TV Recaps: 'Parks and Recreation,' ?Bowling For Votes? ? Weekend ...

Image courtesy of NY Mag

The Knope 2012 team capitalizes on the momentum Leslie?s campaign has gained and holds a focus group, whose irrelevant and petty criticisms frustrate Leslie. When one citizen states that he doesn?t think Leslie is the kind of person he?d go bowling with, Leslie can?t let it go, so she convinces Ben that organizing a free bowling night with Pawnee voters will be a good way of showing the public that she can be laid-back and fun. But of course, Leslie can?t help but ensure that the citizen who first made the bowling comment attends, and she can?t help but strive desperately toward convincing him that she is the right candidate for city council.

At Ben, April and Andy?s house, the rest of the gang gathers to make cold calls and try to fundraise. In an attempt to liven things up, Jerry offers two tickets to the megaplex as a reward for whomever raises the most money for Leslie?s campaign. Chris is irritatingly enthusiastic about winning, causing April to try in earnest to beat him (and her ability to read her caller?s personality and respond accordingly is astonishingly keen). Chris also discusses his elation over his imminent move-in with his girlfriend and Jerry?s daughter, Millicent.

But then, when Chris leaves the room for a probiotic tea break, Jerry reveals that Millie is planning to break up with Chris soon. Millie arrives later to go on a walk with Chris, intending to break up with him. Andy leaves the room for fear of the awkwardness. Donna tries to give Chris veiled warnings. April, at first, feels like ?a wizard? for having her wish that Chris cease to be so irritatingly happy come true, but ends up feeling guilty when she wins the tickets and Chris returns dejected.

In an unusually compassionate turn, April buys an extra ticket and offers it to Chris so that he can go to the movies with her and Andy. She even gives him a hug. Despite his sadness, the gesture touches him.

At the bowling alley, Ron, Tom, and Ann play their own game. Ron is disgusted when Tom gets strike after strike by rolling the bowling ball like a child. He ends up accidentally squishing Tom?s finger, causing Tom to squawk about it like ?Tweety.?

Later, Ron, returns to the bowling alley incognito and tests Tom?s theory that this is the perfect way to bowl. He bowls a 300. He swears the owner to silence.

Meanwhile, Ben continually tries, to no avail, to remind Leslie that she shouldn?t be focusing on just one voter, Derek. She can?t understand it when she lets Derek win and has a good time with him only to discover that he still inexplicably doesn?t like her. Infuriated, she declares that she intentionally lost, prompting Derek to challenge her to a rematch.

Leslie wins handily and expects Derek to follow through on his word and change his mind about her, but, of course, he doesn?t. Quite the opposite ? he says that on the ballot he?ll write in ?Bitch.? After all this, the tables turn, and it?s Ben who can?t control his feelings. He throws a clumsy punch to Derek?s nose, which Leslie finds to be ?totally awesome.? They make out a lot, just in time for the photo op.

At the ensuing press junket, Leslie refuses to fire Ben or let him resign (despite his attempts to persuade her otherwise). Instead, she starts out on-script, but changes her mind. She admits that she doesn?t feel sorry for what happened because Derek was drunk, aggressive, rude, and foul-mouthed, calling her a completely inappropriate and offensive term, and that when Ben punched him, she thought it was awesome. And they made out a lot. Should she have said it? No. But it was the truth.

Then the team has a follow-up focus group and, interestingly, everyone now likes Leslie ? she comes across as honest, tough, loyal, and relatable. Gotta love Leslie/Ben ? their contagious warmth and witty chemistry helped to make this one of the best installments of the season.

Source: http://www.idsnews.com/blogs/weekendwatchers/?p=10312

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FDA approves Roche skin cancer drug Erivedge ? Health & Fitness ...

NEW YORK ? Federal regulators on Monday approved a pill that treats the most common type of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma.

The pill is called Erivedge and is made by Genentech, a unit of Swiss drug maker Roche. Erivedge is intended to treat locally advanced cancer for patients who are not candidates for surgery or radiation, and for patients whose cancer has spread to other parts of the body. The capsule is taken once per day.

Genentech said Erivedge is the first drug approved to treat advanced basal cell carcinoma. It said the drug will be available within one to two weeks.

The drug?s label will warn that it is linked to fetal death and severe birth defects when it is used by pregnant women. The most common side effects of Erivedge include muscle spasms, hair loss, weight loss, diarrhea, fatigue, changes or loss in sense of taste, decreased appetite, constipation and vomiting.

Curis Inc. of Lexington, Mass., which collaborated with Genentech on the drug, is getting a $10 million payment from Genentech now that the drug has been approved.

The approval comes ahead of schedule, as the Food and Drug Administration previously said it would make a decision on Erivedge by March 8. The drug was given a fast six-month review because there are no approved treatments for basal cell carcinoma.

Source: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/02/02/health/fda-approves-roche-skin-cancer-drug-erivedge/

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Support Letter for Mission Trip

[unable to retrieve full-text content]For many short term missionaries, writing and sending a support letter for mission trip may seem like a daunting task they will fear constantly. However, following some easy steps and also by knowing that God has called you ...

Source: http://articles.drsuggested.com/recreation-and-sports-articles/baseball-and-softball/support-letter-for-mission-trip-3/

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Microscopy reveals 'atomic antenna' behavior in graphene

ScienceDaily (Jan. 31, 2012) ? Atomic-level defects in graphene could be a path forward to smaller and faster electronic devices, according to a study led by researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

With unique properties and potential applications in areas from electronics to biodevices, graphene, which consists of a single sheet of carbon atoms, has been hailed as a rising star in the materials world. Now, an ORNL study published in Nature Nanotechnology suggests that point defects, composed of silicon atoms that replace individual carbon atoms in graphene, could aid attempts to transfer data on an atomic scale by coupling light with electrons.

"In this proof of concept experiment, we have shown that a tiny wire made up of a pair of single silicon atoms in graphene can be used to convert light into an electronic signal, transmit the signal and then convert the signal back into light," said coauthor Juan-Carlos Idrobo, who holds a joint appointment at ORNL and Vanderbilt University.

An ORNL-led team discovered this novel behavior by using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy to image the plasmon response, or optical-like signals, of the point defects. The team's analysis found that the silicon atoms act like atomic-sized antennae, enhancing the local surface plasmon response of graphene, and creating a prototypical plasmonic device.

"The idea with plasmonic devices is that they can convert optical signals into electronic signals," Idrobo said. "So you could make really tiny wires, put light in one side of the wire, and that signal will be transformed into collective electron excitations known as plasmons. The plasmons will transmit the signal through the wire, come out the other side and be converted back to light."

Although other plasmonic devices have been demonstrated, previous research in surface plasmons has been focused primarily on metals, which has limited the scale at which the signal transfer occurs.

"When researchers use metal for plasmonic devices, they can usually only get down to 5 -- 7 nanometers," said coauthor Wu Zhou. "But when you want to make things smaller, you always want to know the limit. Nobody thought we could get down to a single atom level."

In-depth analysis at the level of a single atom was made possible through the team's access to an electron microscope that is part of ORNL's Shared Research Equipment (ShaRE) User Facility.

"It is the one of only a few electron microscopes in the world that we can use to look at and study materials and obtain crystallography, chemistry, bonding, optical and plasmon properties at the atomic scale with single atom sensitivity and at low voltages," Idrobo said. "This is an ideal microscope for people who want to research carbon-based materials, such as graphene."

In addition to its microscopic observations, the ORNL team employed theoretical first-principles calculations to confirm the stability of the observed point defects.

Coauthors are ORNL's Jagjit Nanda; and Jaekwang Lee, Sokrates Pantelides and Stephen Pennycook, who are jointly affiliated with ORNL and Vanderbilt. The research was supported by DOE's Office of Science, which also sponsors ORNL's ShaRE User Facility; by the National Science Foundation; and by the McMinn Endowment at Vanderbilt University. The study used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computer Center, which is supported by DOE'S Office of Science.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Wu Zhou, Jaekwang Lee, Jagjit Nanda, Sokrates T. Pantelides, Stephen J. Pennycook, Juan-Carlos Idrobo. Atomically localized plasmon enhancement in monolayer graphene. Nature Nanotechnology, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2011.252

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://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120131121243.htm

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Consumer confidence posts surprise decline

WASHINGTON?? U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in January as more Americans worried about the country's weak job market, according to a private sector report released on Tuesday.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes dropped to 61.1 from an upwardly revised 64.8 the month before.

Economists had expected a reading of 68.0, according to a Reuters poll. December was originally reported as 64.5.

Consumers' labor market assessment worsened. The "jobs hard to get" index increased to 43.5 percent from 41.6 percent the month before. The "jobs plentiful" index also darkened, dropping to 6.1 percent from 6.6 percent.

The expectations index fell to 76.2 from 77.0, while the present situation index decreased to 38.4 from 46.5.

Consumers also felt worse about price increases with expectations for inflation in the coming 12 months up to 5.5 percent from 5.3 percent.

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38933475/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/

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Quantum speed limits within reach, present moves ever closer to future

Got your wire-rimmed spectacles on? Had a full night's rest? Eager to get those synapses firing? Here's hoping, because Marc Cheneau and co. are doing everything they can to stretch the sheer meaning of quantum understanding. The aforesaid scientists recently published an article that details a method for measuring quantum particle interaction in a way that has previously been considered impossible. Put simply (or, as simply as possible), the famed Lieb-Robinson bound was "quantified experimentally for the first time, using a real quantum gas." The techobabble rolls on quite severely from there, but the key here is realize just how much of an impact this has on the study of quantum entanglement, and in turn, quantum computing. For those interested in seeing what lives in a world beyond silicon, dig into the links below. You may never escape, though -- just sayin'.

Quantum speed limits within reach, present moves ever closer to future originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmodo  |  ArsTechnica, Nature  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/10ztxqLapi0/

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Youth rage boils amid north Nigeria sect attacks (AP)

KANO, Nigeria ? The angry youths piled on top of the burned-out truck near a blood-spattered police station Wednesday in Nigeria's north, alternating praises for the radical Islamist sect that bombed the precinct and promising to kill any officer who returned.

The crowd overran the station that morning following an attack there the previous night, apparently by the sect known as Boko Haram, which last week killed at least 185 people in a coordinated assault that struck several police stations in the country's second-largest city of Kano.

Their jubilation underscored a growing danger from Nigeria's exploding population: a swarming unemployed and undereducated youth across the north whose anger at Nigeria's corrupt and weak central government make them ready recruits for the sect and other radicals.

"The poorer Muslim north sees systemic bias in the provision of basic services and repeated incidents of police brutality," a recent report from Washington-based think tank The Jamestown Foundation said.

Suspected members of Boko Haram surrounded the police station Tuesday night in the Sheka neighborhood of the sprawling and dusty city of Kano, home to more than 9 million people. The gunmen ordered civilians to get off the street, then began chanting "God is great" as they threw homemade bombs into the station and sprayed it with assault rifle fire, witnesses said.

Associated Press journalists saw youths overrun the station Wednesday, as black soot and smoke charred its walls. Doors to jail cells stood open. Blood coated the floor of the local commander's private bathroom. Investigative files apparently rifled through by attackers or the crowd covered the floors.

Older men around the neighborhood attempted to calm down the youths gathered there, with one trying to lock up the station while security forces remained nowhere to be seen. Most Muslims across Nigeria's north say they disapprove of Boko Haram, which claimed the assault Friday in Kano that killed at least 185 people.

"We are not satisfied with what is happening now," said 26-year-old Abubakar Muawuya. Our leaders "have to call this Boko Haram and sit down with them."

But the group there remained jubilant, repeatedly beating on the burned-out truck. Cheering youths waved an officer's uniform and others jumped up and down on the truck, with one wearing a police ballistic helmet.

Some also ominously asked journalists visiting the site if they were Christians.

Nigeria's youth represent what a British Council report last year described as a looming "demographic disaster" for Africa's most populous nation. Estimates in the report suggest Nigeria's population of more than 160 million people will swell by another 53 million people by 2050. And while the country makes billions from producing oil, agriculture and other vocations have wilted away, meaning fewer jobs for the growing population where many earn less than $2 a day without access to electricity or clean drinking water.

Illiteracy remains high as an education gap grows wider ? children have access to better schooling in the Christian-majority south compared to those in the Muslim north, the report said. Analysts worry that will give extremist groups like Boko Haram fertile grounds to grow as well.

Boko Haram wants to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people split largely into a Christian south and Muslim north. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north, has now killed at least 262 people in 2012, more than half of the at least 510 people the sect killed in all of 2011, according to an Associated Press count.

On Wednesday, Niger's foreign minister Mohamed Bazoum said the sect received training and weapons from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, al-Qaida's north Africa branch.

"There is no doubt the two organizations are connected and that they have the same objective of destabilizing our region," he said.

So far, Nigeria's weak and corruption-riddled central government has been unable to stop Boko Haram's increasingly bloody attacks. On Wednesday, President Goodluck Jonathan placed the federal police's top official on "terminal leave" following the Kano attacks. Inspector Gen. Hafiz Ringim remained in the top position in the police force and was given a national honor recently despite the unrelenting attacks.

A statement from the presidency also said Jonathan "approved the retirement" of all deputy inspector generals of police and appointed a committee to look at ways of reforming a police force still organized much like the British colonial government left it.

However, it remains unclear what can be done to salvage a police force where more than a fourth of its officers serve as assistants and drivers to the country's elite, while many of the rest extort motorists at checkpoints. Ringim himself was due to retire anyway in several months.

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Associated Press writers Ahmed Mohamed in Nouakchott, Mauritania and Bashir Adigun in Abuja, Nigeria contributed to this report.

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_af/af_nigeria_violence

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