This Super Bowl rematch anything but trashy

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady thanks the fans during a sendoff rally at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The Patriots are to face the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Stew Milne)

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady thanks the fans during a sendoff rally at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. The Patriots are to face the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Stew Milne)

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick shields his eyes from the lights as he listens to a question during a news conference on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Indianapolis. The Patriots are scheduled to face the New York Giants in NFL football Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick listens to a question during a news conference on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Indianapolis. The Patriots are scheduled to face the New York Giants in NFL football Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

New England Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch answers questions during a news conference on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Indianapolis. The Patriots are scheduled to face the New York Giants in NFL football Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

New York Giants' Justin Tuck, right, talks to the media during a news conference, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Indianapolis. The Giants will face the New England Patriots in the NFL football Super Bowl XLVI on Feb. 5.(AP Photo/Eric Gay)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Hear what Patriots quarterback Tom Brady told the pep rally before leaving New England for the Super Bowl? He got 'em riled up by saying he hoped to come back as a winner, greeted by an even larger crowd.

Wait, don't yawn! Sure, it's not the most controversial comment, not even close to a foot-in-mouth moment. But it can't be overlooked.

For this Super Bowl rematch, Brady's tame words are about as trashy as it gets.

The Patriots (15-3) and the New York Giants (12-7) don't have any bad things to say about each other. Even if they did, their coaches wouldn't allow it. Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin are long-time friends who share the same old-school philosophy when it comes to saying anything about the opposition.

Zip it. Tight.

Or else.

"Players have personalities, and they are who they are," Coughlin said Monday, shortly after the Giants arrived from New York. "You want a certain amount of that on your football team, but you don't want someone who puts themselves in a position to hurt your team. So there's a standard there with how flexible you are."

By Super Bowl standards, it's extremely tame.

The most memorable moments leading up to the title game have been delivered by players willing to say exactly what's on their mind. Joe Namath started it with his guarantee of a Super Bowl win, back in the days when etiquette called for players to say nothing even remotely inflammatory.

As the culture of the game changed ? more trash talk, touchdown celebrations and look-at-me moments ? the Super Bowl became the big stage for the biggest mouths. During the title game of the 2005 season, for instance, Seattle tight end Jerramy Stevens ignited a back-and-forth with Pittsburgh's Joey Porter by suggesting Seattle was going to win. Porter shot back that Stevens was a "first-round bust" who was "soft" and would end up "on his back" a lot during the game.

The trash talk made for a lively week capped off by the Steelers getting the final word with a win.

The Giants did a little trash dressing when they played the then-undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl four years ago, arriving in Arizona in black suits to show they were serious about ending New England's bid for a perfect season. Eli Manning led a late touchdown drive for a 17-14 win.

When they arrived for the rematch on Monday, the Giants' clothes were as subdued as their words ? no statements anywhere.

"Honestly, for us, that '07 thing was kind of like us coming together as a football team," defensive end Justin Tuck said of the "Men In Black" look. "We just said we wanted to kill a dynasty, and that's what they were. But now, we've been here before and we felt as though all that is secondary."

Their coaches have to be pleased.

Belichick is known for cracking down when one of his players spouts off. Last year, receiver Wes Welker sat out the opening series of a playoff loss to the Jets after he made several foot and toe references ? subtle digs on Jets coach Rex Ryan, the subject of foot-fetish reports in New York.

This season, Belichick muzzled longtime self-promoter Chad Ochocinco, known to do anything ? including changing his name ? to get attention when he was in Cincinnati. The receiver has been on good behavior this season after arriving from the Bengals in a trade, wanting to play in a Super Bowl rather than cover one for his social media network.

So, Ochocinco has followed the team philosophy, which receiver Deion Branch summed up on Monday.

"Do what's right, put the team first," Branch said. "You're not going to jeopardize what we have going here. Look at the big picture and put the team first."

Coughlin sees it the same way, which is why his Giants weren't about to instigate anything when they hit town. Coughlin's philosophy, which he had printed on T-shirts in 2007: "Talk is cheap. Play the game."

Not even a little prodding could get them riled up. When Brady's comments to the pep rally back home were mentioned on Monday, the Giants immediately came to his defense.

Yes, they took his side.

"Man, it was a pep rally," Tuck said. "What was he supposed to say?"

Linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka had the same reaction when reporters gave him a chance to put a little edginess into Super Bowl week.

"I wouldn't expect anything else," Kiwanuka said, referring to Brady's comment. "Now if someone wants to come out and throw some legitimist trash talk, we will talk about that.

"But it's just that you guys need something to do for the week, I guess."

Could be a quiet week.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-31-FBN-Super-Bowl-Dump-The-Trash/id-0186b62462794336ae6935c780d562fe

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Many parents skip booster seats for carpools

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46195518#46195518

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Daniel A. Bell: Memo from Davos: Elites Within Elites

Davos is supposed to be the gathering ground for the global elite. I was reminded the first day, when I went to register for the forum. I entered a tent and submitted my passport to an elderly Swiss woman at the front desk and she could not find my name among the group of registered participants. Then she checked further and said I was a "media leader." I immediately said no, I'm not a leader. She insisted, however, noting that I went to the wrong tent; she is supposed to register representatives of the media, and media leaders are supposed to go to a different tent. I wanted to explain that my own father was a journalist, some of my best friends are journalists, I learn as much from talking to them as they learn from me, it's not a question of leading anybody, but I could tell she was getting impatient. So I went to the bigger tent next door to register as a "leader." I soon found out, however, that not all leaders are equal.

The "Summer Davos" is held in China every year, and it alternates between Dalian and Tianjin. I had been to the Dalian forum on a couple of occasions and it is indeed a smoothly run operation. All participants are flown in business class, and we are whisked from our five-star hotels to the conference site along wide boulevards with lanes blocked off just for the forum participants. In Beijing, I'd be upset at traffic jams caused by lanes blocked off for high-level government officials, but I confess it felt good to be on the other end of the hierarchical system. Of course I realized the whole thing was artificial and that the Cinderella-like ball would end at midnight (in my case), but I never did get a sense that I was a less-than-equal member of the "global elite" during the ball itself.

In Davos, it's a different story. Most academics stay in a three-star hotel. The most telltale sign that we are not so important is that there is no security at the door. Political leaders and CEOs stay at five-star hotels with security guards outside, and an airport like scanner at the entrance. Those without electronic World Economic Forum badges are refused entrance. I once forgot my badge and was refused entry for a dinner talk I had signed up for at one of the hotels. I tried to talk my way in, but the burly policeman waved me off and told his mate, in French, that I was annoying him. I switched to French and he seemed to lighten up a bit. Finally, he let me phone a WEF staff member who sorted out the problem.

Davos is a bigger deal, with more state leaders and CEOs than "regional" WEF meetings. The initial invitation letter noted that the forum includes political leaders from "G20 and other important countries." I felt bad for the not-so-important countries. Which ones did they have in mind, I wonder? Azerbaijian, perhaps? Turns out that my guess was wrong. My hotel room included gifts from Azerbaijian, which meant that they must have a delegation here.

The town itself is crawling with security forces. There are over 40 state leaders and they obviously need to be protected. But some countries seem to perfect the gangster look, with state leaders surrounded by seven-foot tall bodyguards with dark sunglasses (worn indoors), and one guesses it must be countries like Azerbaijian. After one session in an exclusive hotel, I was about to step into an elevator when a huge guy blocked my way. He told me, in broken English, it's the president, make way for him. I did not argue.

Davos is perhaps the only global forum where state leaders are not keynote speakers. This time, only Angela Merkel delivered a keynote address. Other leaders are put in rooms that vary in size, depending on perceptions of the country's power. The leader of Singapore was put in a small room for a half hour interview with Fareed Zakaria. The leader of Mexico was put in a huge room that was filled to capacity, but I guessed that the real draw was Bill Gates, who interviewed the president.

My guess proved to be correct, because the Mexican leader was followed by the Canadian Prime Minister, and the room emptied. The Canadian leader is a right-wing conservative and I'm not supposed to like him, but my nationalist feelings kicked in. I really felt horrible, and his uninspired speech did not lift my spirits. The next day, the (Toronto-based) Globe and Mail reported on his speech with the headline "Prime Minister Harper unveils grand plan to reshape Canada" and I was reminded of the infamous award-winning entry for the most boring headline contest, "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative." The article itself didn't mention the sparse crowd.

Still, at least I could take comfort from the fact that other countries seemed to be even lower down in the global pecking order. The president of Azerbaijian was put on a panel with three other not-so-important countries. I didn't go to that panel.

Of course, such feelings of superiority are not justified from a moral point of view, and last night Azerbaijian took its revenge. I dreamt I was lost in a tall building in Davos, and I had forgotten my WEF badge. A mammoth of a man from Azerbaijian blocked my way. I tried to explain I was a participant at Davos, but he ignored my pleas. He brought me to the edge of the building and was about to throw me over. I woke up, bathed in sweat.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-a-bell/davos-2012_b_1240089.html

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Sunspot unleashes powerful parting shot

NASA via SpaceWeather.com

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captures a picture of sunspot 1402 unleashing an X2-class solar flare on Friday, seen in ultraviolet wavelengths.

By Alan Boyle

The sunspot responsible for setting off a colorful round of northern lights over the past week got off a doozy of a parting shot today, just as it was about to pass around the edge of the sun's disk.

Sunspot 1402 let loose with an X-class flare, the most powerful class of solar outburst, at 1:37 p.m. ET today, and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured a sequence of ultraviolet images as the blast went out. Fortunately, this one was not directed right at Earth.

---

SpaceWeather.com says NASA's Goddard Space Weather Laboratory detected a "spectacular" coronal mass ejection blasting away from the sun at 5.6 million mph (2,500 kilometers per second). CMEs send out electrically charged particles that can eventually interact with Earth's magnetic field ? but here again, this particular ejection is not heading directly for Earth. There's a chance that it might strike a glancing blow on Saturday or Sunday, sparking another bout of auroral displays.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center reports that the flare created R3-level radio blackouts at about 1:30 p.m. ET today. That level can result in wide-area loss of high-frequency radio comunication, as well as a temporary degradation of low-frequency GPS signals, but no significant problems came to light immediately. Solar radiation levels are elevated ? which may lead to the rerouting of some airline flights. NOAA's guide to space weather scales explains what's what.

Active regions move across the sun's disk from left to right, as seen from earth, so sunspot 1402 is just about to go around to the far side of the sun. There's a chance that the sunspot will come around again as the sun goes through its 27-day rotational cycle, and there are certain to be more (and stronger?) outbursts as the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year activity cycle in 2013 or so.

Keep a watch on SpaceWeather.com, NOAA's space weather website and the prediction center's Facebook page for updates during the weekend. And if you're living the high-latitude life, keep a watch for better-than-usual auroras as well.

The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory captured this video of today's CME. Credit: SOHO / ESA / NASA

Update for 4:05 p.m. ET: Sunday's solar storm not only blasted past Earth; it also sent solar particles streaming by NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, which is on its way to the Red Planet. Today, the Southwest Research Institute reported that one of the instruments on the spacecraft, the Radiation Assessment Detector, measured the effects of the solar storm.

"We only have a few hours of data downloaded from the RAD so far, but we clearly see the event," RAD principal investigator Don Hassler, science program director in SwRI's Space Studies Department, said in a news release. "It will be very interesting to compare the RAD data, collected from inside the capsule, with the data from other spacecraft."

Once Mars Science Laboratory gets to its destination, it will measure radiation levels on the Martian surface to determine what the effect might have been on past life ... as well as the radiation effects that astronauts can expect to experience during future interplanetary missions.

More auroral glories:

---

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/10252990-sunspot-unleashes-a-parting-shot

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Djokovic wins marathon match to set up Nadal final

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Andy Murray of Britain during their semifinal at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Andy Murray of Britain during their semifinal at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill)

Novak Djokovic of Serbia bites his necklace during his semifinal against Andy Murray of Britain at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Sarah Ivey)

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Andy Murray of Britain in their semifinal at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, Pool)

Novak Djokovic of Serbia, center, celebrates after defeating Andy Murray of Britain, top left, during their semifinal at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)

Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates after defeating Andy Murray of Britain during their semifinal at the Australian Open tennis championship, in Melbourne, Australia, early Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/John Donegan)

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) ? If anyone knows how Novak Djokovic feels after sweating and scrapping for almost five hours in the Australian Open semifinals, it's his next opponent ? Rafael Nadal.

A day after Nadal beat Roger Federer in four compelling sets, Djokovic dug deep to overcome Andy Murray 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 7-5 on Friday night after 4 hours, 50 minutes.

Defending champion Djokovic will face Nadal in a third straight Grand Slam final on Sunday. It's a reversal from three years ago, when Nadal had to regroup after his own lengthy semifinal.

The Spaniard needed 5 hours, 14 minutes in 2009 to get past compatriot Fernando Verdasco in the longest men's singles match in the tournament's history. He was so exhausted, he didn't lift a racket the following day.

Yet when the final rolled around, he beat Federer ? who had an extra day to rest ? in five sets that reduced the usually composed Swiss player to tears.

Now a weary Djokovic has less than 48 hours to prepare to face Nadal, one of the most fit players in the game.

"I know that I maybe have a mental edge because I've won six finals. ... We played in 2011 and I've had lots of success against him," Djokovic said. "That's going to be my main priority and concern the next day and a half, to physically be able to perform my best and be ready to play five sets."

Djokovic won 10 titles in 2011, six of them by beating Nadal in finals. Just as Nadal has the mental edge over Federer, Djokovic has developed a hold over the Spaniard.

But the No. 1-ranked Djokovic has shown chinks in his armor at Melbourne Park this year. Against David Ferrer in the quarterfinals, he struggled to breathe through most of a straight-sets win and at one point, clutched his leg in agony.

Against Murray, he looked completely spent again when he hobbled gingerly back to his chair after dropping serve to go down 2-1 in the third set.

"He's done it many times before," Murray said. "He runs very well even when he's breathing heavy. I was ready for that. He was similar in the last match. But he moved fine."

Murray had his own slump when he lost the fourth set in 25 minutes ? an aberration in a match featuring long baseline rallies that quite often ended in errors.

One rally in the eighth game of the second set ended after 41 shots. The third set lasted nearly an hour and a half, with the opening game taking almost 15 minutes alone. There was one serve-volley point in the entire match, won by Murray.

The gap between the top-ranked player and the No. 4 was mostly indiscernible throughout a match featuring 18 breaks of serve and almost as many changes in momentum.

When a scampering Murray knocked a forehand into the net on the final point, Djokovic collapsed onto the court. He shared a warm hug with his old friend Murray, sank to his knees and did the sign of the cross, then turned to his players' box and thumped his chest.

Many of his 70 match wins in 2011 seemed to come easy ? this was anything but.

"Definitely one of the best (wins) under the circumstances," Djokovic said. "Time wise, I think this was one of the longest, if not the longest, that I've played in the later stages of a Grand Slam.

"As a tennis player, you practice hard every single day knowing that you will get an opportunity to be part of such a great match and on such a high level."

After losing the last two finals at the Australian Open, Murray went out a round earlier this time but left more encouraged than ever that he can break through and become the first British man to win a Grand Slam singles title since 1936.

"Tonight's match was important for many reasons," the 24-year-old Murray said. "Obviously I wanted to win first and foremost. But also sort of after last year, the year that Novak's had, I think there's a very fine line between being No. 1 in the world and being 3 or 4. I think that gap, I feel tonight I closed it.

"My job over the next two or three months is to surpass him and the guys in front of me."

After Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova go for the women's title and the No. 1 ranking on Saturday, Djokovic will bid for his fifth major title in Sunday men's final, with the chance to become only the fifth man in the Open Era to win three straight Grand Slam titles.

If he can achieve that, Djokovic would make 10-time Grand Slam winner Nadal the first man since the Open Era began in 1968 to lose three straight major finals. Just like Nadal three years ago, Djokovic doesn't plan on doing much before Sunday's final.

"I think I had enough time spent on the court. Now it's all about recovery," said Djokovic, who has won 19 consecutive Grand Slam matches.

After a year in which almost everything went his way and he overtook Nadal and Federer for the No. 1 ranking, Djokovic is just finding out what it feels like to be the hunted rather than the hunter.

"I'm aware now that everyone wants to win the major title, get that No. 1 spot, he said. "It's normal. It's something I'm prepared for."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-27-TEN-Australian-Open/id-b2f92db02e614347acc94fbae1b9c949

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Can Mindfulness Help Breast Cancer Survivors? | Dialectical ...

Depression can be a factor in the treatment of an array of different health problems.? It has an impact on the treatment of heart disease, diabetes and stroke.? Depression may not be the cause of these diseases, but it often co-occurs with them and can influence whether patients follow through on treatment recommendations.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction training can help breast cancer survivors in their struggle with depression.

The number of women who survive breast cancer has increased in recent years.? However, side-effects of breast cancer treatment, including sleep problems and depression, can disrupt people?s lives and interfere with their treatment. According to a study conducted by Mary Jane Massie (2004), depression may impact as many as 50% of women with breast cancer.

In a recent study at the University of Missouri Jane Armer and other researchers found that breast cancer survivors? health improved after they completed mindfulness-based stress reduction training that incorporates meditation, yoga and physical awareness.

What is Mindfulness-based stress reduction?

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction involves learning to focus attention, on purpose.? Attention is focused on the present moment with an openness to experience.? The quality of this attention is a gentle, non-judgmental acceptance of whatever arises into awareness.

Mindfulness is often seen as a way of counteracting emotional reactivity that can leave us stressed, anxious and depressed.? Instead of simply reacting to feelings, thoughts and events in life, with mindfulness you learn to become aware of your reactions and to respond to your experience out of awareness and consciousness.

At his mindfulness based stress reduction program in Worcester, Massachusetts, Jon Kabat-Zinn teaches participants this increased awareness through meditation, yoga and dialogue in day-to-day awareness of life.? Participants attend groups and complete homework assignments that include daily meditations.

This training is aimed at teaching people to use their innate abilities to respond effectively to stress, pain and illness.? Surviving breast cancer is certainly stressful.

Studies have found that breast cancer survivors who have finished treatment experienced more depression and far higher levels of fatigue, sleep problems, and difficulty working and concentrating than healthy subjects.? Mindfulness-based stress reduction is a treatment that may be a fit for many in their recovery.

Breast cancer ribbon photo available from Shutterstock.

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

????Last reviewed: 26 Jan 2012

APA Reference
Matta, C. (2012). Can Mindfulness Help Breast Cancer Survivors?. Psych Central. Retrieved on January 27, 2012, from http://blogs.psychcentral.com/dbt/2012/01/can-mindfulness-help-breast-cancer-survivors/

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Source: http://blogs.psychcentral.com/dbt/2012/01/can-mindfulness-help-breast-cancer-survivors/

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Cabbage Chemistry--Finding Acids and Bases

Colorful Cabbages: Use this veggie to test for acids and bases around the house--with colorful results! Image: iStockphoto/PacoRomero

Key concepts
Chemistry
Acids
Bases
Light

Introduction
You might have done experiments with well-labeled acids and bases in school, but have you ever wondered whether a certain food or chemical around the house is an acid or a base? You can find out using a red cabbage to make an indicator solution.

When two or more ingredients are entirely dissolved in one another, you have a solution. For example, mixing salt with water creates a clear solution, even though the salt is there and the solution tastes salty. When mixed with water, whether a chemical "donates" a charged particle (called an ion) to the solution?in this case, a hydrogen ion?or "accepts" one from it determines whether it's an acidic or basic solution. An indicator changes color when exposed to such a mixture, depending on whether the solution is acidic or basic.

Background
Acids are solutions that lose hydrogen ions and usually taste sour. Some very common household solutions are acids, such as citrus fruit juices and household vinegar. Bases are solutions that pull hydrogen ions out of solution and onto themselves, "accepting" them, and usually feel slippery. Bases have many practical uses. For example, "antacids" like TUMS are used to reduce the acidity in your stomach. Other bases make useful household cleaning products.

To tell if something is an acid or a base, you can use a chemical called an indicator. An indicator changes color when it encounters an acid or base. There are many different types of indicators, some that are liquids and others that are concentrated on little strips of "litmus" paper. Indicators can be extracted from many different sources, including the pigment of many plants. For example, red cabbages contain an indicator pigment molecule called flavin, which is a type of molecule called an anthocyanin. Very acidic solutions will turn an anthocyanin red whereas neutral solutions will make it purplish and basic solutions will turn it greenish-yellow. Consequently, the color an anthocyanin solution turns can be used to determine a solution's pH?a measure of how basic or acidic a solution is.

Materials
??? ?A small red cabbage
??? ?Pot of boiling water
??? ?Strainer
??? ?Two large bowls or pots
??? ?Grater
??? ?Tablespoon measurer
??? ?Large spoon (optional)
??? ?Three or more small, white paper cups (small, white paper drinking glasses or dishes will also work)
??? ?Goggles or other protective eyewear
??? ?Lemon or lime juice
??? ?Vinegar
??? ?Bleach-based cleaning product
??? ?Other foods to test, such as clear soda pop, baking soda solution, egg whites, tomatoes, cottage cheese (optional)

Preparation
??? ?Grate a small red cabbage. If you do not want to grate the entire cabbage, grating half of a cabbage should be enough. Put the fine, pulpy grated cabbage into a large bowl or pot.
??? ?Boil a pot of water. Use caution when handling the boiling water. Pour the boiling water into the bowl with the cabbage pulp until the water just covers the cabbage.
??? ?Leave the cabbage mixture steeping, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is room temperature. This should take at least half an hour. The liquid will become red or purplish-red in color.
??? ?Place a strainer over another large bowl or pot and pour the cabbage mixture through the strainer to remove the cabbage pulp. Press down on the pulp in the strainer, such as by using a large spoon, to squeeze more liquid out of the pulp.
??? ?In the bowl, you should now have only liquid that will either be purple or blue in color. This will be your indicator solution, which you will use to test the pH of different liquids.
??? ?Children should wear goggles or other protective eyewear and adults should supervise and use caution when handling bleach and vinegar, because they can irritate eyes and skin.

Procedure
??? ?Fill a small, white paper cup, drinking glass or white dish with one tablespoon of your cabbage-indicator solution. What is the color of your indicator solution?
??? ?Add drops of lemon or lime juice to the indicator solution until you see the solution change in color. Gently swirl the solution and make sure the color stays the same. What color did the solution become?
??? ?The color of the solution will change depending on its pH: Red color indicates the pH is 2; Purple indicates pH 4; Violet indicates pH 6; Blue indicates pH 8; Blue-green indicates pH 10; Greenish-yellow indicates pH 12.
??? ?Based on its color, what is the pH of the lemon or lime juice solution?
??? ?In another small, white paper cup, add one tablespoon of your original cabbage-indicator solution. Add drops of vinegar until you see the solution change color. What color did the vinegar solution become? What is the pH of the solution?
??? ?In a third small, white paper cup, add one tablespoon of your original cabbage-indicator solution. Handling it with caution, add drops of the bleach cleaning product until you see the solution change color. What color did the bleach solution become, and what does this indicate about its pH?
??? ?If you want to test the pH of other foods, again add one tablespoon of your original cabbage-indicator solution to a small, white paper cup and add drops of the food until you see the solution change color. If the food is not in liquid form, crush it or dissolve it in a small amount of water before adding it to the indicator solution. What color did the solution become, and what does this indicate about its pH?
??? ?Extra: There are other vegetables and fruits that can be used to make pH indicators as well: red onion, apple skins, blueberries, grape skins and plums. Which different sources of pigment produce the best indicators?
??? ?Extra: You can use an indicator solution to write secret messages. Just use full-strength lemon juice to write an invisible message on paper and let the message dry. To reveal the message, paint cabbage-indicator over the paper with a paintbrush.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=85ebbc28e5a17a23272465354a63c907

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Japan's NEC slashing 10,000 jobs worldwide (AP)

TOKYO ? Japanese electronics company NEC Corp. says it is slashing 10,000 jobs worldwide amid deteriorating earnings due to weakness in its mobile phone business and flooding in Thailand that hit its platform business.

NEC said Thursday it had a net loss of 86.5 billion yen ($1.1 billion) for the October-December quarter.

It forecast a net loss of 100 billion yen for the fiscal year through March on worsening income and a special loss of 40 billion yen to cover the job cuts.

Some 7,000 of the job cuts will come in Japan and 3,000 overseas, it said in a presentation.

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

TOKYO (AP) ? Japanese electronics company NEC Corp. says it is slashing 10,000 jobs worldwide amid deteriorating earnings due to weakness in its mobile phone business and flooding in Thailand that hit its platform business.

NEC said Thursday it had a net loss of 86.5 billion yen ($1.1 billion) for the October-December quarter.

It forecast a net loss of 100 billion yen for the fiscal year through March on worsening income and a special loss of 40 billion yen to cover the job cuts.

Some 7,000 of the job cuts will come in Japan and 3,000 overseas, it said in a presentation.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_nec

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UK economy shrinks by 0.2 pct in 4th quarter (AP)

LONDON ? Britain's economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the last three months of 2011, official data showed Wednesday, a worse than expected result that raises fears of a recession and could see the Bank of England push for more monetary stimulus.

The market consensus had been that the economy would contract by only 0.1 percent in the quarter. For the year, GDP grew by just 0.8 percent, the Office for National Statistics said.

The fourth-quarter drop is likely to confirm analysts' belief that the Bank of England will authorize spending more billions next month to stimulate the economy.

Minutes of the January meeting of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee showed that, as expected, the nine members had been unanimous in voting not to approve more stimulus.

The Bank had indicated that it would take at least through January to spend the 75 billion pounds in asset purchases approved in October.

Some analysts expect the bank to authorize more purchases next month.

The GDP report showed that Britain's big services sector didn't grow at all in the fourth quarter, while output of production industries, including factories, fell by 1.2 percent.

The International Monetary Fund this week cut its forecasts for the U.K. economy, predicting growth of only 0.6 percent compared with 1.6 percent previously.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_economy

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RNC spoils Obama???s big day with swing-state attack ad (Daily Caller)

The Republican National Committee (RNC) released a new TV ad in several swing states on Tuesday morning that uses Barack Obama?s own words against him and aims to knock some of the presidential glitter off of tonight?s campaign-themed State of the Union speech.

?The president will use his address to campaign and continue to make the same failed promises we?ve seen for the past three years,? said a statement from Kirsten Kukowski, an RNC spokeswoman. But his speech also ?presents us with an opportunity to speak directly to voters in those key battleground states about what the state of our union really is,? she said.

The ad is being broadcast in the D.C. media marketplace, in two swing states ? Virginia and North Carolina ? and in Michigan, where Obama is slated to give an education policy speech Jan. 26.

?We?re going into Michigan to show voters how vulnerable this president is in what many would consider his own backyard,? said Kukowski.

The dark-toned and dramatically scored 30-second ad begins by highlighting Obama?s Feb. 2009 statement ? ?If I don?t have this done in four years, then there?s going to be a one-term proposition? ? and immediately contrasts it with his economic record.

Former President Bill Clinton is shown saying that ?things are not going in the right direction: They?re going in the wrong direction.? Obama gets the final cut, declaring on video that ?I don?t think they?re better off than they were four years ago.?

Watch the new RNC ad:

The ad?s reliance on Democrats? comments about Obama is likely to be a feature of the RNC?s 2012 media campaign, partly because the public finds inter-party accusations untrustworthy.

?Barack Obama has a lot of a explaining to do in tonight?s State of the Union Address,? said a statement from RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.

?The day after he delivers his State of the Union Address, Barack Obama will be jetting off to five states he wants to win to be reelected ? [but] the American people need a president who will focus on the single most important issue in the country: fixing our economy,? said his statement.

Join the conversation

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EU states agree gradual ban on Iran oil, sanctions on central bank (Reuters)

BRUSSELS/TEHRAN (Reuters) ? The European Union banned imports of oil from Iran on Monday and imposed a number of other economic sanctions, joining the United States in a new round of measures aimed at deflecting Tehran's nuclear development program.

In Iran, one politician responded by renewing a threat to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, an oil export route vital to the global economy, and another said Tehran should cut off crude shipments to the EU immediately.

That might hurt Greece, Italy and other ailing economies which depend heavily on Iranian oil and, as a result, won as part of the EU agreement a grace period until July 1 before the embargo takes full effect. Angry words on either side helped nudge benchmark Brent oil futures above $110 a barrel on Monday.

A day after a U.S. aircraft carrier, accompanied by a flotilla that included French and British warships, made a symbolically loaded voyage into the Gulf in defiance of Iranian hostility, the widely expected EU sanctions move is likely to set off yet more bellicose rhetoric in an already tense region.

Some analysts say Iran, which denies accusations that it is seeking nuclear weapons, could be in a position to make them next year. So, with Israel warning it could use force to prevent that happening, the row over Tehran's plans is an increasingly pressing challenge for world leaders, not least U.S. President Barack Obama as he campaigns for re-election in November.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has voiced skepticism about the chances of Iran being persuaded by non-military tactics, called the EU sanctions a "step in the right direction" but said Iran was still developing atomic weapons.

Israel, assumed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, views the Iranian nuclear program as a threat to its survival.

Meeting in Brussels, foreign ministers from the 27-state EU, which as a bloc is Iran's second biggest customer for crude after China, agreed to an immediate ban on all new contracts to import, purchase or transport Iranian crude oil and petroleum products. However, EU countries with existing contracts to buy oil and petroleum products can honor them up to July 1.

EU officials said they also agreed to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank and ban trade in gold and other precious metals with the bank and state bodies.

Along with U.S. sanctions imposed by Obama on December 31, the Western powers hope that choking exports and hence revenue can force Iran's leaders to agree to curbs on a nuclear program the West says is intended to yield weapons.

EU SEEKS TALKS

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, confirmed plans for a visit next week by senior inspectors to try and clear up suspicions raised about the purpose of Iran's nuclear activities. Tehran is banned by international treaty from developing nuclear weaponry.

"The Agency team is going to Iran in a constructive spirit, and we trust that Iran will work with us in that same spirit," IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said in a statement announcing the December 29-31 visit. "The overall objective of the IAEA is to resolve all outstanding substantive issues."

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said of the new sanctions: "I want the pressure of these sanctions to result in negotiations ... I want to see Iran come back to the table and either pick up all the ideas that we left on the table ... last year ... or to come forward with its own ideas."

Iran has said lately that it is willing to hold talks with Western powers, though there have been mixed signals on whether conditions imposed by either side make new negotiations likely.

The Islamic Republic insists it is enriching uranium only for electricity and other civilian uses.

It has powerful defenders against the Western action in the form of Russia and China, which argue that the new sanctions are unnecessary, and can also probably count on China and other Asian countries to go on buying much of its oil, despite U.S. and European efforts to dissuade them.

Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, classifying the EU embargo among "aggravating factors," said Moscow believed there was a good chance that talks between the six global powers and Iran could resume soon and that Russia would try to steer both Iran and the West away from further confrontation.

A member of Iran's influential Assembly of Experts, former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, said Tehran should respond to the delayed-action EU sanctions by stopping sales to the bloc immediately, denying the Europeans time to arrange alternative supplies and damaging their economies with higher oil prices.

"The best way is to stop exporting oil ourselves before the end of this six months and before the implementation of the plan," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted him as saying.

He reiterated that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel between the Gulf and open sea through which a third of all oil tanker traffic passes to importers around the world.

Washington has said it will not tolerate any closure, a position underlined by Sunday's passage through the strait of a U.S. flotilla around the carrier Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by two European frigates, Britain's Argyll and France's La Motte-Picquet.

HORMUZ THREAT

While Iran's Revolutionary Guards, possibly aware of the warships' impending arrival, had backed away on Saturday from a threat made by a vice president last month to prevent "even one drop of oil" passing through the strait if the West embargoed Iran's crude, a senior member of parliament said on Monday that the closure remained an option if exports were disrupted.

"If any disruption happens regarding the sale of Iranian oil, the Strait of Hormuz will definitely be closed," Mohammad Kossari, deputy head of parliament's foreign affairs and national security committee, told Fars.

Going further, he referred to previous U.S. warnings that it would use force to break any Iranian blockade of the channel and threatened wider violence against Washington's global interests.

"If America seeks adventures after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran will make the world unsafe for Americans in the shortest possible time," Kossari said.

"It is in America's interests to accept a powerful Iran and not seek military adventures."

While the Western powers were at pains to describe their naval movement through the strait as routine, a view echoed by the Revolutionary Guards, they also stressed its symbolism.

"On this occasion HMS Argyll and a French vessel joined a U.S. carrier group transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, to underline the unwavering international commitment to maintaining rights of passage under international law," Britain's defense ministry said in a statement.

In Paris, spokesman Thierry Burkhard said: "It's a sign to Iran if they want to consider it like that."

Iran, the world's No. 5 oil exporter and also rich in natural gas, says it is refining uranium and developing other nuclear technologies to meet rising energy needs. But the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency reported in November that it had evidence suggesting Iran had worked on designing an atomic bomb.

The unprecedented effort to take Iran's 2.6 million barrels of oil per day off international markets has kept global prices high, pushed down Iran's rial currency and caused a surge in the cost of basic goods for Iranians. [nL5E8CN0M9]

(Additional reporting by Robin Pomeroy and Mitra Amiri in Tehran, David Brunnstrom in Brussels, Adrian Croft in London, John Irish in Paris, Alexei Anishchuk in Sochi, Ari Rabinovitch and Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_iran_eu_deal

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Long lines to bid farewell to Paterno (AP)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. ? Decked out in Penn State hats and jackets, students and townspeople stood in a line more than a quarter-mile long Tuesday to pay their respects to Joe Paterno, the coach who for nearly a half century was the face of their university.

Mourners stood in a line along a main campus artery for the chance to file past Paterno's closed casket at the campus spiritual center during a 10-hour public viewing session.

They were preceded by Paterno family members ? the coach's son, Scott, was seen going in and out of the event ? and the Penn State football team, both present and past. Players wore dark suits and filed out of three blue Penn State buses, the same buses that once carried Paterno and the team to games at Beaver Stadium on fall Saturdays.

Among that group was Mike McQueary. As a graduate assistant to Paterno in 2002, he went to the coach saying he had witnessed former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky assaulting a boy in the shower at the Penn State football building. Paterno relayed that to his bosses ? including the head of campus police ? but university trustees felt he should have done more, and it played into their decision to fire the longtime coach on Nov. 9. That came four days after Sandusky was arrested on multiple child sex-abuse counts.

Dressed in a blue coat and tie with a white shirt, the school colors, McQueary was among thousands of expected mourners at an event that was to stretch late into Tuesday night.

One current and one former team member will stand guard over the casket for the duration of the public viewing, athletic department spokesman Jeff Nelson said.

"He left us too early and I think about the impact he could have made once he retired from coaching," Nelson said.

The 85-year-old Paterno, the winningest coach in major college football, died Sunday. The cause, lung cancer, was disclosed in November, just days after he was fired.

Earlier Tuesday, a line of ex-players stretched around the corner and down the block. Among the mourners were former Penn State and Pittsburgh Steelers great Franco Harris. Others there included NFL receivers Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood, Norwood's father and Baylor assistant coach Brian Norwood and former quarterback Daryll Clark.

The event marked the start of three days of public mourning as the Penn State community in State College and beyond said goodbye to the man who led the Nittany Lions to 409 wins over 46 years and raised the national profile of the school.

There is another public viewing Wednesday at Pasquerilla Spiritual Center, and after that Paterno's family will hold a private funeral and procession through State College.

On Thursday, the school's basketball arena will be the site of a public service called "A Memorial for Joe." Tickets were quickly snapped up for the event, even though there was a two-per-person limit for those ordering.

Former players began arriving shortly after members of Paterno's last team filed in. Some players hugged, and new Penn State coach Bill O'Brien shook hands with others at the curb outside the center.

Penn State linebacker Khairi Fortt recalled his coach's lessons.

"He said the most important thing for us was to keep the Penn State tradition going," the sophomore from Stamford, Conn., said after leaving the viewing.

Scott Paterno has said that despite the turmoil surrounding his termination from the school, Joe Paterno remained peaceful and upbeat in his final days and still loved Penn State.

Bitterness over Paterno's firing has turned up in many forms, from online postings to a rewritten newspaper headline placed next to Paterno's statue at the football stadium blaming the trustees for his death. A headline that read "FIRED" was crossed out and made to read, "Killed by Trustees." Lanny Davis, lawyer for the school's board, said threats have been made against the trustees.

Scott Paterno, however, stressed his father did not die with a broken heart and did not harbor resentment toward Penn State.

___

Associated Press writer Mark Scolforo contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_sp_co_ne/fbc_penn_state_paterno

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Naomi Watts & Liev Schreiber Cheer for the Knicks!

Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber show their team spirit! Check out more pics of Hollywood's tightest twosomes

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Sony Xperia Ion pricing revealed?

Yup, it's another crumb of information making its way from the decidedly leaky ship that is Sony Mobile Communications -- as with all these, let's keep our tinfoil helmets set to skeptical. This time it looks like we've got rumored pricing for the Xperia Ion handset we played with at CES. A pre-order page has appeared at Negri Electronics that offers the handset for $569.50 unlocked. That sum of money will get you the AT&T-LTE phone with 16GB storage, a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU, 4.6-inch 720 x 1280 display and, erm, Gingerbread (we know ICS is coming to this device, but perhaps not in time for launch). Still, if you're prepared to take the leap, head on down to the source link to mark your place at the front of the post-Ericsson queue.

Sony Xperia Ion pricing revealed? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/23/sony-xperia-ion-pricing-rumor/

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[OOC] A Forbidden Love

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Pretty

Member for 0 years

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uhm...May I reserve a male demon? This is the scenario I image:

A demon is sent into the Between Realm to find the Demon Prince a new slave. As he found a girl/boy and thought that he/she is suitable for the position he reported back to the prince and was told to collect that girl/boy in 4 days. When he comes back to the Between Real to collect he/she, he begins to fall for her/him? Will he disobey the Demon Prince or will he take the girl/boy he loves back to the Demon Realm to become a slave?

What do you think?

blackwolf

Member for 1 years

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Oh...I forget...Do you have a char sheet or we can do whatever we want?

blackwolf

Member for 1 years

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I want to reserve a role of a Male Angel...this is the scenerio I think of:

He is sent to do the impossible - to redeem a demon. He has 4 days to do it. Unfortunately or fortunately, in those 4 days, he helplessly falls in love with the demon he is supposed to redeem... Will he, an angel, turn his back to his kind and go with his mate or will she/he, a demon, be successfully redeemed by an Angel's love?

Please give me your idea...

feral gale

Member for 0 years

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Post a reply

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Lose a job, prepare for really long job search

Bureau of Labor Statistics

The median amount of time it's taking for unemployed people to find new jobs is about 21 weeks.

Here?s the good news: Employers are hiring more workers than they are firing these days, a welcome turnaround from the darkest days of the Great Recession.

Here?s the bad news: If you are among those unlucky enough to lose your job now, you'd better prepare for a long job search.

The median duration of unemployment was 21 weeks or about five months as of December. That means half of all unemployed workers had been without a job for more than five months.

That?s actually an improvement from mid-2010, when the median duration of unemployment peaked at 25 weeks. But it?s still nearly three times what it was before the recession began and much higher than in previous tough job markets.

The main problem: There just aren?t enough jobs to go around.

Last year the economy added an average of about 137,000 jobs a month. While that?s better than when the economy was shedding jobs, it wasn?t nearly enough to absorb the millions of unemployed and new workers entering the market, said Sylvia Allegretto, an economist with the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley.

?That rate of job growth is simply not fast enough to really soak up all those who are unemployed and underemployed, and those who have left the labor market and will be coming back to the labor market,? Allegretto said.

?

Allegretto doesn?t expect the situation to improve?much soon for the long-term unemployed.

That?s partly because there are still 13 million people who are unemployed and seeking work. It?s also because there are many other Americans out there who may have stopped looking for a job because the market was so bad, and will start looking again if the market improves.

Those excruciatingly long job searches are an especially big problem for older workers. The median duration of unemployment for 20- to 24-year-olds was 16.3 weeks in December, compared with 31.4 weeks for 55- to 64-year-olds.

Related:

Many Americans still not prepared for a job loss?????
Five years without work: Labor department will now track it

{"contentId":"10192757","totalVotes":"3664"}

How long do you think it would take you to find a new job?

Source: http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10192757-lose-a-job-prepare-for-a-really-long-job-search

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Iran's Gulf smugglers feel blowback from tensions (AP)

KHASAB, Oman ? By dawn, the unmarked speedboats from Iran pull into port. By dusk, they are racing back across the Strait of Hormuz loaded with smuggled consumer goods ranging from Chinese-made shoes to cut flowers from Holland.

Even as sanctions squeeze Iran ever tighter, there's one clandestine route that remains open for business: A short sea corridor across the Persian Gulf connecting a rocky nub of Oman and the Iranian coast about 35 miles (60 kilometers) away.

Yet even this established smugglers' path is now feeling the bite from the pressures on Iran over its nuclear program.

Business is sharply down, the middlemen and boat crews say, as the slumping Iranian currency leaves fewer customers for the smuggled wares. At the same time, the risks of interception are higher as Iranian authorities step up patrols near the strategic oil tanker lanes at the mouth of the Gulf.

The strait, which is the only access in and out of the Gulf, has been the scene of Cold War-style brinksmanship between Iran and the West after Tehran last month threatened to block the passageway for about one-sixth of the world's oil in retaliation for new U.S. sanctions.

"We used to make two or three trips across every day. Now, it's maybe one," said an Iranian middleman, who gave only his first name Agheel to protect his identity from authorities in his homeland.

He watched crews load up a pickup truck with bolts of fabric from Pakistan and table-size boxes of cut flowers from the Netherlands, before the trucks headed off through the treeless mountains to Khasab port.

The operation smuggles in merchandise to avoid Iranian tariffs and to bring in American and European products that have disappeared from Iranian markets because of international sanctions. Experts note that the consumer items post no real challenge to efforts to block material with military or nuclear uses.

"Still, it shows you can't close off all channels into Iran no matter how hard you try," said Paul Rogers, who follows security affairs at Bradford University in Britain. "People will find a way."

On this side of the Gulf, the smugglers operate under a tacit tolerance from authorities, even though Oman and the United Arab Emirates are close U.S. allies and have pledged to enforce sanctions. The port lies in a sparsely populated peninsula enclave belonging to Oman but encircled on land by the UAE, a legacy of how the area was carved up in the final days of British rule here in the last century that resulted in Oman holding joint control with Iran over the strait.

The goods are legally imported into the UAE and truck drivers take them across the border, paying the customary 50 dirham ($13.50) entry fee, according to the smugglers interviewed by The Associated Press. In Khasab, the merchandise is taken to warehouses and then piled on the docks less than 100 yards (100 meters) from the port police headquarters.

Omani authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the traffic.

The Khasab speedboats are far from the only back channel into Iran. Drug traffickers easily cross the hinterland borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, and black market networks stretch across the frontiers with Iraq and Turkey. Authorities in Iraq's Kurdish region have been under pressure for years to crack down on fuel trucks heading into Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.

But Khasab stands out for its openness and for lying on the highly sensitive Strait.

A shipment arranged by the Iranian smuggler Agheel this week was done with practiced efficiency.

A pickup truck backed into a wood-floored warehouse with hundreds of cases of cigarettes bundled three together and wrapped tightly in gray plastic weave ? in total 3,000 cigarettes under south Asian brands such as Ruby Menthol. The truck was soon sagging under the weight of boxes piled five high.

Agheel did some quick calculations: Each three-case load cost him about $1,200 and he could sell them to merchants in Iran for the equivalent of about $1,350 under current exchange rates. The truck pulling out of the warehouse represented a potential return of about $4,500.

"If we don't get caught," he added.

The smugglers have their ways of avoiding Iranian authorities.

Spotters off the coast ? on the island of Qeshm and near the port of Bandar Abbas ? call in coast guard movements to Khasab. The speedboat drivers keep close attention to the water conditions on the Strait and try to approach the Iranian coast just after sunset. The trip can take as little as 90 minutes in calm seas and up to four hours in rough water in the stripped down stripped-down 16-foot (five-meter) fiberglass boats.

Agheel's truck passed through the Khasab customs station at midday and then down a strip of hardscrabble road.

At the port ? almost in the shadow of a Costa cruise ship making a day stop ? dozens of boats were being packed and secured for the trip. There were no names or markings on the speedboats. But the items loaded on carried familiar logos: LG 42-inch flatscreen TVs, Discovery Channel DVDs, Panasonic microwaves, Yamaha motorcycle parts. Also in the stacks were textiles, satellite dishes and Chinese-made clothes and shoes.

One boat driver, who gave his name only as Aziz, had a breakfast of eggs, beans and Mountain Dew as he waited for the day's shipment to be loaded for the return run to Qeshm, a long arrow-shaped island near the Iranian coast and a main waystation for the smugglers.

Months ago, he could make as many trips as possible because the merchants in Iran were demanding goods.

But now the struggling Iranian rial ? dragged down partly by U.S.-led sanctions that could target Iran's Central Bank ? has put many things out of reach for Iranians, he said.

"No one wants to buy because the (rial) rate is not stable," he said.

He also said the Iranian coastal patrols have been boosted amid the escalating tensions over the Strait.

On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the American military is "fully prepared" to deal with any Iranian effort to close the waterway. Next month, Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard plans naval exercises in the area.

If spotted by patrols, Aziz said the two-man boat crews try to heave the goods overboard. They then must pay back the smuggling network, which can amount to thousands of dollars.

But it's worth the risk, he said.

"The situation is getting worse now," he said. "All the prices are up and Qeshm has nothing else" except smuggling.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_smugglers_in_the_strait

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