My foray into the world of renter's insurance | InsuranceQuotes.com

Michelle J. Lee

?Think of all of your precious possessions. They cost you a lot, right? Now, imagine them all burning up in a fire and you having to replace every single item with your own money!?

I heard this every day for a week after we released our survey on renter?s insurance, and it was my own fault. My fault for being honest and sharing that I hadn?t purchased renter?s insurance.

It?s not like I was trying to rebel against my own professional industry, it?s because, well, I?m lazy. And I hate talking on the phone with strangers. And I hate shopping for things that don?t fall into the categories of shoes or clothing. Ahem.

I had gone shopping for renter?s insurance once before, a year ago. I didn?t get very far because I wanted to buy it solely via online interaction. I almost bought it from Company A*, but Company A said the final step was to hop on the phone with my potential agent. While some people might like that, I didn?t, so Company A lost me. (I even mentioned that I didn?t want to talk to anyone on the phone, which they acknowledged, but also dismissed.)

Then, thanks to the heckling of my co-workers (who I know had my best interests in mind), I crumbled beneath the peer pressure. I also was feeling very paranoid that anytime I stepped out of the house would be the last time that I saw my shiny laptop or my shoe collection.

So, earlier this month, I am pleased to announce, I joined the ranks of those with renter?s insurance. Hurrah.

I shopped at three companies. Company A (I still had my quote with them from a year before), Company B and Company C. From our story about the renter?s insurance survey, I knew that coverage can be as low as $10 a month. However, Company A gave me an estimate of more than $20 a month. Company B gave an estimate for about $10 a month, while Company C was above $22 a month. Why the disparity? I have no idea.

Tips for buying renter?s insurance

Let?s get into what happens when you shop for renter?s insurance, now that you have me with you to gently guide you into this world of trepidation.

1. Prepare to shop! It takes time. Don?t let laziness get in the way of comparing prices among at least three companies to get the best deal. Also, don?t scrunch up your face someone asks for your ZIP code ? that?s normal.

2. Be prepared to tell how much your stuff is worth. Take inventory. I don?t have much stuff to my name (chalk this up to me having an austere lifestyle or for just being a hoarding novice), so it was fairly easy for me to calculate the value of my personal property. This may not be the case for everyone.

3. Go with the company that best fits your wants and needs. For me, I didn?t want to deal with anyone on the phone unless I absolutely had to (for example, if I needed to file a claim). Company B won because I could do the entire shopping process online, and it had the cheapest rate with appropriate coverage. No unnecessary awkward phone calls ? and it fit my budget!

4. Choose between paying upfront and paying the full amount over time. I chose to pay upfront, because the monthly and biannual options involved a processing fee. Since my renter?s insurance is about $10 a month, the processing fees for each month ? if I chose to pay monthly ? were more than 30 percent of the monthly cost (around $3). Meaning, I would pay about $120 a year for coverage, and $36 on top of that to process monthly installments. Unless you don?t mind paying 28.8 percent in addition to the yearly fee, I recommend paying everything upfront without processing fees.

Glad to have it?

I?d like to thank my co-workers for their encouragement in getting me insured (read: for their jeering emails, verbal taunts and lunchtime conversations where they singled me out as ?that girl without renter?s insurance?). Now, I can leave my place without the ?what ifs? creeping into my head.

If you don?t have renter?s insurance, the process isn?t as painful as you think. And remember my story and how I survived!

* Insurance company names have been changed, if you couldn?t tell already.

Source: http://www.insurancequotes.com/shopping-for-renters-insurance/

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Blue-chip tech stocks lift Dow to intraday record high

BRUSSELS, April 8 (Reuters) - A French teenager who had hidden inside a garbage container was crushed to death inside a trash truck in Luxembourg on Saturday, police said. Garbage men only discovered the 17-year-old when he shouted out as they emptied the container into the back of the truck early on Saturday morning, but by then he was already in the grasp of the crushing mechanism. "He cried out, but it was already too late," a spokeswoman for Luxembourg police said on Monday. The young man, whose name was not released, died on the scene, in the city of Luxembourg. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-signal-mixed-open-093026199--finance.html

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Jury pool for Jackson death civil case grows to 81

FILE - In this April 27, 2011 file photo, Katherine Jackson poses for a portrait in Calabasas, Calif. Attorneys and a judge continue to try to qualify jurors to hear Jackson's lawsuit versus concert promoter AEG Live over the hiring of the doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the superstar's 2009 death. Jury selection continues the week of April 8-12 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

FILE - In this April 27, 2011 file photo, Katherine Jackson poses for a portrait in Calabasas, Calif. Attorneys and a judge continue to try to qualify jurors to hear Jackson's lawsuit versus concert promoter AEG Live over the hiring of the doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the superstar's 2009 death. Jury selection continues the week of April 8-12 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Attorneys and a Los Angeles judge have selected 81 people to remain in the jury pool for a case between Michael Jackson's mother and concert giant AEG Live.

Nine people were added to the pool Wednesday after the sixth day of jury selection.

Screenings will continue Thursday and Friday to try to find enough people to serve in Katherine Jackson's case against the promoter of her son's planned series of comeback concerts.

The Jackson family matriarch claims AEG executives failed to investigate the doctor who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death. The company denies all wrongdoing.

Potential jurors are being given a 24-page questionnaire assessing their knowledge of the case.

In-person questioning of potential jurors is scheduled to begin Monday, with opening statements expected later this month.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-10-Jackson-Concert%20Promoter%20Suit/id-123ce8ee832e4dd596f3659a14cdb785

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Study finds gene that may raise Alzheimer's risk in blacks

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The largest study to date looking for genetic causes of Alzheimer's in African Americans may offer new clues about why blacks in the United States are twice as likely as whites to develop the deadly, brain-wasting disease.

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Tuesday, show that mutations in two genes that play a role in whites also contribute to Alzheimer's risk in blacks. One of those, known as ABCA7, may double the risk in blacks who have the mutation versus those who don't.

Although many genes have been found to raise the risk of Alzheimer's, most studies have been conducted in largely white populations, and few studies have looked specifically at genes that drive Alzheimer's in blacks. Part of that is because very few African Americans take part in gene studies looking at Alzheimer's risk.

The latest findings will need to be confirmed by other research teams, and critics say the study is incomplete until that work is done.

To get enough participants for the newly published study, researchers combined genetic information from 18 different Alzheimer's Disease Centers funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. They gathered information on 6,000 African Americans, 2,000 of whom had late-onset Alzheimer's disease, the most common form that occurs in older people.

The team then looked for genes that were most strongly associated with Alzheimer's. The strongest link was with a variant of a gene called apolipoprotein E or APOE, a gene that contains instructions for making a protein that carries cholesterol and is well-known risk factor for Alzheimer's.

The team found that a variant of this gene called APOE-e4 doubled the risk of Alzheimer's in blacks, in much the same way it does in whites.

But the study also turned up another gene that has only been weakly associated with Alzheimer's in whites. This gene, called ABCA7, which also plays a role in the production of cholesterol and fats, appears to have a much stronger effect in blacks.

"In whites, it increases risk by 10 to 20 percent, but in African Americans, it increases risk by about 70 to 80 percent. It has a way larger effect size in African Americans," said Dr. Christiane Reitz of Columbia University Medical Center, who conducted the genetic analyses on the study.

ABCA7 is also involved in cholesterol metabolism, as are several of the genes which have been found in the past five years or so to be linked with Alzheimer's in whites.

"That seems to be a pathway that is involved in Alzheimer's disease," Reitz said.

Reitz said a variant form of APOE called APOE-e4 has the biggest effect, increasing the risk of Alzheimer's by about 200 percent. ABCA7 raised the risk by about 80 percent, and most other genes discovered so far increase risk by 10 to 20 percent.

Like other risk genes for the age-related form of Alzheimer's, the gene explains only part of the risk and likely will not lead to any new treatments soon. Reitz said it is clear that hundreds of genes are at work in Alzheimer's disease.

"ABCA7 and APOE are not the only genes involved in Alzheimer's disease in African Americans," Reitz said, adding that it would take tens of thousands of participants to detect some of the other risk genes. "What the study did show us is at least one gene which seems to have a major effect, and that's important to know."

REPRESENTATIVE ENOUGH?

The next step is to study how the ABCA7 gene works in the brain, and the team still needs to validate the results of this study in another independent population of blacks, something that may be challenging.

According to Neil Buckholtz, director of the division of neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging, the study represented all of the well characterized genetic samples of blacks in the United States.

Dr. Allan Levey, director of Emory University's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, said the study was significant for being the first large-scale genetic study done in African Americans. But he said a major limitation is that the study was not replicated in another population of blacks to confirm the findings, which is considered necessary to ensure its validity.

"Had this same study been done in whites, it would never have been published here," said Levey, referring to JAMA, a highly-regarded medical journal.

Troy Duster, a sociologist at the University of California, Berkeley and author of "Backdoor to Eugenics" and contributor to "Whitewashing Race: The Myth of a Color-Blind Society," says the findings are too preliminary and the effect sizes too small to draw any definitive conclusions about differences in the risk of Alzheimer's between blacks and whites.

Without a replicating study in other groups who identify as African-American and as white, "it is impossible to interpret whether this small difference has significant meaning, or points to different etiologies (or the need for different treatments) in different groups," he said.

Heather Snyder, director of medical and scientific operations at the Alzheimer's Association, which funded two of the study authors, said the findings should spur new research into the potential reasons for this link between ABCA7 and Alzheimer's in African Americans.

"Really, that all requires more funding for Alzheimer's disease research," Snyder said.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Michele Gershberg)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-finds-gene-may-raise-alzheimers-risk-blacks-202839389.html

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Pistons Bulls: Detroit Finally Ends 18 Game Losing Streak To Chicago

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Brandon Knight scored 20 points Sunday night to help the Detroit Pistons snap an 18-game losing streak against the Chicago Bulls with a 99-85 victory Sunday night.

Jonas Jerebko added 17 points and a season-high nine rebounds for the Pistons, who ended an eight-game home skid.

The Bulls led by as many as 11 points in the first quarter but Detroit gradually caught up and took the lead in the second after starting the period on a 12-4 run.

Carlos Boozer had 21 points and 10 rebounds for the postseason-bound Bulls, who are fighting to secure the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Nate Robinson added 18 points and Jimmy Butler scored 14 as Chicago's two-game winning streak ended.

The Pistons took a 50-46 lead to intermission and pushed it to as many as 10 in the third quarter. Knight scored a dozen points in the period. Detroit scored the first four points of the fourth and never let the Bulls get closer than 10 points the rest of the night.

Rodney Stuckey had 14 points and rookie Andre Drummond added 10 rebounds for Detroit.

Luol Deng, the Bulls' leading scorer and the NBA's leader in minutes per game, missed the game with a sore hip. Coach Tom Thibodeau said the decision to bench him was "precautionary."

Chicago's Joakim Noah, who missed eight games with an injured right foot, and Marco Belinelli, who was out seven with an abdominal strain, each returned Sunday night.

The Bulls were aiming to match the franchise record for consecutive victories over an opponent, which also was against the Pistons. Michael Jordan's 1990s teams won 19 in a row against Detroit.

The Pistons treated home fans to their first win since the All-Star break. They hadn't won at the Palace of Auburn Hills since Feb. 13.

Notes: Pistons point guard Jose Calderon, who had started all 28 games since Detroit acquired him in a Jan. 30 trade, missed the game with a right triceps strain. . Chicago's last loss to the Pistons was Dec. 23, 2008.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/pistons-bulls-detroit-streak_n_3036653.html

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Remaining Martian atmosphere still dynamic

Apr. 8, 2013 ? Mars has lost much of its original atmosphere, but what's left remains quite active, recent findings from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity indicate. Rover team members reported diverse findings today at the European Geosciences Union 2013 General Assembly, in Vienna.

Evidence has strengthened this month that Mars lost much of its original atmosphere by a process of gas escaping from the top of the atmosphere.

Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument analyzed an atmosphere sample last week using a process that concentrates selected gases. The results provided the most precise measurements ever made of isotopes of argon in the Martian atmosphere. Isotopes are variants of the same element with different atomic weights. "We found arguably the clearest and most robust signature of atmospheric loss on Mars," said Sushil Atreya, a SAM co-investigator at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

SAM found that the Martian atmosphere has about four times as much of a lighter stable isotope (argon-36) compared to a heavier one (argon-38). This removes previous uncertainty about the ratio in the Martian atmosphere from 1976 measurements from NASA's Viking project and from small volumes of argon extracted from Martian meteorites. The ratio is much lower than the solar system's original ratio, as estimated from argon-isotope measurements of the sun and Jupiter. This points to a process at Mars that favored preferential loss of the lighter isotope over the heavier one.

Curiosity measures several variables in today's Martian atmosphere with the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS), provided by Spain. While daily air temperature has climbed steadily since the measurements began eight months ago and is not strongly tied to the rover's location, humidity has differed significantly at different places along the rover's route. These are the first systematic measurements of humidity on Mars.

Trails of dust devils have not been seen inside Gale Crater, but REMS sensors detected many whirlwind patterns during the first hundred Martian days of the mission, though not as many as detected in the same length of time by earlier missions. "A whirlwind is a very quick event that happens in a few seconds and should be verified by a combination of pressure, temperature and wind oscillations and, in some cases, a decrease is ultraviolet radiation," said REMS Principal Investigator Javier G?mez-Elvira of the Centro de Astrobiolog?a, Madrid.

Dust distributed by the wind has been examined by Curiosity's laser-firing Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument. Initial laser pulses on each target hit dust. The laser's energy removes the dust to expose underlying material, but those initial pulses also provide information about the dust.

"We knew that Mars is red because of iron oxides in the dust," said ChemCam Deputy Principal Investigator Sylvestre Maurice of the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Plan?tologie in Toulouse, France. "ChemCam reveals a complex chemical composition of the dust that includes hydrogen, which could be in the form of hydroxyl groups or water molecules."

Possible interchange of water molecules between the atmosphere and the ground is studied by a combination of instruments on the rover, including the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN), provided by Russia under the leadership of DAN Principal Investigator Igor Mitrofanov.

For the rest of April, Curiosity will carry out daily activities for which commands were sent in March, using DAN, REMS and the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD). No new commands are being sent during a four-week period while Mars is passing nearly behind the sun, from Earth's perspective. This geometry occurs about every 26 months and is called Mars solar conjunction.

"After conjunction, Curiosity will be drilling into another rock where the rover is now, but that target has not yet been selected. The science team will discuss this over the conjunction period." said Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to investigate the environmental history within Gale Crater, a location where the project has found that conditions were long ago favorable for microbial life. Curiosity, carrying 10 science instruments, landed in August 2012 to begin its two-year prime mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

For more about the mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl . You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

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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/~3/YqrPEUzI6wM/130408192956.htm

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Workers Stuck in Disability Stunt Economic Recovery (WSJ)

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Distraught father sobs on 911 after kids buried in collapse

STANLEY, N.C. (AP) ? A North Carolina man tearfully begged authorities to hurry to his house to rescue his daughter and her cousin, who were buried when the walls of a 24-foot deep pit he dug on his property collapsed.

Jordan Arwood, 31, was operating a backhoe Sunday night in the pit when the walls collapsed and he called 911.

Arwood's desperate voice is heard on a recording released by the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office on Monday, when the children's bodies were recovered.

"Please hurry ... My children are buried under tons of dirt ... They're buried under tons of clay ... It fell on top of them," he said sobbing.

When the dispatcher asked him if he could see the children, Arwood said he couldn't.

"The entire wall collapsed on them. Get a crane. Get a bulldozer. Get anything you can, please," he said. "There's no way they can breathe."

As the dispatcher began encouraging him ? and with people wailing in the background ? Arwood began praying.

"Lord lift this dirt up off these children ... so the children will be alive and well ... I have to get my kids. Lord, please," he said.

The bodies of the two young cousins, 6-year-old Chloe Jade Arwood and 7-year-old James Levi Caldwell, were dug out Monday.

Later on Monday, sheriff's deputies removed firearms and a marijuana plant from Arwood's mobile home. Arwood is a felon who is not allowed to have guns. He was convicted in 2003 for possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.

The father had been digging with a backhoe on the site Sunday, Sheriff David Carpenter said. Investigators described the pit as 20 feet by 20 feet with a sloped entrance leading down to the 24-foot bottom. The children were at the bottom of the pit retrieving a child-sized pickaxe when the walls fell in on them, Carpenter said.

The sheriff would not say what Arwood was building or whether he had any professional help. He did say that investigators would be looking into reports from neighbors that Arwood had been building some sort of protective bunker.

"They were so distraught we hope to be able to talk to them today and come up with some information on that," Carpenter said. "It's a very large hole. It would look to be something like that, but I don't know. ... We're going to find out exactly what his intentions were."

He said deputies would be speaking with county planning and zoning officials about any potential building code violations at the site.

Andrew Bryant, a planner with the Lincoln County Planning & Inspections Department, said no permits had been issued.

On the tape, Arwood said he didn't know what happened.

"They were inside the hole helping to get something and the wall collapsed," he said.

At one point, the dispatcher warned him not to put pressure on the dirt. But Arwood said he had to reach the children.

"If this was you and your children in the dirt, you'd be moving the dirt, too," he said.

Arwood's house was at the end of a gravel-covered road dotted with modular and mobile homes. It's a tight-knit rural community where neighbors sit outside on front porches and look out for each other.

When word spread about the disaster, they ran to Arwood's house and began helping. On Monday, they were somber, saying they were heartbroken for the family. They said Arwood told them it happened without warning and that he tried to grab the children, but they were just beyond his reach.

It was no secret that Arwood was digging a two-story deep hole. Neighbors said it wasn't unusual to see children in the pit when the girl's father was working there.

Neighbor Bradley Jones, who works in construction, said there was no structure to support the pit's tall dirt walls and that there was some concrete on a ledge on top of the hole.

In recent days, the hole was muddy from the rain. He said he warned his daughter, Chelsea, who babysits for the children, not to go in.

"It was dangerous. There was nothing to reinforce those walls," he said.

Chelsea said Arwood told her that he was building the structure to "protect his family" - it was going to be a bunker.

"It's so sad," she said.

___

Biesecker reported from Raleigh. Associated Press news researcher Monika Mathur in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/father-sobs-911-kids-buried-collapse-223923408.html

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Ask an Expert: All About Physical Therapy

Paul Kochoa

Hi everyone! I'm Dr. Paul Kochoa. I'm a physiotherapist that specializes in the evaluation and treatment of orthopedic musculoskeletal injuries, golf-related injuries, and sports injuries.

I'm an APTA board-certified orthopedic clinical specialist and a Titleist Performance Institute certified golf medical professional. Currently, I practice at Professional Physical Therapy and Training, located in the Madison and Summit, New Jersey YMCAs where I utilizee manual therapy interventions such as the Graston Technique, Kinesiotaping, and joint mobilizations to treat my clients. I received my doctorate of physical therapy from Mercy College and a BS in exercise physiology from Rutgers University. Have questions for me? I'm here for the next hour?ask away!

Have an expert you'd like to see participate? Email us.

Image remixed from Adam Gregor (Shutterstock).

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China steps up response to bird flu cases

by Agence France-Presse / Bill Savadove
Posted on 04/06/2013 10:54 PM ?|?Updated 04/07/2013 2:31 AM

AFP PHOTO / Sam Yeh

SHANGHAI, China - Cities in eastern China where an H7N9 bird flu outbreak has killed six people moved Saturday to prevent the virus from spreading by banning live poultry trade and culling fowl.

Nanjing city shut markets selling live poultry to its more than eight million residents, while Hangzhou culled birds after discovering infected quail, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Two more people were confirmed to be infected with the virus in Shanghai, state media said late Saturday, bringing to 18 the total number of cases since authorities last week announced the virus had been detected in humans.

The human infections have been confined to eastern China, with Shanghai recording eight including four deaths, and the other two fatalities in the neighbouring province of Zhejiang.

Other cases are scattered across the provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui.

Shanghai had ordered a ban on live poultry trading and markets after culling more than 20,500 birds at an agricultural market in a western suburb on Friday.

At a local market in the city centre, two live poultry booths were dark and the cages within empty, as a uniformed worker sprayed disinfectant from a tank on his back.

"People are worried," said Yan Zhicheng, a retired factory manager who like many elderly people makes a daily trip to market.

"Shanghai people eat a lot of duck and chicken. Now we can't touch them."

Shanghai has also banned live poultry from other parts of China entering the city and the sale of wild birds, including those intended as pets, the local government said in a statement on its website.

But eggs remain on sale in the city, as well as fresh and frozen poultry meat, though officials encourage people to cook them well.

Chinese authorities maintain there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, a conclusion echoed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

State media said the government had sought to improve transparency on the disease after being accused of covering up the 2003 outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed about 800 people globally.

"The government's response... is completely different from 10 years ago, when information disclosure systems were not established," Wang Yukai of the Chinese Academy of Governance told Xinhua.

But some of China's outspoken Internet users remained sceptical of government assurances.

"Get out of here. If it is not infectious then what are you doing shutting live poultry markets?" said Huang Kekedou in a microblog posting.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday warned of the potential risk should the virus mutate.

"This is a 'novel' (non-human) virus and therefore has the potential to cause a pandemic if it were to change to become easily and sustainably spread from person-to-person," it said in a statement, adding that has not happened.

The US government on Friday advised American citizens living in China of the cases but said no travel or trade restrictions would be applied to the country based on the current situation.

In Shanghai, residents were taking no chances, turning to traditional medicine and donning face masks.

Drugstores were running short of banlangen, a traditional Chinese medicine for colds made from the roots of the woad plant, used as a blue dye from ancient times.

"No one knows what might happen with bird flu, so they are buying it," said a clerk at the Ren Shou Tang medicine store.

The United Nations on Friday drew up a list of recommendations to try to curb the spread of H7N9 including regular hand washing, keeping animals away from living areas and avoiding eating sick animals. - Rappler.com

Source: http://www.rappler.com/world/25671-china-steps-up-response-to-bird-flu-cases

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Conn. Gov. Dan Malloy: NRA's LaPierre like 'clowns at the circus' (Washington Post)

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Senate nears gun debate, background checks pivotal

FILE ? In this Feb. 27, 2013, file photo faces of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims are seen behind Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D? Calif., as she speaks about the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 during the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Congress returns Monday, April 8, 2013, from a two-week spring recess with gun control and immigration high on the Senate's agenda. Senators could start debating Democratic-written gun legislation before week's end. But leaders also might decide to give negotiators more time to seek a deal on expanding background checks for firearms buyers. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

FILE ? In this Feb. 27, 2013, file photo faces of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims are seen behind Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D? Calif., as she speaks about the Assault Weapons Ban of 2013 during the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington. Congress returns Monday, April 8, 2013, from a two-week spring recess with gun control and immigration high on the Senate's agenda. Senators could start debating Democratic-written gun legislation before week's end. But leaders also might decide to give negotiators more time to seek a deal on expanding background checks for firearms buyers. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

FILE - In this March 14, 2013 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. Gun control legislation the Senate debates next month will include an expansion of federal background checks for firearms buyers, Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday, March 21, 2013, in a victory for advocates of gun restrictions. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

FILE- In this Jan. 30, 2013, file photo Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., talks about gun legislation during the committee's hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. Congress returns from a two-week spring recess Monday, April 8, 2013, with gun control and immigration high on the Senate's agenda. Senators could start debating Democratic-written gun legislation before week's end, but leaders may decide to give negotiators more time to seek a deal on expanding background checks for firearms buyers. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Congress returns Monday from a two-week spring recess with gun control and immigration high on the Senate's agenda.

Senators could start debating Democratic-written gun legislation before week's end. But leaders also might decide to give negotiators more time to seek a deal on expanding background checks for firearms buyers.

Passing the expanded background checks would be viewed as a victory for gun-control advocates after Democratic leaders made it clear that supporters were nowhere close to getting a majority of votes in favor of reinstituting an assault weapons ban.

Both measures have been a priority for President Barack Obama since the Dec. 14 shooting at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn. On Monday Obama travels to Connecticut to again make the case for gun legislation, with a speech at the University of Hartford.

"He's been working with both sides to try to get the strongest bill we can that has enforceable background checks," White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

The National Rifle Association opposes both the assault weapons ban and the expanded background checks.

Short of unanimous support in their own party, Democratic senators have been unable to strike a deal with Republicans for the votes they would need to push background check legislation through the chamber. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., might delay debate to give bargainers more time, underscoring how crucial the proposal is to the gun control drive.

"If we go to the floor, I'm still hopeful that what I call the sweet spot ? background checks ? can succeed," Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday, referring to the start of debate by the full Senate. "We're working hard there."

Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, called the measure "the most pivotal piece" of Democrats' gun legislation.

Also high on Congress' agenda is immigration, where a decisive moment is approaching.

Bipartisan groups in the House and Senate are expected to present legislation as early as this week aimed at securing the U.S. border, fixing legal immigration and granting legal status to millions who are in the United States without authorization. That will open months of debate on the politically combustible issue, with votes by the Senate Judiciary Committee expected later this month.

The House is looking at a busy, if more low-profile agenda in the coming weeks.

In its first week back, the House will consider a bill that would prevent the National Labor Relations Board from issuing rules until a dispute over administration appointees is resolved.

Among the bills that could see action in later weeks is a measure requiring the Treasury to pay principle and interest on debt held by the public if the nation's borrowing limit is reached but not extended.

Other measures would prioritize pediatric research to assist children with autism and give workers greater flexibility to choose paid time off instead of overtime pay.

Lawmakers will devote much time to the 2014 budget proposal that Obama plans to release on Wednesday. It calls for both new tax increases, which Republicans oppose, and smaller annual increases in Social Security and other government benefit programs, over the objections of many of the president's fellow Democrats.

Even with a background check deal, Senate debate on gun legislation may begin at a slow crawl with some conservatives promising delays and forced procedural votes. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Sunday urged fellow Republicans to allow debate to go forward, even as he declined to express support for a background check bill.

"I don't understand it. The purpose of the United States Senate is to debate and to vote and to let the people know where we stand," McCain said, appearing alongside Schumer on CBS' "Face the Nation."

There's a strong chance the first votes won't occur until at least mid-April.

Until Democrats come out with the final shape of their background check measure, gun control advocates nervously are tracking the private negotiations, worried their allies might cut a deal that goes too far.

"We want a vote on the issues, we don't want them watered down so they're unrecognizable," said Joshua Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. "If they can't vote for it, let the American people judge them on that. Don't let a dumbed-down bill be the outcome of this."

The Senate gun legislation would toughen federal laws against illegal firearms sales, including against straw purchasers, or those who buy firearms for criminals or others barred from owning them. The legislation also would provide $40 million a year, a modest increase from current levels of $30 million, for a federal program that helps schools take safety measures such as reinforcing classroom doors.

Omitted from the bill are bans on assault weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines, both factors in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Those bans were approved last month by the Senate Judiciary panel. Reid has said he will allow both to be offered as amendments by their sponsor, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., but neither seems likely to survive.

Many experts agree that the proposal with the widest potential reach is a broadening of background checks, now required only for transactions by the roughly 55,000 federally licensed firearms dealers. Proponents want to cover private sales, such as those between individuals at gun shows or online.

One major hang-up has been Democrats' insistence on retaining records of private sales, which they say is the best way to ensure background checks are actually conducted. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a leader of conservatives in the talks, has rejected that as excessive government intrusiveness.

The system is aimed at preventing guns from going to criminals, people with severe mental problems, some drug abusers and others.

The National Rifle Association and other critics say the checks are ignored by criminals, and they fear that expanding the system could be a prelude to the government maintaining files on gun owners. Current law forbids that. The government must destroy records of the checks within a day, though gun dealers must retain information on the transactions for 20 years.

"We remain committed in our opposition to expanding a broken system," said NRA lobbyist Chris W. Cox.

Justice Department figures show that from 1994 when the system began through 2010, 118 million would-be gun buyers were checked and 2.1 million were denied firearms. Defenders say the data proves the checks prevent many dangerous people from getting weapons.

The current background check measure, by Schumer, would expand the system to cover nearly all gun transactions, with narrow exceptions that include sales involving immediate relatives such as parents and children. Even without a bipartisan deal, Schumer is expected to expand the exemptions to more relatives, people with permits to carry concealed weapons and others.

Schumer and Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., have been shopping alternatives in an effort for more GOP support. Democrats are sure to need 60 votes in the 100-member chamber to win, but there are just 53 Democratic senators plus two Democratic-leaning independents.

Democrats have considered requiring background checks for all gun show and online sales, but exempt face-to-face transactions between private individuals who do not run commercial gun enterprises.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-07-Congress%20Returns/id-0f7b1137bc71441c87b876dc8d35da33

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Baby on the Way for Olivier Martinez and Halle Berry

The couple, who got engaged in January 2012, are set to welcome their first child together this fall.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/Khu6lYnJK10/

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A 'light switch' in the brain illuminates neural networks

Friday, April 5, 2013

There are cells in your brain that recognize very specific places, and have that as one of their main jobs. These cells, called place cells, are found in an area behind your temple called the hippocampus. While these cells must be sent information from nearby cells to do their job, so far no one has been able to determine exactly what kind of nerve cells, or neurons, work with place cells to craft the code they create for each location. Neurons come in many different types with specialized functions. Some respond to edges and borders, others to specific locations, others act like a compass and react to which way you turn your head.

Now, researchers at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have combined a range of advanced techniques that enable them to identify which neurons communicate with each other at different times in the rat brain, and in doing so, create the animal's sense of location. Their findings are published in the 5 April issue of Science.

"A rat's brain is the size of a grape. Inside there are about fifty million neurons that are connected together at a staggering 450 billion places (roughly)," explains Professor Edvard Moser, director of the Kavli Institute. "Inside this grape-sized brain are areas on each side that are smaller than a grape seed, where we know that memory and the sense of location reside. This is also where we find the neurons that respond to specific places, the place cells. But from which cells do these place cells get information?"

The problem is, of course, that researchers cannot simply cut open the rat brain to see which cells have had contact. That would be the equivalent of taking a giant pile of cooked spaghetti, chopping it into little pieces, and then trying to figure out how the various spaghetti strands were tangled together before the pile was cut up.

A job like this requires the use of a completely different set of neural tools, which is where the "light switches" come into play.

Neurons share many similarities with electric cables when they send signals to each other. They send an electric current in one direction ? from the "body" of the neuron and down a long arm, called the axon, which goes to other nerve cells. Place cells thus get their small electric signals from a whole series of such arms.

So how do light switches play into all of this?

"What we did first was to give these nerve arms a harmless viral infection," Moser says. "We designed a unique virus that does not cause disease, but that acts as a pathway for delivering genes to specific cells. The virus creeps into the neurons, crawls up to the nucleus of the cell, and uses the nerve cell's own factory to make the genetic recipe that we gave to the virus to carry."

The genetic recipe enabled the cell to make the equivalent of a light switch. Our eyes actually contain the same kind of biological light switch, which allows us to see. The virus infection converts neurons that have previously existed only in darkness, deep inside the brain, to now be sensitive to light.

Then the researchers inserted optical fibres in the rat's brain to transmit light to the different unidentified cells that now had light switches in them. They also implanted thin microelectrodes down between the cells so they could detect the signals sent through the axons every time the light from the optical fibre was turned on.

"Now we had everything set up, with light switches installed in cells around the place cells, a lamp, and a way to record the activity," Moser said.

The researchers then turned the lights on and off more than ten thousand times in their rat lab partners, while they monitored and recorded the activity of hundreds of individual cells in the rats' grape-sized brains. The researchers did this research while the rats ran around in a metre-square box, gathering treats. As the rats explored their box and found the treats, the researchers were able to use the light-sensitive cells to figure out which cells were feeding information to the place cells as the rat's brain created the map of where the rat had been.

When the researchers put together all the information afterwards they concluded that there is a whole range of different specialized cells that together provide place cells their information. The brain's GPS ? its sense of place ? is created by signals from head direction cells, border cells, cells that have no known function in creating location points, and grid cells. Place cells thus receive both information about the rat's surroundings and landmarks, but also continuously update their own movement, which is actually independent on sensory input.

"One mystery is the role that the cells that are not part of the sense of direction play. They send signals to place cells, but what do they actually do?" wonders Moser.

"We also wonder how the cells in the hippocampus are able to sort out the various signals they receive. Do they 'listen' to all of the cells equally effectively all the time, or are there some cells that get more time than others to 'talk' to place cells?"

###

Norwegian University of Science and Technology: http://www.ntnu.edu

Thanks to Norwegian University of Science and Technology for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 90 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127609/A__light_switch__in_the_brain_illuminates_neural_networks

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Atlanta weekend food and drink events, April 5-7: Final Four ...

Source: http://clatl.com/omnivore/archives/2013/04/05/atlanta-weekend-food-and-drink-events-april-5-7-final-four-specials-a-sushi-showdown-and-more

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Illegal Pets in California | KTXL FOX40

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://fox40.com/2013/04/04/illegal-pets-in-california/

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Great Ideas! 6 Time-Saving Tips for Moms

Organize your email! Use apps! TheSkimm's Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg share ways to make the most of your day

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Offshore account holder names to be released 'a ... - Financial Post

The list of names of offshore account holders disclosed by a group of news organizations around the world originated from a computer hard drive anonymously sent to an Australian journalist, observers say.

According to Offshore Alert, an industry newsletter published in Miami, FL, the confidential information was contained in a 260 gigabyte drive laden with 2.5-million files detailing everything from water cooler gossip of employees at an offshore trust, to instructions on how to contact account holders, to individual names of account holders themselves.

Foreign bank accounts ? they?re not just for the furtive

Banking abroad is as ordinary as a winter home in Florida or a business office in London.

Most of the accounts are for convenience, such as paying utility bills for a condo beneath the palms and getting access to an ATM without paying heavy fees when drawing foreign U.S. currency.

Continue reading.

The information was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a non-profit group based in Washington, D.C. that describes itself on its website as a ?network of 160 reporters in more than 60 countries who collaborate? on in-depth stories.

Launched in 1997, the ICIJ was created by the Centre for Public integrity, another Washington-based group focusing on corruption and abuse of power.

According to the CBC, which along with The Guardian and dozens of other international media groups working with the ICIJ on the story, the drive contains the names of 450 Canadian offshore bank customers.

Calls to the ICIJ were not returned.

?I?ve been told that the CBC will release a few names at a time,? said Dennis Howlett, executive director of Canadians for Tax Fairness. Mr. Howlett, whose organization is focused around tax avoidance issues, said he has been in contact with the ICIJ and received ?early warning? of the strategy though he didn?t have the actual list.

?One of the reasons people open up tax haven accounts is to hide assets from their spouses,? he said, adding that even though reports say there are 450 Canadian names, he?s seen 500 names. The discrepancy has to do with the fact that ?there are databases within databases and links, and some that are not determined where the address is that links to those names. So [investigators] haven?t actually got to the whole bottom of it yet.?

The story went public on Wednesday after the ICIJ put out a press release announcing a few tantalizing pieces information from its bid to ?lift the curtain on the offshore system and provide a transparent look into the secret world of tax havens and the individuals and companies that use and benefit from them.?

Calling it ?likely the largest journalism collaboration in history,? the group said it will reveal the ?secrets of more than 120,000 offshore companies and trusts and nearly 130,000 individuals and agents, exposing hidden dealings of politicians, con artists, and the mega-rich in more than 170 countries.?

So far, however, just one Canadian account holder has been named: Tony Merchant, a prominent class action lawyer in Regina, who allegedly put $1.7-million in a trust domiciled in the Cook Islands back in 1998.

While Canadians are required to report income, it is not illegal to open an account at an offshore bank.

Mr. Merchant did not return a request for comment from the Financial Post.

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/04/04/offshore-account-holders-to-be-released-a-few-names-at-a-time/

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BracketRacket: Steve Kerr, Superman and Wheatlanta

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim cuts down the net following their 55-39 win over Marquette in the East Regional final in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim cuts down the net following their 55-39 win over Marquette in the East Regional final in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Syracuse players and coaches celebrate for photographers after their 55-39 win over Marquette in the East Regional final in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall holds up a pair of scissors after Wichita State defeated Ohio State 70-66 in the West Regional final in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Wichita State's Chadrack Lufile holds up a piece of the net after his team's 70-66 win over Ohio State in the West Regional final in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Michigan celebrates with the trophy after a regional final game against Florida in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 31, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. Michigan won 79-59 to advance to the Final Four. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Welcome back to BracketRacket, the one-stop shopping place for all your NCAA needs.

In this pre-Final Four edition, we've got Steve Kerr reminiscing and breaking down the national semifinals, Superman as a super fan, the missing power schools, the Big East's two-step and early odds to win the 2014 NCAA tournament.

There's also some bracket bits that include Ron Baker's 'do and Wheatlanta T-shirts.

___

Steve Kerr was a member of what may be the most cherished team in Arizona history, the 1988 Wildcats that reached the Final Four.

It's been 25 years since that magical run, but the memory of the way it ended still sticks with him.

Arizona's best perimeter shooter, he went 2 for 12 from the field and scored six points in the Wildcats' 86-78 loss to Oklahoma.

"That was very painful ? we lost and I had a lousy game," Kerr said. "It was my worst game of the season. You see the teams that lose the championship and see the tears, you understand the disappointment."

Kerr's one trip as a player didn't go so well, but he still gets excited about the NCAA tournament as he prepares for his third straight Final Four as an analyst for Turner/CBS.

"I love it," Kerr said. "It's such an incredible event and to be part of it in the broadcasting booth is amazing. I think about all the broadcasters who were never lucky enough to do a Final Four and the fact I'm able to do this three years in a row is pretty amazing."

So what does Kerr think about the matchups in this year's Final Four?

Start with Wichita State and Louisville. Do the Shockers have a shot?

"You always have to take care of the ball and I think they're going to have to adjust to the speed of the game quickly," Kerr said. "Where Louisville beats you, it's not just forcing turnovers, it's getting into your legs, they wear you down. And when you look like you've got an open shot and they're flying at you, they make you rush a little bit. You deal with all that pressure until your body wears down and you miss shots you would probably normally make, so they're going to have to adapt to speed and strength of the game itself."

Now Michigan and Syracuse.

"Michigan has small guards, but they're very capable; they have four NBA players on their roster," he said. "They're really well-coached and rarely turn the ball over. Syracuse is playing at a really high level, so I think that's a great matchup."

___

SUPERMAN'S A SUPER FAN

Actor Dean Cain grew up playing sports, earning multiple scholarship offers out of high school and a free agent contract with the Buffalo Bills before injuring his knee.

So when it comes to the NCAA tournament, it's no surprise the man who's best known for playing Superman is a super fan.

"I'll go into a pool with anyone, literally. Anything I can do," Cain told AP Entertainment Producer Nicole Evatt. "I wanted to go to Vegas with my buddies. I couldn't go, they went. ... (looking into the camera) I'm not going to forgive you guys. They all went and had a great time."

As for Cain's picks, he's from Michigan and is pulling for the Wolverines, but he lost out on getting two Final Four teams when Louisville beat Duke.

He's also a big fan of the little guys.

"I love watching the underdogs," Cain said. "I love watching teams match up that have never matched up before."

___

SOMETHING'S MISSING

This year's Final Four has some familiar teams in it with former national champions Louisville, Michigan and Syracuse all getting through to Atlanta.

There will be something missing, too.

For the first time since 1985, the Final Four will be missing the six teams with the most national championships: UCLA, Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, Duke and Kansas.

The six power schools, which have combined for 36 national championships, have been regulars in the national semifinals, with three of the teams making it in the same year three times and two schools getting in eight other times in the past 28 years, including Kentucky and Kansas last season.

The 1985 Final Four ? the last without the six power schools ? included Villanova, Georgetown, Memphis State and St. John's.

___

BIG EAST TWOSOME

The Big East was considered one of the toughest conferences in college basketball and came through with two teams in the Final Four: Louisville and Syracuse.

It marks the first time in four years that a conference has gotten two teams through to the Final Four. The Big East, which will be dramatically altered after realignment next season, had two in the national semifinals in 2009, too, when Connecticut and Villanova made it.

In all, it's happened 22 times since 1976, though it doesn't always increase the odds of the conference winning a championship.

Conferences that have gotten two teams into the Final Four have produced the champion 10 times, most recently Florida in 2006, when LSU also made it.

___

2014 ODDS

The 2013 NCAA tournament isn't over yet, but there are already odds on next year's bracket.

And the favorite probably won't come as a surprise after John Calipari pulled together another top-rated recruiting class: Kentucky.

According to The Greek Sports Book, Coach Cal and the Wildcats, despite missing this year's tournament, are 3-1 favorites to cut down the nets at Cowboys Stadium in North Texas next year.

Next in line is Duke at 5-1, Florida and North Carolina at 8-1, then Louisville and Memphis at 12-1.

Among the other 2013 Final Four teams, Syracuse is 15-1, while Michigan and Wichita State are 30-1.

___

BRACKET BITS

Louisville's range of emotions after Kevin Ware broke his leg, in photos: http://bit.ly/103nZ0T

Andrew Wiggins has nothing to do with this year's NCAA tournament, but he could next year for whatever school he picks. See what we mean with this spectacular dunk: http://bit.ly/12cl8CS

Check out Wichita State guard Ron Baker's 'do from his university photo. Has an 80s perm vibe to it, though we're pretty sure those curls are natural: http://bit.ly/17b9zj7

This graph of our March Madness watching habits isn't exactly scientific, but seems pretty close to us: http://bit.ly/XGqw2w

Get your Wheatlanta T-shirts here! http://bit.ly/YtxSWB

___

STAT OF THE DAY

This from our friends at STATS:

The national semifinals have historically been much kinder to Michigan teams than Louisville teams.

The Cardinals are just 2-7 all-time with a berth in the title game at stake, worst among all schools that have reached the Final Four at least six times.

Michigan, on the other hand, is 5-1 in national semifinals, the best record among the 33 schools that have appeared in that round at least three times.

___

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Cinderella found one glasses skipper. We won four games. I don't think she found four glass slippers. Cinderella usually wins a game or two, much like Butler a couple seasons ago. When you get to this point, you're good enough to win it all." ? Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall on being a Cinderella team.

___

Follow John Marshall on Twitter at http://twitter.com/johnmarshallap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-04-03-BKC-BracketRacket-040313/id-90a8a6164b2d4d8fb75d7639714b1a11

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Underage Drunk Driver Kills Five People On Way to Vegas ...

Jean Ervin Soriano, 18, was arrested by Nevada Highway Patrol after driving drunk and causing a tragic accident that killed five Los Angeles County residents including one child.

Soriano was traveling on Interstate 15 early morning on Saturday, March 31st when he drove into the back of a minivan. The impact caused the van to spin our of control and flip over. Five of the seven occupants of the van were killed and two were in critical condition.?The young driver informed law enforcement officials that he has been drinking beer before the car accident and according to his arrest report several empty bottles were found in his vehicle.

Genaro Fernandez, Raudel Fernandez-Avila, Belen Fernandez, Leonardo Fernandez-Avila and thirteen-year-old Angel Sandoval were killed as a result of Soriano?s gross negligence.?The family members were all from Los Angeles County and had been on their way home from visiting a dying relative in Colorado.

Soriano and his 23-year-old passenger suffered minor injuries in the accident. Soriano was booked on seven counts of DUI and causing death or great bodily injury.

In California, drivers under the age of 21 need to have a blood alcohol content of 0.00% (no alcohol in their systems).?Driving drunk exemplifies the utmost negligence towards others on the road. Our Los Angeles?personal injury attorneys at?Bergener & Associates?fight tirelessly for victims of drunk driving. If you or a loved one has been injured or experienced a loss as a result of an auto accident, call us for a free consultation today at 1-800-881-2021.

Source: http://blog.bergenerlaw.com/2013/04/04/underage-drunk-driver-kills-five-people-on-way-to-vegas/

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Iowa museum finds missing tortoise in elevator

In this undated photo provided by Katlyn R. Gerken, a staff member of the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa holds up an 18-pound African leopard tortoise named Cashew. KWWL-TV reports that officials at the museum and aquarium believe the tortoise was stolen, but that the thief quietly returned the animal. (AP Photo/Katlyn R. Gerken)

In this undated photo provided by Katlyn R. Gerken, a staff member of the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa holds up an 18-pound African leopard tortoise named Cashew. KWWL-TV reports that officials at the museum and aquarium believe the tortoise was stolen, but that the thief quietly returned the animal. (AP Photo/Katlyn R. Gerken)

DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) ? An 18-pound African leopard tortoise who went missing from an Iowa museum has been found alive in an elevator in the building.

KWWL-TV (http://bit.ly/Zb7sED) reports that officials at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque believe the tortoise named Cashew was stolen, but that the thief quietly returned the animal.

The museum says a visitor found Cashew on the elevator floor Thursday. She appears to be in good health.

The museum discovered Cashew was missing Tuesday from an exhibit with a 4-foot glass wall. Museum officials suspected she was taken as a prank or to sell.

Museum officials are reviewing surveillance video to try to figure out exactly what happened and find a possible suspect.

___

Information from: KWWL-TV, http://www.kwwl.com

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-04-04-US-ODD-Stolen-Tortoise/id-49b80f943f81466996316e7b8925086d

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Amazing Astronomy + Animated GIF = Stunning 3D Nebula

If you thought stunning images of nebulous gas clouds in space couldn't get any prettier, think again. Finnish astrophotographer J-P Mets?vainio has combined art and science to make these stunning 3D-esque animated GIFs of nebulae. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Q4lpd1-bUzw/amazing-astronomy-%252B-animated-gif--stunning-3d-nebula

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