Roberts jokes about trip to 'impregnable' fortress

This photo provided by the U.S. Courts Circuit Executive's Office shows Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts, participating in a program at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort that is part of the Science and the Law program by the Judicial Conference of the District of Columbia Circuit in Farmington, Pa. on Friday, June 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Ann Wilkins/US Courts Circuit Executive's Office)

This photo provided by the U.S. Courts Circuit Executive's Office shows Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts, participating in a program at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort that is part of the Science and the Law program by the Judicial Conference of the District of Columbia Circuit in Farmington, Pa. on Friday, June 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Ann Wilkins/US Courts Circuit Executive's Office)

FARMINGTON, Pa. (AP) ? U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts joked that he'll spend some time on an "impregnable island fortress" now that the court has ended a session that featured him casting the decisive vote to uphold President Barack Obama's health care law.

Responding to a question about his summer break, Roberts said he planned to teach a class for two weeks in Malta, the Mediterranean island nation.

"Malta, as you know, is an impregnable island fortress. It seemed like a good idea," Roberts said, drawing laughter from about 300 judges, attorneys and others attending a four-day conference Friday at a posh southwestern Pennsylvania resort.

Roberts appeared Friday at a conference hosted by the Judicial Conference of the District of Columbia Circuit, one day after the Supreme Court said the federal government can require citizens to buy health insurance. The impromptu 35-minute session featured Roberts answering alternating questions from Chief Judge David B. Sentelle, of the D.C. Circuit Court, and Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth, who heads the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Neither judge asked Roberts directly about the health care decision.

Rather, Roberts responded with the Malta quip after Sentelle asked him whether he was "going to Disney World" now that the court has adjourned for the summer.

The only direct question Roberts got about the health care opinion came when those at the conference were invited to ask questions.

That's when Roberts was asked what he thought his court's legacy would be in 50 years and "how one recent opinion might fit into that" ? an obvious reference to the health care decision.

"Well, I won't answer anything that has to do with the second part of that," Roberts said. But he said he hopes that the court under him is remembered as one that "did our job according to the Constitution, of protecting equal justice under the law."

Lamberth hinted at the controversial decision when he asked Roberts if it bothered him that he can't respond to his critics.

"No," Roberts said, his brief answer hanging in the air to more laughter.

The conference at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort and Spa, about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, was entitled "Science and the Law." It focused on how social sciences and psychology affect the way the courts are perceived by the public, as well as how judges go about making decisions when such sciences come into play.

Roberts wasn't asked about those subjects. Instead, he answered more than a dozen questions ranging from how he decides to assign cases to his colleagues to whether social media activity is a problem among Supreme Court law clerks.

"The flat rule is 'don't do it,' but we haven't had any situations come up," Roberts said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-06-29-Health%20Care-Chief%20Justice/id-d424f494174643249808ef13cbf0788e

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The Internet Changes Comedy: The Next Wave ? Nerdist

by Jake Kroeger on June 28, 2012

The idea that videos on the Internet could be anything beyond that, such as being adapted into movies or series for television, used to seem preposterous. Well, in 2012, having a web series adapted for the big screen, or the slightly-bigger-than-your-laptop screen, is not such a foreign idea. In fact, it may be too regular of an occurrence, if a video of a dog talking can get adapted into a larger project.

However, this does not mean that the Internet is done altering the art form of comedy. If anything, the Internet affects how humor is conceptualized and executed now more than ever into a more complex, diverse, and self-aware era of comedy.

Who saw podcasts ever being adapted into movies or TV shows several generations of iPods ago? It?s not such a radical idea, since blogs have gotten such deals, but, considering the fact that a podcast is only audio, it is amazing that there has been a growing trend in giving popular podcast a shot at being physically seen. Comedy Bang Bang, WTF with Marc Maron, You Had To Be There with Nikki Glaser and Sara Schaefer, and, of course, The Nerdist all have gotten onto TV or are in the development process for TV. Talk radio hardly ever got such attention, but then again, there wasn?t as much room to be creative and innovative on talk radio as there is now with a comedy podcast, due to network and sponsor interference.

Does it need to be on TV? Exclusive web content has been growing more and more everyday, and comedy has been and is instrumental to that happening. Not only are web series growing as fast as the trends they often try to address, but many of them are looking to brand themselves exclusively online.

Look at the web series Dirty Work, which could easily be adapted to be on TV and, given its funny take on the procedural with Mary Lynn Rajskub co-starring, would fit in perfectly at, let?s say, TBS. Yet, it?s all online, complete with interactive features more fit to watching on your laptop with a keyboard than fiddling with your remote control. Online network My Damn Channel has even sought to make themselves more of a network by broadcasting live M-F at 4PM EST at its YouTube channel.

Can you do without an HBO or Comedy Central special? Thanks to Louis CK taking the big leap for comedians everywhere by releasing his special Live at the Beacon Theater through his website, self-distribution for stand-up is no longer a pipe dream of the future. Since then, Jim Gaffigan, Aziz Ansari, and other comedians with big enough followings and resources to follow suit with CK in producing and releasing their specials did so. Even comedians that aren?t that famous are taking their stand-up specials to the web. Specifically, Chad Daniels released his special free of charge through Laughspin.com. You can watch As Is commercial free in its entirety on YouTube. It?s a perfect example of circumventing the system that can edit your comedy purely because it won?t fit within commercial breaks.

Speaking of Louis CK, who recently announced that he will be selling tickets exclusively through buy.louisck.net, the importance of an online following seems to never be stressed enough. Any post, tweet, move that Louis CK makes is instantly echoed throughout the endless hallways of the web, which has only exponentially increased his fan base. The same can be said of Rob Delaney, Paul F. Tompkins, and, without a doubt, Chris Hardwick. Even Conan O?Brien and Jimmy Fallon have surpassed many of their late night contemporaries online because they?ve really taken the time to strategize/bother to post content online right after it airs. Fallon?s even done a YouTube Presents.

Why do it beyond the Internet? Content is king, but the kingdom still doesn?t necessarily have a currency. As great as it is that CK makes a good living and podcasts keep evolving and provide a new source of material from which networks and studios can draw, the financial model is still developing. YouTube has its official partners and there are a handful of podcasts that are self-sustaining from donations, but a reliable business model for comedy online that doesn?t defy the burst of creativity surging through millions of URLs remains a work in progress.

That will all change when the Internet and TV can be easily watched together. And it?s coming.

Source: http://www.nerdist.com/2012/06/the-internet-changes-comedy-the-next-wave/

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Players Still Needed For March Of Dimes Golf Fundraiser

June 28th

?

Please support March of Dimes Golf Tournament at Avondale Golf Club in Hayden, Idaho

?

All Proceeds Go To The March of Dimes

Contact the Farmers District Office for More Details 208-930-4340

4th Annual North Idaho

March of Dimes Charity Golf Tournament

Hole-in-One Sponsored by George Gee

Take a Shot at Winning a New Car

?

Please Submit the Entry Form Below to:

Teri Gruis @ The Farmers District Office

1900 Northwest Blvd, Suite 110 Coeur D?Alene, Idaho, 83814

Phone: 208-930-4340 Fax: 208-930-4098

Make Checks Payable to:

Gary Louie Insurance Agency

W-9 Available

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4 Person Scramble Competition

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Source: http://silvervalley.kxly.com/news/health/83858-players-still-needed-march-dimes-golf-fundraiser

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Chile's icy nazarenos line up on glacial plains

Catherine Brahic, environment editor

(Image: ESO)

Like a procession of hooded sinners, these penitentes stand guard on Chile's Chajnantor plain. They get their name from the pointed headgear of the nazarenos, penitents who take part in Holy Week processions across the Christian world.

Charles Darwin described squeezing through a forest of the delicate ice blades in 1835 as he approached the Piuquenes pass on his way from Santiago in Chile to Mendoza in Argentina: they can reach 5 metres high, although most are smaller. He noted the popular local belief that they were formed by winds - a belief that is still held today but turns out to be wrong. The peaks and troughs are carved by the sun, not the air, in high mountain ranges from the Himalayas to Antarctica.

Initially, small dimples in the surface of a snow or ice field trap solar radiation. Temperatures and pressure conspire to make the water crystals sublimate rather than melt: ice and snow turn straight to vapour rather than passing through a liquid phase. As the dimples deepen into troughs, a microclimate sets up inside the troughs where humidity is higher and the snow begins to melt. Pools of water in the troughs bore down into the snow faster still.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but penitentes are thought to slow melting and preserve the remaining snow. The deep troughs create a larger surface area for heat exchange, allowing gentle winds to cool the surface of the glacier more efficiently.

Fields of penitentes are mostly seasonal, but in the Andes, where they form only above 4000 metres, they can last for years. Geologist and meteorologist Javier Corripio of meteoexploration.com reports skiing over fields of 15-centimetre-high blades in the Alps. The ride, he says, was "quite bumpy". His best guess is that those in the photo are between 50 centimetres and 1 metre tall.

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7 seconds put Errani in 2nd round; Federer wins

Sara Errani of Italy serves to Coco Vandeweghe of the United States during a first round women's singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England, Tuesday, June 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Sara Errani of Italy serves to Coco Vandeweghe of the United States during a first round women's singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England, Tuesday, June 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Britain's Prince Charles, left, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, wait in the Royal Box for the start of a second round men's singles between Roger Federer of Switzerland Fabio Fognini of Italy during a match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns a shot against Ryan Harrison of the United States during a second round men's singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Roger Federer of Switzerland returns a shot to Fabio Fognini of Italy during a second round men's singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns a shot against Ryan Harrison of the United States during a second round men's singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon, England, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) ? Count 'em: 7 seconds.

That's how long French Open runner-up Sara Errani "played" at Wimbledon on Wednesday against qualifier CoCo Vandeweghe of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. ? enough time to wrap up a 6-1, 6-3 victory in the first round.

How's that possible? Because action was suspended by rain a night earlier, with the 10th-seeded Errani at match point as the 132nd-ranked Vandeweghe served.

When they resumed, after the customary several-minute warmup ritual of baseline strokes, volleys, overheads and serves, Vandeweghe tossed up a ball and hit it into the net. Moments later, she hit her second serve into the net, too, to complete the double-fault that ended the match, right then and there ? leaving both women smiling and spectators guffawing. Errani joined in the laughter as she packed away her racket bag, and kept right on giggling during her news conference.

Asked by an Italian reporter to recount what happened, Errani said, justifiably: "There's not much to tell."

Asked by another whether she'd bothered to take a shower, Errani assured him she planned to later.

"I had talked to my coach to plan what I wanted to do in the match," Errani said, "but there was no need."

All in all, it was exactly the sort of unusual happening that Day 3 kept producing in what's shaping up as a wet and wild week at the All England Club. Another: Prince Charles visited his nation's most famous tennis club, something he hadn't done in 42 years.

Four of the top 13 seeded women were sent packing Wednesday, including 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur, 2011 French Open champion Li Na, and former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki.

The fifth-seeded Stosur's 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 loss to 72nd-ranked Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands means Australia will have zero men or women in the third round for the first time since 1939.

"It's a pretty woeful performance by all of us," said Stosur, the last of nine Australians in the tournament.

Wozniacki, who hadn't departed any Grand Slam tournament in the first round in more than five years, blew two match points in the second set and was beaten 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-4 by 37th-ranked Tamira Paszek of Austria. It was the first match of the fortnight played with the Centre Court's retractable roof closed.

"I had over two years where I was winning these matches," said No. 7 Wozniacki, who is dating 2011 U.S. Open golf champion Rory McIlroy and is still seeking her first major title. "I feel lately it's going the other way a little bit. It's not the first match this year where I have match points and not winning. You know, it's frustrating."

No. 11 Li lost to 52nd-ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-3, 6-4 in a second-round match, and 13th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova was beaten by 31st-ranked Klara Zakopalova of Czech Republic 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.

Adding to the anything-can-happen vibe, at least for the better part of an hour: No. 1 Maria Sharapova trailed 38th-ranked Tsvetana Pironkova throughout the first set, fended off five set points, and was ahead 7-6 (3), 3-1 when their second-round match was suspended by darkness.

That was one of four singles matches halted in progress, while four others were postponed entirely, adding to the backlog created by showers.

Before the rain came, Prince Charles sat in the Royal Box at Centre Court, watching six-time champion Roger Federer stumble once and awkwardly tweak his left knee but otherwise easily reach the third round by beating 68th-ranked Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-1, 6-3, 6-2.

"I'm fine. No pain, which is good," Federer said. "It could be dangerous with the left knee. I'm happy it was only basically a bruise to the ground, and not anything in the knee itself."

Federer and Fognini offered slightly stilted bows on their way off the court. Afterward, Federer chatted with and the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall for a few minutes, discussing tennis, polo and Federer's young twin daughters.

"They do brief you beforehand," said Federer, owner of a record 16 major championships, but none in the last 2 1/2 years. "I guess you don't do anything stupid. You behave. Obviously we were asked to bow, which is obviously no problem to do."

He said the royals "thought I played great ... which was unnecessary, but of course, I do appreciate it."

His performance was hardly out of the ordinary, of course. Nor was the 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 victory turned in by top-seeded and defending champion Novak Djokovic against 20-year-old American Ryan Harrison under the roof in the day's last match. Or straight-set wins by Andy Roddick to reach the second round and Kim Clijsters to get to the third.

Djokovic's second-round match against Harrison actually was much tighter than the score implies. Each man hit eight aces. Djokovic had one more winner, 31-30, and one more unforced error, 15-14. What made the difference? Djokovic converted 3 of 3 break points, and Harrison went 0 for 6.

"I was in trouble in the second set," Djokovic acknowledged. "It could have easily gone the other way."

But there were other interesting happenings.

Heather Watson, a British player ranked 103rd, became the first woman from the tournament's host country to reach the third round since 2002 by eliminating Jamie Hampton of the United States 6-1, 6-4.

Sloane Stephens, an unseeded 19-year-old American making her main-draw debut at the All England Club, saved five set points in the opener and wound up eliminating No. 23 Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 7-6 (6), 4-6, 6-3. In the third set, Stephens was behind love-30 in four consecutive service games, before coming back to win each of them.

"I do still have some lapses," she said. "They're less now than I used to have in the past. I really don't get as upset when I lose points now. I'm not that emotional anymore."

No. 21-seeded Milos Raonic of Canada needed only slightly longer than Errani to finish off his rain-interrupted victory, coming back after a night's sleep to take the one game he was missing for a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Santiago Giraldo of Colombia. Raonic is scheduled to face Sam Querrey of the United States in the second round Thursday.

Errani is supposed to back out there Thursday, too, facing Anne Keothavong of Britain.

Seems safe to say Errani will need to put in a little more time and effort on court ? weather permitting, of course.

___

Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

Associated Press

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After Years of False Hopes, Signs of a Turn in ... - Homes For Sale

WASHINGTON ? Announcements of a housing recovery have become a wrongheaded rite of summer, but after several years of false hopes, evidence is accumulating that the optimists may finally be right.

The housing market is starting to recover. Prices are rising. Sales are increasing. Home builders are clearing lots and raising frames.

Joe Niece, a real estate agent in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, said he recently concluded a streak of 13 consecutive bidding wars over homes that his clients wanted to buy. Each sold above the asking price.

?I just had a home that wasn?t supposed to go on the market for two weeks sold before it even went on the market,? Mr. Niece said. ?It?s definitely a lot different than what we saw? during the last few summers.

Like the economic recovery that began three years ago, what happens next is likely to prove a little disappointing. The pace of recovery will probably be slow, and the prices of many homes will continue to decline.

Millions of people remain underwater, owing more on their homes than the homes are worth, and unable to sell. Millions of families still face foreclosure. And a setback in the still-fragile economic recovery could easily reverse the uptick in housing prices, too.

But roughly six years after the housing market began its longest and deepest slide since the Great Depression, a growing number of experts and people who actually put money into housing believe the end has come.

?Our sense is that the market is recovering, and we?re extremely confident that it?s not going to get worse,? said Ronnie Morgan, a San Diego real estate professional who recently created a $10 million partnership to buy foreclosed homes. The group, Alegria Real Estate Funds, already has bought about 20 homes in suburban communities, most of which they plan to hold as rental properties.

?It feels very much like we?ve hit a bottom and we?re starting to come off of that bottom,? said Stuart Miller, chief executive of Lennar, a major national home builder based in Miami. The company said Wednesday that second-quarter profits were higher than expected, and orders for new homes rose 40 percent.

?I?m a little nervous,? Mr. Miller quickly added in a conference call with analysts, ?about saying the word ?recovery.? ?

The trend is clear in the data. The widely respected S.&P./Case-Shiller index reported earlier this week that sales prices for existing homes rose in April for the first time this year. Several other measures, including a seasonally adjusted version of the index, show that price increases began in February. The pace of housing construction has increased. And the National Association of Realtors said Wednesday that pending home sales climbed to the highest level since the end of a federal tax credit for first-time buyers in September 2010.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the housing market has shown signs of revival, and each previous episode ended with prices renewing their downward slide.

But with each passing year, an eventual recovery has grown more likely. Prices have continued to fall, and the economy has continued to recover, a combination that has expanded the pool of potential buyers. The population has continued to grow while few new homes have been built.

Basic indicators of market health that bulged during the bubble, like the ratio of housing prices to income, have returned to more normal levels.

Government efforts to help homeowners have intensified, allowing more borrowers to refinance or avoid foreclosure.

?All bets are off if anything happens to the economy, but apart from that, I think the fundamentals look better than they?ve looked in 17 or 18 years,? said Richard K. Green, a professor of real estate at the University of Southern California.

Professor Green cited the combination of rising rents and low mortgage rates as a powerful inducement to potential buyers, both renters who would prefer to own and investors who want to become landlords.

?Compared to a lot of other investments right now this looks pretty good,? he said.

The influx of investors is a major reason that the market is looking stronger. Mr. Morgan, 56, built apartments before the housing crash. In 2010, seeing a new opportunity, he and some friends started bidding at the foreclosure auctions then held on the steps of the San Diego County Courthouse.

At first they bought properties to renovate and resell. Now they are focused on potential rental properties in the kinds of gated, planned communities in suburban San Diego that once were populated almost exclusively by people who owned their homes. Some of their tenants are former homeowners.

And competition has increased. The auctions were moved from the courthouse steps last year because the crowds had grown too large.

?There?s not a whole lot of other places to put your money,? Mr. Morgan said.

There are still reasons for caution. An unusually warm winter seems to have given a temporary and misleading boost to a range of economic indicators.

The pace of economic growth remains slow and fragile, shadowed by the risk that politicians in Europe and Washington will fail to address looming problems.

And the rise in prices is happening despite the vast number of vacant houses awaiting buyers, up to two million more than the normal level, with several million more houses still at risk of being foreclosed.

But this ?shadow inventory? is not distributed uniformly, according to a new analysis by Goldman Sachs. Even within metropolitan areas like Phoenix, the vacant houses are clustered in less desirable neighborhoods, while buyers are seeking homes in areas where there are few vacancies.

Under these circumstances, the researchers concluded, ?It is possible for us to see both house price increases and excess housing supply at the same time.?

Indeed, in a growing number of areas demand for homes is outstripping supply.

The number of homes for sale has been falling for more than a year, according to the National Association of Realtors. Some owners are waiting for prices to rise; some of them must wait because they are underwater.

Mr. Niece, the Minnesota real estate agent, said he and his partner had seen their book of listings decline from about 120 properties to 70 properties, about 45 of which already are under contract.

?I have buyers every single day complaining that they can?t find houses,? he said.

Driving through a neighboring suburb last week, Mr. Niece said that he passed a sign outside another real estate office that read, ?The market is great. We?ve sold all of our inventory. We need listings.?

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The academic jungle: Ecosystem model reveals why women are driven out of science

ScienceDaily (June 26, 2012) ? Understanding how a species battles to sustain itself in a challenging habitat is a cornerstone of ecological research; now scientists have applied this approach to science itself to discover why women are being driven out of academia. Their results, published in Oikos, reveals how a gender imbalance in science and academia is maintained by institutional barriers.

"In ecology a species can only establish itself and develop if the population exceeds a certain threshold," said Dr Katherine O'Brien from the University of Queensland, Australia. "It's similar for researchers and academics who need to reach a certain point before they can attract more funding, more students to teach and high quality collaborators which can increase their research productivity. Yet there are barriers which prevent women from reaching this point."

One of these barriers is the tendency of female academics towards part-time work in order to balance family and work commitments. Working part-time is rare in academia while university managers find it difficult to assess the research performance of part-time staff using traditional methods.

The performance of academics and researchers is increasingly assessed using set metrics such as the number of papers produced in a year or the number of citations the research generates. While these metrics can promote research output within an organization, they can also undermine diversity, which in ecological terms is fatal to a species as it underpins resilience.

"To use the ecology analogy, research productivity is similar to the birth rate of a new species. Both need to exceed a critical rate if the population is going to grow and survive, or the academic is to become established in their field," said O'Brien. "However, research metrics are strongly biased towards full-time continuous employment and penalize academics who take time off before they become established."

The ecological model also suggests that if women have children before becoming established they will struggle to remain competitive with their full-time peers. This explains drift of women from research into teaching, where performance is assessed on current rather than accumulated historical performance.

To address the gender imbalance the authors suggest that women who go part-time should be strategic and concentrate on either research of teaching. In turn university managers should be cautious in judging success using metrics, and implement schemes to ensure that part-time work and career breaks are not "one-way tickets" out of research.

"The ecological approach demonstrates that any system which operates on a narrow criteria, be it a forest or a faculty, undermines itself by reducing both diversity and the pool of talent from which our researchers are drawn," concluded O'Brien. "In a working environment dominated by those working full-time women need to be brave and be prepared to be the odd ones out."

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Journal Reference:

1. Katherine R. O?Brien, Karen P. Hapgood. The academic jungle: ecosystem modelling reveals why women are driven out of research. Oikos, 2012; 121 (7): 999 DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2012.20601.x

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.

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Consumer confidence slipped in June

In this June 13, 2012 photo, job seekers have their resumes reviewed at a job fair expo in Anaheim, Calif. More Americans sought unemployment aid last week, suggesting hiring remains sluggish. The Labor Department said Thursday June 14, 2012 that weekly unemployment benefit applications rose 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 386,000, an increase from an upwardly revised 380,000 the previous week. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

In this June 13, 2012 photo, job seekers have their resumes reviewed at a job fair expo in Anaheim, Calif. More Americans sought unemployment aid last week, suggesting hiring remains sluggish. The Labor Department said Thursday June 14, 2012 that weekly unemployment benefit applications rose 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 386,000, an increase from an upwardly revised 380,000 the previous week. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

In this June 19, 2012,photo, a shopper is reflected in a microwave oven on display on a showroom floor at Lowe's store in Atlanta. Consumer confidence fell in June for the fourth month in a row as lingering worries about the economy outweighed relief at the gas pump, according to a private research group. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Americans can't seem to shake their uneasy feeling about the economy.

Consumer confidence fell in June for the fourth straight month as worries about the economy outweighed relief at the gas pump, according to a private research group.

The Conference Board said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index is at 62. That's down from the 64.4 reading in May and the 63.2 analysts were expecting. The index remains well below the 90 reading that indicates a healthy economy ? a level it hasn't been near since the recession began in December 2007. But it's far from the all-time low of 25.3 reached in February 2009.

The indicator is widely watched because consumer spending, including major items like health care, accounts for 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. The index illustrates that Americans are worried about hiring, home values, the stock market and a worsening European economy that some fear will hurt the U.S.

"Consumers were somewhat more positive about current conditions, but slightly more pessimistic about the short-term outlook," said Lynn Franco, director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board in a statement. "If this trend continues, spending may be restrained in the short-term."

Worries about job and income growth seemed to weigh the heaviest on consumers in the index survey, which is based on a poll conducted from June 1 through June 14 with about 500 randomly selected people nationwide.

Those stating jobs are "hard to get" increased to 41.5 percent from 40.9 percent, while those expecting more jobs in the months ahead declined to 14.1 percent from 15.4 percent. Meanwhile, the proportion of consumers expecting an increase in their incomes declined to 14.8 percent from 15.7 percent.

Consumers' dwindling confidence follows a sharp slowdown in hiring in April and May. Meanwhile, a measure of the number of people applying for unemployment benefits over the past month has reached a six month high, the government said last week. That increase suggests that layoffs are rising and June could be another lackluster month for hiring. The government is slated to release June data next week.

Still, Americans have some reasons to be optimistic. A widely watched home price index, released Tuesday, offered some hope for the housing market. Home prices rose in nearly all major U.S. cities in April, according to The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index. That's the second straight month that prices have increased in a majority of U.S. cities.

Shoppers also are getting some relief at the gas pump. Gas prices have falling from their peak in early April. Gasoline prices fell 4 cents over the weekend to a national average of $3.41 per gallon, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and the Oil Price Information Service. And experts say gas could fall another 11 cents by July 4, next week

Despite the positive signs, Americans appear to be hoarding cash. Several companies, from restaurants to home goods sellers, have recently said customers are pulling back on spending in recent weeks unless they are lured into stores by big discounts.

Bed Bath and Beyond last week forecast lower second-quarter earnings than analysts expected and said it needed to use more coupons to get people to spend. At furniture chain Ethan Allen Inc., executives said customer traffic is slowing and shoppers are taking more time to make purchasing decisions.

And Darden Restaurants Inc., which operates Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants, expects earnings short of Wall Street expectations, and it said customers were turned off by the $1 increase for Red Lobster's dish "Festival of Shrimp."

Given growing uncertainty about the economy, Michael P. Niemira, chief economist at The International Council of Shopping Centers, trimmed his sales forecast by 0.5 percentage point for June on Tuesday.

He now expects revenue at stores opened at least a year to be up 3 percent to 3.5 percent. That follows a 4 percent rise in May. The figures exclude drug stores. The metric is considered a key indicator of a retailer's health because it excludes stores that open or close during the year.

Major retailers such as Target Corp. and Macy's Inc. will be reporting final sales for June 5.

Associated Press

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Justin Bieber: What Comes After Believe?

MTV News has the scoop on Bieber's next single, fall tour and Mark Wahlberg movie.
By Jocelyn Vena

Justin Bieber
Photo:

Now that Justin Bieber has dropped Believe, you might be wondering what's up next for the 18-year-old. Well, between supporting his album and a burgeoning film career, the pop star shows no signs of stopping.

Bieber is still in the deciding process of nailing down just which track off Believe will be the next single, following up his smash hit "Boyfriend." And when MTV News spoke to Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, he noted that there are several candidates from the album that seem like a likely follow-up release.

"We haven't picked the next single," he said. "We're gonna see how different songs react off the album. 'As Long As You Love Me' [with Big Sean] is getting a lot of love, so is 'All Around The World' [with Ludacris]. So is 'Die In Your Arms.' 'Beauty and the Beat' is coming with the album. We're gonna see what the next single is. We're gonna figure that out."

The guys are also in the process of figuring out how the massive, already sold-out world tour will look when it kicks off in September. "The tour starts at the end of September ... by the end of 2013 we're gonna hit the whole world," he explained. "He has been watching a tremendous amount of Michael Jackson concerts from the '80s and '90s. And he has been talking to me about how Michael incorporated magic and pyro and reveals and he wants to bring in that. [But] still do that acoustic thing, but he wants to take it to a whole new level.

"It's just really exciting," he continued. "Nothing makes him happier than being onstage. So it's gonna be fun to get back onto the road. I think he was an amazing performer before, but his level of dance and musicianship and his range [has grown]. He's a veteran now. I think he wants to take it to a completely new level."

Not only will Bieber stay busy in the music world, but Mark Wahlberg notes that things are also chugging along with their long-teased, in-the-works basketball movie. The actor insists they are inching closer to a start date. And, Wahlberg is co-signing Bieber's acting abilities.

"Obviously, [Bieber] is a very good athlete. People have seen him on MTV; he can play. But I also really think he can act," he said. "There's not going to be any shortage of pushing him in getting that kind of strong performance out of him, if we get to make the movie. We're just going to have to make him realize that he's playing a character so he can't have the same hairdo," he joked.

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Bob McDonnell clams up about VP possibility

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happy marriage - The Legacy Project - Cornell University

It?s June, the month we traditionally associate with getting married. And more than ever, marriage is seen as threatened. Over the past half century, rates of marriage have fallen, people are waiting longer to get married, and divorce rates have increased, leading to the oft-cited statistic that around half of all U. S. marriages will end in divorce.

There?s a flip side to these sobering statistics, however. Marriage is still the ideal for most people in American society. In surveys of high school seniors, fewer than 10 percent say they do not expect to marry. Ultimately, 90 percent of Americans will wind up tying the knot.

So here we have a paradox. Most people want to get married and there is considerable research evidence that marriage has a wide range of benefits. But too often, the joy that accompanies the wedding celebration turns sour, and nearly half of couples who stand at the altar in hopeful excitement find themselves starting over after the trauma of divorce.

In our surveys of the life wisdom of the oldest Americans, I was particularly interested in their advice about finding a life partner and staying married. Many of the elders we talked with?for the book 30?Lessons for Living?had been married for 30, 40, 50 or more years. Others had experienced disastrous marriages ? but offered advice for how younger people can avoid the same fiascoes.

Here are their three top (and somewhat surprising) lessons:

Marry Someone a Lot Like You

I asked hundreds of elders what is most important for a long and happy marriage and their advice was just about unanimous: Opposites may attract, but they don?t make for great and lasting marriages. Based on their long experiences both in and out of love relationships, their first lesson is this: You are much more likely to have a satisfying marriage for a lifetime when you and your mate are fundamentally similar. And the most important thing to look for is similarity in your core values.

Take Emma Sylvester, who at 87 has been married for 58 years. As she put it with a smile, ?It?s quite an achievement.?

I didn?t know it when I got married, but in retrospect I know it?s important to have the same basic values. In other words, if you?re a free spender, marry somebody who understands that. If you?re frugal, you need to marry somebody who understands that, because money is one of the stumbling blocks in marriages. And fortunately we had the same values on most things. Because of this, we really didn?t argue. And we really didn?t agonize over things. We came to our decisions by just realizing that we had usually the same goals. We both believed in education. We wanted to be moral according to society?s standards, to raise our children to be good citizens, and to be responsible in terms of finances.

Arguments emerge over apparently trivial issues, the elders told us, because they really reflect underlying values. Whether the wife purchases an expensive golf club or the husband a new electronic toy is not the core issue in what can become a monumental fight, but rather the deeper attitude toward what money means and whether the financial interests of the couple are more important than indulging an individual whim.

The elders urge people committing to a relationship to ask the question: Do we believe the same things in life are important? If problems develop in the relationship, these experts on long marriages say that value differences are likely to be at the heart of the problem.

Never Expect Your Partner to Change after Marriage

What about taking a leap of faith on the marriage under the assumption that you can change your partner after you?re married? The elders were as clear about this possibility as can be: Forget about it. According to them, entering into a marriage with the goal of changing one?s partner is a fool?s errand.

Rosie Eberle, 80 and happily married for 56 years, had a blunt comment to make about the entering into a marriage expecting to change one?s partner: ?It?s just plain stupid.? She went on:

For heaven?s sake, don?t say ?Oh, he?s this way now but he won?t always be like that.? Because they usually are, and you have to be careful, that?s all. So don?t marry someone and then think, ?Oh, well he?ll change.? Or ?I?m going to change him.? Believe me, it doesn?t happen. But people get real stubborn, and believe that can change a person later on, which never works.

Friendship Is as Important as Love

When asked the question: ?What?s the secret to a long, happy marriage such as yours?? a common answer from people in long marriages was: ?I married my best friend.? Similarly, from those whose marriages did not succeed, I often heard: ?Well, we were good at love, but we never learned how to be friends.?

This response sounds peculiar, given that we are schooled in our culture to differentiate between friendship and romantic love. Indeed, television shows like ?Will and Grace? and ?Sex and the City? popularize the view that cross-sex friendship works best (or only) when one of the friends is gay. We see friends and spouse as two separate social categories that have different functions.

In contrast, the elders say that the special qualities of friendship are exactly what you want in your marriage. We typically look forward to being with friends, we relish their company, we relax with them, we share common interests and we talk openly. In contrast, we all encounter people who do not feel they can talk easily to their spouse (next time you are out for a fancy dinner, observe the couples who manage only a few uncomfortable words over two hours). What the elders suggest is that you look for the qualities of a friend ? the capacity to comfortably ?hang out? ? in the person you choose to marry. As one 87-year old told me: ?Think back to the playground when you were a child. Your spouse should be that other kid you would most like to play with!?

According to the elders, all marriages have to undergo a transition from the initial thrill of romantic attraction and ? many were honest about it ? overwhelming sexual desire to the stages when other things must become as or more significant. After being swept off one?s feet by true love, the elders caution you to ask ?What?s next?? Will you wake up next to the same person for five or six decades and still find a person you like as well as love?

Patty Banas, 80, made a go of a first marriage when young, divorced, and then ?got it right? in her very happy second marriage. She had one recommendation:

Be sure that you?re really good friends. That is the most important thing. All this ? all the romance and the bells and the whistles and stuff is all very nice but it doesn?t last. Be sure that you?re really, very good friends.

As a relationship is moving into a serious phase, a question couples can and should discuss is: If we weren?t in love, would be friends? And when we move to something other than heart-thumping passion, what is there that will keep us together? (Hint: The answer should not be kids.) The answer is friendship, and if you don?t have it, don?t get married ? it?s that simple.

Marriage will probably never go out of style in our culture. Why? There?s no more evocative summation than that from Ellie Banks, the mother of the most famous June bride of all in the 1950s film classic Father of the Bride:

?Oh, Stanley. I don?t know how to explain. A wedding. A church wedding. Well it?s, it?s what every girl dreams of. A bridal dress, the orange blossoms, the music. It?s something lovely to remember all the rest of her life.?

But after the bouquet is thrown and the last grain of rice is swept up, the realistic approach of those who have experienced decades of marriage can help us make our unions last.

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Loch Ness Monster used to debunk evolution in state-funded school

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