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buffordpinkie99 · December 28 2011

December 28 2011, Matthew Kredell

Nevada Online Poker Regulations

The Nevada Gaming Commission's approval of online poker regulations Dec. 22 sets the stage for legal, licensed and regulated Internet poker to debut in the United States in the next year. However, the scope of the performance is still very much in question.

Whether the regulations are used under a national network, intrastate within only Nevada, or interstate between states under a Nevada umbrella, will depend on the progress of a federal bill and state efforts in 2012.

Whatever the future of online poker is, Nevada wants to be at the center just as it is in the world of bricks-and-mortar gambling. These regulations, which were asked for by legislation passed earlier this year in the state legislature, give Nevada a head start at establishing the framework for regulating online poker no matter what form it takes.

The Nevada Gaming Commission already has begun accepting applications for companies to operate Internet poker sites, including from Caesars Entertainment and Boyd Gaming. The companies that receive licenses will be free to begin offering play to people living in Nevada.

For companies that already own regular Nevada gaming licenses, the approval process is expected to be less than 90 days. It may take a little longer to form the internal controls necessary to implement the regulations. The first sites could begin serving people inside Nevada during the second half of 2012.

If a federal bill does pass, it is expected that states and Indian territories will be the regulators. That is the plan currently laid out in Rep. Joe Barton's bill. Once a federal law is in place, Nevada will be ready to go and have companies pre-approved. Some states, like New Jersey and California, may want to handle their own regulation. Others may want to let Nevada oversee online poker in their state.

"Nevada is essentially moving ahead without a federal law," said John Pappas, executive director of the Poker Players Alliance. "Should it become federal law, I think Nevada will be in the position to be one of the first states certified to issue licenses. I think a lot of states would rather not take the regulatory burden upon themselves and would say what's good enough for Nevada is good enough for us."

Liquidity is an issue with intrastate poker in Nevada, which has a population of about three million with additional people always in the state as tourists. However, with the popularity of live poker in places like Las Vegas, it might be the case that a higher percentage of people in Nevada are interested in playing poker than in other states.

If a federal law does not come along in the next couple of years, other states could end up officially legalizing online poker and joining Nevada to combine player pools across states. This option was made possible by the Justice Department's recent announcement that the Wire Act, which prevents wagers across state lines, applies only to sports betting.

The approved regulations are important because many of them could end up being the rules used by the largest regulatory agency after federal legislation.

Some noteworthy aspects of the regulations:

Player fund transfers are not allowed.
Affiliates are allowed.
Operators must ensure that players have only one account.
Operators may pay a fixed sum to celebrity players for marketing purposes as long as the operator does not profit beyond the rake.
Promotional credits or bonus credits offered by the operator are allowed.
An operator must maintain a reserve of cash, cash equivalents, an irrevocable letter of credit, bond, or combination thereof, equal to the sum of all players' funds.
Any compensation received by an operator for conducting any game in which the operator is not party to a wager shall be no more than 10 percent of all funds wagered in each hand.

The regulations aren't final. The Nevada Gaming Commission may decide to add or amend the rules at any time. Pappas said the PPA had not yet looked deeply enough into the regulations to determine if the organization had any concerns from a player standpoint.

Nevada having regulations in place to govern online poker could help with congressmen who remain on the fence regarding the issue.

"I think it shows Congress that the most prominent gaming state in the country is ready to regulate this activity and believes it can be regulated," Pappas said. "I think that gives lawmakers some comfort that this can be appropriately regulated by an accredited regulating body."

Follow PokerNews on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news.

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Source: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/12/nevada-gaming-commission-s-online-poker-regulations-11714.htm

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Texas Gov. Rick Perry told an anecdote Wednesday in Urbandale, Iowa of a cancer patient who came up to him claiming that the health care law signed by President Barack Obama would mean that she could not get the treatment she needed, despite the fact that the law doesn't bring bureaucrats into medical decisions.

"She came up to me and she said, 'Governor, if you don't get rid of Obamacare, I'm dead," said the GOP presidential candidate, according to ABC News. "She said, 'They will never, they will never take care of me,' and that's a powerful testimony by that lady. We need a program that gets back to where it's the doctor and the patient who's going to be making the decisions about healthcare not some bureaucrat, not some insurance company."

Former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain made a similar claim at a September GOP debate, saying that he wouldn't have survived stage four cancer if "Obamacare" had been in place and a "bureaucrat" delayed his treatment.

No part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act allows a "bureaucrat" to intervene in treatment decisions. The closest thing to it is the Independent Payment Advisory Board, responsible for slowing the rising growth of Medicare labeled by critics as a "death panel."

But even the IPAB would not intervene in cases of individual patients. If Medicare spending growth is projected to exceed certain targets, then the IPAB must come up with plans to slow the increase. The board also may not submit "any recommendation to ration health care."

Earlier in the campaign, Perry defended himself against a factually incorrect anecdote relayed by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). She told the story of a woman who came up to her and claimed that her daughter had suffered mental retardation as a result of the HPV vaccine in a September debate -- a claim without any medical evidence. Perry, who signed the 2007 executive order mandating the vaccine in the state of Texas for pre-teen girls, said it had "no basis in fact."

At the Perry appearance, he was introduced by Maricopa County, Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has been stripped by the Department of Homeland Security of his federal powers to verify the immigration status of jail inmates after a Dec. 15 Justice Department report blasted him for racially profiling Latinos. Arpaio referred to the state's "Buckeyes," and the audience quickly booed his mention of the mascot of Ohio State University. Arpaio recovered after realizing his error, saying, "It's three o'clock Phoenix time." Perry took the mic, later saying, "You're not going to live that one down for a while -- I'm here to tell ya."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/rick-perry-cancer-obama-health-care-joe-arpaio_n_1172855.html

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Union's margin of victory was the second largest in the boys tournament's 47-year history. The Redskins were the first team to reach 100 points in the TofC since 2002.

Jalen Golphin had all 13 of his points in the first half to help Union carry a 60-18 lead into intermission. Kolby Johnson led No. 8 2A Caddo (2-1) with 10 points.

Union (4-0) advances to play the Vinita-Forgan winner in the semifinals at 4 p.m. Thursday.

OKC McGuinness 56, Pawnee 30 (boys)

Joe Edmonds scored 16 points to help lead Class 5A No. 2 Oklahoma City McGuinness past Pawnee 56-30 in the Oklahoma's Tournament of Champions opening round on Wednesday at Mabee Center. Matthew Christiansen had 11 points and 14 rebounds for McGuinness (5-0), which will play at 7 p.m. Thursday against the B.T. Washington/Washington winner.

Brandon Powell had 12 points for 2A No. 4 Pawnee (3-1).

East Central 65, Adair 35 (girls)

Samy Mack?s 100th victory at East Central was an impressive one.

In the opening round of the Oklahoma's Schoolgirl Tournament of Champions, his Class 5A No. 3 Cardinals dominated 3A No. 2 Adair 65-35 on Wednesday morning at the Mabee Center.

?It?s really special because I don?t know how many girls basketball coaches at Tulsa Public Schools have ever reached 100,? Mack said. ?But getting 100 in my sixth year here, it?s fantastic. ?I attribute it to the kids, though, because they work really hard, giving us these 25-win seasons or 22-win seasons.?

East Central, which advances to play the Jenks-Vinita winner at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, scored less than 10 seconds into the game and didn?t let up, despite three starters battling sickness. ?We start slow all the time,? Mack said. ?When we were up 10, I was like, ?OK, maybe we need to have the flu more often.??

The Cards stretched their lead to 35-8 in the second quarter. Fueled by 13 first-half points from Bria Pitts, they led 44-17 at the break.

Jenks 59, Vinita 44 (girls)

Class 6A No. 3 Jenks used a dominant full-court press to throttle 4A No. 4 Vinita en route to a 59-44 victory at the Mabee Center.

The Trojans? press forced turnovers on six straight possessions in the third quarter as Jenks built a 20-point cushion.

?First quarter we gave up a lot of transition baskets, but we did get our press in control and better contained,? coach Rhonda Fields said. ?We proved to ourselves it was a lot more effective.?

Jenks (4-0) held the Hornets? top scorer Caitlyn Spurgeon to no field goals in the first half and led 32-22 at halftime. Jessica Washington paced the Trojans with 18 points, and Jenks? bench scored 24.

?We know we?ve got good depth, so we want to be able to utilize that without breaking down your team chemistry,? Fields said. ?But these girls seem to have a good chemistry and it runs pretty deep in the team.?

Vinita (7-2) was hampered by 23 turnovers. Spurgeon finished with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Kamry Chamberlain contributed eight points.

Jenks will play East Central at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, while the Hornets face Adair at 10:30 a.m. in the consolation bracket.

Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/site/articlepath.aspx?articleid=20111228_230_0_JCHart533552&rss_lnk=2

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HONOLULU (AP) -- The Obama administration is considering whether to allow Yemen's outgoing president into the United States for medical treatment, as fresh violence and political tensions flare in the strategically important Middle Eastern nation.

A senior administration official said President Ali Abdullah Saleh's office requested that he be allowed to receive specialized treatment in the U.S. for injuries sustained in a June attack on his compound. The request was being considered, and would only be approved for medical reasons, the official said.

Until now, the White House had not commented on Saleh's assertion Saturday that he would be leaving Yemen and traveling to the U.S. Saleh insisted he was going in order to help calm tensions in his country, not for medical treatment.

The official, who requested anonymity because of a lack of authorization to speak publicly, did not say when the Obama administration would decide on Saleh's request. But the official said Saleh's office indicated that he would leave Yemen soon and spend time elsewhere abroad before he hoped to come to the U.S.

Demonstrators began protesting against Saleh and calling for his ouster in February. The Yemeni government responded with a bloody crackdown, leaving hundreds of protesters dead, and stoking fears of instability in a nation already grappling with burgeoning extremism.

Last month, Saleh agreed to a U.S.- and Saudi-backed deal to hand power over to his vice president and commit to stepping down completely in exchange for immunity. The deal further angered Saleh's opponents, who demanded he be tried for his attacks on protesters.

American officials are deeply concerned that the months of turmoil in Yemen have led to a security breakdown. The dangerous al-Qaida branch in Yemen, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, has taken advantage of the vacuum to expend its presence in southern Yemen.

Pressure has been mounting in recent weeks for Saleh to leave Yemen altogether. Opponents say he has continued to wield influence through his loyalists and relatives still in positions of power, hampering the transition ahead of presidential elections set for Feb. 21. Many feared he would find a way to continue his rule.

Activists said troops commanded by Saleh's relatives attacked protesters in the capital of Sanaa Saturday, killing at least nine people. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated the following day, protesting the deaths and demanding the resignation of Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi for failing to bring the killers to justice.

The White House said President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, called Hadi Sunday and emphasized the need for Yemeni security forces to show "maximum restraint" when dealing with demonstrations. Hadi told Brennan that he had launched an investigation into the recent deaths and injuries and would do his utmost to prevent further bloodshed, the White House said.

The White House said Brennan and Hadi agreed on the importance of continuing with the agreed-upon path of political transition in Yemen in order to ensure that the February elections take place.

Obama was being briefed on developments in Yemen while in Hawaii for his Christmas vacation.

The U.S. has experience with letting unpopular foreign leaders into this country for medical treatment.

More than three decades ago, President Jimmy Carter allowed the exiled shah of Iran into the U.S. for medical treatment in October 1979, eight months after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini led a revolution that ousted the shah and created the Islamic Republic of Iran.

On Nov. 4, 1979, Iranian students occupied the U.S. embassy in Iran. Fifty-two American hostages were held for 444 days in response to Carter's refusal to send the shah back to Iran for trial.

----

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_YEMEN?SITE=ORPEN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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NFL: Packer beat Bears to clinch NFC's No. 1 seed

GREEN BAY, Wis. ? With the first five-touchdown game of his NFL career, Aaron Rodgers ensured that the Green Bay Packers? playoff road will go through Lambeau Field.

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Source: http://www.rgj.com/article/20111226/SPORTS/111225015/1018

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It was a very Merry Christmas in the McConaughey-Alves household!

Matthew McConaughey had an extra special present for his girlfriend of five years, Camila Alves, on Sunday -- an engagement ring!

PHOTOS: More celebs who got engaged this year

"Just asked Camila to marry me, #MerryChristmas," the Lincoln Lawyer actor posted to his Twitter along with this pic of the happy couple kissing on his WhoSay account.

PHOTOS: Matthew's hottest shirtless moments

The proposel comes as no surprise being that back in March, the 42-year-old told Esquire that he's known the 29-year-old model and host of Bravo's Sheer Genius is The One. "I found the woman... I wanna make a family with, hopefully live our life out together," he declared to the magazine.

PHOTOS: Best celebrity weddings of 2011

The couple met at an L.A. bar in 2006 and have two children: a three-year-old son Levi and a daughter, Vida, 23 months.

Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly

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CNS Rome bureau: Pope says Christmas shows God's will to save people from sin, violence: bit.ly/tJxMMp #CNSstory Il y a environ 21 heures via twitterfeed Retweeted by 3 people

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MYFOXNY.COM - Two New York City Council members want the city to host a parade for Iraq War veterans along the Canyon of Heroes.

But so far, Vincent Ignizio and James Oddo say that the Pentagon is cool to the idea because military officials fear the ceremony could be viewed as a victory parade of sorts by America's enemies and could put troops who are still serving overseas in greater danger.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said some kind of event to pay tribute to the troops would be great, but said the city needs to work with the Pentagon to make sure it is appropriate.
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Source: http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/councilmen-want-iraq-war-parade-20111222

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James Forrest is one of three Celtic players to have been contacted by the Team GB manager Stuart Pearce. Photograph: David Cheskin/PA

The latest indication of Stuart Pearce's plans for his Great Britain football team at the Olympics has emanated from Scotland, where three Celtic players have received letters asking if they would be willing to form part of Team GB.

Scott Brown, James Forrest and Adam Matthews have been targeted by the Team GB coach as he looks to clarify which players from outside England are keen to participate in the London Games. The football associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have made plain their reservations about Team GB while admitting they hold little sway over the personal choices of?players.

"I haven't had the chance to speak to the players but Scott Brown, James Forrest and Adam Matthews were sent formal invitations, as it were," Neil Lennon said.

With the scheduling of Olympic matches at Hampden Park in mind, the next Scottish Premier League season will start on 4 August, later than has become routine, a day after the final Olympic match in Glasgow. The Celtic manager admitted he would have reservations about the trio's participation in a tournament that runs until 11 August.

"We will sit down with them over the next few weeks and see what they are thinking," Lennon said. "If they want to go I can't stop them. It's the timing of it with the start of the season next year or the [European] qualifiers.

"My view is that football is not an Olympic sport, although it is a great spectating sport. But that is my own view, not the view of the club but if the players want to go, I am not going to discourage it."

Brown, the Celtic captain, will be 27 at the time of the games and therefore would have to be selected as one of Pearce's three overage players. The same would not apply to Forrest, a 20-year-old winger who has excelled for Celtic this season, or the Wales full-back Matthews, currently 19.

Interestingly, high-profile Scotland internationals such as Charlie Adam, Allan McGregor and Craig Gordon are yet to receive any similar letter from the British Olympic authorities.

Lennon, meanwhile, has said he would be interested in a move for Kris Boyd. The striker, most notable for his prolific scoring when a Rangers player, is a free agent after leaving the Turkish side Eskisehirspor. The odds remain stacked against Celtic signing him but, in a possible case of festive mischief-making, Lennon refused to rule that out.

"He is a proven goalscorer," the manager said. "I don't know how much football he has played of late but he is a player with a great record and any player like that would interest me.

"You are taking hypothetically here and are starting to speculate already, but regards to that question] would it be a problem that Boyd had played for Rangers? No, I can't see it being a problem."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/dec/22/london-olympics-football

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Video: Enzyme that flips switch on cells' sugar cravings could be anti-cancer target

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Cancer cells tend to take up more glucose than healthy cells, and researchers are increasingly interested in exploiting this tendency with drugs that target cancer cells' altered metabolism.

Cancer cells' sugar cravings arise partly because they turn off their mitochondria, power sources that burn glucose efficiently, in favor of a more inefficient mode of using glucose. They benefit because the byproducts can be used as building blocks for fast-growing cells.

Scientists at Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University have shown that many types of cancer cells flip a switch that diverts glucose away from mitochondria. Their findings suggest that tyrosine kinases, enzymes that drive the growth of several types of cancer, play a greater role in mitochondria than previously recognized.

The results also highlight the enzyme PDHK (pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase) as an important point of control for cancer cell metabolism.

"We and others have shown that PDHK is upregulated in several types of human cancer, and our findings demonstrate a new way that PDHK activity is enhanced in cancer cells," says Jing Chen, PhD, associate professor of hematology and medical oncology at Emory University School of Medicine and Winship Cancer Institute. "PDHK is a very attractive target for anticancer therapy because of its role in regulating cancer metabolism."

Chen and Sumin Kang, PhD, assistant professor of hematology and medical oncology at Emory University School of Medicine, are co-corresponding authors. Postdoctoral fellows Taro Hitosugi, Jun Fan and Tae-Wook Chung are co-first authors of the paper. Co-authors at Emory include Georgia Chen, PhD, Sagar Lonial, MD, Haian Fu, PhD, and Fadlo Khuri, MD. Collaborators at Yale University, Novartis and Cell Signaling Technology contributed to the paper.

Chen and his colleagues started out studying the tyrosine kinase FGFR1, which is activated in several types of cancer. Tyrosine kinases attach a phosphate to other proteins, making them more or less active. They found that FGFR1 activates the enzyme PDHK, which has a gatekeeper function for mitochondria.

"We used FGFR1 as a platform to look at how metabolic enzymes are modified by oncogenic tyrosine kinases," Chen says. "We discovered that several oncogenic tyrosine kinases activate PDHK, and we found that many of those tyrosine kinases are found within mitochondria."

This was a surprise because tyrosine kinases are usually thought to drive growth by being active next to the cell membrane, Chen says.

Introducing a form of PDHK that is insensitive to tyrosine kinases into human cancer cells forces the cells to grow more slowly and form smaller tumors in mice, they found. This indicates that PDHK could be a target for drugs that specifically target cancer cells' altered metabolism.

The experimental drug dichloroacetate (DCA), which inactivates PDHK, is being used in new clinical trials for cancer. Chen is collaborating with Haian Fu, professor of pharmacology and director of the Emory Chemical Biology Discovery Center, to find other, more potent inhibitors of PDHK.

###

The results were published online Thursday by the journal Molecular Cell. http://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/

Emory University: http://www.emory.edu

Thanks to Emory University 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.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116285/Video__Enzyme_that_flips_switch_on_cells__sugar_cravings_could_be_anti_cancer_target

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The South Carolina Republican Party rebuffed a $500,000 donation from Stephen Colbert Thursday because it came with a catch: naming rights to its presidential primary.

Colbert, the host of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, and a native South Carolinan, writes in Columbia's State newspaper that he was serious - and they agreed.

After learning that the cash-strapped South Carolina GOP and local officials were at odds over who would pay for the January 21 Republican primary, Colbert offered a plan.

He would subsidize the cost, through his "Colbert Super PAC," to the tune of $500K. In return, it would become "The Colbert Super PAC South Carolina Republican Primary."

"I said, 'I can cover that. No strings attached,'" Colbert writes. "Of course, I can't offer that kind of no-strings-attached-money without getting something in return."

Colbert also wanted to add a non-binding referendum question on the ballot - referring to a controversial remark by Mitt Romney - asking whether "Corporations are people."

Apparently there was some confusion over how seriously this plan was taken, because "The GOP agreed to everything," according to Colbert ... but not the GOP.

Executive director Matt Moore says "Stephen Colbert, the private citizen, called out of the clear blue and made an unsolicited offer to help his home state."

"We were intrigued and met with him, but also wary ... ultimately we determined it was not in the state party's best interests to accept Mr. Colbert's offers."

"Everything was not 'agreed to.' We did not sign his contract. Despite our repeatedly saying 'no,' Stephen Colbert, the comedian, seems intent on being involved."

Thank goodness for that.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/stephen-colbert-offers-500k-for-naming-rights-to-south-carolina/

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Samsung makes some top-quality smartphones, but doesn't bestow them upon Verizon Wireless often. Sure, there's the new Galaxy Nexus?($299.99, 4 stars), but Android 4.0 aside, it lags behind Motorola's latest offering, the Droid RAZR ($299.99, 4.5 stars). The Samsung Illusion ($79.99 with a two-year contract) doesn't stand a chance against either of those two devices, but then again, it isn't trying to. Like many other Samsung phones for Verizon, the Illusion is a decent, midrange option, although it feels like it should be free with contract. It lacks 4G, and you don't have to look hard or spend more than $100 with contract to find something better.

Design and Call Quality
The Samsung Illusion measures 4.5 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 4.2 ounces. It's made entirely of plastic, with a textured back panel. Unlike the gigantic Galaxy Nexus, the Illusion is a comfortable size to hold for any hand. The 3.5-inch, 320-by-480-pixel capacitive touch screen is bright and vibrant, though that resolution is disappointingly low. I would have much preferred to see the 800-by-480 screens that are now becoming standard. I had no problem typing on the onscreen QWERTY keyboard with accuracy. Four touch functions keys sit beneath the display, which are suitably responsive.

The Illusion is a dual-band EV-DO Rev A (800/1900MHz) with 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. You can also use the phone as a mobile hotspot with the appropriate plan to provide a Wi-Fi connection for up to five devices. But while there are still plenty of 3G phones coming out for Verizon, the carrier's 4G network now covers 200 million Americans; a lack of 4G is a definite minus in my book.

Voice quality is excellent. Reception is average, and incoming calls sound rich and clear, with volume that can go extremely loud. On the other end, calls made with the phone are equally clear and feature good background noise cancellation. The speakerphone sounds fine, though it's a little low for outdoor use. Calls sounded clear and natural through a?Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset ($129, 4.5 stars) and voice dialing worked accurately. Battery life was excellent at 8 hours, 10 minutes of talk time.

Hardware, Android, and Apps
Inside, the Illusion is powered by the same 1GHz Cortex A8-based Hummingbird CPU found in the?4G Samsung Droid Charge?($199.99, 4 stars) as well as last year's Samsung Galaxy S line. It's decently fast, though it lags far behind dual-core devices like the Motorola Droid Bionic?($199.99, 4.5 stars).

The Illusion runs Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread) with Samsung's TouchWiz UI layer. It isn't as all-encompassing as HTC's Sense UI, but it adds some nice color and graphic enhancements. There are five customizable home screens that come preloaded with some useful apps and widgets. Verizon has added some undeletable bloatware to the Illusion, but no more than you find in most Android phones nowadays. There are no plans so far for an upgrade to Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich."

You get Google Maps Navigation for voice-enabled, turn-by-turn GPS directions, along with some other useful, preinstalled apps. Of course, you also have your pick of more than 250,000+ apps from the Android Market, most of which should work well on the Illusion.

Multimedia and Conclusions
There's a side-mounted microSD card slot on the left side of the Illusion, which is a big plus. Samsung includes a 2GB card, but our 32GB and 64GB SanDisk cards worked fine. You also get 990MB of free internal storage.

Music sounded good over both wired 3.5mm headphones as well as?Altec Lansing BackBeat?Bluetooth headphones ($99.99, 3.5 stars). The Illusion was able to play AAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, and WMA test files, but not FLAC. All of our video test files played back without a hitch, at resolutions up to 720p.

The 3.2-megapixel camera is disappointing. Though it snaps photos in a quick .3 second, it lacks auto-focus or an LED flash. Test photos look decent, with average color and detail, but they're no replacement for an average digital camera. The camera also captures 720-by-480 (DVD quality, not HD) video at a smooth 30 frames per second both indoors and out.

Throughout the course of my testing, I kept finding myself thinking, why isn't this phone free? The Illusion has the makings of an excellent entry-level smartphone, the kind you get for free with a two-year contract. While it's a solid starter device, there are too many other good options on Verizon in the same price range to recommend it highly.

The Samsung Stratosphere?($99.99, 3.5 stars) gets you access to Verizon's 4G LTE network along with a much nicer display and a physical QWERTY keyboard for just $20 more than the Illusion. The Pantech Breakout?($99.99, 3.5 stars) drops the keyboard, but also has 4G LTE and a better display. Then there's the iPhone 4?($99, 4 stars), which isn't 4G, but has a gorgeous display and the best app selection out there. All three beat the Illusion handily, showing that this might be the right budget Android phone, but it's being sold for the wrong price.

Benchmarks
Continuous talk time: 8 hours 10 minutes

More Cell Phone Reviews:
??? Samsung Illusion (Verizon Wireless)
??? Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Verizon Wireless)
??? LG Optimus Slider (Virgin Mobile)
??? Samsung Focus S (AT&T)
??? Apple iPhone 4S (AT&T)
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/uqlkorN5vwg/0,2817,2397828,00.asp

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Hafiz Saeed Ahmed, second from left, head of a Pakistani religious group Jamaat-ud-Dawa joins hands with other parties leaders during a rally in Lahore, Pakistan on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011. Thousands of supporter of various religious parties rallied in Lahore against the NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistan army soldiers. (AP Photo/Hamza Ahmed)

Supporters of Pakistani religious parties take part in a rally in Lahore, Pakistan on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011. Thousands of supporter of various religious parties rallied in Lahore against the NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistan army soldiers. (AP Photo/Hamza Ahmed)

A supporter of a Pakistani religious party Jamaat-e-Islami shouts slogans during a rally against the recent NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistan army soldiers, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011, in Peshawar, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

Supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami, a Pakistani religious party, chant slogans during a rally against NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistan army soldiers, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

The head of Jamaat-e-Islami, a Pakistani religious party, Syed Munawar Hasan gestures as he addresses people gathered for a rally against NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistan army soldiers, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Sunday, Dec. 18, 2011. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad)

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) ? Pakistan's president returned home early Monday, nearly two weeks after a surprise trip to Dubai for medical treatment sparked rumors that he might step down under pressure from the country's powerful military.

President Asif Ali Zardari's arrival will likely help quell speculation about his future. But officials have not spelled out exactly what was wrong with the president, and he is still under threat from a memo scandal that has upset the army and already forced the Pakistani ambassador to the U.S. to resign.

Zardari's plane landed at an air base in the southern port city of Karachi shortly after midnight, said Manzoor Wassan, the home minister in Sindh province where Karachi is the capital.

The president flew to Dubai on Dec. 6 amid confusion over his medical state and reason for leaving. Officials released a statement by his doctor last week saying Zardari, who has a heart condition, had lost consciousness for several minutes and was suffering from pain in his arm. One associate has said privately that the president suffered a "mini-stroke" that had left no lasting affects.

Zardari is under pressure over his alleged connection to a secret memo sent to Washington in May seeking U.S. help in averting a supposed military coup, following the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Pakistan's former ambassador to the U.S., Husain Haqqani, has been accused of masterminding the memo with Zardari's support.

Both Haqqani and the president have denied the allegations, but the envoy resigned in the wake of the scandal. Pakistan's Supreme Court is scheduled to begin a hearing into the memo scandal on Monday.

Pakistan has also been rattled by NATO airstrikes on Nov. 26 that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at two army posts along the Afghan border.

More than 30,000 Islamists rallied against the U.S. in the eastern city of Lahore on Sunday, demanding Islamabad cut off ties with Washington. The protest highlighted the ability of hard-liners to bring their supporters into the streets, as well as lasting anger over the attack, which has complicated U.S. efforts to enlist Pakistan's cooperation on the Afghan war.

The U.S. has expressed its condolences for the airstrikes, but this has done little to calm anger in Pakistan's military, which has claimed the attack was deliberate. Pakistan has already retaliated by closing its Afghan border to supplies meant for NATO troops in Afghanistan and kicking the U.S. out of an air base used by American drones.

"All agreements (with the U.S.) should be terminated," Hafiz Saeed, the head of the group that organized Sunday's protest, Jamaat-ud-Dawa, told the crowd. "We say all agreements terminated the day the attack happened."

Jamaat-ud-Dawa is widely considered to be the front group for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant organization that was started with help from the Pakistani government to fight archenemy India, but has been officially banned under international pressure.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is blamed for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed 166 people. India has demanded Pakistan crack down on the group, but Islamabad has shown little willingness to go after Lashkar-e-Taiba or Jamaat-ud-Dawa.

Protesters at Sunday's rally shouted, "A friend of the USA and India is a traitor."

Pakistan's alleged tolerance for Islamist militant groups has been one of the main sources of tension with the U.S. Washington has been especially frustrated with Islamabad's refusal to target the Afghan Taliban and their allies and has even accused the country's intelligence agency of supporting the groups.

____

Additional reporting by Sebastian Abbot and Zarar Khan in Islamabad.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-18-AS-Pakistan/id-4d30d91e8825499b8b10e463b3b2dbe1

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Every week, reporter Jessica Marcy selects interesting reading from around the Web.

Zocalo Public Square: How Doctors Die
Years ago, Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist and a mentor of mine, found a lump in his stomach. He had a surgeon explore the area, and the diagnosis was pancreatic cancer. ... He went home the next day, closed his practice, and never set foot in a hospital again. He focused on spending time with family and feeling as good as possible. Several months later, he died at home. He got no chemotherapy, radiation, or surgical treatment. Medicare didn't spend much on him. It's not a frequent topic of discussion, but doctors die, too. And they don't die like the rest of us. What's unusual about them is not how much treatment they get compared to most Americans, but how little (Dr. Ken Murray, 11/30).

Health Affairs: An MS Patient Loses Trust When She Finds Out Her Doctor Is Paid By Drug Companies
Last year, four years after showing initial symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS), I walked out the door of one neurologist's office and, after several months of searching, switched to a different doctor. It was the final act in a series of events that had gradually eroded my trust in the first neurologist's judgment, which I believe was colored by his financial relationships with drug companies who manufacture and market medicines for MS patients. ??Given my background in medical ethics, I was familiar with the potential conflicts of interest that exist for physicians participating in clinical pharmaceutical trials. Assuming that my neurologist was being compensated for running the trial, in addition to his earnings from seeing patients in his neurology practice, I?d asked him if that was the case, and he confirmed that it was (Maran Wolston, December 2011).

The New Republic: More Health Care Heresy From Newt
Newt Gingrich's past endorsement of an individual mandate has drawn fire from conservatives. But that's not his only health care heresy. In 2008, Gingrich made the case for another idea that became part of Obamacare and, in due time, the focus of right-wing attacks. Worse still, at least from the standpoint of conservatives, he did so by writing an op-ed for The New York Times. Oh, and did I mention he had some help? Gingrich had a co-author: John Kerry, the Democratic senator and former presidential nominee. ... they also acknowledged that ultimately the private sector couldn't solve this problem on its own. More action was necessary, they said, and that action had to come from government ? That's the problem for Gingrich when it comes to improving the delivery of health care. He isn?t crazy. But plenty of influential conservatives are (Jonathan Cohn, 12/13).

Newsweek: Could This Be The End Of Cancer?
By all rights, Shari Baker should have said her final goodbyes years ago. In 2005, more than a year after three doctors dismissed a lump under her arm as a harmless cyst, she was diagnosed with stage IV (metastatic) breast cancer ? In May 2006, she traveled to the University of Washington. The (cancer) vaccine was injected into her upper arm; she got five more shots over the next five months. Today, with scans detecting no cancer anywhere, Baker seems to have beaten some extremely stiff odds. ? By "cancer vaccine," scientists mean something that will stimulate the immune system to attack malignant cells(Sharon Begley, 12/12).

The Atlantic: The Top 10 Health Stories Of 2011
Coffee is good for you. And coffee is bad for you. Cell phones cause cancer. And cell phones don't cause cancer. Like any other year in health, 2011 was one of conflicting studies. In the end, we're not always sure how to act or what to drink or when to exercise, but we do know more about ourselves and the world we live in thanks to researchers everywhere and the work that they do. However broad or specific their conclusions, however small or large their sample size, medical studies do contribute to our wellbeing simply by existing and, if nothing else, by making us think twice about the things we eat, say, and do on a daily basis (Nicholas Jackson, 12/14).

The Daily Show: Ed Gillespie
Jon Stewart talks health care with Republican political strategist Ed Gillespie (12/8).

This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

Source: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2011/December/16/Weekend-Reading.aspx

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First he gutted worker's rights, then slashed state education funding and dumbed-down?sex ed. Next on Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's hit list? Breast and cervical cancer screenings for women. Come January 1, Wisconsinites who rely on Planned Parenthood to access free cancer screenings may be out of luck.

The Wisconsin Well Woman Program is an 17-year-old state service created to ensure that women ages 45 to 64 who lack health insurance can access preventive health screenings. It is administered by the Department of Health Services and provides referrals and screenings for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and multiple sclerosis at no cost. The state currently uses a number of contractors to coordinate and provide those services, including Planned Parenthood. But now, in a move that could leave many women in the state without access to the program, the Walker government is ending Planned Parenthood's contract.

In four Wisconsin counties, Planned Parenthood is the only health care provider currently contracted as a coordinator for the cancer screenings. Coordinators evaluate women for eligibility, enroll them in the program, and then connect them to health care providers that can perform the exams. The coordinators also do community outreach, letting women know that there are options for preventative care even if they don't have health insurance. Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin has been a contractor since the program began?including during the terms of previous GOP governors Tommy Thompson and Scott McCallum?but the group recently learned that its contract is being terminated at the end of the month.

Beth Kaplan, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health Services, told Mother Jones that no decision has been made on the contract and would not comment on why it might not be continued. But Tanya Atkinson, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, says they were told that the state is cutting them out of the program. "They have very clearly stated that they were ending the contract with us," she says. [UPDATE: Walker himself has confirmed that the state is ending its contract with Planned Parenthood.]

Atkinson says the DHS cut is politically motivated; as far as she knows, her group was the only service provider whose contract was not renewed. The move puts in question what will happen to the more than 1,000 women that access the Well Woman Program through Planned Parenthood in Winnebago, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan, and Outagamie counties every year. Doctors found 15 cases of cervical and breast cancer in the 1,260 women screened in those counties in 2010?cases that likely would not have been detected if women didn't have access to the Well Woman Program. The county health officers in two of those counties have already issued statements decrying the state for targeting Planned Parenthood for the cut and for risking the health of their residents.

"If it's not Planned Parenthood, then who's going to coordinate? Where do women go?" Atkinson asks. "We don't have any indication at this point."

If Walker goes through with the cut, women like Laurie Seim might not get the services they need. Two years ago, the 52-year-old Seim discovered a lump in her breast and started feeling feverish and sick. Even though she had a part-time job as a medical assistant, she didn't have health insurance and had never had a mammogram. The doctor she worked for sent her to the Well Woman Program coordinator at the Outagamie office of Planned Parenthood. She was able to get a mammogram the next day as well as an ultrasound, and both were covered by the program. Thankfully, she learned she had a cyst, not cancer. But without the program, she says, she probably wouldn't have gotten that care.

"I didn't have to worry about anything. It was such a godsend," Seim says. "If I hadn't been referred to that program, I don't know what I would have done." She worked in the medical field but still didn't know how to navigate the system. "Well Woman was there for me."

Planned Parenthood also provides some of the health screenings covered under Well Woman at other clinics around the state, including colposcopy, which is used to evaluate a women's cervical health if she has an irregular pap smear result. But another bill that has been proposed in the Wisconsin State Senate would bar Planned Parenthood from providing those services, too. Senate Bill 331, sponsored by Republicans Mary Lazich, Glenn Grothman, and Pam Galloway, would block Planned Parenthood and any other health centers that also offer abortion services from being reimbursed for screenings through the Well Woman Program.

This isn't the first time Walker and his allies in the Legislature have targeted Planned Parenthood. In June, Walker approved a budget that blocked state and federal funds from going to the group and any of its 27 health centers around the state. The clinics provide care to 73,000 women annually. And although there are already rules barring public funding from going to abortion services, Republicans in the state have gone after any and all money that goes to Planned Parenthood?even if it's for services like cancer screenings.

"They're willing to put their political ideology before women's lives," Atkinson says. "That's really what's happening here."

Kate Sheppard covers energy and environmental politics in Mother Jones' Washington bureau. For more of her stories, click here. She Tweets here. Get Kate Sheppard's RSS feed.

Source: http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/12/scott-walker-next-target-cancer-screenings-women

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WASHINGTON ? Senate officials say negotiators are close to a deal for a two-month extension of Social Security payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed. Both are due to expire at the end of the year.

The same package is also expected to require the Obama administration to make a speedy decision on the fate of a proposed oil pipeline from Canada to Texas that promises thousands of jobs.

If nailed down, the deal would come up for a vote in the Senate as soon as Saturday.

Majority Republican leaders in the House were not involved in the negotiations.

The developments came after the White House backed away from a veto threat that centered on the pipeline.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

The White House backed away from a critical veto threat Friday as top Republicans in Congress served noticed they will extend expiring Social Security payroll tax cuts only if President Barack Obama swiftly decides the fate of a proposed oil pipeline that promises thousands of jobs.

With Republicans talking tough and lawmakers from both parties anxious to leave for the holidays, Obama spokesman Jay Carney declined several times to repeat Obama's earlier statement that he would reject any attempt to link the tax cuts and the Canada-to-Texas pipeline. "There's a process at work. I'm not going to analyze what language would be acceptable and what wouldn't," Carney told reporters.

He made his comments as Republican and Democratic leaders sought a compromise on legislation to renew the tax cuts and long-term jobless benefits that are at the heart of the jobs program that Obama submitted to Congress last fall.

Racing to adjourn for the year, lawmakers moved swiftly to clear separate legislation avoiding a partial government shutdown threatened for midnight ? focusing attention on the final disputed issue in a tempestuous year of divided government in an era of high joblessness and public dissatisfaction with Congress.

Obama has said extensions of the tax cuts and unemployment benefits are necessary to help nurture an economic recovery while also sustaining victims of the recession. Republicans injected the pipeline project into the legislation after the president postponed a decision on the long-studied project until after the 2012 elections.

Under the House-passed tax measure the project will go forward unless Obama decides in 60 days that its construction is not in the national interest.

"Let's not just pass a bill that helps people on the benefits side, let's also include something that actually helps the private sector create the jobs Americans need for the long term," Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said in Senate-floor remarks that challenged Obama to give ground

In a political jab, he added, "Here's an opportunity for the president to say he's not going to let a few radical environmentalists stand in the way of a project that would create thousands of jobs and make America more secure at the same time."

Obama said on Dec. 7 that "any effort to try to tie Keystone to the payroll tax cut I will reject. So everybody should be on notice."

More recently a veto threat issued Tuesday against the House-passed version of the bill cited the introduction of "ideological issues into what should be a simple debate about cutting taxes for the middle class." Senior administration officials later told reporters that was a reference to the pipeline.

Apart from the pipeline, negotiators for the two parties struggled over other differences as they sought agreement on the last major measure of the year.

Officials said there was widespread agreement to keep the Social Security tax cut in place for 2012, noting that if it lapsed, 160 million Americans could experience a cut in take-home pay at a time when the economy is still struggling to recover from the worst recession in decades. The president had originally sought to expand the cut but has effectively jettisoned that proposal.

The president also is seeking a renewal of the current system under which a maximum of 99 weeks of jobless benefits is available for the long-term unemployed. The House measure cuts that to 79, and officials said the two sides were considering a compromise between the two levels.

Both parties want to avoid a threatened 27 percent cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients, but that, too, was in flux. The House-passed bill provides a two-year reprieve at a cost of about $38 billion over a decade. Officials said it was possible that delay could be cut to a single year, depending on the level of cuts negotiators could agree on elsewhere in the budget to offset the cost.

That same issue ? cuts to make sure the bill did not raise federal deficits ? lay at the heart of the negotiations.

The cost of the payroll tax extension alone was estimated at $120 billion over a decade, and Obama and Democrats agreed long ago to meet GOP demands that the legislation not raise deficits.

Democrats initially wanted to slap a surtax on million-dollar income earners to cover the cost, over the protests of Republicans. The Democrats eventually relented, but not before attacking GOP senators as protectors of the rich at the expense of the middle class and arranging a pair of test votes that could well provide fodder for Senate races in 2012.

Republicans sought to wield the Keystone pipeline project as a similar sort of issue against Democrats and Obama.

While environmental groups oppose the project, several blue-collar unions support it, as do an unknown number of Democratic lawmakers.

The State Department, in an analysis released this summer, said the project would create up to 6,000 jobs during construction, while developer TransCanada put the total at 20,000 in direct employment.

The 1,700-mile pipeline would carry oil from western Canada to refineries in Texas, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

The spending bill would lock in cuts that conservative Republicans won from the White House and Democrats earlier in the year.

Republicans also won their fight to block new federal regulations for light bulb energy efficiency, coal dust in mines and clean water permits for construction of timber roads.

The White House turned back GOP attempts to block limits on greenhouse gases, mountaintop removal mining and hazardous emissions from utility plants, industrial boilers and cement kilns.

After a last-minute veto threat, Republicans abandoned attempts to block an administration policy to ease restrictions on visits to Cuba and on the money sent to relatives on the Communist island nation from family members living in the United States.

Additionally, the legislation bars military and economic aid to Pakistan until the administration certifies that Islamabad is cooperating on counterterrorism, including taking steps to prevent groups such as the Haqqani network from operating in the country.

The provision stems from concerns that the Pakistani government harbors terrorists, and from assertions that some government officials knew that Osama bin Laden had established residence deep inside the country. Bin Laden was killed in May by U.S. commandos who raided his fortified compound in Abattabod.

___

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata, Alan Fram and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this story

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_rdp

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LONDON ? Buckingham Palace says the royal family will tour the globe to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's 60-year reign.

The palace said Wednesday one of the biggest trips will be the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's visit to Malaysia, Singapore, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.

When the queen and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh toured Tuvalu in 1982, they were carried shoulder-high by islanders into the capital. The royal couple then climbed into canoes.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will go to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Prince Harry will tour Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas.

The queen turns 86 in April and the duke 91 in June. Both will be traveling in the UK for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_royals

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Vanessa Hudgens turns 23 years old today, and it's safe to assume the young actresses might be received some well wishes from a number of male suitors.

While the star hasn't been involved in much professionally over the past few months - a rumored fashion line, but no movies or guest star appearances - she has been linked to a handful of eligible bachelors. There's been Austin Butler... Félix Rodríguez... Josh Hutcherson.

Indeed, since splitting with Zac Efron about a year ago, Hudgens has not been lacking for company.

Look for Vanessa to appear in a couple films next year, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Gimme Shelter, the latter of which forced her to undergo an extreme makeover a couple months ago.

We'll be watching. Readers, wish Hudgens a very happy birthday now!

[Photo: WENN.com]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/happy-23rd-birthday-vanessa-hudgens/

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New York ? Blame Britney Spears and Ke$ha. A low, creaky speech pattern is become inscreasingly common in young women

Researchers are noticing a trend emerging among college-aged women. No, it doesn't have to do with fashion, hair, or sexuality; it's related to their vocal patterns. Scientists say an increasing number of these women are exchibiting a growly, creaky, "annoying" speech pattern known as vocal fry. Here, a brief instant guide:

What's happening?
A new study of young women in New York state has found that many are adopting a "curious vocal pattern" called vocal fry, or glottalization, which is characterized by "low, creaky vibrations." Pop stars like Britney Spears and Ke$ha sometimes deliberately use it to hit low notes or add intrigue to their singing. Kim Kardashian is also a notorious vocal frier. Once considered a speech disorder, vocal fry is the lowest of the three vocal registers, which also include modal and falsetto. "In other words, it is the sort of gritty, sexy voice that 85-year-old habitual smokers develop," says Roberta Anderson in the International Business Times.

SEE ALSO: Why does entering a room make you forget things?

?

How was the study conducted?
Researchers from New York's Long Island University looked at the predominance of vocal fry in college aged women. They recorded 34 young women speaking. Two speech pathologists then listened to and analyzed the recordings, looking for vocal fry. More than two-thirds of the women in the study were found to use vocal fry. Most often the subjects used vocal fry at the end of sentences. But more research is needed to determine how widespread this is, and why it's happening. "As a piece of research, this paper more of an amuse-bouche than an entree," says Veronique Greenwood at Discover Magazine. "In the meantime, phoneticists, rejoice: you've now got an army of curious folks who will be listening for vocal fry wherever they go."

How and why does vocal fry happen?
It is produced when the vocal chords slowly vibrate and flutter. It's unclear why we might consciously or unconsciously choose to employ it. "It is possible that these college students have either practiced or observed this vocal register and modeled it to match popular figures," say the study's authors. It could also be a social link among young women, as they tend to creak when they get together. Others note that radio interviewers might use it to imply intimacy with their subjects.

SEE ALSO: How new periodic table elements get their names

?

Is this a bad thing?
Not necessarily. While vocal fry was once classified as a speech disorder and has the potential to damage vocal chords, researchers say the fry the study's subjects exhibited isn't likely to do so because it was fairly sporadic. "In some ways, this work is a reminder that conversational English, though we don't think about it much, does have aspects of a tonal language," says Greenwood. "Mandarin Chinese has four different? tones, each of which encodes explicit meaning, so one syllable, depending on the tone used, can have four very different meanings."

Sources: Discover Magazine, International Business Times, NYU Local, Science Now

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