Andre Geim and Charles Kao, and chemist Ada Yonath have in common? Career trajectories that have taken them all over the world - in Geim's case, from Russia to Denmark, the Netherlands and the UK.

While globetrotting is not a prerequisite to winning the coveted prize, having a CV that looks like a much-stamped passport is increasingly seen as the signature of an ambitious and motivated young scientist. "In some countries, such as Austria and Germany, going abroad for two years is pretty much a requirement," says Walter Meissl, who has just returned to Austria after a medical physics postdoc in Japan. "It is an unwritten rule."

A recent report published by the Royal Society in London found that more than 35 per cent of articles published in international journals involve international collaborations, a 10 per cent increase on 15 years ago. British researchers are a mobile bunch, with more than 63 per cent having worked outside the country between 1996 and 2010, according to a government report published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. The report also notes that those who left the UK for two years and returned were 66 per cent more productive by papers published.

Why should I go abroad?

While the statistics suggest that working abroad is linked with industriousness - and therefore your competitive edge - in an increasingly international playing field, relocating is still a very personal decision. Seeing the world, a desire to do something different and the chance to open their minds were all important to the researchers in New Scientist's select sample.

For others, it was less a matter of choice. "My subject of study was very narrow and my supervisor was leaving the lab, so to move forward I needed to move away," says Vanessa Diaz, who moved to the ?cole Centrale de Lille in France after graduating in mechanical engineering in Venezuela.

And for some, the opportunities on offer were too good to ignore. For John Griffin, an ecology postdoc who moved to the University of Florida, Gainsville, after his PhD at Plymouth University in the UK, the islands off the Georgia coast offered the chance to carry out field experiments in salt marshes on a scale impossible at home. And, says Griffin, somewhat tongue in cheek, "I was tempted to see what the American dream was all about."

How do I get a placement?

There are no hard and fast rules but it shouldn't be too different from applying for a post in your home country. It can be as simple as responding to an advert - or you may have to put in some more work. "Many of our faculty don't advertise widely for positions because they get a lot of speculative CVs," says Lisa Kozlowski, associate dean of the postdoctoral office at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Zoe Fonseca-Kelly, a senior research fellow at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston who has moved from Ireland to Singapore to the US during her training, agrees. "Most positions come down to networking at conferences and mining your supervisor's contacts." She recommends quizzing someone doing a job that interests you to get the inside story.

Potential supervisors will also look more favourably on you if you try to secure your own funding rather than relying on them. There are plenty of international fellowships available for PhD candidates and postdocs.

Do I need to be top of my class?

Most countries won't hold international students to higher standards than they would for their own students. For your first postdoc, says Kozlowski, "they are going to want to see you have a publication record but they won't require five first-author papers because you wouldn't normally have that. At Jefferson, we typically look for one or two."

How do I pick a country?

Rather than asking where should you go, think about who you should join, says Beate Scholz, a consultant on research careers who advises the European Science Foundation among other bodies. Ask where you will learn most, and which lab will set you up with good connections for the next stage of your career. "These are primary criteria. The secondary criteria will be things such as how easy it will be to immerse yourself in the culture and whether there is a language barrier."

It also helps if you have some connection with the lab, whether they collaborate with or know your supervisor, or whether you have met any of the lab members at a conference. And always make contact before signing up. "If you are moving country, perhaps also moving your family, it is a big deal. You want to move somewhere where you will be happy so really check out the group before you move," says Diaz, now a bioengineering lecturer in the mechanical engineering department at University College London.

Looking for a job in science or technology? Take a look at the latest opportunities on Newscientistjobs.com.

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Activists say Syrian troops kill 100 in village

Pro-regime protesters chant slogans during a rally at Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. Syrian troops assaulting a northwest town with machine gun fire and shelling have killed dozens in one of the deadliest episodes of the 9-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime, activists said Wednesday. (AP Photo/ Muzaffar Salman)

Pro-regime protesters chant slogans during a rally at Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. Syrian troops assaulting a northwest town with machine gun fire and shelling have killed dozens in one of the deadliest episodes of the 9-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime, activists said Wednesday. (AP Photo/ Muzaffar Salman)

A Syrian woman chants slogans during a rally in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. Syria signed an Arab League initiative Monday that will allow Arab observers into the country as part of peace deal that aims to end the nation's increasingly bloody 9-month-old crisis, Syria's foreign minister said. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

A Syrian man gestures under a large poster depicting Syria's President Bashar Assad during a rally in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. Syria signed an Arab League initiative Monday that will allow Arab observers into the country as part of peace deal that aims to end the nation's increasingly bloody 9-month-old crisis, Syria's foreign minister said. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

Pro-regime protesters gather during a rally in Damascus, Syria, Monday, Dec. 19, 2011. Syria signed an Arab League initiative Monday that will allow Arab observers into the country as part of peace deal that aims to end the nation's increasingly bloody 9-month-old crisis, Syria's foreign minister said. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

Pro-regime protesters gesture toward a statue of a solider during a rally at Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. Syrian troops assaulting a northwest town with machine gun fire and shelling have killed dozens in one of the deadliest episodes of the 9-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime, activists said Wednesday. The Arabic on the base of the statue reads, "to the Syrian army, to those who stay all night protecting the nation, to those who harbor the land of Syria and its people, we salute you from the heart." (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Government forces surrounded residents of a restive Syrian village in a valley and killed all those trapped inside ? more than 100 people ? in a barrage of rockets, tank shells, bombs and gunfire that lasted for hours, a witness and two activist groups said Wednesday.

The attack on Tuesday pushed the death toll for two days of violence across Syria to more than 200, and was one of the deadliest single events of the entire nine-month uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian rule.

The White House reacted by renewing its call for Assad to step down, saying his regime does not deserve to rule.

The offensive targeted the village of Kfar Owaid, about 30 miles from the northern border with Turkey. It is part of the rugged mountainous region of Jabal al-Zawiyah, which has been the scene of clashes between troops and army defectors and intense anti-government protests for weeks. Syrian troops began attacking the region on Saturday, residents said.

"It was an organized massacre," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, head of the British-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "The troops surrounded people then killed them."

Syrian officials have not commented on the allegations.

The White House said Assad's regime has no credibility and has "flagrantly violated" its commitment to end violence. The statement said the Obama administration is deeply disturbed by continued reports of government-backed violence against the Syrian people.

One villager who is an anti-government activist told The Associated Press by telephone that scores of residents and activists fled Tuesday morning to the nearby Budnaya Valley, where they were completely surrounded by troops. The forces bombarded them with tank shells, rockets and heavy machine gun fire. The man, who identified himself only as Abu Rabih for fear of government reprisal, said troops also used bombs filled with nails to increase the number of casualties.

"What happened yesterday was a crime against humanity," Abu Rabih said. He said 110 people were killed in the attack and 56 of the dead were buried in Kfar Owaid on Wednesday. Others were buried in villages nearby.

According to activists, all of those in the valley were unarmed civilians and activists, there were no armed military defectors among them.

Abu Rabih said the Jabal al-Zawiyah region has been under intense attack by government forces since Saturday.

Assad agreed Monday to allow foreign monitors under an Arab League plan aimed at stopping the bloodshed. But the huge toll from the crackdown on Monday and Tuesday has reinforced opposition suspicions that Assad is just playing for time to stall a new round of international condemnation and sanctions. The crackdown has already left Assad internationally isolated and under tremendous pressure from the Arab world as well as the west.

The Arab League plan calls for Syria to halt its crackdown, open talks with the opposition, withdraw military forces from city streets and allow in human rights workers and journalists

Despite intensified violence, the Arab League appeared to be going ahead with its plans to send the monitors.

In Cairo, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby appealed to the Syrian government to shoulder its responsibilities to protect civilians in compliance with its pledges to abide by the League's plan. He expressed deep concern about reports of an escalation of violence, especially in the provinces of Idlib, Homs, Daraa and Deir el-Zour.

The 22-member Arab League has also suspended Syria's membership and leveled economic and diplomatic sanctions.

The White House warned Damascus that additional steps will be taken to pressure Assad's regime if the Arab League initiative is not fully implemented.

In Paris, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said "everything must be done to stop this murderous spiral into which Bashar Assad is leading his people more every day." He added: "It is urgent that the U.N. Security Council pass a firm resolution demanding the end to this repression."

The German government's human rights commissioner, Markus Loening, called for an immediate end to violence against deserters and demonstrators. "It is dreadful to see how Bashar Assad and his helpers are clinging onto power and trampling on the Syrian population's wish for dignity and freedom."

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said "it is unacceptable" that so many people were killed even after Assad's regime agreed to an Arab League plan to halt the bloodshed.

Syria's main opposition group, the Syrian National Council described the attack as "brutal massacres and genocide" saying the group has sent messages to members of the U.N. Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on Syria. The SNC also urged the international community in a statement for international protection of the Syrian people.

Assad's regime agreed to allow the monitoring mission after Arab leaders warned they would turn to the U.N. Security Council to try to end the crackdown.

The Syrian conflict, which began with peaceful protests in March, has become increasingly militarized in recent weeks, with clashes nearly every day between troops and army defectors who have joined the movement against Assad. Idlib province has witnessed some of the most intense clashes. The U.N. says more than 5,000 people have died in unrest since March.

On Wednesday, the Observatory said security forces shot dead three people in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani and one in the northern town of Saraqeb. It added that troops stormed the town of Dael in the southern province of Daraa wounding dozens of people. The LCC said 12 people were killed Wednesday, five of them in the central province of Hama.

Activists said this bloody crackdown may be an attempt by the regime to crush defectors before the monitors arrive in the country. On Monday, security forces killed up to 70 army defectors as they were deserting their military posts in Idlib near the Turkish border, activists said.

"The regime is trying to control the situation before the Arab League send its observers but it's over. The regime will go," Abdul-Rahman said.

Abdul-Rahman corroborated the account of the witness in Kfar Owaid. He said troops on the outskirts of the village surrounded and fired on crowds of civilians and activists trying to flee out of fear they would be detained. The group, which uses a network of local activists to collect information on the crackdown, said 111 were killed in Kfar Owaid Tuesday.

The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, also said more than 100 people were killed. The accounts could not be independently confirmed because Syria has banned most foreign journalists and places heavy restrictions on the work of local reporters.

In Damascus, the Iranian embassy said Wednesday that five Iranian engineers who work at an electricity station in the central Syrian city of Homs have been kidnapped. It said the engineers were kidnapped Tuesday in the restive city that has witnessed intense anti-regime activities.

___

Bassem Mroue can be reached on http://twitter.com/bmroue

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-21-ML-Syria/id-3fd57b229faf4900b739754152e93b61

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Crazy Amazon Review of the Day: 'Mine Has a Owl In It' (Little green footballs)

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Turning point in spending battle (Politico)

Filling in the blank spaces from the August debt accords, Congress approved a far-reaching $1 trillion-plus budget bill Saturday morning that sets a new template for government spending through the 2012 elections ? and very well beyond.

Final passage came on a 67-32 Senate roll call which followed on a strong 296-121 bipartisan vote in the House Friday afternoon.

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The action caps a year of remarkable turmoil in which the Republican-controlled House seemed forever the aggressor?and President Barack Obama one step behind. Very little real deficit reduction has emerged from all the bloodshed, but the bill now is an exception and testifies to a fragile political center that has begun to reassert itself and demand some level of order.

Filling over 1200 pages, the appropriations giant is remarkable for its reach ? touching thousands of accounts from Pakistan counterinsurgency aid to Pell Grants for low-income American college students. Ten Cabinet departments and the Environmental Protection Agency share in the core appropriations of about $917 billion and an additional $126.5 billion is provided in overseas contingency funds, chiefly for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan.

Overshadowed by the payroll tax fight ? and largely dismissed in the press as another anonymous ?year-end spending bill? ? the measure may be seen with time as a real turning point. Certainly for the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, enactment of the bill became crucial if they were ever again to be a force in the budget debate.

To reach this goal, the House committee chairman, Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) had to face down hostile tea party Republicans, who often seemed more intent on sinking the ?aircraft carrier? of government than steering it. At the same time Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) and his staff became crucial intermediaries between the House GOP and an angry, often distant Obama.

The end product is a real cut of about 10 percent from non-defense appropriations when compared to last January when the GOP took over the House. Allowing for inflation, domestic appropriations will have been rolled back to the level set in another pre-Christmas deal in 2007 at the end of the Bush administration.

Indeed, after the burst of bold spending at the beginning of his first year, Obama will now be leading a government that is very much retrenching. In a matter of months the president will submit his new budget plan for 2013. But the August accords allow him only a minimal increase in appropriations and the bill now defines the new reality facing the president ? a plateau stretching into the future with annual growth pegged below the rate of inflation.

After steady expansion under Bush and Obama, the Homeland Security Department faces persistent real cuts, for example. And just to keep up with commitments for frontline agencies like the Secret Service and Border Patrol, the bill now imposes a $1 billion or 30 percent reduction affecting the ability of state and local first responders to buy necessary equipment.

The Internal Revenue Service will be cut $305 million below current funding ? a $1.5 billion reduction from Obama?s request. The self-financed Securities and Exchange Commission emerges with a $136 million increase, but the Commodity Futures Trading Commission is largely frozen in place and Obama still faces an uphill battle to get the money he needs to implement Wall Street reforms.

Most sensitive for any Democratic president is the labor, health and education title of the bill. There, spending will come down by $1.4 billion from the 2011 program level, forcing a series of difficult choices that won?t go away after one year.

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