Don?t be too hard on poor Daisy. Her reluctance to go through with the marriage came from a good and honorable place: not wanting to deceive a man she cared for but didn?t love, even if it was his last wish. (Perhaps she?s just too young to know her own mind, though; she and William obviously had a deep connection. She did, after all, feel someone ?walking over her grave? at the moment that William and Matthew fell in battle. So did Mary, of course, which reminded me of the line from Kipling: ?The Colonel?s lady an? Judy O?Grady are sisters under their skins.?) I suspect Daisy was also worried that some strangers would tag her as a benefits cheat if she went through with a death-bed marriage?a crafty housemaid ?out for the widow?s dole,? as that nasty vicar put it. The dowager countess did a magnificent job of reminding the caddish curate that he was in effect on Lord Grantham?s dole?receiving his job, his home, and even the flowers that decorate his church from his lordship?s grace and favor.
The NFL is hoping to kick up its Pro Bowl ratings Sunday by allowing players to Tweet from the sidelines during the game. Some think that?s a silly distraction for players.
As Super?Bowl week kicks off Sunday with the Pro Bowl playoff in?Hawaii, the NFL is hoping to kick up its ratings with the?announcement that players will now be allowed to Tweet from the sidelines during the game.
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The league has a strict policy against using social media during playtime?for the regular?season games, but as spokesman Jon Zimmer?said from?Honolulu?where the game will be played, ?We are always looking for ways to experiment with new ideas.?
?This game is a good?venue for us to try out some new things,? he said.
How well do you know the New England Patriots before Tom Brady? Take our quiz
To be sure, social media has exploded as a way to connect fans and players more directly. But while the move may make sense from a marketing point of view, some critics question the intrusion of?more social media opportunities into a professional game setting.??
"I don't think this is a good idea,? says Kelly Lux, the Online Community Manager at the?School?of?Information Studies at?Syracuse?University?in?New York, and host of Community Manager Chat.
The players are there to play football, she says via email, ?not to Tweet.?
?Their focus needs to be on the game,? she says. ?Asking or encouraging them to participate in a conversation on Twitter would take their head out of the game." ? ?For now, this new policy is strictly relegated to the annual all-star game. There is a clear firewall between?what will be allowed for this?singular event and policies about Twitter and other social media during the normal season,?Mr. Zimmer points out. And the routine for tweeting during the game this Sunday will be tightly controlled.??
Players will be allowed to stop by computers set up on the 20-yard line?and tap?out a 140 character shout-out to fans ? under?the?vigilant eyes of NFL representatives.
?Nothing will go out that hasn?t been checked first,? says Zimmer,?who adds, ?Obviously, they are not allowed to be doing this if they have any on-field?duties.?
The players may not linger and?only one player can be tapping and tweeting at a time.?This does not affect the NFL?s current policy of no personal devices on the field. Players may tweet from the locker room during half-time, but ?they have to leave their own devices behind when they come back out,? says Zimmer.
Enthusiasts?of the power of social media to amplify the sporting experience?applaud this experiment.
?This is an all-star game,? points out David Brody, head of marketing for PlayUp, an online site with an app for connecting?athletes and fans via social media.
?The entire point of the day is to entertain the fans,? he adds, pointing out that the Pro Bowl has moved its venue and date several times over the past few years. ?The NFL needs to do whatever it can to build awareness.?
But some critics point out that even as a marketing ploy, the move to more social media is a misstep.
?There are marketing and public relations ploys that makes sense, but this decision by the NFL is hard to comprehend,? says John Goodman, a former?TV producer who now runs his own public relations firm, adding that the decision shows what ?silly things smart people will do to try to gain attention and TV ratings.?
He doubts the move will help ratings.?Ever since the advent of the Super Bowl, he says, the Pro Bowl?has been the ?least meaningful of all the professional sports all-star games since it happens at the end of the season when no one cares who?s playing, or who wins.?
The attempt to attract a younger?demographic by expanding social media exposure, says Mr. Goodman,?? is ?a silly public relations ploy that?s also a turn-off to most true NFL fans above the age of 16.?
?An already silly game, just got sillier,? he says.
How well do you know the New England Patriots before Tom Brady? Take our quiz
T-Mobile USA may be preparing to wrap up sales of a handful of its mid to high-end Android devices, if a leaked internal screenshot is to be believed. The leaked photo, obtained by TmoNews, appears to show part of an internal stock system. In it, the following devices are marked as "nearing EOL", meaning "end-of-life" status --
End-of-life status means that a phone will no longer be stocked, meaning it'll likely have been replaced by something newer and shinier. What it doesn't affect, however, is software and hardware support. The Sensation, for example, is still scheduled to receive an update to Ice Cream Sandwich, and if true, the news that it may reach EOL in the near future doesn't change that.
It's also true that even after a phone is EOLed, sales will continue as long as there's stock remaining in outlets. So we're willing to bet you'll still see these devices in T-Mobile stores for a few more months. Right now, the biggest question centers on what T-Mobile will be replacing them with later in the year.
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, left, and his wife Callista, center, arrive at Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Lutz, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, left, and his wife Callista, center, arrive at Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Lutz, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
LUTZ, Fla. (AP) ? Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich called Sunday for a commission to study the ethical issues relating to in vitro fertilization clinics, where infertile women receive treatment to get pregnant and large numbers of embryos are created.
"If you have in vitro fertilization you are creating life. And therefore we should look seriously at what should the rules be for clinics that do that because they're creating life," said Gingrich, who opposes abortion and says life begins at conception.
Gingrich, who is campaigning for votes in Tuesday's Florida primary, did not expand on his proposal for a commission. His remarks seemed to open the possibility of a larger federal role over IVF clinics across the country than currently exists.
Standing outside the Exciting Idlewild Baptist Church, where he had attended Sunday worship services, Gingrich also said he opposes the use of leftover embryos for stem cell research, which advocates say offers the hope of treatments or even cures for a variety of diseases.
The issue of stem cell research has become politically charged over the past decade, as scientific technique has advanced.
Former President George W. Bush, who opposed abortion rights, signed an executive order in 2001 that said federal funds could be used for stem cell research only on lines that were already in existence, which scientists subsequently said had been compromised.
President Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights, jettisoned Bush's restrictions on federal funding for stem cell research after taking office.
In vitro fertilization involves creating an embryo outside a woman's body, then implanting it inside the womb. Excess embryos may be stored at the clinic, discarded, used for research or made available to other couples. A study nearly a decade ago estimated there were as many as 400,000 in existence.
Good news is here for folks on Sprint who've been anxiously waiting for a first taste of LTE connectivity and Ice Cream Sandwich. Google's official Galaxy Nexus website has quietly gone live with a registration section for anyone on the Now Network who wants to be notified when the device goes up for sale. If you'll recall, the pre-release version of Sprint's GNex that we spent time with at CES notably retained access to Google Wallet, and was apparently free of any crapware (unlike Verizon's variant). Aside from that -- and a Sprint logo -- it's essentially the same 32GB device you've come to know in the US. There's still no word on pricing just yet, but if you've got to be among the first to know, hit up the source link below.
If you've seen Ice Cream Sandwich and the GalaxyNexus in action, then it should be clear that the menu button has no future in the Android ecosystem. In order to drive that point home, Google has posted over at the Android Developer blog urging app creators to "say goodbye to the menu button." With the until now standard key getting the boot, big G wants devs to start designing interfaces that focus on the ActionBar introduced with Honeycomb. Of course, there's only so much room on the screen, and that's where the "action overflow" button comes in handy. Those vertical elipsis hide useful, but perhaps secondary options, that don't fit in the action bar. It also pops up on the far right of the navigation bar as a replacement to the menu button... basically because it behaves the same as menu, just in a different location. If nothing else at least Google is pushing Android and its apps towards a more uniform design. Check out the source for more details.
SUMO-snipping protein plays crucial role in T and B cell developmentPublic release date: 27-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Scott Merville smerville@mdanderson.org 713-792-0661 University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
SENP1 prevents crucial gene-activator STAT5 from becoming trapped in nucleus
HOUSTON - When SUMO grips STAT5, a protein that activates genes, it blocks the healthy embryonic development of immune B cells and T cells unless its nemesis breaks the hold, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports today in Molecular Cell.
"This research extends the activity of SUMO and the Sentrin/SUMO-specific protease 1 (SENP1) to the field of immunology, in particular the early lymphoid development of T and B cells," said the study's senior author, Edward T. H. Yeh, M.D., professor and chair of MD Anderson's Department of Cardiology.
SUMO proteins, also known as the small ubiquitin-like modifiers or Sentrin, attach to other proteins in cells to modify their function or to move them within a cell. SENP1 is one of a family of six proteins that snips SUMO off of SUMO-modified proteins. SUMOylation (SUMO modification) of proteins has been implicated in development of cancer, heart and neurodegenerative diseases, among others.
The team first analyzed the role of SENP1 in the development of lymphoids in mice and found it is heavily expressed in precursor cells, the early stages of B and T cell development.
Working with genetically modified mice they developed that lack SENP1 gene expression, Yeh and colleagues found the mouse embryos had severe defects in their T and B cells, white blood cell lymphocytes that identify and fight infection.
SUMO pins STAT5 in the nucleus
Subsequent experiments led them to STAT5, a transcription factor known to play critical roles in the development and function of immune cells. Transcription factors work in the cell nucleus, activating gene expression by connecting to a gene's promoter region.
"STAT5 works in a cycle, moving from the cytosol of a cell into the nucleus to activate genes and then back out to the cytosol," Yeh said. "We found that when STAT5 is SUMOylated in the nucleus it gets trapped there when there's no SENP1 to remove SUMO."
The team found that SUMO muscles in on two other signaling events that govern STAT5 activity - phosphorylation and acetylation.
SUMO inhibits STAT5 signaling
STAT5 is activated in the cell cytosol when the JAK tyrosine kinase attaches a phosphate group at a specific site on the STAT5 protein. This transformed STAT5 crosses the nuclear membrane into the nucleus to transcribe genes.
The team found that SUMO attaches to STAT5 close to its phosphorylation site and that cells lacking SENP1 have increased SUMOylation and decreased phosphorylation.
SUMOylation vs. acetylation
In addition to phosphorylation, acetylation of STAT5 has been shown to be essential for STAT5 to cross the nuclear membrane into the nucleus to enhance gene transcription. Yeh and colleagues found that SUMO competes directly with acetyl groups for the same binding site, inhibiting acetylation.
"Without SENP1 to remove SUMO, STAT5 can't be acetylated or phosphorylated and can't be recycled for use again," Yeh said. "We discovered that SENP1 controls lymphoid development through regulation of SUMOylation of STAT5."
Since Yeh's lab discovered SUMOylation in 1996, SUMO has been found to alter the function of thousands of proteins.
Yeh is hosting the 6th International Conference SUMO, Ubiquitin, UBL Proteins: Implications for Human Diseases Feb. 8-11 in the Dan L. Duncan Building at MD Anderson. Yeh organizes the meeting every other year.
"There used to be so little known about SUMO. Now, a protein is assumed to be SUMOylated until proved otherwise," Yeh said.
###
Co-authors with Yeh are lead author Thang Van Nguyen, Ph.D., and Hong Dou of MD Anderson's Department of Cardiology; Pornpimon Angkasekwinai, Ph.D., and Chen Dong, Ph.D., of MD Anderson's Department of Immunology; Feng-Ming Lin, Ph.D., Long-Sheng Lu, M.D., Ph.D., and Jinke Cheng, D.V.M., of the Texas Heart Institute/St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston; and Y. Eugene Chin, Ph.D., of Brown University School of Medicine and Rhode Island Hospital.
Nguyen developed this project as a graduate student in The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, a joint operation of MD Anderson and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Angkasekwinai also is affiliated with Thammasat University in Pathumthani, Thailand.
This research was funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute and a fellowship to Nguyen from the Vietnam Education Foundation.
About MD Anderson
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. MD Anderson is one of only 40 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute. For eight of the past 10 years, including 2011, MD Anderson has ranked No. 1 in cancer care in "Best Hospitals," a survey published annually in U.S. News & World Report.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
SUMO-snipping protein plays crucial role in T and B cell developmentPublic release date: 27-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Scott Merville smerville@mdanderson.org 713-792-0661 University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
SENP1 prevents crucial gene-activator STAT5 from becoming trapped in nucleus
HOUSTON - When SUMO grips STAT5, a protein that activates genes, it blocks the healthy embryonic development of immune B cells and T cells unless its nemesis breaks the hold, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports today in Molecular Cell.
"This research extends the activity of SUMO and the Sentrin/SUMO-specific protease 1 (SENP1) to the field of immunology, in particular the early lymphoid development of T and B cells," said the study's senior author, Edward T. H. Yeh, M.D., professor and chair of MD Anderson's Department of Cardiology.
SUMO proteins, also known as the small ubiquitin-like modifiers or Sentrin, attach to other proteins in cells to modify their function or to move them within a cell. SENP1 is one of a family of six proteins that snips SUMO off of SUMO-modified proteins. SUMOylation (SUMO modification) of proteins has been implicated in development of cancer, heart and neurodegenerative diseases, among others.
The team first analyzed the role of SENP1 in the development of lymphoids in mice and found it is heavily expressed in precursor cells, the early stages of B and T cell development.
Working with genetically modified mice they developed that lack SENP1 gene expression, Yeh and colleagues found the mouse embryos had severe defects in their T and B cells, white blood cell lymphocytes that identify and fight infection.
SUMO pins STAT5 in the nucleus
Subsequent experiments led them to STAT5, a transcription factor known to play critical roles in the development and function of immune cells. Transcription factors work in the cell nucleus, activating gene expression by connecting to a gene's promoter region.
"STAT5 works in a cycle, moving from the cytosol of a cell into the nucleus to activate genes and then back out to the cytosol," Yeh said. "We found that when STAT5 is SUMOylated in the nucleus it gets trapped there when there's no SENP1 to remove SUMO."
The team found that SUMO muscles in on two other signaling events that govern STAT5 activity - phosphorylation and acetylation.
SUMO inhibits STAT5 signaling
STAT5 is activated in the cell cytosol when the JAK tyrosine kinase attaches a phosphate group at a specific site on the STAT5 protein. This transformed STAT5 crosses the nuclear membrane into the nucleus to transcribe genes.
The team found that SUMO attaches to STAT5 close to its phosphorylation site and that cells lacking SENP1 have increased SUMOylation and decreased phosphorylation.
SUMOylation vs. acetylation
In addition to phosphorylation, acetylation of STAT5 has been shown to be essential for STAT5 to cross the nuclear membrane into the nucleus to enhance gene transcription. Yeh and colleagues found that SUMO competes directly with acetyl groups for the same binding site, inhibiting acetylation.
"Without SENP1 to remove SUMO, STAT5 can't be acetylated or phosphorylated and can't be recycled for use again," Yeh said. "We discovered that SENP1 controls lymphoid development through regulation of SUMOylation of STAT5."
Since Yeh's lab discovered SUMOylation in 1996, SUMO has been found to alter the function of thousands of proteins.
Yeh is hosting the 6th International Conference SUMO, Ubiquitin, UBL Proteins: Implications for Human Diseases Feb. 8-11 in the Dan L. Duncan Building at MD Anderson. Yeh organizes the meeting every other year.
"There used to be so little known about SUMO. Now, a protein is assumed to be SUMOylated until proved otherwise," Yeh said.
###
Co-authors with Yeh are lead author Thang Van Nguyen, Ph.D., and Hong Dou of MD Anderson's Department of Cardiology; Pornpimon Angkasekwinai, Ph.D., and Chen Dong, Ph.D., of MD Anderson's Department of Immunology; Feng-Ming Lin, Ph.D., Long-Sheng Lu, M.D., Ph.D., and Jinke Cheng, D.V.M., of the Texas Heart Institute/St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital in Houston; and Y. Eugene Chin, Ph.D., of Brown University School of Medicine and Rhode Island Hospital.
Nguyen developed this project as a graduate student in The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, a joint operation of MD Anderson and The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Angkasekwinai also is affiliated with Thammasat University in Pathumthani, Thailand.
This research was funded by a grant from the National Cancer Institute and a fellowship to Nguyen from the Vietnam Education Foundation.
About MD Anderson
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston ranks as one of the world's most respected centers focused on cancer patient care, research, education and prevention. MD Anderson is one of only 40 comprehensive cancer centers designated by the National Cancer Institute. For eight of the past 10 years, including 2011, MD Anderson has ranked No. 1 in cancer care in "Best Hospitals," a survey published annually in U.S. News & World Report.
[ | 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.
First time accepted submitter AbilityLiving writes "Two high schoolers have launched a Lego Man to 80,000 feet ? three times the height of a jet ? in a homebrew project that involved a few Ebay-purchased cameras, a giant helium balloon and a star-ship full of ingenuity."
On April 8th, 2010, I watched helplessly as the only oxygen machine in a poorly equipped Haitian clinic was taken from a premature baby and given to a woman struggling in labor. The woman gave birth to a healthy girl named Rodsandy. The premature baby died; he had no name.
Now, almost two years later, a stunning, modern teaching hospital with oxygen outlets in the walls is about to open in the town of Mirebalais thanks to a joint effort between Partners In Health, the government of Haiti, and donors from all over the world. Earlier this month, Dr. Paul Farmer (co-founder of Partners In Health) and Dr. David Walton (director of the hospital) took me on a tour of the 320-bed facility. At the very end of this video, Paul pours out his heart in the most succinct, passionate vision of health care equity I have ever heard.
Our intrepid reporters have been busy at the Sundance Film Festival, trekking through the snow to bring you the latest news in all things movies. (Suckers!) Meanwhile, the rest of us have been staying cozy at home, and getting ready for the awesome horror slate that 2012 seems to be promising.
Your inner geek will smile the next time you board a Virgin America flight. After all, there's a chance that you'll be stepping onto a plane that is named in honor of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Virgin America's Abby Lunardini explained to me that one of the airline's jets ? an Airbus A320 ? has "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish"?stenciled on its nose as the result of an internal plane naming competition which was run in the fall of 2011. At that time, the aircraft name was submitted?"as a tribute" to Jobs by one of Virgin America's employees. The plane entered service late last year.
The phrase is a frequently quoted line from the commencement address delivered by Jobs at Standford University on June 12, 2005.?During his speech, he explained that he saw those words on the issue of "The Whole Earth Catalog," a counterculture publication ? and that they resonated throughout his life:
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.
Stay hungry. Stay foolish.
As?Lunardini pointed out to me, Virgin America is the only airline based in Silicon Valley, the home of Apple. All the more fitting.
Oh, and in case you're under the impression that "Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" is a strange name for a plane, then boy-oh-boy have I got news for you.
According to the folks at Planespotters.net, a site dedicated to keeping track of all sorts of airline related details, Virgin America?has planes with names such as "the 1-year-old virgin," "let there be flight," "Virgin & Tonic," Air Colbert," "my other ride is a spaceship," Arnold," "#nerdbird," "Superfly," and so on.
"Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish" will fit right in.
Related stories:
Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts, or circling her?on?Google+.
President Barack Obama honors the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Team owner Jeremy Jacobs is at left.(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
President Barack Obama honors the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Team owner Jeremy Jacobs is at left.(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
President Barak Obama honors the 2010-2011Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Barak Obama holds up a Boston Bruins hockey jersey during a ceremony where he honored the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
President Barak Obama honors the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
President Barack Obama honors the 2010-2011Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama saluted the NHL's Boston Bruins for their 2011 Stanley Cup championship on Monday, but the celebration hit a sour note when one key member of the team skipped the White House visit in protest.
"I believe the federal government has grown out of control, threatening the rights, liberties, and property of the people," Goalie Tim Thomas said in a statement. The decision to stay away, Thomas said, "was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country."
Thomas, winner of the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender in the regular season and the playoff MVP last year, skipped the event with his teammates.
Bruins president Cam Neely said the team was disappointed with the move by Thomas, and that his views do not reflect those of the Bruins organization.
"We are disappointed that Thomas chose not to join us," Neely said, adding that the team would have no further comment on the matter.
The Bruins won their first Stanley Cup title in 39 years last June after a bruising seven-game final series against the Vancouver Canucks.
It was the latest in a string of Boston sports championships, including the Celtics in 2008, the Red Sox in 2007 and the New England Patriots in 2005. The Patriots play in next month's Super Bowl.
"The Bruins, the Sox, the Celtics, now the Patriots. Enough already, Boston," Obama said during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. "What's going on, huh?"
Obama also jokingly invoked some New England slang in welcoming the Bruins, along with the Stanley Cup, to the White House.
"I know you are all wicked happy to be here," he said.
The president said there was no better image of the Bruins' dominance than when Zdeno Chara, the team's 6-foot-9 defenseman, hoisted the Stanley Cup above his head in Vancouver in celebration last spring.
"Which is, I'm sure, the highest that the Stanley Cup had ever been," he said.
Obama drew laughter from the crowd when he cited the scrappy play of Bruins forward Brad Marchand, who emerged as a star with five goals in the last five games of the finals against Vancouver.
"'The 'Little Ball of Hate' shrugged off the rookie jitters," said Obama, adding "What's up with that nickname, man?"
Obama praised the teamwork of the six-time champions.
"Together, these players proved that teamwork is everything," he said. "It can overcome injuries, it can overcome long odds."
Obama praised the team for its work off the ice as well, noting the Boston Bruins Foundation has donated more than $7 million to charities in New England.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was on hand sporting, appropriately enough, two black eyes and a broken nose, which an aide said he got while playing in a recent pickup hockey game.
DAKAR, Senegal?? For the third time in the past decade, drought has returned to the arid, western shoulder of Africa, bringing hunger to millions. Aid agencies are warning that if action is not taken now, the region known as the Sahel could slip into crisis.
More than 1 million children in the eight affected countries are expected to face life-threatening malnutrition this year, according to the United Nations Children's Fund. The region has not yet recovered from the last drought two years ago, and many families lost their herds which means that they will not have assets to purchase food.
Aid workers also worry that donors are suffering from "famine fatigue," as the looming West African crisis comes just six months after Somalia's capital was declared a famine zone.
"I think there is a real risk that people may think this is the kind of thing that just happens every few years," Stephen Cockburn, the West Africa regional campaign manager for Oxfam, said of the droughts in the Sahel.
Earlier this week, aid agencies revealed that thousands of people died needlessly in the Horn of Africa because donors waited until people started dying to respond. The warning signs were there as early as August 2010 but aid wasn't ramped up until July 2011.
Signs of the looming famine in the Sahel were first detected late last year, according to the report released Wednesday by Oxfam and Save the Children. The lessons of Somalia and the Horn of Africa, where as many as 100,000 people died, are front and center in how aid agencies are responding to the potential famine in West Africa.
"Everyone recognizes in looking back that there was a delay in responding (in the Horn of Africa). Tens of thousands of people died because of that delay ... We know from this recent and painful experience what the risks are," said Cockburn.
He said that there could be more hope for the Sahel, since the indications of a crisis have been detected early on.
"The alarms (for the Sahel) were already sounding in November and December. Every country in the region, and every president in the region, has recognized this and asked for outside help," he said.
The U.N. children's agency was among the agencies reacting early. The organization issued an appeal in December and began ordering therapeutic foods for infants and toddlers. By then, Niger had already issued its own alert saying that more than half the country's villages were vulnerable to food insecurity.
Droughts in the Sahel ? a region spanning eight countries, including northern Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, northern Nigeria, Cameroon and southern Chad ? have become increasingly frequent with emergencies declared in 2005, 2008 and 2010. The consequences are especially dire for children, said UNICEF spokesman Martin Dawes.
"In this crisis adults will suffer, but children will die. Why? Because nutrition deterioration is a vicious cycle ? in growing, the body requires more to replace and make up what it lacks and when the right kinds of food are not available the situation gets worse," said Dawes. "They go from moderately malnourished to acute, and lifesaving intervention is needed."
As the child gets weaker, he or she becomes more vulnerable to routine problems, like diarrhea. The child is less able to fend off diseases, and the effects are more pronounced, Dawes said.
Even during a non-drought year, as many as 300,000 children die of malnutrition in the Sahel, says Cockburn. It's a region that is perpetually on the edge, and any extra shock sends it over the precipice.
"The increasing frequency of droughts in the Sahel means that communities have had little time to recover from the last food crisis," according to Malek Triki, the Dakar-based spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program. "Their savings are exhausted and livestock herds have not been rebuilt."
The United Nations is already purchasing food and deploying specialized teams to the region. Grain prices across the region are rising and WFP has observed a rush on maize by wholesalers, who are buying up local stocks. Markets are emptying and staples including millet and sorghum are now in short supply.
Traders from the Sahel are traveling increasingly greater distances to buy maize, with some spotted as far as northern Ivory Coast, according to the WFP.
Cockburn said that the hard-learned lessons of Somalia are already bearing fruit. He is cautiously optimistic by the response from the European Union, which announced this week that it is doubling its humanitarian aid for the Sahel.
Kristalina Georgieva, the European commissioner for humanitarian aid visited Niger on Wednesday in order to see the problem up close.
"Within months people will begin to starve unless we act," she said, according to a statement posted on the European Union's website. "The alarm bells are ringing."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Could it be? Will Betty and Jon reunite next season on "Mad Men"?
Don and Betty Draper?... together again?
That's the hint "Mad Men" series creator Matt Weiner is dropping about the show's upcoming fifth season, which premieres on AMC on March 25.
"It's called 'A Little Kiss,' " Weiner tells TV Guide of the two-hour season premiere. "I like the title to have some kind of synergy with the show so it will pique your interest."
More from TheWrap: Dear ('Downtown) Abbey': An obsession with a long shot
And when asked if Jon Hamm's Don Draper is one half of the titular kiss, perhaps with secretary-turned-fianc?e Megan (Jessica Par?), Weiner answered with a cryptic comment that could mean a surprise reunion for exes Don and Betty (January Jones).
"Who says Megan's even going to be part of Don's life?" Weiner told the magazine. "He may be back with Betty. One of my favorite scenes from (the season four finale) was when Betty offered herself to him again. And let's face it -- those two look really good together."?
AMC did not immediately respond to TheWrap's request for comment.
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Newt Gingrich has surged to No. 2 before the South Carolina primary. But on Thursday night, ABC airs an interview with his second ex-wife, Marianne, who has previously said, 'I don?t think he should be' president.
Until now, Newt Gingrich?s troubled marital past has been airbrushed in the 2012 presidential race. If mentioned at all, it?s referred to as ?baggage.?
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That changes with ABC?s decision to air an exclusive interview with the former speaker?s second ex-wife on Thursday night, just two days before the South Carolina primary.
In a clip of the interview, released in advance of the broadcast, Marianne Gingrich tells ?Nightline? that her then-husband ?asked me to have an open marriage ... and accept the fact that he has someone else in his life.?
?I refused,? she said, in her first television interview since the couple?s divorce in 2000.
The interview hits just as the Gingrich campaign is gaining on the front-runner, former Gov. Mitt Romney. With a lift from a strong performance in Monday?s GOP presidential debate, Mr. Gingrich has surged to No. 2, within 10 points of Mr. Romney. Adding to the momentum is Texas Gov. Rick Perry?s decision, announced Thursday, to pull out of the GOP presidential race and back Gingrich.
But as in Iowa, the surge could stall or be reversed by a spike of negatives. In Iowa, Gingrich?s momentum was derailed by $3.5 million in negative campaign ads by a ?super political-action committee? backing Romney.
The issue now is whether an interview with an ex-wife can have the same impact.
?People are looking for some non-Romney person, and Gingrich is emerging because of how well he did in the debate,? says David Woodard, a political science professor at Clemson University in South Carolina and author of ?The America That Reagan Built.? ?But he's got two hours with the ex-wife on national TV tonight, and there's nothing like a woman scorned to take the wind out of your sails.?
So far, the Gingrich campaign has avoided responding in kind. ?Intruding into family things that are more than a decade old is simply wrong,? said Gingrich, in an interview on NBC?s ?Today? show on Thursday morning.
In a letter to ABC executives, Kathy Lubbers and Jackie Cushman, Gingrich?s daughters from his first marriage, criticized the network for opting to run such an interview at this time.
?ABC News or other campaigns may want to talk about the past, just days before an important primary election. But Newt is going to talk to the people of South Carolina about the future,? they wrote. ?We are confident this is the conversation the people of South Carolina are interested in having.?
?Things are crazy right now, but couldn?t be going better,? said Gingrich campaign manager Michael Krull, in a fundraising appeal released Thursday afternoon. ?Bottom line is, we?re surging and in position to win South Carolina.?
It all turns on how South Carolina GOP primary voters digest two events Thursday night: another debate, where Gingrich is expected again to do well, and the televised interview with his former wife, where he is not. Sixty percent of likely GOP primary voters in South Carolina describe themselves as socially conservative.
Marital infidelities, past or present, aren?t lethal in politics. But how candidates deal with them can be. Responding to rumors of infidelity, former Sen. Gary Hart challenged the press to ?follow me,? then dropped out of the 1988 presidential race less than a week later, after The Miami Herald substantiated the rumors. Sex-related scandals also clouded presidential bids of Sen. John Edwards (D) of North Carolina in 2008 and, most recently, GOP hopeful Herman Cain, who suspended his campaign on Dec. 3.
By contrast, Gingrich?s infidelities have been public record for decades. But the interview puts a new face on it ? and new details ? just as the candidate is vying for social conservative voters, who place importance on issues such as same-sex marriage and family values.
?There?s an element of hypocrisy with Mr. Gingrich that?s hard for people to take,? says Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Weathering sex-related scandals are ?much harder when you have been claiming the mantle of family values,? she adds.
In a 1995 Vanity Fair interview, then-wife Marianne Gingrich quipped that if she didn?t support Gingrich?s decision to run for president, ?I just go on the air the next day and I undermine everything.... I don?t want him to be president, and I don?t think he should be.?
In a sense, Thursday night?s interview is an unexpected test of that boast. ?The Marianne Gingrich interview tonight may have an impact? on Newt Gingrich's candidacy, says Matt Towery, a former Gingrich campaign chairman and co-author of ?Mean Business: The Insider's Guide to Winning Any Political Election.?
?I knew Marianne, I knew their marriage, and I can tell you definitively it was broken from the start,? he adds. ?Both of them, without getting into specifics, have things they need to be really sorry about.?
It's not TV, it's Hulu Plus and it's coming to the Android device of your choosing -- somewhat, unofficially. While the main ad-supported, streaming video site may have failed to seek refuge in the arms of a new owner last year, its subscription mobile offshoot is now finding a home in all Googlefied phones and tablets via a modified .apk created by XDADevelopers member Vgeezy. But before you get all hot and bothered, keep in mind this jailbroken app still requires a subscription to work, although you won't need root to install it. So, any users looking for a quick and illicit content fix will have to look elsewhere. For everyone else, there's the source link below.
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Public release date: 27-Jan-2012
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