Fifth Third Bank Eastern Michigan CEO Named To Walsh College Board
TROY - David Girodat, President and CEO of Fifth Third Bank, Eastern Michigan, has been elected to the Walsh College Board of Trustees.
Girodat is responsible for the growth and strategic direction of the four lines of business including: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending and Investment Advisors for the affiliate.
A Clinton Township resident, Girodat has been in banking since 1981. Prior to his current position as president and CEO, Girodat served as senior commercial executive for Fifth Third Bank, Eastern Michigan. Experienced in all aspects of banking, Girodat began his banking career as a teller and traveled through the ranks serving as a credit analyst, loan officer and head of commercial real estate.
He holds a bachelor?s of science degree in business administration and a master?s degree in finance from Walsh College.
Girodat serves on the boards of Detroit Regional Chamber and New Detroit. He is a member of the New Detroit Finance and Executive Committees and the United Way Cabinet. Girodat also sits on the board of directors and Finance Committee for Henry Ford Macomb Hospital and is the Chairman for the Macomb Executive Leadership Committee.
Police vehicles are staged near where a gunman has positioned himself below ground with a child hostage, in Midland City, Ala. on Wednesday Jan. 30, 2013. Authorities were locked in a standoff Wednesday with a gunman authorities say on Tuesday intercepted a school bus, killed the driver, snatched a 6-year-old boy and retreated into a bunker at his home in Alabama. (AP Photo/Montgomery Advertiser, Mickey Welsh)
Police vehicles are staged near where a gunman has positioned himself below ground with a child hostage, in Midland City, Ala. on Wednesday Jan. 30, 2013. Authorities were locked in a standoff Wednesday with a gunman authorities say on Tuesday intercepted a school bus, killed the driver, snatched a 6-year-old boy and retreated into a bunker at his home in Alabama. (AP Photo/Montgomery Advertiser, Mickey Welsh)
Thorsten Heins, CEO of Research in Motion, which is changing its name to BlackBerry, introduces the BlackBerry 10, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013 in New York. The maker of the BlackBerry smartphone is promising a speedy browser, a superb typing experience and the ability to keep work and personal identities separate on the same phone, the fruit of a crucial, long-overdue makeover for the Canadian company. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
FILE - This 1942 file photo shows singer Patty Andrews, the last survivor of the three singing Andrews sisters, who has died in Los Angeles at age 94. Andrews died Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, at her home in suburban Northridge of natural causes, said family spokesman Alan Eichler. (AP Photo, File)
Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday:
1. A WINDOW INTO HOW GIFFORDS IS FARING
She gives powerful testimony before Congress on gun control, despite some speech and other physical problems.
2. ISRAELI WARPLANES STRIKE WITHIN SYRIA
The Syrians say a military research center was hit ? but many observers believe the Israelis targeted a shipment of weapons bound for Hezbollah.
3. WHAT SHAPED HAGEL'S MILITARY VIEWS
On the eve of his confirmation hearing, the defense secretary nominee says his experience fighting in Vietnam will inform his decisions.
4. INSIDE THE ALABAMA GUNMAN'S BUNKER
Underground hideaway at the center of a hostage drama outfitted with electricity, TV and foodstuffs.
5. HOW A WEEK OF UNREST HAS WEAKENED EGYPT'S PRESIDENT
Morsi is now facing opposition from liberals and ultra-conservatives alike.
6. WALL STREET GIVES NEW BLACKBERRY A LUKEWARM RECEPTION
Some investors think the smartphone makeover may not be enough to turn the company's fortunes around.
7. FABLED CITY'S PAPERS SAFE
Islamist extremists damaged or stole only a limited number of rare African manuscripts before fleeing Timbuktu, contrary to earlier reports.
8. WHY IT'S NOT CALLED 'SEXERCISE'
One activity you thought might be doing you some good and burning extra calories probably isn't.
9. LAST OF THE ANDREWS SISTERS DIES
Patty Andrews outlived LaVerne and Maxene. The trio captured the home-front spirit of World War II with their swing-era hits.
10. BET ON IT: BALTIMORE WILL WIN THE SUPER BOWL
The AP's Barry Wilner favors the Ravens because of their tough defense and underappreciated QB, Joe Flacco.
Our recent 5-day holiday in Singapore was much anticipated. For one, it would be the first time for us to travel outside the Philippines as a family, and, it was also Vito?s first international trip. We had deferred travel plans abroad, due to several reasons. However, this year being our 5th year married (and with plans to try for another baby), we figured it would be a good time to take an out-of-the-country trip. We could think of no better place than Singapore, where my husband and I both spent a good amount of our growing up years.
The last time I was in Singapore was over a decade ago. Most of my travel since then was locally, around the Philippines, with a few trips to Hong Kong (my other childhood home). We were debating whether we?d go to Malaysia, Hong Kong or Singapore, but with Vito in an animal-loving stage, we immediately thought that the Singapore Zoo would make a most ideal field trip. Why not make a whole vacation out of it.
And so we did.
My family was posted in Singapore after spending five and a half years in Hong Kong. My father (who was then an investment banker specializing in bonds) brought us to Singapore in the summer of 1990, and we remained there until July of 1994. Since then, we?d gone back for vacations, but it wasn?t until we were married that Ton and I were able to go as a couple. We were more than excited to show Vito the beautiful in which we?d grown up!
We took the last flight out on January 11, which was a Cebu Pacific flight.
It?s a good thing Vito?s not fussy. He didn?t mind the flight at all.
The flight to Singapore from Manila was all right, albeit the small plane. (Call me spoiled, but I like 747s, at least, for international flights, LOL. Pat, you know what I mean?)
We arrived past 1 AM. Vito slept for the entire flight, but we had to wake him up when we arrived. Good thing Changi Airport has Combi baby seats on wheels, so that we didn?t have to carry our sleepy boy to the immigration area.
When you see signs like this in the comfort room, you know you?re in Changi Airport:
We arrived at our hotel around 2 AM, which was fine since we had already pre-booked and paid.?The Parc Sovereign is a brand new, mid-range hotel in Bugis, which is often known as the shopping district for electronics. Just a stone?s throw from Little India and a few streets away from the central business district, Bugis has always been a lively, busy town in the center of Singapore. It was also right next door to the La Salle School of the Arts, a place I?ve wanted to see for some time now, and right beside the courtyard Albert Court Village Hotel, a picturesque spot that makes for a pleasant tea time.
We got room 523, which was an Executive Double?with a nice and roomy king-size bed ? perfect for the three of us, since Vito still bed-shares with us from time to time. (They do have a Family Deluxe room, too.)
We were able settle down at 3 AM for a much needed sleep, though we had slept a lot already in Manila prior to the trip.
More on our first day back in the Lion City ? in my next post!
San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick put on a show last week. In the NFC championship Sunday, he was just as impressive with his arm and his cool, vindicating coach Jim Harbaugh.
By Mark Sappenfield,?Staff writer / January 20, 2013
San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick signals to the line during the second half of the NFL football NFC Championship game Sunday in Atlanta.
David Goldman/AP
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Perhaps this is what Jim Harbaugh imagined. Perhaps, when the San Francisco 49ers traded up to take Colin Kaepernick in the second round of the 2011 draft, Harbaugh knew that the rangy quarterback with a bodybuilder's arms and a sprinter's legs could stand in a cauldron of sound, down 17 points, in his ninth professional game, and lead his team to the Super Bowl.
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If so, then his reward is fitting. Forty-niners coach Harbaugh is taking an offense no one knows how to stop ? led by a star quarterback that seemingly no one but he saw coming ? to the National Football League title game Feb. 3 in New Orleans.
Last week, Kaepernick continued this season's reinvention of the modern quarterback with a record 181 yards rushing against the Green Bay Packers. This Sunday, he did nothing too far beyond the ordinary ? which, in its way, was spectacular.
The Atlanta Falcons had seen what Kaepernick did to the Packers, and their defense Sunday was designed to prevent him from doing it to them. That part worked. But in the end, it didn't help them much.
Kaepernick merely showed that he could do it the Peyton Manning way, too ? beating a team with his arm from inside the pocket.
For opposing teams, it presents a particularly unappealing choice: Which way do you want him to beat you?
The problem, of course, is that even when Kaepernick isn't doing anything more elaborate than handing off the ball to Frank Gore, the threat of him doing more ties defenses into knots. So Atlanta essentially told its defensive ends, "Don't let Colin go anywhere." And they didn't. But Gore did ? largely because those defensive ends were watching him blow by on crucial red-zone touchdowns.?
On Sunday, Kaepernick's best decision ? again and again ? was not to run the ball.
And when he dropped back to pass, he looked as comfortable as Sunday afternoon on a front-porch swing. A running quarterback? Only because he can run ? and exquisitely. But there is also his arm.
Yes, that arm. The one that was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 2009 for its pitching prowess. That tattooed slingshot that gives the impression that, just maybe, football's version of Pedro Martinez has lined up behind center.
Yet down 17-0 at the start of the second quarter, neither his arm nor his legs would have mattered much without his calm. Kaepernick showed it last week, coming back to give his astonishing performance after throwing an interception that the Packers returned for a touchdown on the 49ers first possession.?
Another young quarterback, Russell Wilson, showed it, too, last week, rallying his Seattle Seahawks from 20-0 down to take a 28-27 lead on the same Falcons with 31 seconds remaining ? though on that day the Falcons managed a last-second field goal to win.?
And Indianapolis Colts quarterback rookie Andrew Luck somehow managed to take a team that pundits ranked last in preseason polls to an 11-5 record and a playoff berth.
Kaepernick's win Sunday in the NFC championship game ? in only his eighth game as a starter, in only his second year as a pro ? is simply the latest, indelible evidence that young quarterbacks are not what they used to be.
First-year starters playing in their ninth game are supposed to crumble when they fall behind in the biggest game of their short career, on the road in a stadium where the crowd is making your helmet an echoing house of horrors. After all, no NFC team ? no matter how experienced its quarterback ? had ever come back to win a conference championship game when trailing by 17 points. ? ? ?
But there was Kaepernick, amid the din of the Georgia Dome, directing the offense as coolly as if these were preseason drills.
The sports world knows Wally Pip as the man who sat out one game with a headache and never again got his job back ? his replacement was New York Yankee-legend-to-be Lou Gehrig. Alex Smith, the former 49er starting quarterback who went down in Week 10 with a concussion, deserves more recognition than that. He was, at the time, the top-rated passer in the league.
Perhaps Harbaugh knew what was in store when Kaepernick came off the bench in that game against the St. Louis Rams. It's just the rest of us who are only now beginning to fully appreciate it.
??And the biggest lie of all, is that we tell ourselves we don?t need friends.? ( A personal quote from a talk I gave recently.)
We lead these unnatural lives going from home, to car, to work, to errands and carpool, speaking to people for the most part in terms of transactions. ?How much does this cost?? ?Thank you for watching my child.? Etc.?
And the cost is enormous. We?re lonely, and isolated and that stunts our social interactions even when we?re in a sea of people.
I?ve been through many evolutions with the topic of friends, growing with it as I get older. I share it with you here, because we?re not that different from one another and maybe there?s a part of my story that will resonate with you.
I?ve always been? surrounded by people and involved in community. And I?ve learned how valuable that is. But? being with people and developing intimate relationships is not the same thing.
.How do we go from interacting with dozens of people each day to creating meaningful relationships?
In brief, I can summarize many of my old relationships as being lopsided. I would either be friends with lovely people but not share myself fully, thinking they would never understand me. (Yup, trust issues there.) Or exclusively? befriend people in need who I could give to.
(Again, trust issues ? I could give to someone without having to share myself.)
After many years of doing this, with my husbands gentle prodding, I began to see how unhealthy this was.
Around ten years ago, my newly widowed sister in law, Chev, moved to Baltimore so that she could be near family. Being in her presence,? basking in that? unconditional, open, respectful deeply intimate relationship opened things up for me. I began to be willing to relate at a deeper level, to bring more of me to the friendship then a plate of cookies.
However, thank G-d, two years later she got married to her amazing husband, Paul and moved to South Africa.
I needed to make friends. And I was ready.
I began making coffee dates. I realized that one of the reasons (aside for deep familial love) that my friendship with Chev grew was because we spent every Shabbos together. I needed to physically spend time with people if I was going to become friends with them.
So onwards I forged. If I had a great conversation with someone I would invite them out for a coffee sometime the next week. At the time it took a lot of courage.
How?d it go?
Okay.
The coffee dates were nice enough but I forgot something key ? you have to get together a second time! Somehow I just thought a friendship would morph straight? from the muffins at the bagel shop. That?s not how it works. I still have a special connection with the people I spent time with, but we didn?t ever explore the relationship further.
Then I met Aviva. Her kids were homeschooling at the time and it was the first I?d ever heard of it. My heart was exploding with the idea.
I called her the next day and asked her for information. And the next and the next. I began to homeschool my kids. I would have done with her the same as I did with my other new friends; lost touch, not taken it further, stayed lonely.
Except, that one fine day she knocked on the door, came over with her (then) 6 kids and spent the afternoon.
And a day or two later she invited my kids over.
I mean it when I say this, if she would not have made the effort our new friendship would have withered away into nothingness instead of lasting for all these years. I learned so much from that.
Which brings me up to date. These days G-d has brought amazing people into my life. The experience of being in a true friendship has opened me up to all types of people and has made me willing to trust? more.? What I still need to work on is a new trap that I?ve fallen into; Being busy.
Although I know some of the? most incredible people, I?m not making time to cultivate relationships and? I?m suffering for it. Work and family are keeping me busy and I?m not making friends a priority. I can feel how much I?m losing out. And I?m ready for a change.
You cannot underestimate the importance of good friends, but it takes a looong time to realize we?re not in high school anymore and you have to go out of your way to make friends.
Don?t be shy to say to yourself, ?I want to make more friends.? This is really important stuff!
Below is the? technical guide. The real? first step is that you have to be the best you can be; a loving, non judgmental, caring, positive person with room in your heart for another. That?s a whole other discussion.
How to Make Friends
1.? Train yourself to have a good eye.Look for the positive traits in other people, comment on them. Look for the positive traits in yourself, enjoy them.
2. Take note of which traits you value.
3. Look for people with those traits.
4. Strike up a conversation. Be sincerely interested. Ask questions and listen to the answers. Share a little bit of yourself (that?s the trust part) and see how it goes.
* Here?s where friendship and? a date differ. You don?t have to have an immediate click in order to pursue a friendship. You?re not looking for romance, you?re looking for someone you can trust, a good person.
5.Pursue?the friendship; Give them a Good Shabbos call, posting on their FB wall doesn?t count. Invite them over or visit them. Bring over random flowers or a lovely scented candle.If there?s something you both like ? offer to do it together. How about learning Torah or taking a power walk together?
If your kids are playing with theirs, when it?s time to pick them up, don?t just say thank you and leave. Linger a bit. Use your common sense- If it?s a crazy time, don?t linger, but otherwise assume that you will both benefit from a little more human interaction.
Above all, in these fast paced times, don?t wait for a better time to pursue a friendship. There is no better time. The time is now.
And this is it. My simple recipe for friendship. Find good people, have courage, and spend time with them.
I always think as I stand on the elevator, ?We think we?re strangers, but if we were stuck here together, after just a few hours we?d be good friends.?
Home ? national ? 'Journalists will need multimedia skills'
Janjira Jarusupawat
The Nation on Sunday January 20, 2013 1:00 am
Adisak Limparungpatanakij, president of Nation Broadcasting Corporation, said more advanced technology would provide more choices to consumers of media. The print media had to provide television programmes along with their newspapers. Daily News and Matichon had done that already, while Thai Rath was expected to do so in the third quarter of this year because revenues from their print editions were too low.
"Fifty-five per cent of advertisement revenues are in the television media, or Bt50 billion-Bt60 billion per year, and most of the revenues go to free TV channels. So, more of the print media have created TV content to share the revenues. The major publications have to provide multimedia platforms," Adisak said.
The seminar, entitled "Strategy for the Future of Journalism", was held at Nation University, Lampang campus, by the Thai Journalist Association and the National Press Council of Thailand in collaboration with ISRA Institute Thai Press Development Foundation, the university and Thai Health Promotion Foundation.
Thepchai Yong, Nation Group's editor-in-chief, said there were currently six main channels, which were free-to-air channels, but the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) planned to increase the number of TV channels to 48 in the first phase, adding that it could reach 100 channels if the NBTC followed up with the third and fourth phases. This number excludes 200 cable-TV providers and 200 satellite-TV providers.
He said graduates in the mass communications field would be in demand as each channel needed at least 200 employees. At least 10,000 mass-communications personnel were expected to be hired for the coming 48 channels.
Thepchai said the new platforms over which people would receive information would be social media on TV, mobile phones, tablets and notebooks as well as TV on mobile phones. Nation Group was preparing to provide new ways to disseminate the information to customers, including the iSnap application.
He added that people in the media business were focused on adjusting to the changing technology and getting benefits from new platforms. He wanted them to consider the "platform wars" as a significant opportunity to use technology to build a wiser society and encourage the public to participate and voice their opinions on important issues in society.
Thepchai said that people in the mass media in future would have different media-production skills, understand what is in the society's interest, make use of social media, be well-rounded and understand important points, and be able to communicate and explain issues to their audience.
If you have children, you may wonder some days if your responsibility for them will ever end.? The truth of the matter is that it never does because the decisions you make today as parents could affect your family for generations to come and to infinity and beyond. Although there are many ways in which your role as a parent changes, it?s a lifelong obligation. Just because your kids move out of the house doesn?t mean you stop being a parent. You will still think about them or focus on them, especially if they are experiencing difficulties, but you will parent more from a distance.
As your kids get older, your capacity as a parent hopefully changes from a hands-on advocate to a trusted advisor. Regardless of the function you are in, you will always be one of the primary role models for your children. Kids pay far more attention to what their parents do than what they say. It is a big responsibility but I believe we are all up for the challenge if we carefully consider each of our decisions and the lasting impact they may have upon our children?s lives.
Decisions we make regarding the environment, state and local government or about situations in our own home, could resonate positively or negatively for our children when they reach adulthood.? We simply can?t rely on the notion that everything will just take care of itself. We have to take action in some cases to ensure a bright future for the young ones we leave behind. That can be difficult in a society that promotes individualism and self-gratification. We need to fight off those forces of selfishness and begin to look at how the choices we make today will affect our families ten, twenty or even fifty years down the road.
For example, when a couple with children makes a decision to divorce, it changes the landscape of their children?s and future grandchildren?s lives forever. That?s probably not what a couple is thinking about at the time. They are seeking immediate relief from their present turmoil, but as parents it?s our responsibility to also consider others with whom we have influence.
I was talking to a woman recently who agreed with that statement. She got divorced more than 12 years ago but she remembers how self-absorbed she was at that time. She certainly thought a lot about her two children when she was contemplating her decision, but just imagined she and her husband would easily work things out and be good friends while sharing the responsibility of raising the kids. She now believes that thinking was ludicrous. Even though she and her former husband have a good relationship, she sees how her kids suffer the consequences. She told me it is not natural and will never feel normal to not be with her kids around the clock.
Even simple decisions about recycling paper and plastic, walking or riding a bike more than driving, or conserving energy by unplugging appliances at night can impact the world in which our children will live.? All of these considerations could be viewed as an inconvenience to parents today, but we need to re-adjust our thinking to focus on doing what is right to make things better for generations to come. If we work hard today to win at home, we can positively impact our families now and to infinity and beyond.
Vice President Joseph Biden participates during the National Day of Service (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON --?"You guys ready to kick off this day of doing a whole bunch of good?!"
Tommy McFly, a spry Washington, D.C. radio host, is looking over a few hundred volunteers gathered beneath a massive heated tent that stretches for a block on the National Mall, the hub of the National Day of Service, the first official event for President Barack Obama's second Inauguration. The tent is filled with booths from government agencies and non-profits offering community service opportunities.
Across town, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden are at work on their own projects.
The president and first lady visited Burrville Elementary School in northeast Washington, where they helped stain bookshelves.
"This inauguration is going to be a symbol of how our democracy works...but it should also be an affirmation that we are all in this together," Obama told a crowd at the school.
At the DC Armory, Biden and his wife Jill spent some time putting together service packages for members of the armed services abroad while Obama joined about 500 volunteers fixing up an elementary school in the city.
The festivities are only a part what will be a national day of events. Across the country, non-profit groups are organizing hundreds of service projects for Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.
Here in Washington, volunteers are gathered for an all-day marathon of community service projects--and maybe also to catch a glimpse of actress Eva Longoria and former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton, who are headlining the morning rally.
"Let's start off this new year by renewing America's promise," Longoria tells the audience to whoops and cheers. "We're going to give back to our schools and students and we're going to be serving our community. And you'll be serving your country when you serve your community."
With the stage bookended by giant Jumbo Tron screens, the event resembles a campaign rally mixed with a splash of county fair, trade show and a hands-on science museum. Display booths for government agencies and non-profit groups fill most of the tent, while employees sign up new recruits to pledge volunteer service in 2013. The booths are divided into sections beneath well-lit banners like "Economic Development," "Health," "Faith," and "Veterans & Military Families."
After Clinton, Longoria and Vice President Joe Biden's son Beau finish brief motivational speeches, the crowd disperses to the booths to pledge volunteer hours and add their names on non-profit mailing lists.
The whole tent is buzzing with activity: At Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots booth, children make paper birds from stencils to paste on windows so real birds don't smash into them. Teenagers at the Best Buddies International section sign up to mentor children and activists join the Sierra Club's campaign against forest logging.
Across the way, The American Legion has teamed up with the Dept. of Veterans Affairs by providing cards for people to write support letters to wounded soldiers in hospitals throughout the country.
"I just wanted to let them know how much I appreciate what their doing," says Susan Schesnol from Scottsdale, Arizona, who is writing several letters to soldiers she'll likely never meet.
Girls write letters to wounded veterans. (Chris Moody/Yahoo News)
Around another corner, a physicist from the Department of Energy has set up a bicycle to a row of light bulbs, and is showing out-of-shape visitors how difficult it is to peddle electricity into old fashioned light bulbs. Nearby, a line has formed for autographs from NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Serena Au??n.
Every once in a while, the Clinton and Longoria entourages pass by, inspiring almost everyone in eye shot to drop what they're doing and tag along. The two women, working different sides of the tent, navigate their way from booth to booth, stringing along dozens of photographers and fans along the way.
"That's Hillary Clinton!" yells a teenager in a red beanie as Chelsea Clinton flows passed him. "I mean, it's WhatSerDaughter's name!"
On Saturday night the first and second ladies, Michele Obama and Jill Biden, will attend the Kids? Inaugural Concert at the Washington, D.C. convention center.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Two U.S. fighter jets were scrambled on Thursday to escort a commercial airliner to Seattle after the FBI received an anonymous tip, apparently unfounded, that a hijacker was aboard, officials said.
The plane, which originated in Hawaii, landed safely at about 7 p.m. local time at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where it was met by local law enforcement and FBI agents who interviewed the passenger in question, authorities said.
The security scare appeared to be a false alarm, and possibly a hoax, said Tom Simon, an FBI special agent in Honolulu, where the anonymous call was received.
"The passenger did not do anything wrong on the flight. It was a totally benign, normal, trans-Pacific flight," he said.
He said the passenger, identified by name by the individual who called the FBI, was cooperating with authorities. There were no immediate arrests.
"If he turns out to be a bad guy," the FBI in Seattle will pursue the case, Simon said. "If this turns out to be a prank phone call, the Honolulu FBI may choose to investigate that hoax phone call as a crime."
He said the anonymous call came at about the time the Alaska Airlines jet, Flight 819, was taking off from Kona airport on the Big Island of Hawaii en route to Seattle.
As a precaution, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), a joint U.S.-Canadian operation, scrambled two F-15 fighters from the Oregon Air National Guard. The military jets encountered the Alaska Airlines plane just off the coast of Oregon over the Pacific, NORAD spokesman Al Blondin said.
The fighter jets stayed with the commercial airliner for the remainder of its flight, said Blondin, speaking from NORAD's headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
(Reporting and writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by John Stonestreet)
CES is not a games show, as Sony CEO Kaz Hirai pointed out to us in our interview with him last week. That's his reason for the dearth of PlayStation news at CES this year ? the PS3 and Vita were hardly even mentioned at Sony's press conference. And of course, Microsoft didn't come at all, so we weren't treated to any Xbox hype at the annual Steve Ballmer keynote (which was replaced with a mind trip from Qualcomm).
And yet, this sure was a great CES for gamers. We got the new high-powered Tegra 4, Exynos 5 Octa, and Snapdragon 800 chips, which are exciting in their own right, and Nvidia's Shield handheld gaming console to make use of this new-gen ARM power directly. Ouya makes a home console out of Tegra 3, and people seem to love it. After a long rumor cycle, Valve finally confirmed the Steam Box, which has the best shot yet of bringing PC games into the living room. And then there's Oculus Rift, which offers a revolution in how we play these games.
These devices and technologies, all in their own way, reflect a shift in the game industry ? one that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo have yet to catch on to. These are devices and services that are built around the games people already have, or the ecosystems they already use, like Android and Steam, and making them better. The console model is about giving you new hardware, and expecting you to buy into that ecosystem to enjoy it.
It's easier to forgive Nintendo, because it's never pretended to be relevant as a "consumer electronics" company, but it's odd that Microsoft and Sony are having so much trouble understanding this trend, or battling it. They might want to save their gaming announcements for GDC and E3, but in the meantime their turf is going undefended here at CES.
It's odd that Microsoft and Sony are having so much trouble understanding this trend
Sony has been upfront with us that Vita sales have been lackluster, it won't speak of its Gaikai game streaming service, and Sony's PlayStation digital platforms guy, Jack Buser, told us that Sony "just launched" PlayStation Mobile, which is a sad sort of news for a service that was announced in January 2011.
Microsoft's problem is that while it has the de facto standard in online gaming, Xbox Live, it hasn't figured out how to fully leverage that in mobile yet. Meanwhile, new games, gaming services, and networks can blossom on Android and iPhone, without juggernauts like Xbox Live and Halo to compete with.
Sony and Microsoft have a lot more going on than mobile right now
But Sony and Microsoft have a lot more going on than mobile right now. They're presumably building a new generation of home consoles, to replace the aging PS3 and Xbox 360 ? which were released in the middle of the last decade. Myriad rumors point to the Xbox 720 being announced in the next couple of months, in preparation for a holiday release.
Sony, meanwhile, has been extremely tight-lipped about a PS4, and some in the industry think it means Sony might not be prepared to release a next-gen console this year. Even if the PS4 does get released this year, the later developers are brought in on it, the worse the launch titles will be.
Naturally, we asked Kaz Hirai about a PS4, and he gave us the old sidestep of the PS3 being on a 10 year lifecycle. Obviously he doesn't mean to say that we won't see the PS4 until 2016, but he does mean to imply that there isn't any hurry. What's crazier is that Sony is telling us that the Vita is on a 10 year lifecycle as well.
I just don't think Sony can afford that glacial luxury anymore, especially not in mobile. Thanks to contract subsidies, US consumers pay $199 every two years to buy phones worth $500 or $600. Amazon is bent on giving us good tablets for less than $199. This is wild consumer behavior when juxtaposed with the $300 or $400 someone might spend on a new home console every seven or eight or nine years. In a year, ARM chipsets like Tegra will likely match the Xbox 360 for power ? and who's to say they won't catch up with the PS4 and Xbox 720 a few years after that?
Consumer electronics can play games, too
And even if Sony and Microsoft's upcoming consoles keep a hardware edge for a while, the archaic method of closed ecosystem game distribution is already being threatened by the app store model. PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox have worked hard over this past generation on online distribution, but they still pale in comparison to Apple's App Store and Google Play. For the price of a 3DS or Vita game, you can get a dozen good iOS or Android games, and they'll work on the next tablet you buy, and the next one after that. What happens when a Steam Box as good as a next-gen console hits the market? Am I supposed to feel loyal to Xbox or PlayStation after years of high prices, bizarre fake currencies, slow approval of game updates, an indie barrier of entry, and a high hedge to the larger world of games and communication available on the PC?
Sony is right, CES isn't a gaming show, it's a consumer electronics show. But if iOS and Android have taught us anything in the past five years, it's that consumer electronics can play games, too.
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In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 photo provided by Harpo Studios Inc., cyclist Lance Armstrong listens to a question from Oprah Winfrey during taping for the show "Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive" in Austin, Texas. The two-part episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter" will air nationally Thursday and Friday, Jan. 17-18, 2013. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Harpo Studios, Inc., George Burns)
In this Monday, Jan. 14, 2013 photo provided by Harpo Studios Inc., cyclist Lance Armstrong listens to a question from Oprah Winfrey during taping for the show "Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive" in Austin, Texas. The two-part episode of "Oprah's Next Chapter" will air nationally Thursday and Friday, Jan. 17-18, 2013. (AP Photo/Courtesy of Harpo Studios, Inc., George Burns)
ARMSTRONG'S BIG TEST: Fallen sports icon Lance Armstrong's "no-holds-barred interview" with Oprah Winfrey is airing Thursday night on her OWN network. AP Sports Columnist John Leicester is watching the broadcast and giving his impressions of the interview as it unfolds:
___
NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON:
Nearly 14 years after first winning the bike race that turned him into a global sports megastar, is Lance Armstrong finally going to tell the truth ? or his latest version of it ? about the role performance-enhancing drugs played in his career and seven Tour de France victories?
It's not as though he has much choice. The evidence gathered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency of systematic drug use on his U.S. Postal Service cycling team was so overwhelming that Armstrong could look foolish and deluded if he insists to Oprah Winfrey that he rode clean, as he's always done until now. But, at this point, who still believes that?
Armstrong hasn't spoken at length and publicly about the thick dossier of evidence USADA published in October. To now admit to doping after years of denial will undoubtedly be painful and embarrassing for Armstrong, a proud and intensely competitive man. But this is also an opportunity for Armstrong to start the long trek back from disgrace and try to seek forgiveness.
Will he seize it or make matters worse by being insincere and sparing with the facts and apologies?
___
WHO IS USING WHOM:
For Armstrong to speak first to Winfrey and not to a roomful of sports journalists who have followed his rise and fall smacks of a public relations exercise. If Armstrong's purpose was to help his sport rather than himself, he would have come clean not to America's high priestess of televised confessions but to anti-doping officials who wanted to learn firsthand how he and his team pulled off what USADA called "the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."
His choice of interviewer will mainline Armstrong into America's living rooms. That's where he needs to start repairing his tattered reputation to become marketable again. Speaking to Winfrey is a play for forgiveness ? not from the cycling community but from a far broader audience, including disappointed fans of the cancer fighter and viewers who don't care for cycling but are hungry consumers of celebrity and the modern pantomime of public disgrace and redemption.
Landing Armstrong and becoming confessor to the man who for so long looked the least likely candidate in sports to admit to doping is a massive coup for Winfrey. But she could take some heat if she didn't ask the tough questions and if the material proves unworthy of her network's decision to spread it out over two nights, not one as first announced.
___
THE TIMING:
Why now?
Only when cornered is Armstrong making what is expected to be an ungainly U-turn after more than a decade of insisting that he competed clean and of hounding those who suggested otherwise.
Sponsors who stuck with Armstrong through the storms of suspicion that punctuated his cycling career have now abandoned him, costing him millions in future earnings.
To spare it more turmoil, Armstrong was forced to cut ties to Livestrong, the cancer-fighting charity he founded in 1997, the year after he was diagnosed at age 25 with testicular cancer that spread to his lungs and brain.
USADA has voided all of his competition results from Aug. 1, 1998, including the record string of seven Tour wins that made him rich, famous and buddies with pop stars and presidents.
The International Olympic Committee this week wrote to Armstrong asking that he return the bronze medal he won at the 2000 Olympics.
The sport's boss, Pat McQuaid, has said Armstrong "deserves to be forgotten in cycling."
In short, Armstrong's reputation couldn't sink any lower. To have any hope of surfacing again, he had to do something. He surely never anticipated that he would ever hit bottom like this ? coming clean to Winfrey. Or will it just be clean-ish?
Armstrong must have decided that the alternative ? do nothing ? was worse.
___
BURNING QUESTIONS:
There are so many questions that it's hard to whittle them down. If Armstrong confesses to doping, this would be my top five:
Why? Other riders ? perhaps not many, but some ? refused to take drugs to win, why didn't you?
Do you think doping contributed to your cancer? How after surviving cancer could you play Russian roulette with your body by doping?
Did bosses at the top of the sport, in the International Cycling Union, know about your doping, did they cover up positive tests, tip you off to tests, take money to look the other way and, if so, will you name and shame?
Outside your circle of family and friends, name three people who most deserve an apology from you and explain why.
In your second biography, "Every Second Counts," in 2003, you wrote that it would "just kill me" if anyone said to your kids that "your dad's the big fake, the doper." What lessons do you think they should draw from your rise and fall, your cheating and lies?
___
THE DECOR:
Do those exceedingly long straws in the glasses of water next to Armstrong and Winfrey during their interview remind anyone else of the rubber tubing that dopers use to give themselves illegal blood transfusions?
Some of Armstrong's teammates testified to USADA that they doped and injected in hotel rooms when they rode together on the Tour. Did they look anything like this hotel room in Austin, Texas, where Winfrey taped the interview on Monday?
___
John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester(at)ap.org or follow him at http://twitter.com/johnleicester
A sharp-eyed woman spots a man with a gun on a train and her alert to the railroad police lead to the kidnapping of a blind heiress by a ruthless thug.
IMDB:
? Union Station (1950)
Y?netmen: Rudolph Mat? T?r: Crime,Drama,Film-Noir ?lke: USA Konu: A sharp-eyed woman spots a man with a gun on a train and her alert to the railroad police lead to the kidnapping of a blind heiress by a ruthless thug. Puan: 6.9/10 (990 oy) S?re: 81 Dk. Oyuncular(ilk 10): William Holden, Nancy Olson, Barry Fitzgerald, Lyle Bettger, Jan Sterling, Allene Roberts, Herbert Heyes, Don Dunning, Fred Graff, James Seay
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043090/
Sunum Bilgisi:
Video Format : AVC Duration : 1h 20mn Bit rate : 6 015 Kbps Width : 960 pixels Height : 720 pixels Display aspect ratio : 4:3 Frame rate : 23.976 fps Audio 1 Format : DTS Bit rate : 800 Kbps / 755 Kbps Channel(s) : 1 channel Channel positions : Front: C Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz Bit depth : 16 bits Language : English Audio 2 Codec : MP3 Duration : 1h 20mn Bit rate mode : Constant Bit rate : 96.0 Kbps Channel(s) : 2 channels Sampling rate : 32.0 KHz
Gene in eye melanomas linked to good prognosis Public release date: 16-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline Arbanas arbanasc@wustl.edu 314-286-0109 Washington University School of Medicine
Melanomas that develop in the eye often are fatal. Now, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have identified a mutated gene in melanoma tumors of the eye that appears to predict a good outcome.
The research is published in the advance online edition of Nature Genetics.
"We found mutations in a gene called SF3B1," says senior author Anne Bowcock, PhD, professor of genetics. "The good news is that these mutations develop in a distinct subtype of melanomas in the eye that are unlikely to spread and become deadly."
Eye tumors called uveal melanomas occur in about 2,000 patients a year, making up about 5 percent of all melanomas. In many patients, there are no symptoms, and the tumors become fatal when they spread to the liver.
Several years ago, Bowcock and the study's lead author, J. William Harbour, MD, a former Washington University eye surgeon who is now at the University of Miami, identified a commonly mutated gene, BAP1, in patients with uveal melanomas.
They found BAP1 alterations in about 80 percent of uveal melanomas with a poor prognosis, called class II tumors. About 75 percent of patients with these tumors die within five years, a sharp contrast to the generally favorable outcomes of patients whose tumors don't have BAP1 mutations, called class I.
For the new study, Bowcock and her colleagues initially sequenced the DNA of uveal melanomas from 18 patients whose BAP1 status was already known. Seven had no BAP1 mutations (class I tumors), and 11 had BAP1 mutations (class II tumors).
The researchers' analysis uncovered alterations in the SF3B1 gene in three of the patients.
"This is the first time mutations in this gene have been found in uveal melanoma," says Bowcock, who also is a professor of pediatrics and of medicine.
As part of the current study, the researchers also looked for SF3B1 mutations in uveal melanoma tumors from 102 patients, finding it in nearly 20 percent of them. Mutations in the gene were linked to favorable features, including a younger age at diagnosis and a far lower metastasis rate.
Interestingly, SF3B1 mutations always occurred at the same site of the gene. And the SF3B1 and BAP1 mutations were found to be almost mutually exclusive, meaning that if patients had a mutation in one of the genes, they were unlikely to have a mutation in the other.
"This suggests mutations in these genes may represent alternative pathways in tumor progression," Bowcock says.
The SF3B1 gene also has been reported recently by other researchers to be mutated in a pre-leukemia illness called myelodysplastic syndrome. For these patients, SF3B1 mutations mean the condition is less likely to develop into a full-blown leukemia. Changes in the SF3B1 gene also have been found in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and less frequently in breast cancer and other solid tumors. The gene's link to prognosis is unclear for these cancers.
Normally, the SF3B1 gene is involved in converting DNA's chemical cousin, RNA, into messenger RNA. This messenger molecule carries DNA's code and serves as a template for making proteins. The researchers don't yet understand how mutations in this gene are involved in cancer but it's the next step of their research.
"We want to understand the functional consequences of mutations in SF3B1," Bowcock says. "How are changes in this gene linked to cancer development? This is the fourth gene known to be mutated in uveal melanoma along with BAP1 and the genes GNAQ and GNA11. A complete understanding of the molecular basis of this tumor will be invaluable in predicting prognosis and in the identification and development of novel treatments for this cancer."
###
Harbour JW, Roberson EDO, Anbunathan H, Onken MD, Worley LA, Bowcock AM. Recurrent mutations at codon 625 of the splicing factor SF3B1 in uveal melanoma. Nature Genetics. Jan. 14, 2012.
The research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (R01 CA16187001 and CA12597007), the Melanoma Research Alliance, the Melanoma Research Foundation, the Tumori Foundation , Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., and awards to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University from a Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., unrestricted grant and also the NIH Vision Core grant (P30 EY02687c) and an NIH training grant (5 T32 AR007279-32).
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Gene in eye melanomas linked to good prognosis Public release date: 16-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline Arbanas arbanasc@wustl.edu 314-286-0109 Washington University School of Medicine
Melanomas that develop in the eye often are fatal. Now, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have identified a mutated gene in melanoma tumors of the eye that appears to predict a good outcome.
The research is published in the advance online edition of Nature Genetics.
"We found mutations in a gene called SF3B1," says senior author Anne Bowcock, PhD, professor of genetics. "The good news is that these mutations develop in a distinct subtype of melanomas in the eye that are unlikely to spread and become deadly."
Eye tumors called uveal melanomas occur in about 2,000 patients a year, making up about 5 percent of all melanomas. In many patients, there are no symptoms, and the tumors become fatal when they spread to the liver.
Several years ago, Bowcock and the study's lead author, J. William Harbour, MD, a former Washington University eye surgeon who is now at the University of Miami, identified a commonly mutated gene, BAP1, in patients with uveal melanomas.
They found BAP1 alterations in about 80 percent of uveal melanomas with a poor prognosis, called class II tumors. About 75 percent of patients with these tumors die within five years, a sharp contrast to the generally favorable outcomes of patients whose tumors don't have BAP1 mutations, called class I.
For the new study, Bowcock and her colleagues initially sequenced the DNA of uveal melanomas from 18 patients whose BAP1 status was already known. Seven had no BAP1 mutations (class I tumors), and 11 had BAP1 mutations (class II tumors).
The researchers' analysis uncovered alterations in the SF3B1 gene in three of the patients.
"This is the first time mutations in this gene have been found in uveal melanoma," says Bowcock, who also is a professor of pediatrics and of medicine.
As part of the current study, the researchers also looked for SF3B1 mutations in uveal melanoma tumors from 102 patients, finding it in nearly 20 percent of them. Mutations in the gene were linked to favorable features, including a younger age at diagnosis and a far lower metastasis rate.
Interestingly, SF3B1 mutations always occurred at the same site of the gene. And the SF3B1 and BAP1 mutations were found to be almost mutually exclusive, meaning that if patients had a mutation in one of the genes, they were unlikely to have a mutation in the other.
"This suggests mutations in these genes may represent alternative pathways in tumor progression," Bowcock says.
The SF3B1 gene also has been reported recently by other researchers to be mutated in a pre-leukemia illness called myelodysplastic syndrome. For these patients, SF3B1 mutations mean the condition is less likely to develop into a full-blown leukemia. Changes in the SF3B1 gene also have been found in chronic lymphocytic leukemia and less frequently in breast cancer and other solid tumors. The gene's link to prognosis is unclear for these cancers.
Normally, the SF3B1 gene is involved in converting DNA's chemical cousin, RNA, into messenger RNA. This messenger molecule carries DNA's code and serves as a template for making proteins. The researchers don't yet understand how mutations in this gene are involved in cancer but it's the next step of their research.
"We want to understand the functional consequences of mutations in SF3B1," Bowcock says. "How are changes in this gene linked to cancer development? This is the fourth gene known to be mutated in uveal melanoma along with BAP1 and the genes GNAQ and GNA11. A complete understanding of the molecular basis of this tumor will be invaluable in predicting prognosis and in the identification and development of novel treatments for this cancer."
###
Harbour JW, Roberson EDO, Anbunathan H, Onken MD, Worley LA, Bowcock AM. Recurrent mutations at codon 625 of the splicing factor SF3B1 in uveal melanoma. Nature Genetics. Jan. 14, 2012.
The research is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (R01 CA16187001 and CA12597007), the Melanoma Research Alliance, the Melanoma Research Foundation, the Tumori Foundation , Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., and awards to the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at Washington University from a Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., unrestricted grant and also the NIH Vision Core grant (P30 EY02687c) and an NIH training grant (5 T32 AR007279-32).
Washington University School of Medicine's 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Children's hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? A new government survey suggests the number of people seeking emergency treatment after consuming energy drinks has doubled nationwide during the past four years, the same period in which the supercharged drink industry has surged in popularity in convenience stores, bars and on college campuses. From 2007 to 2011, the government estimates the number of emergency room visits involving the neon-labeled beverages shot up from about 10,000 to more than 20,000. Most of those cases involved teens or young adults, according to a survey of the nation's hospitals released late last week by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
The report doesn't specify which symptoms brought people to the emergency room but calls energy drink consumption a "rising public health problem" that can cause insomnia, nervousness, headache, fast heartbeat and seizures that are severe enough to require emergency care.
Several emergency physicians said they had seen a clear uptick in the number of patients suffering from irregular heartbeats, anxiety and heart attacks who said they had recently downed an energy drink.
More than half of the patients considered in the survey who wound up in the emergency room told doctors they had downed only energy drinks. In 2011, about 42 percent of the cases involved energy drinks in combination with alcohol or drugs, such as the stimulants Adderall or Ritalin.
"A lot of people don't realize the strength of these things. I had someone come in recently who had drunk three energy drinks in an hour, which is the equivalent of 15 cups of coffee," said Howard Mell, an emergency physician in the suburbs of Cleveland, who serves as a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians. "Essentially he gave himself a stress test and thankfully he passed. But if he had a weak heart or suffered from coronary disease and didn't know it, this could have precipitated very bad things."
The findings came as concerns over energy drinks have intensified following reports last fall of 18 deaths possibly tied to the drinks ? including a 14-year-old Maryland girl who died after drinking two large cans of Monster Energy drinks. Monster does not believe its products were responsible for the death.
Two senators are calling for the Food and Drug Administration to investigate safety concerns about energy drinks and their ingredients.
The energy drink industry says its drinks are safe and there is no proof linking its products to the adverse reactions.
Late last year, the FDA asked the U.S. Health and Human Services to update the figures its substance abuse research arm compiles about emergency room visits tied to energy drinks.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's survey was based on responses it receives from about 230 hospitals each year, a representative sample of about 5 percent of emergency departments nationwide. The agency then uses those responses to estimate the number of energy drink-related emergency department visits nationwide.
The more than 20,000 cases estimated for 2011 represent a small portion of the annual 136 million emergency room visits tracked by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The FDA said it was considering the findings and pressing for more details as it undertakes a broad review of the safety of energy drinks and related ingredients this spring.
"We will examine this additional information ... as a part of our ongoing investigation into potential safety issues surrounding the use of energy-drink products," FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said in a statement.
Beverage manufacturers fired back at the survey, saying the statistics were misleading and taken out of context.
"This report does not share information about the overall health of those who may have consumed energy drinks, or what symptoms brought them to the ER in the first place," the American Beverage Association said in a statement. "There is no basis by which to understand the overall caffeine intake of any of these individuals ? from all sources."
Energy drinks remain a small part of the carbonated soft drinks market, representing only 3.3 percent of sales volume, according to the industry tracker Beverage Digest. Even as soda consumption has flagged in recent years, energy drinks sales are growing rapidly.
In 2011, sales volume for energy drinks rose by almost 17 percent, with the top three companies ? Monster, Red Bull and Rockstar ? each logging double-digit gains, Beverage Digest found. The drinks are often marketed at sporting events that are popular among younger people such as surfing and skateboarding.
From 2007 to 2011, the most recent year for which data was available, people from 18 to 25 were the most common age group seeking emergency treatment for energy drink-related reactions, the report found.
"We were really concerned to find that in four years the number of emergency department visits almost doubled, and these drinks are largely marketed to younger people," said Al Woodward, a senior statistical analyst with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration who worked on the report.
Emergency physician Steve Sun said he had seen an increase in such cases at the Catholic hospital where he works on the edge of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
"I saw one young man who had mixed energy drinks with alcohol and we had to admit him to the hospital because he was so dehydrated he had renal failure," Sun said. "Because he was young he did well in the hospital, but if another patient had had underlying coronary artery disease, it could have led to a heart attack."
I?ve always been? surrounded by people and involved in community. And I?ve learned how valuable that is. But? being with people and developing intimate relationships is not the same thing.
I began making coffee dates. I realized that one of the reasons (aside for deep familial love) that my friendship with Chev grew was because we spent every Shabbos together. I needed to physically spend time with people if I was going to become friends with them.
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Public release date: 16-Jan-2013
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