Woman hears buzz of tattoo needle for first time

By Ree Hines

Sarah Churman was born deaf, but earlier this year, at the age of 29, she underwent a procedure that suddenly allowed her to hear. Soon after, Churman decided to celebrate the life-changing event with a new tattoo at Ami James' "NY Ink" hotspot, the Wooster St. Social Club.

See Churman share her story with tattoo artist Tim Hendricks in this sneak peek from TLC. ?

"(My husband's) mom came to us one day and she said, 'Listen, I'm going to pay for the sugery.' It absolutely broke my heart that his widowed mother was going to cash in her savings and didn't think twice," a teary-eyed Churman explained to Hendricks as he inked a pinup girl along her side. "As soon as the words were out of her mouth, I called and started setting stuff up and told them give me the soonest date they've got."

If her story sounds familiar, it should. Churman rose to viral video fame after her husband uploaded a clip to Youtube which featured her reacting to the very first sounds she'd ever heard beyond vibrations and some noises an earlier hearing aid provided.

She also visited TODAY in October and explained just how profound her experience has been.

To see more of Churman's moving story, and the completed tattoo she got to commemorate it, tune into to the season premiere of "NY Ink" Thursday night at 9 p.m. on TLC.

Have you followed Churman's story over the past few months? Will you watch her spot on "NY Ink"? Tell on our Facebook page.

?

Related content:

Also in the Clicker:

Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/29/9805349-woman-celebrates-hearing-for-the-first-time-with-new-tattoo

kevin martin va tech shooting 2011 cj wilson coriolanus coriolanus jon corzine rick perry

U2, Taylor Swift Top List Of 2011's Highest-Grossing Tours

U2's 360 Tour is the year's most profitable in the U.S. and worldwide.
By James Montgomery

U2's Bono
Photo: Harry Herd/ Getty Images

U2 didn't even release an album in 2011, but that didn't stop them from raking in plenty of cash.

The iconic Irish quartet topped Pollstar's list of the year's most profitable tours, as their massive 360 Tour moved an impressive 2.4 million tickets worldwide, grossing more than $230 million globally. Their North American dates — which were postponed (and subsequently rescheduled) last year as Bono recovered from back surgery — made $156 million, good enough to give them the highest-grossing tour on this continent, too.

Taylor Swift had 2011's second most-profitable North American tour, as her expansive Speak Now jaunt racked up $97.7 million at the box office. Swift's country contemporary Kenny Chesney came in at #3, bringing in nearly $85 million in ticket sales, followed by Lady Gaga, who, despite wrapping up the North American leg of her Monster Ball Tour in April, still managed to bring in $63.7 million at the box office. Bon Jovi rounds out Pollstar's top five, grossing more than $57 million.

Kanye West and Jay-Z's Throne tour ($48 million), Lil Wayne's "I Am Still Music" trek ($44 million), Britney Spears ($38 million) and Katy Perry ($28 million) also made the Top 25 in North America.

British boy band Take That's reunion tour came in second to U2's 360 trek based on worldwide receipts, making $224 million. Bon Jovi grossed nearly $150 million worldwide, good enough for third, with tours by Swift ($104 million worldwide) and Roger Waters ($103 million) rounding out the top five.

Also making Pollstar's worldwide list were Rihanna, the Foo Fighters, Justin Bieber, Usher and the Kings of Leon.

Did you attend any of the highest-grossing tours in 2011? Let us know in the comments!

Related Videos

• MTV News Extended Play: Bono And The Edge

Related Photos

• Lady Gaga's Madison Square Garden Performance
• Lil Wayne Brings 'I Am Still Music' Tour Home To New Orleans
• Britney Spears' Femme Fatale Tour Hits Los Angeles

Related Artists

• U2
• Taylor Swift
• Lady Gaga

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1676586/u2-highest-grossing-tour-2012.jhtml

jets air jordans pecan pie recipe prince philip david wright sugar cookie recipe sugar cookie recipe

30SECONDSTOMARS: RT @madness_style: your concert in Rome *____*! When you stopped everything just to stare at the beautiful moon in the sky! #MARSmemories

• Passer la navigation
• Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
• Passer cette ?tape
• Connexion

• Connexion
• Rejoignez Twitter !

RT @madness_style: your concert in Rome *____*! When you stopped everything just to stare at the beautiful moon in the sky! #MARSmemories Il y a environ 12 heures via HootSuite Retweeted by 68 people

30SECONDSTOMARS

30secondstomars

Pied de page

• ? 2011 Twitter
• ? propos de nous
• Contact
• Blog
• Statut
• Ressources
• API
• Entreprises
• Aide
• Offres d'emploi
• Conditions
• Confidentialit?

Source: http://twitter.com/30SECONDSTOMARS/statuses/151772076871651328

brandi glanville beanie wells beanie wells dina manzo dina manzo once upon a time once upon a time

London tennis body honours local lad

Ambala, December 27
The overall crime rate in Ambala district during 2011 has gone down owing to efficient policing, according to a spokesman for the police. According to police records, 552 road accident cases had so far been registered at various police stations in the district. At least 252 persons lost their lives, while 324 were seriously injured in the accidents.

While the figures indicated a dip in the crime rate in the district this year, certain prominent citizens contended that the figures were not accurate as the police did not register FIRs in many cases.

While the district police claimed there had been a dip in the crime graph in the district this year, residents refused to buy the theory. They felt the police and the district administration were responsible for various lapses, as a result of which there had been an upswing in the rate of crime.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Ambala, Shashank Anand claimed that the district police had been able to control crime to a large extent this year and there had been a decline in the crime graph. He said efforts were being made to arrest persons involved in criminal activities.

According to the police records, till December 20, the district had witnessed a sharp fall in several crimes. For instance, 17 cases each of murder and murder attempts were registered in the district this year, as against 18 and 25 cases, respectively, last year.

Similarly, three cases of dowry deaths were registered this year, as against five cases registered last year. Also, 119 cases of dowry demand were registered this year, as against 139 cases last year.

No case of dacoity had been registered so far this year, while four cases were registered last year. And, the number of cases of clashes, which was 105 last year, had gone down to just 67 this year.

Sources, however, said cases like rape, robbery, chain snatching, drug smuggling, and those under the Arms and NDPS Acts had witnessed a drastic increase during 2011, as compared to the previous year.

The district has recorded 20 cases of kidnapping (16 last year), 22 cases of rape (21 last year), 17 cases of robbery (10 last year), 682 cases of theft (579 last year), 100 cases of chain snatching (79 last year), 43 cases of drug smuggling (31 last year), 29 cases of Arms Act (23 last year), 260 cases of NDPS Act (223 last year) and 297 cases of gambling (220 last year).

Shashank Anand said to ensure effective patrolling and safety of people, police posts had been established in the district, while police stations were provided with vehicles, commando vehicles, etc. to focus on detection of crime and prompt action.

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5670393967

little big town bennett bennett daniel day lewis patti stanger pasadena pasadena

2012 economic outlook: What's in store for next year?

With the housing market and auto sales showing some signs of life, pundits predict a better economy for 2012. But the ripple from a European downturn could erode the economic pace in the US.

As the US economy enters the new year, economists expect 2012 will be better than 2011. But don't pull out your party hat just yet.

Skip to next paragraph

Growth will be slow ? between 2 and 3 percent. To many Americans, it will feel as if the economy is in recession even if it technically isn't. And economists will be warily watching events outside the US borders for any spillover effect here.

"The economy is going to be less than inspiring," predicts Mark Zandi of Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pa. "But it will still be better than [it was in] 2011."

There are major ramifications for an economy that is not performing on all four cylinders. Among them: The housing and auto sectors, although expected to do better in 2012, will be operating at well below normal levels. The unemployment rate is not expected to improve much, which is not good news for the 13.3 million Americans looking for work. Investors, who are somewhat more optimistic according to year-end surveys, could nonetheless remain skittish, dissecting every economic statistic until they can get a better handle on the future.

As the US economy struggles to gain a foothold, the slow economic pace will leave policymakers with little margin for error ? a bad decision by Congress or the president might be enough to cause the economy to stall.

How America's economy performs may depend in part on what happens in Europe, where nations are struggling with ways to try to save the European Union and embark on a major round of belt-tightening. So far, Mr. Zandi notes, the Europeans have made some progress ? mainly ensuring that European banks have access to credit.

"There will be no Lehman moment," says Zandi, referring to the US investment bank whose financial problems ultimately dried up bank lending, which helped lead to the 2008 Great Recession. In addition, many of the highly indebted nations have new governments that have pledged austerity, he says.

European belt-tightening has ramifications even in the United States. Trade with the EU represents about 2 percent of the US gross domestic product, estimates IHS Global Insight, an economic forecasting firm in Lexington, Mass.

At risk are US capital goods such as machines that help companies make other machines, computers, and auto parts, says John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo Securities in Charlotte, N.C.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/q_7DaWADup4/2012-economic-outlook-What-s-in-store-for-next-year

tcu xfactor frankincense cloudy with a chance of meatballs the hobbit movie orcl 2012 nfl mock draft

Elderly can be as fast as young in some brain tasks, study shows

ScienceDaily (Dec. 27, 2011) ? Both children and the elderly have slower response times when they have to make quick decisions in some settings. But recent research suggests that much of that slower response is a conscious choice to emphasize accuracy over speed.

In fact, healthy older people can be trained to respond faster in some decision-making tasks without hurting their accuracy -- meaning their cognitive skills in this area aren't so different from younger adults.

"Many people think that it is just natural for older people's brains to slow down as they age, but we're finding that isn't always true," said Roger Ratcliff, professor of psychology at Ohio State University and co-author of the studies.

"At least in some situations, 70-year-olds may have response times similar to those of 25-year olds."

Ratcliff and his colleagues have been studying cognitive processes and aging in their lab for about a decade. In a new study published online this month in the journal Child Development, they extended their work to children.

Ratcliff said their results in children are what most scientists would have expected: very young children have slower response times and poorer accuracy compared to adults, and these improve as the children mature.

But the more interesting finding is that older adults don't necessarily have slower brain processing than younger people, said Gail McKoon, professor of psychology at Ohio State and co-author of the studies.

"Older people don't want to make any errors at all, and that causes them to slow down. We found that it is difficult to get them out of the habit, but they can with practice," McKoon said.

Researchers uncovered this surprising finding by using a model developed by Ratcliff that considers both the reaction time and the accuracy shown by participants in speeded tasks. Most models only consider one of these variables.

"If you look at aging research, you find some studies that show older people are not impaired in accuracy, but other studies that show that older people do suffer when it comes to speed. What this model does is look at both together to reconcile the results," Ratcliff said.

Ratcliff, McKoon and their colleagues have used several of the same experiments in children, young adults and the elderly.

In one experiment, participants are seated in front of a computer screen. Asterisks appear on the screen and the participants have to decide as quickly as possible whether there is a "small" number (31-50) or a "large" number (51-70) of asterisks. They press one of two keys on the keyboard, depending on their answer.

In another experiment, participants are again seated in front of a computer screen and are shown a string of letters. They have to decide whether those letters are a word in English or not. Some strings are easy (the nonwords are a random string of letters) and some are hard (the nonwords are pronounceable, such as "nerse").

In the Child Development study, the researchers used the asterisk test on second and third graders, fourth and fifth graders, ninth and tenth graders, and college-aged adults. Third graders and college-aged adults participated in the word/nonword test.

The results showed that there was a rise in accuracy and decrease in response time on both tasks from the second and third-graders to the college-age adults.

The younger children took longer than older children and adults to respond in the experiment, Ratcliff said. They, like the elderly, were taking longer to make up their mind. But the younger children were also less accurate than younger adults in this study.

"Younger children are not able to make as good of use of the information they are presented, so they are less accurate," Ratcliff said. "That improves as they mature."

Older adults show a different pattern. In a study published in the journal Cognitive Psychology, Ratcliff and colleagues compared college-age subjects, older adults aged 60-74, and older adults aged 75-90. They used the same asterisk and word/nonword tests that were in the Child Development study. They found that there was little difference in accuracy among the groups, even the oldest of participants.

However, the college students had faster response times than did the 60-74 year olds, who were faster than the 75-90 year olds.

But the slower response times are not all the result of a decline in skills among older adults. In a previous study, the researchers encouraged older adults to go faster on these same tests. When they did, the difference in their response times compared to college-age students decreased significantly.

"For these simple tasks, decision-making speed and accuracy is intact even up to 85 and 90 years old," McKoon said.

That doesn't mean there are no effects of aging on decision-making speed and accuracy, Ratcliff said. In a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Ratcliff, McKoon and another colleague found (like in studies from other laboratories) that accuracy for "associative memory" does decline as people age. For example, older people were much less likely to remember if they had studied a pair of words together than did younger adults.

But Ratcliff said that, overall, their research suggests there should be greater optimism about the cognitive skills of seniors.

"The older view was that all cognitive processes decline at the same rate as people age," Ratcliff said.

"We're finding that there isn't such a uniform decline. There are some things that older people do nearly as well as young people."

Ratcliff co-authored the Child Development paper with Jessica Love and John Opfer of Ohio State and Clarissa Thompson of the University of Oklahoma. Ratcliff and McKoon co-authored the Cognitive Psychology and Journal of Experimental Psychology: General papers with Anjali Thapar of Bryn Mawr College.

Some of the research was supported with grants from the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Mental Health.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ohio State University. The original article was written by Jeff Grabmeier.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Jeffrey J. Starns, Roger Ratcliff, Gail McKoon. Evaluating the unequal-variance and dual-process explanations of zROC slopes with response time data and the diffusion model. Cognitive Psychology, 2012; 64 (1-2): 1 DOI: 10.1016/j.cogpsych.2011.10.002

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/aQff7XWbt1E/111227142535.htm

matt nathanson rick perry oops rick perry oops tom bradley penn state tom bradley penn state grace potter grace potter

Strangest Love: Britney Spears Leaks New-Old Song!

Perhaps taking a cute from Lady Gaga's "Stuck on F---in' You", Britney Spears has released an old song of hers entitled “Strangest Love." Old to her, new to us!

While it's rumored to be a holdover from the future Mrs. Jason Trawick’s In The Zone glory days of 2003, it was left off that album for a reason. It's fairly tame.

Still, it's a decent if not amazing ballad, and a nice addition to Britney’s catalog. Listen to Spears' leaked track and tell us what you think in the survey below:

Britney Spears - Strangest Love

What do you think of Britney Spears' "Strangest Love"?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/strangest-love-britney-spears-leaks-new-old-song/

peter marshall peter marshall zombie boy zombie boy harvard yale julia child the descendants

Christina Fong ? How to Choose Professional Car Finance

People are today in interested in owning their private cars. It is possibly because people want to have fast and effective solution to efficiently spend their time. Moreover, for those who have a busy work, time is really money. So, having car means they are able to save their time at bus stop. However, not all people have further information to choose both a new car and used car for buy. That is why they commonly use the help of car finance company. The existence of car finance is highly regarded then. It is because most people need it and trust it as the best solution to choose one best option for them. Professional car finance company must have a good cooperation with several car companies so it will helpful to know which one is the best and capable of meeting your need.

Even though there are now so many car finance companies with affordable rates, the number of car finance companies sometimes make you overwhelmed with the options. To overcome this difficulty in choosing the best car finance, you should know several tips which make best car finance different from other competitors. At first, you should ensure that the car finance company is registered in one of these car industry associations, FBAA and COSL. If possible, you can just use the service of one which has two memberships. With the membership, the car finance must run several comprehensive check and evaluation, operational requirements, and educational requirements. So, they will take care of the quality and professionalism a lot.

The accreditation and the quality of the staff should also be the considerations. It is sure the accreditation of certain car finance company reflects the service and the professionalism. It means that you are able to know how many services are offered there and how they offer the services. The more their accreditation increases, the more they have excellent service and commitment to the customers. In addition, you should also look at the quality of the staff. Professional and experienced staff is a must to have. It is because you will be able to have precise and accurate solution for certain circumstance. So, the solution is really specific for your condition and need. Please, visit further information on Beep dot com dot au and prove how it can really work on you. With affordable car loans, world-class membership, high accreditation, and experienced staff, this is your finest and last option.

Source: http://www.christinafong.com/2011/12/how-to-choose-professional-car-finance.html

michelle rounds michelle rounds cabin in the woods dan quayle brett favre packers stock packers stock

Java Web Developer Job posted an update: Java Web Developer Job Jobs 1 to 26 land surveyor jobs from 10 Summary for developing Java [...]

Java Web Developer Job

Jobs 1 to 26 land surveyor jobs from 10 Summary for developing Java Web applications.. steve jobs sells ? 2 days ago ? save job -.. block ? email ? more.. Show all jobs in Batesville .. 74ec7a3a16

we, Java programming, colorado job banks and application tutorials, articles, and links provided.. We also have a comprehensive how-to section.. :: WebDeveloper.com.. Web Developer salaries of Java, an interview, you can read.. Posted by three experts and job seekers.. One search Indeed.com.. All are working ..

Java Web Developer Job

Java Web development work of the 23 913 But if jobs in westminster colorado fits their job search, look ? salary, reviews, and post .. and more of the employees to use Java Web Start technology, standalone Java applications over the network can be deployed with a single click.. Java Web Start is job search 29730 ensure the most appropriate ? 6 corpus christi job ago.. SAIC is hiring! Senior Web Developer J2EE / Java and see (MPD ? F630) Columbia, MD, is applied to jobs at SAIC jobs in USA .. 116 city job ok ponca Web Developer Jobs in Kansas available at Indeed.com.. Searched together.. All are working ? on the Oracle Technology Network, and learn technical information about Java, complete the ultimate careerbuilder job fairs in florida source of information ? and 6 days.

Source: http://positivesocialnetwork.com/activity/p/669/

words with friends roy orbison red solo cup xbox live update new planet new planet green bay packers stock

Analysis: Isolated on tax cut, House GOP blinks

Analysis: Isolated on tax cut, House GOP blinks

WASHINGTON ? With tea party-backed first-termers calling the shots, House Republicans snatched political defeat from the jaws of victory in a year-end showdown over Social Security payroll tax cuts

A link to this page will be included in your message

Source: http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20111225/NEWS05/111225004/1002/rss

black dahlia drew drew lady gaga marry the night video lady gaga marry the night video pac 12 championship game pac 12 championship game

Obama campaign, DNC returns Corzine contributions (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/178564675?client_source=feed&format=rss

monday night football monday night football bonjovi bonjovi kim jong un antonio brown james harrison

Apple's Newsstand application aiding digital magazine sales, says 'I told you so'

There's no doubt that the digital magazine's road to success has been a bumpy one. The original -- and still the main -- idea was to push content creators and publishers forward in the paperless era, but there's been many doubters and fallen soldiers in the process. While Apple hasn't been the only outfit looking to bring the magazine to the small screen, the introduction of the Newsstand app in iOS 5 aimed to give digitized publications a place to shine on their own. According to AllThingsD, the shelf isn't just a real estate hog on your springboard, it's actually helping to boost sales; Popular Science alone has seen an uptick in subscriptions on the order of 11,000 since the app launched, and signs of slowdown are nowhere to be spotted. PopSci's results may not be found in every publishing house, but it's as solid a sign as any that the tactic may be working. Hit the source link for that whiz-bang chart action.

Apple's Newsstand application aiding digital magazine sales, says 'I told you so' originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Dec 2011 15:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  AllThingsD  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/_go5fKYl3_k/

polio cutler natalie wood christina aguilera tony stewart amas music awards 2011

7 states win federal education competition (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Seven states won a share of $200 million in federal "Race to the Top" money to improve K-12 education programs, the Education Department announced Thursday.

The winners are Arizona, $25.1 million; Colorado, $17.9 million; Illinois, $42.8 million; Kentucky, $17 million; Louisiana, $17.5 million; Pennsylvania, $41.3 million; and New Jersey, $37.9 million.

The Obama administration has awarded billions of dollars in such competitions to encourage changes in education that it favors. The seven states competing in this round were all runners-up last year, and the Education Department has said it wants to encourage them to finish and carry out many of the changes proposed in their earlier applications.

Competing states committed to make changes such as improving principal and teacher evaluation systems and turning around under-performing schools. They also were asked to show specifically how they would improve science, technology, engineering and math instruction.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said the money was driving dramatic improvements.

"We've had broken teacher-evaluation systems in many places, unfortunately for five, or six or seven decades," Duncan said. "You've seen more effort there and more movement in a short amount of time than in a long time prior to that, and many states are using Race to the Top resources to do that."

Two other states, South Carolina and California, were also eligible. South Carolina opted not to compete, while California submitted an incomplete application, the Education Department said.

Last week, nine states were announced as winners of a share of $500 million in grants under a similar competition focused on improving early learning programs.

Duncan also said federal officials are monitoring states to ensure that they follow through on their plans to improve schools with Race to the Top money. For example, he said he has warned Hawaii that it's in danger of losing funding.

"We're going to look for some pretty significant improvements early in the new year," Duncan said. "There's not a hard-and-fast date. If we see things turning around, that would be fantastic. If we don't see things turning around, then we've got some tough decisions to make."

____

Online: Education Department http://www.ed.gov/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/education/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111223/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_race_to_the_top

berkman berkman new beavis and butthead game 7 anya ayoung chee peru earthquake peru earthquake

House GOP agrees to payroll tax patch

Search by organization

Source: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20111222/NEWS/111222042/1032/rss0209

cyber monday grover norquist grover norquist nfl week 12 picks nfl week 12 picks jason witten ucla vs usc

Jason Miller agrees with Dana White about his performance

After Jason "Mayhem" Miller lost to Michael Bisping at "The Ultimate Fighter" season 14 finale earlier this month, he took a verbal beating from UFC president Dana White. He called it the worst stand-up and the most lopsided fight he has ever seen.

A disappointed Miller is now training in Holland, and responded to White's comments on his own website.

Dana White was right. He made some disparaging comments about my performance, and I agree with him. I displayed the worst of everything that night in the octagon. I was tense in round one and I locked up after that. I didn't perform to my potential, and I take full responsibility for it. That wasn't a UFC caliber performance, and I'm not happy about it.

After reading about Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira blame his loss on referee Herb Dean, it's refreshing to hear Miller take such responsibility for his loss. He also said that he is taking this loss as a challenge, and ended it with a little bit of an inspirational speech.

My challenge to you, and myself, is to continue to press on and make the most of your adventure here on earth. At the end of your life you want to be sure that you've made your best effort to make a collection of epic stories. Some sorrowful ones, some happy ones and some downright amazing, but the challenge for you is to find and make the most of each of these adventures.

That was the exact inspiration I needed to go finish my Christmas shopping.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Jason-Miller-agrees-with-Dana-White-about-his-pe?urn=mma-wp11006

words with friends words with friends roy orbison red solo cup xbox live update new planet new planet

Women's Basketball: Mason vs George Washington

To include your events on the Today@Mason Calendar, you can Fill Out the Request Form,
or e-mail gmutoday@gmu.edu. Inquiries about a specific event
should be directed to the event organizer or sponsor.

Women's Basketball: Mason vs George Washington

• December 22, 2011 at 7:00 pm

Patriot Center

Patriot Center Box Office, (703) 993-3000

Web Site

Source: http://today.gmu.edu/57938/

chester mcglockton chester mcglockton arsenic los angeles weather big ten acc challenge scott disick kourtney kardashian

Houston man paying $1 parking ticket 58 years late

HOUSTON (AP) ? A Houston man says he wants to clear his own conscience and pay a $1 parking ticket he got 58 years ago, even though the city's traffic violation records have been purged.

Dale Crawford sent a letter to city officials after finding the ticket among some keepsakes. He says it's a debt that he wants to pay, though it's a "small, almost unnoticeable amount."

Crawford received the ticket Feb. 3, 1953, the day he was inducted into the Army. He left his 1946 Nash at a parking meter at the induction station. When his dad was late retrieving the car, it had been ticketed.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker says she'll personally accept Crawford's payment Wednesday and thank him for setting an example for others who owe debts to the city.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2011-12-20-US-Old-Ticket/id-5261d0c6b3c24fcd9664689a38a7199f

gpa calculator menorah derrick rose snooki chanukah chanukah david archuleta

PHOTOS: Katie and Suri Say Hi!

Katie Holmes and Suri greet the paparazzi in N.Y.C.! Plus, see more photos of celebs spending time with their loved ones!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/star-snapshots-celebrity-kids-and-family-photos/1-b-84707?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Astar-snapshots-celebrity-kids-and-family-photos-84707

eagles cowboys trick or treat times trick or treat times madoff bernie madoff anna chapman kim kardashian

Gene discovered for Weaver syndrome

Friday, December 16, 2011

Scientists have found a gene that causes Weaver syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that typically causes large size at birth, tall stature, developmental delay during childhood, and intellectual disability. Published today in the American Journal of Human Genetics, the discovery means that testing the EZH2 gene for mutations could help families who are seeking a diagnosis for their child.

"For the families among whom we identified the gene, this discovery definitively brings the diagnostic odyssey to a close ? it's DNA confirmation that their children have Weaver syndrome," says Dr. William Gibson, the study's lead investigator. Dr. Gibson is a clinician scientist at the Child & Family Research Institute at BC Children's Hospital and an assistant professor in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

"Our discovery enables DNA-based diagnostic testing for this particular disease," says Dr. Gibson. "For physicians who suspect Weaver syndrome in one of their patients, we can now confirm it if we find mutations in EZH2. There may still be other Weaver syndrome genes, and we need to study more families to be sure."

Presently, doctors diagnose Weaver syndrome by assessing a child's face, growth, skeleton and other clinical features. People with Weaver syndrome have an oversized head, typical facial features, problems with muscle tone and joints, and differences in the way their skeleton matures. Mutations in the NSD1 gene, which normally causes a rare disease called Sotos syndrome, are also known to cause Weaver syndrome in some cases. There may be other genes involved in Weaver syndrome that are yet to be discovered.

"Now we have an answer for these families and we are also in a position to provide answers to other families affected by this rare and difficult disease," says Dr. Gibson. He is available to see new patients clinically for diagnosis of Weaver syndrome. As a result of this discovery, Dr. Gibson's team now offers sequencing of the EZH2 gene on a research basis in partnership with the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute. Dr. Gibson's team can be contacted by email at wtgibson@cfri.ubc.ca.

Traditionally, hunting for a disease-causing gene has relied on tracking a gene throughout a family's history. However, Weaver syndrome usually occurs only once in a family, as it is thought to be caused by a new genetic mutation in the sperm or egg that conceived the child. For this study, the investigators sought patients with Weaver syndrome from Canada and the United States. They approached Dr. David Weaver, who discovered the syndrome in 1974 and is professor emeritus of Medical and Molecular Genetics at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. In two families that Dr. Weaver had examined, the Canadian team looked for brand new genetic mutations by comparing the DNA of affected children to DNA from their unaffected parents. Once the investigators identified EZH2 as a candidate gene, they sequenced it in DNA samples from a third Canadian family. They confirmed that an EZH2 mutation was in this third family's child but not in either of her healthy parents.

EZH2 is a cancer gene that is known to be mutated in leukemia, B-cell lymphomas and some other blood cancers. The gene helps control how DNA is packaged around specific proteins, which in turn helps to regulate which groups of genes are turned off and on.

"Our finding illuminates an emerging area of biology that links developmental syndromes and cancer," says Dr. Gibson. "It appears that some mutations in EZH2, if these occur early in life, produce developmental syndromes such as Weaver syndrome, whereas mutations in the same gene that occur later in life can produce cancer."

Dr. Steven Jones is the study's senior author who led the DNA sequencing and bioinformatics. He is head of bioinformatics and associate director of the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre at BC Cancer Agency, professor in the UBC Department of Medical Genetics, and professor, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University (SFU).

###

Child & Family Research Institute: http://www.cfri.ca/

Thanks to Child & Family Research Institute for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 65 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116102/Gene_discovered_for_Weaver_syndrome

heavy d heavy d taser gun patriots vs jets adventureland sean hannity kroy biermann

Syrians protest against Assad after Russia U.N. move (Reuters)

BEIRUT (Reuters) ? Hundreds of thousands of Syrians took to the streets on Friday to protest against President Bashar al-Assad, activists said, a day after Syria's big power ally Russia sharpened its criticism of Damascus in a draft United Nations resolution.

Activists and residents said Syrian forces shot dead four people in a continuing crackdown that the United Nations says has killed 5,000 people in the last nine months and has provoked Western and Arab League sanctions to isolate Damascus.

Friday's killings took place, activists said, after midday prayers in the eastern city of Deir al-Zour and in Homs, hotbed of opposition to four decades of repressive Assad family rule.

In Homs 200,000 people joined a protest march, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, and footage broadcast by Al Jazeera television showed mock gallows where five effigies were hanged, including one of Assad.

It was not possible to verify the number of protesters as Syria has barred most independent journalists, but if true it would be one the biggest turnouts for several weeks.

Russia on Thursday presented a new, beefed-up draft resolution on the violence to the U.N. Security Council, offering a chance for the 15-nation panel to overcome deadlock and deliver its first statement of purpose on Assad's crackdown.

The council has been split between Western countries harshly critical of Syria on the one hand, and Russia, China and non-aligned countries on the other that have refused to pin the main blame on Assad for the violence.

Western diplomats believe a firm Security Council resolution backed by Russia, Syria's longstanding ally and arms supplier, could make a real difference to efforts to tackle the crisis.

Assad has denied that Syrian forces have been given orders to kill demonstrators, blaming armed groups for the violence. He said 1,100 soldiers and police have been killed since the uprising erupted in March, inspired by other unrest in the Arab world that has toppled three autocratic leaders this year.

An armed insurgency has begun to eclipse civilian protests, raising fears Syria could descend into civil war. On Thursday army deserters killed 27 soldiers and security personnel in the southern province of Deraa, the Observatory said.

It is the most serious challenge to the 11-year rule of Assad, 46, whose family is from the minority Alawite sect that has dominated majority Sunni Muslim Syria since 1970.

The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions and called on Assad to step down. Neighboring Turkey has taken similar steps and even the Arab League has declared sanctions against Syria, although it has several times extended a deadline for Syria to approve a formula for ending the crisis.

In the latest sign of the heavy economic price Syria is paying for the bloodshed, Turkey said on Friday that Damascus would lose more than $100 million a year in transport revenues as Ankara bypasses the turbulent country by opening alternative export routes to the Middle East and Gulf.

The Turkish Economy Ministry said it had finalized talks to start exporting goods to Egypt via sea in January and from there overland to Gulf countries to avoid Syria.

"ARAB LEAGUE IS KILLING US"

Arab governments called off a foreign ministers' meeting due to discuss a response on Saturday to Assad's iron fist policy towards unrest, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported.

A source at Arab League headquarters in Cairo did not give a reason for the cancellation. A lower-level meeting of its ministerial committee on Syria will go ahead in Qatar on Saturday, the source said. The committee includes the foreign ministers of Egypt, Sudan, Oman, Qatar and Algeria.

Friday's protests were held under the slogan of "The Arab League is Killing us," reflecting demonstrators' frustration at what they see as the organization's ponderous response.

At the U.N. Security Council in October, Russia and China vetoed a West European draft resolution that threatened sanctions. Russia has circulated its own draft twice but Western nations said they had made unacceptable attempts to assign blame equally to government and opposition for the violence.

The draft floated unexpectedly by Russia on Thursday expands and toughens Moscow's previous text, adding a new reference to "disproportionate use of force by Syrian authorities."

Obtained by Reuters, the draft also "urges the Syrian government to put an end to suppression of those exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association."

Reports by Human Rights Watch and a U.N.-backed independent investigation have assessed that Syrian government forces were given "shoot to kill" orders when confronting demonstrators.

STRONGER TEXT

Russia's U.N. Ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, told reporters that the latest draft resolution "considerably strengthens all aspects of the previous text" and that "clearly the Syrian authorities are singled out in a number of instances."

He said Russia did not believe both sides in Syria were equally responsible for violence, but acknowledged the text called on all parties to halt violence and contained no threat of sanctions, which he said Moscow continued to oppose.

Western officials welcomed the Russian move, but French Ambassador Gerard Araud said it needed "a lot of amendments."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she could not support some parts of the draft but "hopefully we can work with the Russians, who for the first time at least are recognizing that this is a matter that needs to go to the Security Council."

In London, British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said Russia might hold the key to tightening sanctions on Syria, but Britain would also look at ways of imposing new measures on Damascus through the European Union.

"We will continue to look for new ways in energy, in transport, as well as financial restrictions, to put pressure on the Syrian regime," Burt told Reuters in a telephone interview.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Ece Toksabay in Ankara and Tom Pfeiffer in Cairo; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/wl_nm/us_syria

pay it forward haunted houses favicon.ico favicon.ico footloose best iphone 4 case best iphone 4 case

Optimism growing on deal to avoid federal shutdown (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The endgame at hand, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders expressed optimism Thursday at prospects for swift compromise to extend Social Security tax cuts, keep long-term jobless benefits flowing and avoid a partial government shutdown at midnight Friday.

A third year-end bill, setting new rules for the handling of terror suspects in U.S. custody, was cleared for final passage.

"Right now, Congress needs to make sure that 160 million working Americans don't see their taxes go up on Jan. 1," said President Barack Obama, referring to the tax cut extension at the core of the jobs program he outlined in a nationally televised speech three months ago.

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, the most powerful Republican in an era of divided government, agreed. "We can extend payroll tax relief for American workers, help create new jobs and keep the government running. And frankly, we can do it in a bipartisan way," he said.

The long-moribund job market, too, appeared to be on the mend. Government figures showed 366,000 applications for unemployment benefits were filed last week, the lowest number since the near-collapse of the financial system in 2008 and the brutal recession that followed.

In the Capitol, the previous day's bristling rhetoric and partisan jabs all but vanished.

Republicans agreed to consider changes to a $1 trillion spending bill compromise that they and at least one Democrat said had been wrapped up days ago. The White House said it wanted adjustments.

There were separate negotiations on legislation to extend the Social Security payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. Democrats abandoned their demand for a surtax on million-dollar incomes that they wanted to include in the measure, removing a provision that Republicans strongly opposed.

"We hope that we can come up with something that would get us out of here at a reasonable time in the next few days," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

At a news conference, Boehner minimized the concession, noting that Democrats lacked the votes to impose the surtax a year ago when they commanded 60 votes in the Senate. Even so, he said, "there was some movement yesterday from the White House and Democrat leaders" toward a compromise.

Boehner also left open the possibility of a compromise on another key sticking point ? a House-passed provision that all but requires construction of the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to Texas.

Construction "will put 20,000 people to work immediately And there are about 115,000 other jobs directly related to it," he said. Yet he skipped an opportunity to say construction of the project was a non-negotiable condition as talks on the payroll tax cut bill proceed.

Obama has threatened to veto the House-passed bill, in part citing the requirement for the pipeline. The project has been studied for more than three years, but the president recently announced he would put off a decision until after the 2012 elections.

Without an extension of the payroll tax cut, 160 million Americans will have smaller take home pay beginning on Jan. 1, a fact that the president and leaders of both parties stressed as they looked for compromise.

Obama asked Congress to extend and also to expand the payroll tax cut that took effect last Jan. 1 and is due to expire at the end of the year. The House-passed bill renews the current reduction for one year, and it was unclear whether a final compromise would go any further.

The president also wants to leave in place a system that provides aid for up to 99 weeks for the long-term unemployed. The House-passed measure reduces the total by 20 weeks, a step that the administration says would cut off 3.3 million individuals and that Democrats are hoping to soften if not reverse.

Also part of the negotiations was an attempt to head off a threatened 27 percent cut in payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients, an item added in the House to appeal to conservatives unhappy at extending the payroll tax cuts.

Reid indicated that a number of expiring tax breaks were on the table, as well, a list that included a provision that benefits commuters who use mass transit.

In a bow to deficit-conscious conservatives in the House, Obama and leaders in both parties have agreed to offset the cost of the measure to avoid raising deficits.

The White House and Democrats wanted to use the surtax on million-dollar income to finance most of the bill. But with that off the table, they were required to look elsewhere in talks with Republicans.

The House-passed measure relied on a pay freeze and increased pension contributions for federal workers, as well as higher Medicare premiums for seniors with incomes over $80,000, beginning in 2017. The bill would also would raise a fee that is charged to banks whose mortgages are guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and cancel more than $40 billion from the year-old health care bill that is Obama's signature domestic achievement.

At about $1 trillion, the year-end spending measure would lock in cuts that Republicans extracted from Democrats in negotiations conducted months ago against the deadline of a previous government shutdown threat.

This time, the two sides reached an agreement days ago, according to Republicans and at least one Democrat, well ahead of the Friday midnight deadline. Somewhat belatedly, the White House and Reid insisted otherwise, and Republicans accused them of reneging on the deal to gain leverage in negotiations on the payroll tax bill.

In response to the Democrats, House Republicans threatened on Wednesday to repackage the measure and pass it. The leadership held the threat in abeyance while compromise negotiations took place.

The separate defense bill covered military personnel, weapons systems, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and more at a cost of $662 billion, $27 billion below Obama's request.

The main controversy revolved around a provision to require military custody for foreign terrorist suspects linked to al-Qaida or its affiliates and involved in plotting or attacking the United States. Under a change made to gain Obama's backing, the legislation would permit the FBI to arrest and interrogate foreign terror suspects, as is now the case.

___

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata and Andrew Taylor contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_rdp

jerry sandusky interview white house shooting internet censorship sveum benetton ads cornucopia best buy black friday deals

NASA's RXTE detects 'heartbeat' of smallest black hole candidate

Friday, December 16, 2011

An international team of astronomers has identified a candidate for the smallest-known black hole using data from NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). The evidence comes from a specific type of X-ray pattern, nicknamed a "heartbeat" because of its resemblance to an electrocardiogram. The pattern until now has been recorded in only one other black hole system.

Named IGR J17091-3624 after the astronomical coordinates of its sky position, the binary system combines a normal star with a black hole that may weigh less than three times the sun's mass. That is near the theoretical mass boundary where black holes become possible.

Gas from the normal star streams toward the black hole and forms a disk around it. Friction within the disk heats the gas to millions of degrees, which is hot enough to emit X-rays. Cyclical variations in the intensity of the X-rays observed reflect processes taking place within the gas disk. Scientists think that the most rapid changes occur near the black hole's event horizon, the point beyond which nothing, not even light, can escape.

Astronomers first became aware of the binary system during an outburst in 2003. Archival data from various space missions show it becomes active every few years. Its most recent outburst started in February and is ongoing. The system is located in the direction of the constellation Scorpius, but its distance is not well established. It could be as close as 16,000 light-years or more than 65,000 light-years away.

The record-holder for wide-ranging X-ray variability is another black hole binary system named GRS 1915+105. This system is unique in displaying more than a dozen highly structured patterns, typically lasting between seconds and hours.

"We think that most of these patterns represent cycles of accumulation and ejection in an unstable disk, and we now see seven of them in IGR J17091," said Tomaso Belloni at Brera Observatory in Merate, Italy. "Identifying these signatures in a second black hole system is very exciting."

In GRS 1915, strong magnetic fields near the black hole's event horizon eject some of the gas into dual, oppositely directed jets that blast outward at about 98 percent the speed of light. The peak of its heartbeat emission corresponds to the emergence of the jet.

Changes in the X-ray spectrum observed by RXTE during each beat reveal that the innermost region of the disk emits enough radiation to push back the gas, creating a strong outward wind that stops the inward flow, briefly starving the black hole and shutting down the jet. This corresponds to the faintest emission. Eventually, the inner disk gets so bright and hot it essentially disintegrates and plunges toward the black hole, re-establishing the jet and beginning the cycle anew. This entire process happens in as little as 40 seconds.

While there is no direct evidence IGR J17091 possesses a particle jet, its heartbeat signature suggests that similar processes are at work. Researchers say that this system's heartbeat emission can be 20 times fainter than GRS 1915 and can cycle some eight times faster, in as little as five seconds.

Astronomers estimate that GRS 1915 is about 14 times the sun's mass, placing it among the most-massive-known black holes that have formed because of the collapse of a single star. The research team analyzed six months of RXTE observations to compare the two systems, concluding that IGR J17091 must possess a minuscule black hole.

"Just as the heart rate of a mouse is faster than an elephant's, the heartbeat signals from these black holes scale according to their masses," said Diego Altamirano, an astrophysicist at the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands and lead author of a paper describing the findings in the Nov. 4 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The researchers say this analysis is just the start of a larger program to compare both of these black holes in detail using data from RXTE, NASA's Swift satellite and the European XMM-Newton observatory.

"Until this study, GRS 1915 was essentially a one-off, and there's only so much we can understand from a single example," said Tod Strohmayer, the project scientist for RXTE at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Now, with a second system exhibiting similar types of variability, we really can begin to test how well we understand what happens at the brink of a black hole."

Launched in late 1995, RXTE is second only to Hubble as the longest serving of NASA's operating astrophysics missions. RXTE provides a unique observing window into the extreme environments of neutron stars and black holes.

###

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center: http://www.nasa.gov/goddard

Thanks to NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 89 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116101/NASA_s_RXTE_detects__heartbeat__of_smallest_black_hole_candidate

battlefield 3 release battle field 3 battle field 3 dana wilkey dana wilkey chuck liddell chuck liddell

Heat give coach Spoelstra new contract (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? The Miami Heat have rewarded coach Erik Spoelstra with a contract extension, team president Pat Riley said Friday.

Spoelstra, Riley's hand-picked successor in 2008, coached the LeBron James-led Heat to the NBA Finals last season where they lost to the Dallas Mavericks in six games.

"We have one of the great young coaches in the league," Riley told a news conference. "We wanted to extend him and keep him in the family and not have someone steal him away from us."

Contract details were not announced.

Spoelstra, 41, has compiled a 148-98 record in three seasons as Miami's coach. He led the Heat to the Eastern Conference championship and a 58-24 regular-season record in their first season with James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade playing together.

"He is somebody who is very innovative, he's not afraid to take some risks," Riley said. "It's paramount for him to develop a relationship, a real relationship, with his key guys, and he does that extremely well."

(Reporting By Gene Cherry in Salvo North Carolina; Editing by Steve Ginsburg)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/sp_nm/us_nba_heat_spoelstra

mumia abu jamal pearl harbor alec baldwin alec baldwin rock and roll hall of fame erin andrews erin andrews

Qualcomm's Gobi 3000 finds a home in HP laptops, delivers standard agnostic DataPass

Qualcomm's Gobi 3000 is already a big hit around these parts for its dual-mode CDMA and GSM radios, which makes staying connected much easier for serious globe trotters. Its no surprise then that HP chose that particular chip for its DataPass-enabled laptops which offer pay-as-you-go mobile broadband. For those that only need occasional access to 3G on the go or who cant stay in one country for more than a few weeks at a time DataPass and the flexible Gobi radio are a perfect match. Check out the PR after the break for a bit more of Qualcomm's gloating.

Continue reading Qualcomm's Gobi 3000 finds a home in HP laptops, delivers standard agnostic DataPass

Qualcomm's Gobi 3000 finds a home in HP laptops, delivers standard agnostic DataPass originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/dWz8lNEdflQ/

pabst blue ribbon mac miller omarion gabby gabby marcel the shell with shoes on ecu

The Lost One

Author's Note: This here was the first novel I ever wrote. It's completed and someone was nice enough to edit for me. I really would like some feedback. The beginning is always the hardest for me so I hope it grabs your interest enough to keep reading. This first chapter is my shortest one and I'll let ya'll know when there is a long chapter okay? Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I.

Chosen Path

There was a world that existed in a galaxy that thrived and coexisted with magic. It was called Serenai. It was lush with plants and filled with animals. A large number of majestic and mystical creatures roamed in this blissful utopia. Among the most treasured were the unicorns, they were guardians of every living thing. Everything was peaceful and just, and evil was not known there, until an evil force entered the galaxy and destroyed everything in its path. The world itself also became a victim to this force; therefore, the once peaceful and beautiful planet turned into a dangerous and barren wasteland. The wise and kind wizard, Drackor, who helped protect the land, managed to preserve a little bit of the world's beauty and saved most of the creatures. Unfortunately, he was not able to protect the unicorns, but the unicorns' fate was not all lost.

The rulers of the unicorns managed to save their only daughter's soul. Her name was Pristine. When the king and queen learned of their beloved daughter's death, they decided to use the legendary Crystal of Life in order to preserve Pristine's soul. However, in doing so their lives would be lost forever. Ignoring the risk, they used all their power to make sure that Pristine's soul was sent to the future where she would be reborn. They succeeded at the price of their own lives. But something else happened. During the process, Pristine's soul separated into two parts. One was her unicorn soul, and the other was her human soul. When both of Pristine's souls were reborn, it had been ten years since what came to be known as the Invasion. The human Pristine, having no memory of her identity or her past life, was born to a poor yet loving family. Evil had spread throughout the galaxy like a disease, but there was still good in different places.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And so this story began in the year 1100, eighteen years after Pristine's reincarnation. Unlike her days as a unicorn when she was a care-free, spirited, and graceful young woman, Pristine was now melancholy, quiet, and withdrawn. She knew that she was different and felt that something was missing from her life. She only had one friend, a little girl named Kyra. The eight year-old was the complete opposite of Pristine. Where Pristine was shy, Kyra was outgoing. Pristine's figure was willowy and seemed fragile. Kyra's figure was slender and athletic. Pristine trusted her instincts whereas Kyra trusted her mind. Pristine was pale completed and her platinum blonde hair was nearly white. The only color on her face was her piercing, celestial blue eyes. Kyra held more color to her face with her peachy skin and pink cheeks. Her hair was dirty blonde and her eyes were hazel. Despite their differences, they both went together like two peas in a pod. They also knew of the evils around them, but never imagined how drastically it would turn their lives up-side down.

The day started out as any regular day. Chores had to be done, kids were playing, and everything else went on as usual. Pristine was outside near a stream washing her clothing. The clothes everyone wore very worn and old. The village depended on crops people grew, but even the crops weren't many because of the poor soil quality. Some of the people left the village to the closest town for work, which was a mining town. As Pristine did her chores, she heard laugher and sighed. The laughter was coming from a group of teenage boys who took pleasure out of teasing her. She was silently grateful that most of them would be leaving soon.

Most teens when they turn sixteen made the decision to stay or leave. Pristine had decided to stay. Had she been a normal teenage girl, she would have been married by now but there never been anyone who touched her heart that way and she felt she shouldn't try to love someone when she held no love for herself. Besides, most guys who saw her thought her to be too sickly because of her pale appearance. Pristine was glad her awkward teenage years were over though. After washing the clothes, Pristine place the wet clothes in a basket before taking it to a clothes line to be dried. As she was about to grab a shirt, she was grabbed by the wrist and hauled up. She turned to see the leader of that group of teenage boys, Hunter. Even though he was sixteen, he towered over her at five feet and ten inches and was muscular. Pristine feared him the most because she always felt he had anger issues.

"Hey Whitie, are you going to miss me when I am gone?" Hunter said as his menacing brown eyes glowed.

Pristine remained silent and averted eye contact. Whitie was the 'nickname' the boys called her.

"Look at me when I am talking to you!" Hunter shouted, using his other hand to force her face towards him.

Pristine still glanced the other way.

"Looks like she being stubborn again boss." laughed another voice.

"You're right Saul. You know I think it's about time we go somewhere and teach her some obedience." Hunter agreed.

Pristine shivered in fear. She wished her parents and the other adults would come back but they were out in the field gathering crops. Her mind was diverted when she was suddenly let go. She saw Hunter and doubled over as well as some of his friends.

"Take that!" a voice shouted as a young girl kicked another guy in his vulnerable area.

It turned out to be Kyra. She had come outside from cleaning her house to hear Hunter. She reacted without thinking and after she was done, she grabbed Pristine's hand and pulled her towards a nearby wooded area. Pristine was too surprised to say anything. They ran for a bit before stopping to catch their breath.

"Are you okay Pristine?" Kyra asked.

Pristine nodded.

"Sorry Kyra." she replied as she breathed out.

"It's not your fault they're creeps. I'll be happy when Hunter leaves."

"Me too. Kyra, I don't want to go back yet. I know I need to finish my chores, but . . ."

"It's okay Pristine. We'll walk for a bit."

As the girls walked they looked at their surroundings. They hardly ever saw anything green or alive. It seemed that evil sucked up all that was living. Even during spring and summer hardly anything bloomed. Winter would be approaching soon. Pristine and Kyra knew such places of life existed on Serenai. Every now and then a merchant would stop by and let the children and anyone else look at the books he brought and sometimes talked about the places he been to. Time slipped by and before either of the girls knew it, nearly an hour passed. As the two walked along, Pristine stopped and felt something was wrong. Kyra noticed Pristine's hesitation and looked to see fear in her eyes.

"What's wrong Pristine?" Kyra asked.

"Oh, I just had this terrible instinct that something is going to happen. Let's go back."

When they reached the village, everything laid in ruins. No one was in sight.

"Oh no! Tell me this is only a dream!" Kyra gasped as she trembled in horror.

Next to her, Pristine dropped to her knees. Evil permeated from everywhere and Pristine found herself short of breath. Seeing her friend's reaction, Kyra knelt down next to her hugged her.

"Who would do such a thing?" Pristine gasped suddenly, feeling numb all over.

While she felt so many emotions within her, she couldn't bring herself to cry. It was like a part of her was missing something. She was very frustrated that she could never express her feelings. It was often why many people misunderstood her. Even her parents, who were wonderful, couldn't quite understand why she never expressed herself. Because of this, Pristine never felt connected to this place; maybe that's why she could not grieve now. Pristine was still lost in thought when a large number of soldiers surrounded them. They looked like living nightmares in black armor. They also smelled of dead and rot.

"Who are these guys?" shrieked Kyra as she and Pristine huddled closer together.

"The men who obviously destroyed our village."

"Somebody help us! Please!"

All of the sudden, a bright light appeared, and just like that, all of the villains vanished! Pristine and Kyra covered their eyes when the light appeared. They opened them and the first thing they saw was an old man standing by a burned down hut. He had long white hair and beard. His different colored eyes were green and blue. Both Pristine and Kyra imagined he was a wizard because of the style of dress he wore and the staff he held. Both girls gazed in amazement. His garments were crimson red and had gold trimmings, he also carried a dagger at his side. Pristine was the first to recover from her shock.

"Excuse me sir, but who are you?" she finally asked.

The elderly man walked forward and smiled before saying, "Greetings, young ones. I am Drackor."

"The legendary Drackor? One of the most powerful wizards! The one who was able to place three protective barriers on our world?!" asked Kyra.

Who had not heard of Drackor? He was considered a legend in Serenai. It was said he was there when the world was created. He was the great teacher and confidant to the unicorns. Whenever there was a wedding or important event, Drackor was always there. But since the Invasion, not many saw him for the evil forces always searched for him. Drackor laughed after Kyra's response.

"Indeed I am he." he replied.

"Drackor? Do you know what happened to our parents and the other villagers?" asked Kyra.

"Don't worry Kyra and Pristine. I took them to safety."

The girls sighed before Kyra said, "Wait a minute! How do you know our names?"

"I have been watching this place and many others over the years. I know everything that goes around here and everywhere else."

That was partly true. He also made a vow to always watch over Pristine and he meant to keep it. As he kept glancing at Pristine, he saw a totally different Pristine from the one he once knew. He had seen she lived a hard life. He wished he could have helped her, but he knew he couldn't for he simply wasn't allowed to by the gods that governed this galaxy. He had been tempted to ask, but once an order was given he had to obey it. He was very relieved he could help her now.

"Excuse me, Drackor, but what do we do now?" asked Kyra, jilting Drackor out of his thoughts.

"Oh, I am sorry. I have an assignment for you two. I want you to find the lost unicorn princess."

"But weren't all the unicorns killed during the Invasion?"

"Don't you remember Kyra? The last time the merchant came through he said that not all the unicorns died. Somehow, the princess of the unicorns survived thanks to her parents. He said that her soul was preserved and she was born in this time." pointed out Pristine.

This was the first time she spoken since the conversation began. She had been a little intimidated by the wise sage. She felt power radiating from him. But she sensed his goodness and felt that she could trust him. Pristine had a way of knowing who to trust and who not to.

She turned to Drackor and asked, "Drackor, why do you want us to find the lost princess?"

"Because it is your destiny to find her."

"Well . . ."

"We'll do it!" interrupted Kyra.

Pristine looked at Kyra and saw the eagerness in her eyes. Kyra had always wanted to go on an adventure and this certainly would be one. Pristine took a deep breath. Deep down inside, she knew that she must do this.

"All right." Pristine nodded.

"Uh, Drackor? How do we begin?" asked Kyra.

"First, you two must go to the Kingdom of Grom."

"But, but, Drackor, Grom is many weeks away from here. It's impossible to reach it. We have to cross an ocean."

"Kyra is right sir. It would be considered treacherous to travel right now with winter almost here." Pristine added.

"Nothing is impossible!" shouted Drackor as he raised his staff.

There was a crack of thunder and the three of them vanished in a cloud of smoke.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next thing they knew, they were someplace else. They stood on a hillside overlooking a valley. Patches of green mixed with dull brown to signify the changing of seasons. In the distance, Pristine and Kyra saw a castle surrounded by houses.

"Wow! Where are we?" gasped Kyra.

"We are in the Kingdom of Grom." replied Drackor.

"It is beautiful." said Pristine.

"Where do we go from here?" asked Kyra.

"Follow this road we are on," indicated Drackor, "Then head for Grom Castle. The king there is good and will help you get started on your journey."

"Drackor, how do we get into the palace? Surely there will be guards there."

"When you reach the gate, just tell the guards there that I sent you to see the king."

"But sir, surely you know that the guards are not going to believe that a couple of commoners were sent by a wizard. They're going to want proof." pointed out Pristine.

"Hmm, you do have a point there."

He made a red sash appear in his hand.

"Here, take my sash as proof."

"Thank-you." replied Pristine as she took it.

"The sash also holds my emblem on it. Now, all you two need is . . ." said Drackor before waving his hand.

There on the road appeared two horses. One was white, and the other was golden brown.

"Oh! They're beautiful!" Kyra replied, amazed.

"Thank you for everything Drackor." thanked Pristine as she got on the white horse.

Both of them knew how to ride horses because their village used to be known for their horse farms, but since the Invasion, things went into decline.

"My pleasure, Pristine."

"Man, it's been a while since I rode a horse." commented Kyra.

Unfortunately, when she got on the horse, she was facing the back! It was pretty obvious that she hadn't been on a horse in some time.

Pristine giggled and said, "Oh, Kyra! When you get on a horse, you're supposed to put your right leg on the right side of the horse, not the left."

Realizing what she did wrong, Kyra quickly dismounted and got on correctly.

"Sorry about that." she apologized.

"Are you two ready?" Drackor asked.

"Ready as we'll ever be." said Pristine.

"Then go and good luck to the both of you."

As the two friends rode off, Drackor quietly said to himself, "May the spirits of this world protect you on your quest . . . Princess."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N:So what do you think? Please give me your input.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/T427SN5H-SA/viewtopic.php

ama awards 2011 ama awards 2011 uekman uekman music awards music awards giants eagles