Twitter lawsuit threatened over alleged Hezbollah aid

Hezbollah-controlled al-Manar television currently maintains a Twitter account with roughly 7,500 followers.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center is threatening legal action against Twitter
• The center claims Twitter has aided Hezbollah and al-Shabaab by allowing them to use its services
• The center notes that U.S. law prohibits any aid to officially designated terrorist organizations
• A free speech advocate warns of a possible restriction of Internet freedom

Jerusalem (CNN) -- Is Twitter aiding and abetting terrorism?

The director of an Israeli legal outfit says yes, and is threatening to sue the micro-blogging site if it doesn't change its policies.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of the Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center, sent a letter to Twitter on Thursday asserting that the company is violating U.S. law by allowing groups such as Hezbollah and al Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab to use its popular online network.

"It has come to our attention that Twitter Inc. provides social media and associated services to such foreign terrorist organizations," Darshan-Leitner wrote.

"Please be advised that (doing so) is illegal and will expose Twitter Inc. and its officers to both criminal prosecution and civil liability to American citizens and others victimized" by Hezbollah, al-Shabaab and other foreign terrorist entities.

Twitter declined to comment when contacted by CNN.

In her letter, Darshan-Leitner noted that Hezbollah and al-Shabaab are officially designated as terrorist organizations under U.S. law. She also cited a 2010 Supreme Court case -- Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project -- which upheld a key provision of the Patriot Act prohibiting material support to groups designated as terrorist outfits.

"Your provision of social media and associated services to Hezbollah and other foreign terrorist organizations would constitute the type of seemingly innocuous material support that would render your company and you personally criminally and civilly liable," she told Twitter CEO Richard Costolo.

Hezbollah-controlled al-Manar television currently maintains a Twitter account with roughly 7,500 followers. Other groups considered terrorist organizations by the United States also maintain accounts. Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip, posts regularly on at least one government-controlled account.

Darshan-Leitner says she realizes there will be stiff opposition to a potential lawsuit from free speech advocates, but told CNN she nevertheless hopes Twitter will change its policies.

"Once you bring it to their attention, they cannot say that they don't know," she said.

Aden Fine, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, told CNN that the Supreme Court "has not directly addressed the issue of whether any speech allegedly supportive of a designated terrorist organization is unlawful." But "the government can't force private companies to censor lawful speech just because the government doesn't like the speech or the people making the speech," he said.

Fine noted that since the Internet depends on private companies such as Twitter to function, any clampdown or adverse ruling could be used to restrict everyone's online communications.

Social networks Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have been lauded for the role they played in the Arab Spring, a series of anti-regime protests that erupted across the Middle East starting in late 2010. The online networks and instant messaging services were used extensively to spread the word about demonstrations, especially in the case of the Egyptian uprising that toppled longtime strongman President Hosni Mubarak.

A number of governments, however, have started arguing for stricter controls. Authorities in the United Kingdom say rioters used social the networks to coordinate mass civil disobedience earlier this year in London. State prosecutors in Mexico have accused two people of terrorism and sabotage by claiming that their Twitter posts helped spread false rumors about a school attack, leading to real-life violence on the streets of Veracruz.

The Shurat HaDin Israel Law Center describes itself as a civil rights organization dedicated to "combating the terrorist organizations and the regimes that support them through lawsuits litigated in courtrooms around the world." It supported a similar campaign earlier this year directed at social media giant Facebook.

Among other things, the center succeeded in getting Facebook to pull down a page created by Palestinian activists calling for a "Third Intifada" against Israel.

CNN's Alan Silverleib contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/30/world/meast/israel-twitter-lawsuit/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular

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Need help avoiding hangover? Less booze, more H2O (AP)

CHICAGO ? Attorney Colleen Gorman has a holiday ritual that doesn't involve buying presents or counting down to midnight: She goes online to look for new hangover remedies she hasn't tried.

She already has scratched off those big "prevention" pills, vitamins and chugging sports drinks, along with more quirky folk remedies including peanut butter sandwiches.

"My fiance says I should probably just drink less," said Gorman, 28, of Chicago.

Experts say that's good advice for everyone.

"The only way to prevent a hangover is to not get drunk," said Boston University researcher Jonathan Howland.

That might be too radical a remedy for many revelers, but it's the only one proven to work. Still, there are strategies that can soften the blow.

Topping the list? Don't drink on an empty stomach, said Sam Zakhari, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism's metabolism and health effects division. Food helps absorb alcohol and delay its toxic effects on the body.

Drinking plenty of water before, during and after also helps because alcohol can dehydrate the body.

Kim Khan teaches at the American Professionals Bartending School in Villa Park, Ill., and devotes a class to serving responsibly. That includes encouraging bar patrons to drink water. Khan, who also tends bar, says alternating drinks with glasses of water helps and is a method she uses "because I've been doing this way too long."

Some people think choosing clear alcohols is safer, because darker-colored drinks contain more compounds called congeners. That is based on an unproven theory that those compounds cause the body to make toxins that upset the stomach and cause other hangover symptoms, said Howland, a researcher in the emergency medicine department.

But no one really knows what causes hangovers, which makes preventing them a challenge, Howland said.

He's hoping to find a clue in his research into why some people don't get hangovers. About 1 in 4 drinkers never feel yucky after overindulging. In Howland's lab, that includes study subjects given normally "intoxicating" doses ? about six beers for men and five for women.

That may seem enviable, but Howland said those 25 percenters also may be more likely than the rest of us to become alcoholics.

Some experts think hangover symptoms are caused by toxins from methanol after the body breaks down the ethanol alcohol in booze. That's why some people swear by "the hair of the dog" ? more alcohol the next day. But Howland says if that helps, it only delays the inevitable.

The list of purported remedies for preventing or treating hangovers includes a witch's brew of products, including milk thistle, honey, bitters and soda, Pedialyte, cranberry juice and Tabasco sauce. None has been scientifically proven to work, Howland said.

Brian Chui, a 23-year-old Los Angeles publicist, says he's tried a lot of them, but so far, "nothing works that great for me." This year, Chui says he may try new anti-hangover pills combining aspirin and caffeine that his friends have been touting.

Zakhari, the government expert, said the product may or may not be harmful, but could give drinkers "a false sense that `I can drink as I wish because I have the cure.'"

Some people think popping a couple of Tylenol tablets after a night of drinking will help prevent hangover symptoms, but experts warn that can be dangerous. Both alcohol and acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, are broken down in the liver, and taking them together can cause irreversible liver damage.

The risk of combining the two is small in a healthy person taking a recommended dose of Tylenol. But Zakhari says aspirin and ibuprofen are safer alternatives to treat hangover-related ills, and the best advice is to avoid Tylenol for a couple of days after drinking because even some healthy people may be vulnerable. Plus more than 600 over-the-counter medicines contain acetaminophen, so it's pretty easy to accidentally take too much.

Alcohol can irritate the stomach and aspirin and ibuprofen can cause stomach-bleeding, so they should be used with caution, a govermment publication on hangovers advises.

A study to be published in the February edition of the journal Drug Safety found that cases of liver damage linked with accidental overdoses of acetaminophen more than doubled between 2000 and 2007. The analysis of data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers found a rise in liver damage caused by acetaminophen alone, and in medicine combining it with opiate drugs, which includes the painkiller Vicodin.

The study lacked data on alcohol use, but it's likely some cases involved drinking, said study author Randall Bond, a medical toxicologist at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Most liver damage seen in the study was minor, he said.

Of course, routine, excessive use of alcohol alone can cause liver damage, so making hangovers a habit is not a good idea.

Time is really the only cure, Zakhari said. Because drinking alcohol can cause fitful sleep, getting extra sleep the next day can help. Zakhari advises calling in sick if it happens to be workday.

"I have seen some people go to work with a hangover and their output is somewhere between zero and 1," he said.

As for Zakhari, he's never even been drunk. He can't tolerate alcohol.

"If I drink more than one drink, I get nauseous and vomit," he said.

So to celebrate this year, he'll probably have a "casual glass of wine with dinner with friends and watch the ball drop."

Cheers!

____

Online:

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: http://www.niaaa.nih.gov

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_he_me/us_med_holiday_hangovers

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Verizon: Future 4G LTE Outages Won't Affect the Whole Country (Mashable)

Verizon's been having a lousy month. On top of the PR disaster of introducing a new $2 service fee for paying bills online, the wireless carrier with the reputation for having the best service suffered no less than three outages for its ultra-fast 4G LTE data network. Now the company has finally come forward and explained itself. Each of the outages was caused by an separate bug, Verizon says, though none as serious as the one that took down the entire network for an extended period in April. Now Verizon says it's taking a key step to prevent nationwide LTE outages: geo-segmentation. By partitioning the network by area, the carrier can isolate problems before they spread and take down the whole system.

[More from Mashable: Verizon Kills $2 Fee Plan Amid Consumer Outrage]

The April ?berbug was caused by a bug in the very core of the network, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), Verizon vice president of network engineering Mike Haberman revealed to GigaOm. All of this month's outages also involved issues with the IMS, though none were quite as fundamental to the system's operation as the one in April.

The first outage this month happened on Dec. 7 when an IMS backup database failed. The second, on Dec. 20, was caused by a key network element not responding properly. And for the third, which occurred this past Wednesday, two network elements weren't communicating right.

[More from Mashable: Verizon Customers Suffer Third Outage in December [VIDEO]]

Although customers' phones should automatically switch to 3G signals when LTE isn't functioning, that didn't happen for some customers. That was because of the nature of an IMS failure -- the network is still transmitting radio signals just fine, it just can't recognize devices running on it. Verizon was eventually able to force those phones to switch to 3G, but not right away.

Although Verizon says it take outages seriously, it makes no guarantees that more of them won't occur. Verizon's 4G LTE network is the world's largest, and the carrier says these kind of outages are simply par for the course when you're pioneering a next-generation wireless network. LTE is a generational shift in data networking technology, and Verizon was the first carrier to deploy it in the United States. AT&T has since followed with its own LTE network, and Sprint plans to debut the tech in 2012.

Were you affected by Verizon's disabled LTE service? Has it changed your thoughts on the carrier in any way? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of Eric Hauser, Flickr

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20111230/tc_mashable/verizon_future_4g_lte_outages_wont_affect_the_whole_country

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Italy raises $14 billion at much lower rates (AP)

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ROME (AP) ? Italy saw investors more willing to part with their cash Wednesday as it raised euro10.7 billion ($14 billion) in a pair of auctions, a sign that market jitters may be easing as the country presses ahead with its austerity measures.

The lower rates Italy had to pay are the first post-Christmas test of sentiment in the markets over the debt crisis that has engulfed the 17 countries that use the euro, and may be a signal that some of last week's massive injection of money into the European banking system from the European Central Bank may be filtering through into government bonds.

The scale of the falls in Italy's funding costs were dramatic and helped the country's benchmark ten-year bond yield in the markets ease further below the 7 percent level, widely considered to be unsustainable in the long-run.

The Bank of Italy said the average yield on its euro9 billion ($11.8 billion) six-month bill offering was 3.251 percent, half the 6.504 percent rate it had to pay at the equivalent auction last month. And an auction of two-year bonds, which raised euro1.732 billion ($2.3 billion), also saw the yield fall to 4.853 percent from 7.814 percent last month.

Italy is the eurozone's third-largest economy and is considered too big to save under the eurozone's current bailout funds. Markets have grown fearful over the past few months that Italy will find it difficult to pay off its massive debts, which stand at around euro1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion).

A further test of investors' appetite for Italian debt will come Thursday when the country offers more bonds, that could potentially raise a similar amount to Wednesday's offerings.

"Today's result sends a positive signal ahead of tomorrow three-year and ten-year auction," said Luca Cazzulani, deputy head of fixed income strategy at Unicredit.

Mario Monti, the country's new premier, got parliamentary approval last week for more spending cuts and tax increases intended to save the country from financial disaster. One of the most controversial aspects of the austerity package is reform of Italy's bloated pension system.

Later Wednesday, Monti is to chair a Cabinet meeting on a second wave of measures designed to boost Italy's anemic economy, which is expected to enter into recession in the first quarter of the new year.

The market responded positively to the auctions, with Italian shares outperforming their peers in Europe ? the main FTSE MIB index was up 0.9 percent by lunchtime ? and the yield on the country's 10-year bond back down at 6.75 percent. On Tuesday, the yield had spiked over 7 percent ? a level that is considered unsustainable in the long run and eventually forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek outside financial help.

The lower borrowing costs appeared a consequence of increased confidence that Monti's efforts will keep the country's finances on a sustainable path.

Demand for the bonds could also have been supported as well by a large infusion of credit to eurozone banks last week from the European Central Bank. There has been speculation that the stronger banks might use the cheap, long-term loans ? on which the current interest rate is 1 percent ? to purchase government bonds that carry higher interest rates and profit from the difference.

That could support both government and bank finances. But it would run contrary to efforts by many banks to lower their exposure to bonds issued by heavily indebted governments.

___

AP Business Writer David McHugh contributed from Frankfurt, Germany.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_financial_crisis

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Cloud storage sites by Amazon, Google, Apple, Carbonite compared

If you've ever had your laptop stolen, watched your toddler baptize your PC with Pepsi, or had your MacBook come to a cold, dead stop, you know that the digital memories we store on our home computers are anything but indelible.

But now there's a special place coalescing where data never dies: It's called the cloud.

Internet giants Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. have relied for years on cloud computing, where information is split up and stored across large networks of remote servers, rather than all in one place. When storing a holiday dinner photo, for instance, Google slices it into many shreds of data that are then duplicated and sent to dozens of data centers all over the world. That way, if one data center melts down or has a long power outage, your family portrait can be reassembled from the pieces still stored in the center's surviving peers.

The good news is that as the Internet has gotten faster and data centers have multiplied, the price of storing files in the cloud has dropped. For many consumers, storing copies of all of your music, photos and documents in the cloud is now an affordable option ? and one that will protect you from waking up with your memories erased.

Take Carbonite, a cloud backup product that for $59 a year will create a complete online copy of your computer, so that if you lose any file ? or all your files ? you can restore it through a Web browser. Once you install the automatic backup application on your computer, Carbonite will make sure to copy every new file to its servers, so you never have to upload anything manually. If you accidentally delete a file from your computer, you have 30 days to access the backup before Carbonite deletes the file too.

Amazon also has a set of cloud storage services. Its Cloud Player will let you upload your music collection to the Internet so that you can access it from any of your computers or mobile devices. The software automatically searches your computer for music files and uploads them all into nice, organized categories.

Amazon has a more general storage service called Cloud Drive, which allows you to upload and store videos, photos, documents and other files. The service is free for the first 5 gigabytes of storage. That's enough to fit about 1,000 MP3 music files and 1,000 photos ? a good start, but probably not enough to hold your entire collections. For a monthly fee, you can upgrade to larger accounts, from 20 gigabytes ($20 a year) to 1,000 gigabytes ($1,000 a year). For most people, the latter would be enough for complete collections of your photos, music and documents, as well as a few shelves of full-length movies.

The Cloud Drive has a bothersome limitation, though: Instead of an automatic upload feature like the one Carbonite has, you have to manually upload files, which makes loading hundreds or thousands of files extremely time-consuming. At this point, it's best for a limited number of files, perhaps the ones you'd most like to have copies of.

Google offers a similar service through its Google Docs feature. You can upload most kinds of files to your Google Docs list, up to 1 gigabyte for free. Its prices for more space are lower than Amazon's: $5 a year for 20 gigabytes and $100 a year for 400 gigabytes. You can go up to 16 terabytes for $4,100, but that's more than you'll need unless you store a lot of high-quality video.

Apple has a somewhat more limited system called iCloud, which tends to store only documents or music files that you create or purchase through Apple. Unlike with Amazon or Google, you can't upload music files that you didn't purchase in Apple's store, nor can you back up your work documents if they weren't created on Apple's word processing tools. ICloud does have an interesting tool called iTunes Match, however, which will scan your music collection and, if the songs are available on iTunes, it will create a virtual copy of your music collection in the cloud that you can access from any of your Apple devices.

A caveat to prospective cloud users: Although your data will be safer from accidental deletion in the cloud, other concerns about this new technology remain.

Companies like Amazon and Google are sometimes vulnerable to outages, during which large swaths of their cloud servers go off line, sometimes for hours or days, rendering huge amounts of data inaccessible.

Those storing highly sensitive data ? business plans, invention blueprints, compromising photos ? may want to hold off for now: The cloud is secure, but it's no Ft. Knox. Unlike in a locked safety deposit box at a bank, your cloud data will often be accessible to some employees at the company storing your data. Moreover, the cloud can be hacked just like any other computer system, and security researchers believe that cyber criminals are likely to ramp up cloud attacks in the coming year.

But for regular old family snapshots, music files and writing drafts, the cloud is providing an affordable and convenient way to keep your digital stuff safe.

david.sarno@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/business/~3/xaPylWa4ckw/la-fi-tech-savvy-cloud-20111229,0,5265913.story

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Pygmy Hippo at Night

By Bora Zivkovic?| December 28, 2011 |??

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Video of the Week #23, December 28th, 2011

From: Caught on Video: Endangered Pygmy Hippo Seen Slipping through Nighttime Liberia by John R. Platt at Extinction Countdown.

Original source: Forestry Development Authority of Liberia, Fauna and Flora International, and the Zoological Society of London(ZSL) on YouTube

Footage of the elusive pygmy hippo in its native habitat is very rarely captured. This week?s video provides some brief glimpses of a specimen as it darts between the underbrush in Liberia?s Sapo National Park. The video was shot using camera traps set by the Forestry Development Authority of Liberia, Fauna and Flora International and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL). Very little is known about the demographics and behavior of the pygmy hippos in the wild, and conservationists fear that populations may become extinct due to overhunting and habitat destruction. The efforts of the ZSL aim to fund local research projects in Liberia in order to better understand the ecological requirements of these elusive creatures.

About the Author: Bora Zivkovic is the Blog Editor at Scientific American, chronobiologist, biology teacher, organizer of ScienceOnline conferences and editor of Open Laboratory anthologies of best science writing on the Web. Follow on Twitter @boraz.

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The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=c969a4293ee857d8083b4e9ca90a1dc0

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12/30 THIS DAY IN HISTORY: DR. DEATH STEVE WILLIAMS PASSES AWAY, VADER WINS WCW WORLD TITLE FOR SECOND TIME, ROH FINAL BATTLE 2007, MID-ATLANTIC BELT CHANGES HANDS IN CHINA AND MORE

By Mike Johnson on 2011-12-30 08:00:00

December 30th

On this day in history ...

1952 - Ben and Mike Sharpe win the San Francisco version of the NWA World Tag Team Title for the seventh time, defeating Fred Atkins and Ray Eckert.

1955 - Henry Lenz and Kurt Von Poppenheim defeat Bill Savage and Buck Weaver to win the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title.

1966 - Paul Jones defeats Tony Borne for the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Title, ending Borne's seventh reign and beginning his second.

1968 - Bobby and Lee Fields defeat The Mighty Yankees (Frank Morrell and Eddie Sullivan) in Memphis, Tennessee to win the Mid-America version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Title.

1972 - The Sheik defeats Bobo Brazil for the Detroit version of the NWA United States Heavyweight Title in Detroit, Michigan. This ended Brazil's fifth reign and began The Sheik's third.

1972 - Verne Gagne and Bill Robinson defeat Nick Bockwinkel and Ray Stevens for the AWA World Tag Team Title in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1975 - Black Gordman and Goliath defeat Rock Riddle and John Tolos to win their 10th NWA Americas Tag Team Title.

1978 - Terry Funk defeats Dick Slater for the NWA Florida Southern Heavyweight Title in St. Petersburg, Florida, ending Slater's third reign and beginning Funk's second.

1978 - Dick Murdoch defeats Buck Robley in Kansas City, Kansas for the NWA Central States Heavyweight Title.

1984 - The WWF ran at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Ontario. The results were:
- Angelo Mosca, Jr. (making his WWF debut) pinned Goldie Rogers.
- Bret Hart defeated Terry Gibbs.
- Mike Rotundo defeated Swede Hanson.
- Barry Windham defeated Rene Goulet.
- Tony Atlas defeated The Spoiler.
- Andre the Giant and Blackjack Mulligan fought Ken Patera and Big John Studd to a double disqualification.
- Jimmy Snuka pinned Bob Orton, Jr.

1984 - Terry Taylor defeats Eddie Gilbert to win the CWA/AWA International Heavyweight Championship in Memphis, Tennessee, ending Gilbert's second reign.

1985 - The WWF held an event at Madison Square Garden before 20,225 fans. The results:
- Special Delivery Jones pinned Ron Shaw with an inside cradle.
- Jim Neidhart and B. Brian Blair fought to a 15-minute draw.
- Hercules defeated Jose Luis Rivera by submission with a backbreaker.
- Adrian Adonis pinned Lanny Poffo after a bulldog.
- Randy Savage defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan by countout.
- Big John Studd pinned Tony Atlas with a flying bodypress.
- The Haiti Kid pinned Butch Cassidy with a reverse roll-up.
- Jim Brunzell pinned Bret Hart with a backslide.
- WWF Tag Team Champions Brutus Beefcake and Greg Valentine defeated Hillbilly Jim and Uncle Elmer, when Beefcake pinned Elmer.

1985 - Bill Dundee defeats Jerry Lawler for the AWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee. This began Dundee's ninth reign and ended Lawler's 36th.

1985 - Tim Horner wins the Southeastern version NWA United States Junior Heavyweight Title for the second time in Birmingham, Alabama, defeating Ken Timbs.

1986 - Dos Caras defeats Canek to win the UWA World Heavyweight Title, ending Canek's sixth reign and beginning his own second.

1988 - Cactus Jack defeats Eric Embry for the World Class Light Heavyweight Title in Dallas, Texas, ending Embry's fourth reign.

1988 - Makhan Singh (Mike Shaw) and Vokhan Singh (Gary Albright) defeat The British Bulldogs (The Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith) to win the Stampede International Tag Team Title in Calgary, Alberta, ending the Bulldogs' second reign.

1989 - King Cobra defeats Jerry Lawler to win the USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee, ending Lawler's third reign.

1989 - The Lethal Weapons (Dennis Condrey and Doug Gilbert) defeat Phil Apollo and Vic Steamboat (subbing for Eric Sbraccia) for Apollo and Sbraccia's International Championship Wrestling Tag Team Title in Augusta, Maine, ending their second reign.

1992 - Big Van Vader defeats Ron Simmons in Baltimore, Maryland to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title, beginning his second reign.

1994 - The first-annual CMLL Torneo Gran Alternativa is held in Mexico City, Mexico. The tournament features eight teams, each pairing an established veteran with a relative newcomer. Negro Casas and Hector Garza won the tournament, defeating Satanico and Archangel de la Muerte in the finals.

1997 - As part of the "NWA Invasion" angle in the WWF, on RAW is WAR in New Haven, Connecticut, Jeff Jarrett defeats Barry Windham to win the NWA North American Heavyweight Title.

1998 - Sam Muchnick, longtime promoter of the St. Louis territory, and president of the National Wrestling Alliance from 1950 to 1960 and 1963 to 1975, which he had a hand in founding, dies at age 93. Muchnick's St. Louis Wrestling Club promotion produced the legendary show "Wrestling at the Chase", which aired locally on Saturday nights.

1999 - Tim White defeats Ricky Murdock for the NWA Southern Television Title in Dyersburg, Tennessee.

1999 - Warlock defeats Billy Fives to win the Future of Wrestling International Title in Davie, Florida. At the same event, FP&L defeat Wildside (Anthony Michaels and Jeff Roth) for the FOW Tag Team Title, ending Wildside's second reign.

1999 - Kid Ego defeats Mikey Whipwreck to win the Hardcore Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Title.

2000 - Christopher Daniels defeats Donovan Morgan in the finals of the first-ever King of the Indies Tournament, held by All Pro Wrestling in Galt, California. Daniels and Morgan would become the first ROH Tag Team Champions two years later.

2000 - Mark Wolf wins his second IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Title, defeating Paul E. Smooth in Charlestown, Indiana, ending Smooth's day-long second reign. At the same show, Cash Flo also ended Ian Rotten's eighth reign as IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Champion.

2001 - The X Wrestling Federation held an event at the Brown County Arena in Green Bay, Winsconsin. The results:
- Greg Valentine defeated Hail.
- Drezden defeated Big Vito.
- XWF Cruiserweight Champion Kid Kash defeated Josh Mathews.
- British Storm defeated Norman Smiley.
- Jim Duggan defeated The Wall.
- Buff Bagwell defeated Curt Hennig and Vampiro in a Triple Threat match.
- The Road Warriors (Animal and Hawk) defeated XWF Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags).

2001 - The Elements of Suicide (Cinna and Onix) defeat The Damned (Draven and Matthew Storm) to win their second Power League Wrestling New Tag Team Title in West Warwick, Rhode Island. That same day, Johnny Angel won the PLW Heavyweight Title from Dr. Heresy.

2003 - At a SmackDown! taping in Laredo, Texas, Rey Mysterio wins his second WWE Cruiserweight Title, ending Tajiri's second reign and third overall (he held one during the WCW/ECW Invasion). This began Mysterio's seventh Cruiserweight Title reign overall.

2003 - Steve Williams defeats Terry Taylor in Guangzhou, China to win the NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title.

2005 - IWA Mid-South held its third-annual Revolution Strong Style Tournament in Streamwood, Illinois. The results:
- Trik Davis defeated Claudio Castagnoli.
- Samoa Joe defeated Tank in a Revolution Strong Style Tournament first round match.
- B.J. Whitmer defeated Corporal Robinson in a Revolution Strong Style Tournament first round match.
- Chris Hero defeated Ian Rotten in a Revolution Strong Style Tournament first round match.
- ICW/ICWA Tex-Arkana Television Champion Larry Sweeney defeated Colt Cabana and Delirious to retain the title.
- IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Champion Jimmy Jacobs defeated Bull Pain by disqualification.
- Mickie Knuckles defeated NWA Midwest Women's Champion Daizee Haze in a non-title match.
- Necro Butcher defeated Eddie Kingston in a Revolution Strong Style Tournament first round match.
- IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Champion Tyler Black, Marek Brave and Matt Sydal defeated Josh Abercrombie and Brandon and IWA Mid-South Tag Team Champion Vito Thomaselli in an elimination match.
- Chris Hero defeated Samoa Joe in a Revolution Strong Style Tournament semifinal match.
- Necro Butcher defeated B.J. Whitmer in a Revolution Strong Style Tournament semifinal match.
- Chris Hero defeated Necro Butcher to win the Revolution Strong Style Tournament.

2005 - Jeff Lewis defeats Slim J. for the NWA Anarchy Television Title in Cornelia, Georgia, beginning his second reign. At the same show, Pomp and Circumstance (Ace Rockwell and Shaun Tempers) defeat The Urban Assault Squad (Shadow Jackson and Nemesis) to win the NWA Anarchy Tag Team Title.

2006 - Steve Greene defeats Brass Munkey for the Carolina Wrestling Federation Mid-Atlantic Television Title in Burlington, North Carolina.

2006 - Jon Moxley defeats Brian Jennings, J.T. Stahr and Matt Stryker in a four-way match to win the vacant Heartland Wrestling Association Heavyweight Title in Dayton, Ohio.

2006 - Kilo defeats Tank in Dyersburg, Tennessee for the New Blood Wrestling Heavyweight Title.

2007 - Ring of Honor held Final Battle 2007 in The Manhattan Center in New York City with the following live report:

*Bobby Dempsey, who was super over, pinned Mitch Franklin.

*Jigsaw and Ruckus defeated Bobby Fish and Matt Cross in a fun opener.

*Larry Sweeney, who unsuccessfully tried to get out of the match, pinned Claudio Castagnoli after Daniel Puder laid out Sweeney's bad leg. Tank Toland tried to finish the job but was nailed with Ricola Bomb.

*Jack Evans pinned the Necro Butcher in a No DQ Match. Mercedes Martinez debuted, attacking Lacey, which allowed Evans to roll up Butcher. Really fun match including Evans hitting a sunset flip powerbomb off the apron to the floor and Butcher giving Evans a backbreaker across two back to back chairs facing away from each other. Martinez is the newest member of the Vulture Squad.

*In an excellent back and forth wrestling match, Naomichi Marufuji pinned Davey Richards with sliced bread #2. Richards hit an incredible dive out of the ring, taking out Marufuji and landing in the third row. Awesome stuff.

*Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard filmed an opening for a ROH Videowire.

*In a No DQ Tables Are Legal Match, The Hangmen Three defeated Kevin Steen & El Generico & Delirious when Adam Pearce hit a piledriver off a table placed in the top turnbuckle through a tabke on Delirious. Luke Williams hit the ring and did the Bushwhackers battering ram with Delirious and did the march around the ring with all the babyfaces. Pelle Primeau returned from injuries sustained at the hands of the Hangmen Three to hit a top rope Frankensteiner through a table on Shane Hagadorn. The Hangmen drilled Steen and Generico with spike piledrivers after the match.

*Rocky Romero defeated Ernie Osyris via tapout.

*ROH champion Nigel McGuinness came out and cut a promo saying he doesn't remember his match last night and teased forfeiting the belt. He then said he was keeping the belt because of the fans who supported him and understand his sacrifices and in spite of the fans who don't understand.

*Erick Stevens pinned Roderick Strong to win the FIP championship. *In a Four Way to determine the top contender to the ROH title, Bryan Danielson defeated Austin Aries via submission in a bout that also featured Takeshi Morishima and Chris Hero.? Eliminations saw All three pin Morishima.? Aries pinned Hero.? Awesome bout.

*The Age of The Fall, Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs defeated ROH Tag Team champions The Briscoes to win the belts in an excellent match.

2008 - WWE released Barry Windham from his role as a producer for the company.

2009 - Former UWF and All Japan Triple Crown champion Steve "Dr. Death" Williams lost his battle with cancer, passing away at the age of 49.

2009 - WWE debuted at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY with what would be their final live event of the 2000-2009 decade.? Matt Besieda filed the following results:

Live Report from the last WWE Show of the Decade, The Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY Supershow

Howard Finkle was out first to warm up the crowd.

ECW champ Christian beat Shelton Benjamin in a Babyface vs. babyface match

Triple Threat MVP vs. Swagger vs. Miz, who had a huge amount of heat, for the U.S. title.? Miz picked up the Win.

Then a Santa's Little Helper Divas match, which the babyfaces won..

Kane Defeated Big Show, who had a big pop,

Drew McIntyre won with a clean pin over John Morrison,? Both were impressive)

Batista over Rey Mysterio in a Falls Count Anywhere bout.? Batista must of got hit with a hard shot, because he had a lot of color in and around his right eye.

DX & Kofi over Legacy.? A great six man.? On Live TV you cant really build a hot tag as much due to time contrasts, but live is awesome. Interesting note -, All members of Legacy had their trunks pulled down by DX at one point, something they probably wouldn't be able to get away with on PG television.

Cena over Sheamus via DQ.? Cena sold most of the match, Sheamus has so great moves but he is quite green as he botched a few of them.? Cena thanked the fans and talked about it being the last WWE of the decade.

2010 - News broke locally in Philadelphia that former CZW champion Nick Gage was being sought in a New Jersey bank robbery.?? Gage, real name Nick Wilson, was sought by New Jersey authorities after surveillance cameras caught Gage leaving a Collingswood, New Jersey PNC Bank on 12/22 after handing a female bank teller a note demanding money under the threat of shooting her with a gun.? Gage escaped on foot with $3,000 and later went to a casino in Atlantic City, NJ.?? Gage eventually turned himself into authorities and plead guilty, citing a painkiller addiction as being a factor in why he robbed the bank.? Gage is currently serving a prison sentence.

2010 - TNA broadcast Impact.? Stu Carapola filed the following TV report:

We look back at last week's Foley-Flair confrontation where Foley wanted to prevent the upcoming Ken Anderson-Matt Morgan match for fear of Anderson's well being and then Flair and Eric Bischoff called him out as a hypocrite for making his living doing the kinds of stuff that causes injuries like Anderson's.

We then head into the Impact Zone where Mick Foley comes to the ring to address the crowd. He asks Anderson to join him in the ring, which he does, and then Foley reminds him of when they met some years back and were with an injured serviceman at the hopstial with Miss America, and Miss America meant to say they can take a picture of her with the serviceman and then she can take a picture of them with the serviceman, but what she ended up suggesting was that they do her first and then she can do the two of them together. The point is they both understand the nature of the wrestling business and the biggest lie he ever told in his career, one he told over and over, was that he was okay, and what he needed was someone to tell him that he wasn't okay. So he's here to tell Anderson that he's not okay, and to think of his family and the future little assholes he and his wife will have, and he's here to tell Anderson to think twice before he gets in the ring with Matt Morgan. Anderson thanks him and the people, and he respects Mick and his opinion, but he finds it offensive that he's doubting Anderson and calling him a liar. He's been checked out and medically cleared to wrestle Morgan, and Foley says he doesn't think he's not ready, but he also doesn't think Anderson's thinking of his future. Anderson thanks him for setting the bar so high, and Foley says that he knew what he was getting into when he was diving off of stuff in the 80s, but the fact is that once you mess your brain up, you mess it up for good. Anderson says Foley's not listening to him and is still calling him a liar, and says that if you can't get along, get it on. Matt Morgan comes out to the ring (to a loud Morgan chant), and he asks Anderson if this is going to be two guys going at it to prove who's the best, or if it's another Anderson con game. One of the first things Morgan learned in this business is that you can't trust anyone, and Morgan says that when the bell rings at Genesis, it's going to be on, and it doesn't matter to Morgan whether or not he's at 100% because he'll have no choice at that point but to go through him and go on to the TNA World Title. Anderson reminds Morgan that he's dealing with an asshole, and he's going to do whatever he has to in order to go through him and get to Jeff Hardy. Anderson says nobody's listening to him so they don't have to wait until Sunday, and the two of them get ready to fight when Jeff Hardy's music hits. Whoa, are they going to let him talk?!? Hardy says that he's the one who gave Anderson and gave him a concussion, and he could have hurt him permanently if he wanted but he didn't because he's a professional and he knows what he's doing. Both of them are ready to wrestle, so Hardy's making a tag match tonight with the two of them on opposite sides and Hardy has chosen their partners.

We go backstage to Eric Young, who is dressed as Moses and making up his own Commandments, including that Thou shalt have booze, Thou shalt have donuts, and Thou shalt have the greatest party ever. Orlando Jordan comes in and reminds him that he's not Moses, he's supposed to be Father Time, and that he himself is the Baby New Year, helpfully dressed in a giant diaper with a sash over his shoulder. I know I shouldn't admit this as a somewhat credible internet writer, but I can't help but get a chuckle out of these two.

Tonight: Sarita takes on Velvet Sky in a strap match, the latest installment of the Double J MMA Challenge, and Matt Morgan and Ken Anderson face each other with mystery partners chosen by Jeff Hardy!

Let's go to the ring for our first match...

Robert Roode vs Chris Sabin

Hammerlock reversal sequence to start, Sabin does a fancy flippy escape but Roode gets a headlock, Sabin fires him into the ropes and Roode hits a shoulderblock. Roode off the ropes again and Sabin gets a pair of armdrags and an armbar. They go to the corner and Roode hits a chop, but Sabin dodges a second and hits some chops of his own, then leapfrogs Roode and gets another armdrag into an armbar. Roode fights his way out but gets tossed to the apron and Sabin baseball slides Roode's legs out from under him and then hits a dive to the floor. We see James Storm and Alex Shelley watching the action from the floor as Sabin rolls Roode back into the ring and covers for 2. Sabin gets the boot up on a Roode charge, goes to the apron and tries a springboard something, but Roode catches him in a fireman's carry and dumps him backward on his face and that gets Roode a 2 count. Sabin tries a sunset flip and only gets 2 and Roode rips his head off with a hard clothesline for 2. Roode gets a chinlock as they plan out their next several spots, Roode picks him up and goes for a suplex but Sabin slips out the back and takes Roode down with a series of running forearms and a flying headscissors off the second rope. Sabin with a springboard clothesline from the apron for 2 and then they fight over a waistlock, Roode gets an O'Connor Roll with the tights for 2, Sabin reverses to a rollup of his own for 2, then hits a spinning enziguiri for 2 again. Sabin with a running Yakuza kick in the corner and then he goes up top for a springboard tornado DDT, but Roode blocks and hits a spinebuster for the clean win.

Winner: Robert Roode

Roode points at Shelley as he comes in to check on his partner and motions that they're taking the title at Genesis.

Rob Van Dam is backstage saying that tonight he's wrestling a mystery opponent and it doesn't matter who it is unless it's Jeff Hardy, because all he wants is to get Hardy in the ring and nothing else matters to him.

We go back to Orlando and Eric Young's party, and Young is sitting on Orlando's lap and Orlando is asking Eric to read his Christmas list to him again. Eric says he's already read it to him several times and he's not sure how this is going to make them a better team, when suddenly we hear the glass break and here comes the Rattlesnake himself...SHARK BOY! He says that this is a great party, especially since it gets him on TV because he's never on TV anymore, and then asks Eric if there's anything he can do to get him on TV more since he's tight with Bischoff. Orlando Jordan suggests sitting on his lap and reading him his Christmas list, and Shark Boy sits on Orlando's lap, then decides that he needs more beer first so he leaves. Eric says he's drunk already, and they need to keep their eye on him because he drinks like a fish. This stuff is just too much.

We go back to the ring as Rob Van Dam comes out for his match, and he says that we get it, it's clear that he's in charge of TNA...for the time being. That's why he's out here now waiting on his mystery opponent. It's nothing he can't handle so he will handle it, and he'll tell him that there's no stopping Rob Van Dam until Bischoff puts him in the ring with Jeff Hardy, and that's why he's the Whole F'n Show. Here comes his opponent...

Rob Van Dam vs Robbie E

Well, that's a bit underwhelming. RVD gets a big chant from the crowd and Robbie E fist pumps in RVD's face so RVD does the Rob Van Dam pointing thing and then kicks him in the face. Robbie tries a kick of his own and RVD dodges and spinkicks him, beats him up in the corner, and monkeyflips him damn near across the ring. Robbie tries a hiptoss but RVD with another big kick and goes for Rolling Thunder but Cookie grabs the ankle and sets Robbie up to hit a clothesline and then nail a series of punches and cover for a 2 count. Robbie with a rear chinlock, RVD fights his way out and gets a jumpkick off the second rope and now hits the Rolling Thunder (splash variety) and then the Five Star Notebook Splash for the win.

Winner: Rob Van Dam

RVD celebrates, but wait a minute, Jeff Hardy's on the screen! If RVD wants revenge, that's what he'll get...in due time. First, he has to beat an opponent that was carefully chosen for him at Genesis, and if he survives then he'll get his hands on Hardy.

We go backstage to Sarita, who is appalled that Velvet Sky is challenging her to a strap match tonight, and what she did to Velvet in the locker room last week will be nothing compared to what she'll do to her tonight.

Frankie Kazarian comes out with a couple of chicks and says that Hogan, Bischoff, and Flair have put a bounty on every title in TNA, so at Genesis, he's going to take the TNA Title from Jay Lethal. I'll assume he meant the X-Division Title. He's going to talk about Lethal's history and why he is the way he is (and we see video clips from the Lethal background piece from a few weeks ago throughout this monologue): he talks about Lethal's childhood home and how he was so poor his folks had to bring the garbage in. The front door and back door were on the same hinge, and it wasn't just Jay that was raised in this crackhouse (his words), there were a whole clan of cretins raised there, like his brothers Keenan Ivory and Damon Lethal, and his sisters Whitney and Beyonce Lethal. He blames Jay Lethal's mother for all this because she is so fugly, rancid, and disgusting that she...well, she fits in with everyone here at the Impact Zone. Jay Lethal has finally had enough and tears down to the ring to go after Kazarian, but Kazarian whips out a telescoping baton and cracks Lethal in the face with it.

We go backstage as Mick Foley steps into Eric Bischoff's office and Flair yells at him to knock on the door, but Foley says that they put Anderson and Morgan in a tag match and won't tell them who their partners are going to be. They're messing with Anderson's head and he demands that they tell them who their partners are so they can prepare as professional wrestlers. Flair says that Foley shouldn't even be here and he should have him locked up for even being here. Flair kicks Foley out, and Foley says they can make whatever match they want because he'll be at ringside watching, and Flair warns him not to get hurt while he's at ringside.

Strap Match: Velvet Sky vs Sarita

Sarita stalls while Velvet yells at her to put it on, and finally Sarita attaches the strap to her wrist and the match starts. Sarita immediately bails to the floor but Velvet yanks her off her feet and goes out after her, and Sarita gets up and rams her into the apron and then starts whipping Velvet with the strap. Sarita rolls Velvet back in the ring and ties her wrists with the strap and starts dragging her from corner to corner. Sarita gets to 2 before trying (and missing) an elbowdrop. Velvet is revitalized and gets a couple of strap clotheslines and then uses the strap to trip Sarita and the strap comes free from Sarita. Referee Jamal Jackson (or whatever his name is) reattaches it, and Velvet goes right back to whipping Sarita and then chokes her with the strap, using it to hang Sarita over her back as she goes from corner to corner with Sarita touching each corner right behind her. Finally when we get to the fourth corner Sarita puts on the brakes and yanks Velvet across thering by the strap and touches the fourth corner for the win.

Winner: Sarita

Sarita attacks Velvet with the strap again after the match until Angelina Love runs in to make the save. Velvet picks herself up and yells at Angelina to just leave her alone.

We go back to Orlando and Eric's party, which now includes Shark Boy (who is saying that he technically works for TNA, but part of that is being on TV and he's never on TV) as well as Brian Kendrick, who wants Eric to show him some of his stick fighting moves. Eric lashes around and knocks stuff over, and Orlando reminds him that he's not allowed to poke guys with his staff, and then asks if the girls will ever show up, and Eric says that of course they will because he created this party and he's Moses.

We go to commercial and when we come back, we see that during the commercial break Velvet was having a fit about losing to Sarita again and walked out. We now go backstage where Angelina finds Sarita and kicks her ass for screwing with her friend. Sarita fights back and rams Angelina into the stairs, but Winter comes out of nowhere and drags Sarita off, sending her packing, and then goes to check on her partner.

We see a video package looking back at the year 2010 in TNA, and then we see Jeff Jarrett, who is backstage, and he's...WALKING!

We go elsewhere backstage as Doug Williams says he's got a tag match but no partner. As luck would have it, Brutus Magnus is in his locker room and is dressed to wrestle, and he comes out and tells Doug that he's been there for Magnus since day one and he'll be his partner tonight.

Okay, it's time for everybody's favorite segment of the show...

Double J MMA Challenge

Jarrett comes out, gets VASELINE RUBBED ON HIS FACE, and gloats about how quickly he tapped Red out last week and told him he did a good job, but needs a tougher challenge and asked Red if he has any relatives that can give him a challenge and Red said he has a little brother, so he tells Red to bring his brother out here now. Red comes out by himself and Jarrett invites him into the ring and says that he's not going to hurt him like he did last week, and that his baby brother probably has stage fright as he would if he had to fight himself, but he says he'll turn his back and give him the first shot, just get him out here. Red motions to the back and here comes...a big freaky looking version of Amazing Red. He stands behind Jarrett and taps him on the shoulder and Jarrett does the classic turn around and "oh crap" look.

Bell rings and Jarrett circles him warily before tying up and taking him to the ropes. Red #2 shoves him off and they start neutral again before tying back up and Red #2 takes Jarrett down in a flash with a Fujiwara armbar and Jarrett goes right to the ropes. Another neutral start and Jarrett shoots a single leg but Red #2 blocks and takes Jarrett down and gets a leg lace. Jarrett goes to the ropes for the break and immediately goes back after Red #2 and drills him in the head with punches, but Red #2 sits out and gets an ankle lock. Gunner & Muffin drag Jarrett out to the floor to safety and Red goes after them. Jarrett grabs the guitar and slips back in the ring in the confusion and the bell rings, I guess because this got so out of control. Red comes in and grabs the guitar and smashes it, and Jarrett bails to the floor and backpedals up the rampway yelling at Red #2 as he backs up the ramp. Red #2 gets a "thank you Brother" chant.

We go back to Bischoff's office after the commercial as Jarrett is suggesting to Bischoff that they not allow the tall, lanky guys into the Double J MMA Challenge anymore due to their being prone to injuring themselves getting in the ring. He also says that these should be framed as just exhibitions (with Bischoff responding "ah, like Thunderlips, right?"), and they also need a waiver that they need to sign. Bischoff says he likes it, but he looks less than impressed.

Time for our next match...

AJ Styles & Rob Terry vs British Invasion

British Invasion does the handshake and everything on the rampway as Taz reminds us that Rob Terry was the third member of the group, but it wasn't exactly like the Beatles. You know, we never did get that Terry-Magnus blowoff match, so this has been a long time coming. Magnus and AJ start and AJ goes right to a kick to the gut and a side headlock, but Magnus fires him into the ropes and gets a hiptoss and a full bodyslam, buy AJ goes to the eyes and tells Magnus that he wants Williams. Magnus obliges and tags Williams in and they circle one another for about two second before AJ tags Rob Terry in. They tie up and Terry powers Williams into the corner and then hits a pair of shoulderblocks to the ribs in the corner and chokes Williams with his boot. You know, after Williams and Magnus spent months running this guy down, how did he end up playing the heel in the situation? AJ begs for the tag and Terry tags him in, and AJ goes right for the Styles Clash but Williams quickly escapes and rams AJ into his own corner. AJ tags back out to Terry, who comes in and picks Williams up for a big delayed bodyslam and then tags AJ back in. AJ whips Doug into the corner and tries a Stinger Splash, but Doug dodges and hits an Exploder suplex. Williams tags Magnus and now Magnus comes in and cleans house on AJ, taking him out with a big backdrop. AJ tries a leapfrog out of the corner but Magnus catches him and gets a Davey Boy Smith-style powerslam and covers, but Terry breaks it up and chokes Magnus in the corner. Williams comes in and they double team Terry, but AJ with a springboard forearm takes Williams out and then he hits the Chaos Theory on Magnus for the win.

Winners: AJ Styles & Rob Terry

Madison Rayne is backstage, and she's...WALKING!

We go back to the party as Tara comes in with Generation Me while singing Broken. Orlando Jordan tells them that they can only come in if they take their shirts off. GenMe do as the Romans do, and then OJ starts to dance with Tara, setting off a brawl between OJ and GenMe. Brian Kendrick tells them all to stop because he has a message...and then realizes it's just gas and says nevermind. They go back to fighting.

Back to the ring, as Madison Rayne comes out to the ring, escorted by a bunch of dudes in tuxes. They form arches with their arms that she walks under, and then falls into their arms as they carry her to the ring. This whole episode of Impact is really just so bizarre. They carry her to the ring and place her on the apron so she can get in the ring and hold up her hand as they all walk past and kiss it one by one. Madison screams at So Cal Val to get on the apron and hand her a microphone. Madison tells everyone to drink it in because she has something very important to say right now SO SHUT UP. As she was saying, when she put on this $79,000, Vera Wang, one of a kind dress, she was just as speechless as they allSHUT UP! She knew she had to come out here to all her adoring fans and little people and show them how beautiful she is. She is their champion because she knows that they all want a champion full of class and elegance and all things perfect, and not some backwoods, cornfed, frumpy, flannel wearing, hardcore country slut. Now that does it, them's fighting words. Hardcore Country starts playing and Mickie comes strolling out, and Madison tells the cowgirl to come on in. Mickie grabs the microphone out of Madison's hand and tells her to shut up, and then suckerpunches Madison. Well, that's not very ladylike. Mickie gets a few clotheslines and then tears Madison's Wang off. Madison, now left in nothing but her undies, runs to the back in horror.

Matt Morgan is backstage, and he's...WALKING!

But before that main event starts, we go to a promo from Morgan as he talks about how he's had Hardy beaten twice now, but because of goofy stuff happening, it didn't happen and if there's an uncrowned champion in TNA, it's him. Now we go to Jeff Hardy who says that he is evolution, and he is the TNA World Champion. Now Ken Anderson says that he respects what Hardy's done, and if the fans appreciate what he does and want him as their champion, then fine, but he listens to the fans when Hardy's out there and he doesn't think they want that. Hardy says he doesn't care what the fans think.

We go outside the building where Pope is talking to someone at a kennel about getting a couple of pitbulls for the kids in his neighborhood. The guy warns them that they don't make good family pets, but Pope is undeterred so the fellow takes Pope on inside.

Back to the Impact Zone as Mick Foley joins Mike Tenay and Taz at the broadcast booth, and then it's main event time!

Ken Anderson & ?????? vs Matt Morgan & ??????

Anderson's partner is announced as Brother Ray after his entrance, and then Morgan comes out and is soon joined by...Brother Devon! Yep, saw that one coming. Devon starts, but Brother Ray refuses to get in so Anderson starts. Devon keeps yelling at Brother Ray to get in the ring and Anderson goes for the tag, but Ray pulls his hand away and walks away from him and drops off the apron. Meanwhile, Eric Bischoff comes out to the top of the ramp and sends Gunner and Muffin over to remove Foley from the booth. Foley starts to leave peacefully, but attacks them and uses Mr Socko to go after Muffin. Gunner hits Foley from behind with a baton and handcuff him and haul him out. While all that was going on, Brother Ray tagged himself in and nailed Devon from behind and started drilling him with rights and stomping him in the face. Ray with an elbowdrop and then continues the assault with more rights and a neckbreaker, then turns to the crowd and yells "I told you he was weak!" while pointing at Devon. Ray tags Anderson in and he walks right into a chinbreaker and then Devon tags Morgan as Anderson tags right back out to Ray. Ray nails Morgan and tags Anderson and pulls him into the ring. Anderson yells at Ray, then turns around and kicks Morgan in the gut and hits a DDT for 2. Anderson comes off the second rope but Morgan goozles and chokeslams him and goes for the cover, but Ray breaks up the fall. Devon chases Ray out of the ring and around ringside and goes face to face with Morgan and Morgan goes for a roaring clothesline, but Ray ducks and Morgan nails Anderson. Morgan hesitates for a second, then covers Anderson for the win.

Winners: Matt Morgan & Brother Devon

Morgan tries to help Anderson up but Anderson shoves him off and yells at him before sliding out of the ring to close the show.

Very interesting episode this week, in many ways. Some interesting booking with the way the main event was put together and the latest developments in the Double J MMA Challenge, and we also got some of the most bizarre stuff we've seen on Impact all year with the Eric Young/Orlando Jordan holiday party and Madison Rayne's...coronation? Interesting to watch at the very least.
?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/pwinsider/~3/kxY7e6klwr8/ViewArticle.php

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Mexico Arrests Cocaine Smuggler Wanted by US

Posted Wednesday, December 28th, 2011 at 9:25 pm

Mexico says it has arrested a suspected drug trafficking kingpin who also is wanted in the United States.

Mexican federal police Wednesday said they detained Luis Rodriguez Olivera, known as ?El Guero,? at Mexico City's international airport the day before. The U.S. had offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to his capture.

Rodriguez Olivera is accused of trafficking massive quantities of cocaine into the U.S. between 1996 and 2008. He also has been charged with money laundering.

The arrest is Mexico's second major blow against drug trafficking cartels in two weeks.

Last week, Mexican authorities captured a suspected lieutenant to the elusive leader of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel.

Felipe Cabrera, also known as ?The Engineer,? was said to be a top aide to the head of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin ?El Chapo? Guzman. Officials said Cabrera rose through the ranks by using violence against his rivals.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed thousands of troops across Mexico to fight the country's drug cartels. The spiraling violence has left at least 50,000 people dead.

Tags: Drugs, Mexico
Posted in US

Source: http://blogs.voanews.com/breaking-news/2011/12/28/mexico-arrests-cocaine-smuggler-wanted-by-us/

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Venezuela's Chavez: did U.S. give Latin American leaders cancer? (Reuters)

CARACAS (Reuters) ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speculated on Wednesday that the United States might have developed a way to give Latin American leaders cancer, after Argentina's Cristina Fernandez joined the list of presidents diagnosed with the disease.

It was a typically controversial statement by Venezuela's socialist leader, who underwent surgery in June to remove a tumor from his pelvis. But he stressed that he was not making any accusations, just thinking aloud.

"It would not be strange if they had developed the technology to induce cancer and nobody knew about it until now ... I don't know. I'm just reflecting," he said in a televised speech to troops at a military base.

"But this is very, very, very strange ... it's a bit difficult to explain this, to reason it, including using the law of probabilities."

Chavez, Fernandez, Paraguay's Fernando Lugo, Brazil's Dilma Rousseff and former Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have all been diagnosed recently with cancer. All of them are leftists.

Doctors say Fernandez has a very good chance of recovery and will not need chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Her diagnosis was made public on Tuesday.

Chavez said other regional leaders should beware, including his close ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales.

"We'll have to take good care of Evo. Take care Evo!" he said.

The 57-year-old is Latin America's loudest critic of U.S. foreign policy along with Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro, and he frequently lashes out at what he calls the "Yankee Empire".

CASTRO'S WARNING

"Fidel always told me, 'Chavez take care. These people have developed technology. You are very careless. Take care what you eat, what they give you to eat ... a little needle and they inject you with I don't know what,'" he said.

In his comments on Wednesday, Chavez also slammed Washington and its European allies for criticizing Russia's recent parliamentary elections - and said they were planning the same thing for Venezuela's presidential election in October, when he will seek re-election.

"They are crying fraud and saying the elections need to be re-run ... They're trying to destabilize no less than Russia, a nuclear power. That's the madness of the Empire," Chavez said.

"I say this because here in Venezuela, the Imperial Yankee, the local bourgeoisie, and a good part of what they call the opposition parties here, are preparing a similar plan," he said.

"I call on the armed forces to be alert, on the Venezuelan people to be alert. Because we are not going to let the Imperial Yankee destabilize Venezuela again like they did in the past."

Details about Chavez's health remain a closely guarded secret, although he now appears to be recovering and is making longer and longer televised appearances.

Earlier this month he made his first official foreign trip after his surgery, to a regional summit in Uruguay.

Since his return he has often appeared sporting something of a younger, new look: a dark sports coat over an open-necked maroon shirt, and is hair is growing back after chemotherapy.

It is far cry from the green fatigues and red beret that he became famous for wearing for much of his 13 years in power.

(Editing by Kieran Murray)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oddlyenough/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111228/od_nm/us_venezuela_usa_cancer

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Snow church opens in Bavaria

Snow church opens in Bavaria

A church built entirely of ice and snow has opened in Bavaria _ a century after villagers first built a snow church in an act of protest.

The church at Mitterfirmiansreut, near the Czech border, is more than 20 meters (65 feet) in length and boasts a tower. It's made up of some 1,400 cubic meters (49,000 cubic feet) of snow.

The structure was bathed in blue light as it opened Wednesday evening with a blessing from Dean Kajetan Steinbeisser.

But when the ancestors of today's villagers built the first snow church in 1911, they weren't thinking just of architectural achievement.

Steinbeisser says: "It was meant as an act of provocation _ believers from the village got together and built a snow church because they didn't have a church here."

Source: http://www.onenewsnow.com/AP/Search/World/Default.aspx?id=1504850

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What Are The Windows "Superphones" Coming Late 2012? [Rumors]

A leaked Windows Phone roadmap shows what we've got to look forward to in 2012. In the short term a batch of cheapy phones for the masses, but by the end of next year we could be looking at "superphones". More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Likv3rfpAzU/what-are-the-windows-superphones-coming-late-2012

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Legally port Siri to unsupported iPhones, iPad with Spire [Jailbreak]

iPhone jailbreak developer chpwn, along with the help of planetbeing and Ryan Petrich, have released Spire — a legal way to port Siri to currently unsupported iOS devices like iPhone 4 and iPad 2.

Spire uses a new method to obtain the files necessary for Siri, so

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Wmv_xN2kDhs/story01.htm

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Appeals court to review BofA $8.5 billion MBS pact (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? A U.S. appeals court agreed to resolve a dispute among institutional investors over whether Bank of America Corp's $8.5 billion mortgage debt settlement should be sent back to a New York state court for approval.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York on Tuesday said it plans to rule within a 60-day period on whether U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan correctly took the case from the state court.

It granted the requests of Bank of New York Mellon Corp, which as trustee negotiated the settlement, and investors including BlackRock Inc, MetLife Inc and Allianz SE's Pimco to appeal Pauley's decision.

Other investors, led by a group called Walnut Place, preferred that the case stay in federal court, which could result in higher recoveries.

The June settlement was intended to address much of Bank of America's remaining legal liability from the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank's 2008 purchase of mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp.

It would cover claims by investors in 530 mortgage securitization trusts with $174 billion of unpaid principal that the home loans underlying their investments were toxic or underwritten poorly.

Bank of New York Mellon had negotiated the accord with 22 institutional investors, and sought approval by New York State Supreme Court Justice Barbara Kapnick in Manhattan.

But Walnut Place and other investors that were not part of the talks, but would be bound by the outcome, complained that the $8.5 billion payout was too low.

Moving the case to federal court could make it easier for these investors to back out, or negotiate higher payouts.

In a two-page order, the 2nd Circuit asked the parties to address several issues, including whether the settlement was a "mass action" allowing federal court review.

"We have jurisdiction to determine our jurisdiction," the 2nd Circuit said.

Pauley had on October 19 said the case implicated "paramount federal interests" such as the integrity of nationally chartered banks and the vitality of financial markets.

Bank of America spokesman Lawrence Grayson declined to comment. Bank of New York Mellon spokesman Kevin Heine and David Grais, a lawyer for Walnut Place, did not immediately return calls.

The 2nd Circuit also granted Bank of America's request to file papers supporting requests for an appeal.

The cases are Bank of New York Mellon v. Walnut Place LLC et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Nos. 11-4554 and 11-4571.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Tim Dobbyn, Gary Hill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111227/bs_nm/us_bankofamerica_bnymellon_settlement

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CUPP's PunkThis graduates to tablets, earns a degree in security (hands-on video)

Remember CUPP Computing's PunkThis board we played with at Computex 2011? It's now left the confines of its 2.5-inch hard drive form-factor and jumped ship from a standard Asus netbook to a Core i5-equipped Eee Slate EP121, taking residence alongside the tablet's battery. As a refresher, PunkThis puts a complete ARM-based system into an x86 computer by replacing the SATA HDD with a single core 1GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 3730 processor, 512MB RAM and WiFi, along with a mini-PCIe socket for SSD storage, plus connectors for the host's video, audio and USB interfaces. While CUPP computing is still working hard to make PunkThis commercially available for tech-savvy individuals, it acquired Israeli security company Yoggie last July and built this demo machine to attract another kind of customer.

The tablet we tested was running Windows 7 Home Premium and Android 2.3.4 simultaneously, and was equipped with an additional button for switching between x86 and ARM modes. Since the Asus EP121 already uses a mini-PCIe SSD instead of 2.5-inch SATA storage, a prototype PunkThis board was designed to fit alongside a modified battery. Gingerbread didn't break a sweat supporting both the 1280x800-pixel capacitive touchscreen and pen-based Wacom digitizer thanks to some additional hardware and software tweaks. Beyond the ability to switch between Windows for heavy lifting and Android for improved battery life, it's possible to use both x86 and ARM side-by-side. Imagine antivirus and firewall software running on the PunkThis board in mission-critical security applications for enterprise, and it's easy to see where CUPP Computing is going with this. Check out the gallery below and our hands-on video after the break.

Gallery: CUPP PunkThis tablet hands-on

Continue reading CUPP's PunkThis graduates to tablets, earns a degree in security (hands-on video)

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/4F4aHTja46c/

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Let It Snow: The Science of Snowflakes

There?s a scene in Harper Lee?s To Kill a Mockingbird ? one of my all-time favorite novels ? where? the little girl-narrator, Scout, sees pretty white snow flakes falling and assumes the world is ending. She?s never seen snow before, since it?s a very rare occurrence in rural Alabama. The world didn?t end then, and it?s not ending now, but it?s just one more bit of evidence that weather is a very wacky thing.

Unless, like Scout, we?ve never experienced a genuine snowfall, we probably take snow a bit for granted. It?s just another form of precipitation, after all, and we have a pretty solid grasp of that particular cycle. Just for the record, snow is not frozen raindrops; that would be sleet. Under certain conditions, water vapor can condense directly into tiny ice crystals, skipping the raindrop phase altogether, and usually forming the shape of a hexagonal prism (two hexagonal ?basal? faces and six rectangular ?prism? faces).

But that crystal also attracts more cooled water drops in the air. Branchings sprout out from the single crystals? corners to form snowflakes of increasingly complex shapes. And yes, for all intents and purposes, no two snowflakes are shaped exactly alike, at least according to Caltech physicist Kenneth Libbrecht, who runs this Website devoted entirely to snow crystals. But there are 35 different types of snow crystals, all of which he has carefully documented.

Libbrecht usually has to create his own ice crystals in the lab, or go to more frigid climes, like Michigan or Alaska or Ontario, to make his high-resolution microscope images of snowflakes. (You can see movies of lab-based snow crystals forming here.)

Even then it?s a tricky business. He has to use a small paintbrush to transfer the delicate structures to a glass slide, taking the picture with a digital camera mounted on a high-resolution microscope. All of this is done outside to keep the crystals from melting too quickly. The final images are quite striking ? so much so that in 2007, they were featured on a new 39-cent commemorative postage stamp, courtesy of the US Postal Service.

Not surprisingly, the shapes of snowflakes and snow crystals have long fascinated scientists, like Johannes Kepler, who took some time away from his star-gazing in 1611 to publish a short paper entitled ?On the Six-Cornered Snowflake.? He was intrigued by the fact that snow crystals always seem to exhibit a six-fold symmetry.

Some 20 years later, Rene Descartes waxed poetical after observing much rarer 12-sided snowflakes, ?so perfectly formed in hexagons and of which the six sides were so straight, and the six angles so equal, that it is impossible for men to make anything so exact.? He pondered how such a perfectly symmetrical shape might have been created, and eventually arrived at a reasonably accurate description of the water cycle, adding that ?they were obliged to arrange themselves in such a way that each was surrounded by six others in the same plane, following the ordinary order of nature.?

(The lack of a detailed explanation can be excused: it took the development of x-ray crystallography for scientists to really be able to study the shape and structure of snow crystals/flakes in any great detail.)

Libbrecht has an historical predecessor in Robert Hooke. Hooke?s Micrographia, published in 1665, contained a few sketches of snowflakes he observed under his microscope ? sketched rapidly, one assumes, since the flakes no doubt melted soon after being placed under the lens, even working outdoors. If only he?d had access to Libbrecht?s equipment, he wouldn?t have had to do everything by hand ? and he would have appreciated the far more intricate details observable under orders-of-magnitude increases in resolution.

But nobody performed a truly systematic study of snow crystals until the 1950s, when a Japanese nuclear physicist named Ukichiro Nakaya identified and cataloged all the major types of snow crystals. (Nakaya had the bad luck to be appointed to a professorship in Hokkaido, with no available facilities for his nuclear research, so he applied his considerable skills to what was readily available: snow crystals. Now that?s taking lemons and making lemonade.)

Nakaya also proved Descartes wrong in the Frenchman?s assertion that no man could make anything so perfect. Nakaya was the first person to grow artificial snow crystals in the laboratory. In 1954 he published a book on his findings: Snow Crystals: Natural and Artificial. Here?s what Libbrecht?s Website has to say about it: ?Nakaya?s book offers a superb look at a scientific investigation which begins with almost nothing, and proceeds through systematic observation toward an accurate description of a fascinating natural phenomenon.?

Thanks to Nakaya?s pioneering work, we now know that certain atmospheric conditions, like temperature and humidity, can influence a snowflake?s shape. For instance, those shapes tend to be simpler in low humidity. The higher the humidity, the more complex the shape, and if the humidity is especially high, they can even form into long needles or large thin plates.

Scientists aren?t entirely sure why, but they suspect it has to do with the complex underlying physics of how water vapor molecules are slowly incorporated into the growing ice crystal ? what Descartes termed the ?ordinary order of Nature.? There?s still a lot of mystery in that ordinariness.

That?s why NASA has launched the Global Snowflake Network, a massive project that aims to involve the general public to? ?collect and classify? falling snowflakes. The data will be compiled into a massive database, along with satellite images, that will help climatologists and others who study climate-related phenomena gain a better understanding of wintry meteorology as they track various snowstorms around the globe. Participating students, teachers, and other interested parties will have the chance to take part in real science, and learn more about how climate, temperature and other atmospheric features combine to produce weather phenomena.

So next time snow falls in your area this winter, take a few moments from building snowmen and lobbing snowy missiles at the annoying kid down the street, and look more closely at each individual flake. You might even consider signing up with the GSN, thereby recording your observations for scientific posterity.

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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=62354d4837ef8d3787b2c5ff9a19ef4e

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