http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1KRP6-f7OY

via dailymail

A vacation in the Magic Kingdom should be enough to make a child giddy with excitement, but one young boy was left trembling with fear after he was subjected to an invasive TSA pat-down.

The three-year-old, confined to a wheelchair due to a recently broken leg, was with his family at O’Hare Airport in Chicago, on their way to board a flight to Disney World in Orlando, Florida.

Despite constant assurances from his father that ‘everything is OK’, he physically trembles with fear and asks his parents to hold his hand.

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Outrage: The wheel-chair bound three-year-old boy was stopped at O’Hare Airport in Chicago and subjected to invasive checks

Despair: Despite constant assurances from his father that ‘everything is ok’, he physically trembles with fear and asks his parents to hold his hand

The terrified boy was swabbed on his hands and under his shirt for explosive residue.

His outraged father filmed the whole process and it has been posted on YouTube.

Despite such strict security for this toddler, the TSA is offering background-checked travellers the chance to use special lines and keep their shoes, belt and jacket on, leave laptops and liquids in carry-on bags and avoid a full-body scan – for a price.

The TSA’s new fast track ‘Precheck’ screening, now at two airlines and nine airports, is similar to security checks before 9/11, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Scared: The terrified boy, who was in a cast for a broken leg, underwent an invasive pat down and was swabbed for explosive residue

Airport disgust: The toddler was stopped at O’Hare Airport in Chicago on his way to Disney World for a family vacation

To qualify, frequent fliers must be invited by airlines and meet an undisclosed TSA criteria.

A $100 fee for a background check is required as well as a brief interview with a Customs officer.

However, approved travelers who are in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s ‘Global Entry’ program can transfer into Precheck, according to the Journal.

‘It’s a completely different experience than what you’re used to,’ Matt Stegmeir, a platinum-level Delta Air Lines frequent flier who was invited into Precheck, told the Journal. 

‘It’s really a jarring contrast. It reminds you just how much of a hassle the security procedures in place really are.’

The program can improve screening of unknown passengers if it can move low-risk people out of the main queues.

‘We can reduce the size of the haystack when we are looking for that one-in-a-billion terrorist,’ TSA Administrator John Pistole told the Journal.

Mr Pistole added that by studying frequent-flier histories as well as conducting background checks, he’s confident the U.S. now has the technology and the intelligence information to make less-rigorous, faster screening work.

Easy pass: Passengers in the Precheck program will not have to go through full body scanners, and can instead pass through a standard metal detector

TSA is working with only two airlines, American and Delta, on program which is still in the pilot phase.

Precheck lanes are already in place only at nine airports including Dallas-Fort Worth, New York Kennedy, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Detroit , Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Minneapolis-St. Paul.

By the end of the year  Precheck will be in place at 35 airports and six airlines, covering most major U.S. airports and airlines, reports the Journal.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2116881/TSA-subject-child-wheelchair-invasive-airport-security-tests-Chicago.html#ixzz1pZgYKpZA

via dailymail.co.uk

On the six-month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, protesters swarmed its birthplace –Zuccotti Park – again sparking the cat-and-mouse clashes between New York City police officers and demonstrators.

The sweep of the park by police just before midnight capped a day of demonstrations and marching in lower Manhattan. There was no official word on the number of arrests but dozens of people were handcuffed and led out of the park.

Earlier in the day, 15 people were arrested and three officers suffered injuries, police said.

An unused public transit bus was brought in to cart away about a dozen demonstrators in plastic handcuffs. 

Anniversary: NYPD officers clash with members of the Occupy Wall St movement at Zuccotti park in New York last night

Several arrests: A bus was brought in to remove the arrested protesters

One female under arrest apparently suffered a seizure and had difficulty breathing. She was taken away in an ambulance to be treated.

For hours, the demonstrators had been chanting and holding impromptu meetings in the park to celebrate the anniversary of the movement that has brought attention to economic inequality, as police mainly kept their distance.

But New York Police Det. Brian Sessa said the tipping point came when the protesters started breaking the park rules.

‘They set up tents. They had sleeping bags,’ he told the Associated Press. Electrical boxes also were tampered with and there was evidence of graffiti.

Det. Sessa said Brookfield Properties, the park owner, sent in security to advise the protesters to stop pitching tents and to leave the park.

The protesters, in turn, became agitated with them. The company then asked the police to help them clear out the park, the detective said.

Many protesters shouted and officers took out their batons after a demonstrator threw a glass bottle at the bus that police were using to detain protesters.

Taken down: One protester missing his right shoe is pinned to the ground by an NYPD officer

The clash: An NYPD officer runs after a woman in green as those around her are being arrested

Sandra Nurse, a member of Occupy’s direct action working group, said police treated demonstrators roughly and made arbitrary arrests. She disputed the police assertion that demonstrators had broken park rules by putting up tents or getting out sleeping bags.

‘I didn’t see any sleeping bags,’ she said. ‘There was a banner hung between two trees and a tarp thrown over it … It wasn’t a tent. It was an erect thing, if that’s what you want to call it.’

She said they had reports of about 25 demonstrators arrested in the police sweep.

Protesters reconvened at the park following afternoon marches through New York’s financial district. By 11pm, roughly 300 had gathered there.

‘This is our spring offensive,’ Michael Premo, 30, of New York told Reuters. He identified himself as a spokesman for the movement.

‘People think the Occupy movement has gone away. It’s important for people to see we’re back.’

Inspired by the pro-democracy Arab Spring, the Wall Street protesters targeted U.S. financial policies they blamed for the yawning income gap between rich and poor in the country, between what they called the one per cent and the 99 per cent.

The demonstrators set up camp in Zuccotti Park on September 17 and sparked a wave of protests across the United States.

Famous face: Activist and outspoken filmmaker Michael Moore joined protesters and spoke briefly at the rally, calling it ‘the beginning’

American Spring: More than a dozen arrested protesters sit on the ground outside of Zuccotti Park; protesters are likening the Occupy movement to the Arab Spring

Events got under way near midday on Saturday, with street theatre troupes performing and guitar players leading sing-alongs. Some boisterous protesters marched through the streets of the financial district, chanting ‘bankers are gangsters’ and cursing at police.

As they have in past marches, protesters led police on a series of cat-and-mouse chases. Marchers at the front of the crowd would suddenly turn down narrow side streets, startling tourists and forcing police to send officers on motor scooters to contain the crowd.

The movement has made headlines for its clashes with police after campsites were set up for months in cities from New York to California. The camps were eventually shut down by authorities citing zoning regulations and public health concerns.

In New York, the Occupy movement lost significant momentum in November when a pre-dawn sweep broke up the encampment at Zuccotti, although Occupy protests in Oakland, California, in January led to police firing tear gas into crowds of protesters and more than 200 were arrested.

Protester Paul Sylvester, 24, of Massachusetts said he was ‘thrilled’ to be back at the park but said he hoped the movement would begin to crystallize around specific goals.

‘We need to be more concrete and specific,’ he said.

Critics say the Occupy movement lacks direction and clear demands.

It continues to draw celebrities, however. On Saturday night, independent filmmaker Michael Moore strode through the park before the police incursion.

Civil disobedience: Protesters that have been arrested sit on the ground in plastic hand cuffs

Hovering: Police stand over a detained protester; one NYPD officer holds another set of plastic hand cuffs

‘I think it’s great that this movement continues to grow,’ Mr Moore said. ‘I think the goals are clear. People are concerned that they have no control over their own democracy. They have no control over their own lives.

‘This is the beginning. This park is sacred ground for millions across the country.’

As always, the protesters focused on a variety of concerns, but for Tom Hagan, his sights were on the giants of finance.

‘Wall Street did some terrible things, especially Goldman Sachs, but all of them. Everyone from the banks to the rating agencies, they all knew they were doing wrong. … But they did it anyway. Because the money was too big,’ he said.

Dressed in an outfit that might have been more appropriate for the St. Patrick’s Day parade, the 61-year-old salesman wore a green shamrock cap and carried a sign asking for saintly intervention: ‘St. Patrick: Drive the snakes out of Wall Street.’

Chalkupy Wall Street: Earlier in the day, protesters chalked OW-inspired phrases in Zuccotti Park

Stacy Hessler held up a cardboard sign that read, ‘Spring is coming,’ a reference, she said, both to the Arab Spring and to the warm weather that is returning to New York City.

She said she believes the nicer weather will bring the crowds back to Occupy protests, where numbers have dwindled in recent months since the group’s encampment was ousted from Zuccotti Park by authorities in November.

But now, ‘more and more people are coming out,’ said the 39-year-old, who left her home in Florida in October to join the Manhattan protesters and stayed through much of the winter.

‘The next couple of months, things are going to start to grow, like the flowers.’

Some have questioned whether the group can regain its momentum. This month, the finance accounting group in New York City reported that just about $119,000 remained in Occupy’s bank account – the equivalent of about two weeks’ worth of expenses.

But Ms Hessler said the group has remained strong, and she pronounced herself satisfied with what the Occupy protesters have accomplished over the last half year.

‘It’s changed the language,’ she said. ‘It’s brought out a lot of issues that people are talking about.

And that’s the start of change.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2116661/Occupy-Wall-Street-protesters-clash-police-Zuccotti-Park-movement-began-6-months-ago.html#ixzz1pUKYVnbU

via wsj.com 

By KARL ROVE

Last July, President Obama’s campaign announced that it had raised an average of $29 million in each of the previous three months for itself and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). I was only mildly impressed. After all, that was well below the $50 million a month needed to reach the campaign’s goal of a $1 billion war chest for the 2012 race.

Seven months later, I’m even less impressed. Through January, the president has raised an average of $24 million a month for his campaign and the DNC. Next week, the Obama campaign will release its February numbers, but the president is on track to be hundreds of millions of dollars shy of his original goal.

It’s not for lack of trying. Mr. Obama has already attended 103 fund-raisers, roughly one every three days since he kicked off his campaign last April (twice his predecessor’s pace).

The president faces other fund-raising challenges. For one, there are only so many times any candidate can go to New York or Hollywood or San Francisco for a $1 million fund-raiser. Team Obama is running through its easy money venues quickly.

For another, many of Mr. Obama’s 2008 donors are reluctant to give again. The Obama campaign itself reported that fewer than 7% of 2008 donors renewed their support in the first quarter of his re-election campaign. That’s about one-quarter to one-third of a typical renewal rate: In the first quarter of the Bush re-election campaign, for example, about 20% of the donors renewed their support.

There are other troubling signs. Team Obama’s email appeals don’t ask for $10, $15, $25 or $50 donations as they did in 2008, but generally for $3. Nor are the appeals mostly about issues; many are lotteries. Give three bucks and your name will be put in a drawing for a private dinner with the president and first lady.

This is clever marketing, but it suggests the campaign has found that only a low price point with a big benefit can overcome donor resistance among people who contributed via mail or the Internet in 2008. It also points to higher-than-expected solicitation costs and lower-than-expected fund-raising returns.

The final financial challenge facing Mr. Obama’s campaign is how fast it is burning through the cash it is raising. Compare the 2012 Obama re-election campaign with the 2004 Bush re-election campaign. Mr. Obama’s campaign spent 25% of what it raised in the second quarter of 2011, while Mr. Bush’s campaign spent only 9% in the second quarter of 2003. In the third quarter it was 46% for Obama versus 26% for Bush; for the fourth quarter it was 57% versus 40%. In January 2012 the Obama campaign spent 158% of what it raised, while the Bush campaign spent 60% in January 2004.

At the end of January, Team Obama had $91.7 million in cash in its coffers and those of the DNC. At the same point in 2004, the Bush campaign and Republican National Committee had $122 million in cash combined.

The Obama campaign’s high burn rate doesn’t come from large television buys, phone banks or mail programs that could be immediately stopped. It appears to result instead from huge fixed costs for a big staff and higher-than-expected fund-raising outlays. These are much tougher to unwind or delay. Left unaltered, they generally lead to even more frantic efforts to both raise money and stop other spending.

This perhaps explains why the White House told congressional Democrats last week not to expect a single dime for their campaign efforts from the Democratic National Committee this year. All the DNC’s funds will be needed for the president’s re-election.

His campaign’s financial situation also may explain why Mr. Obama has embraced Super PACs after decrying them as a “threat to democracy” in the midterm elections. The president was quick to criticize Rush Limbaugh’s crude comments about contraception advocate Sandra Fluke. But he refused to condemn his Super PAC’s acceptance of a million-dollar donation from Bill Maher, who routinely attacks Republican women such as Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann in vulgar and sexually charged terms.

That virtually all Republicans and many independents consider Mr. Obama a failure is obvious. But many Democrats are disappointed with him, too. The president’s difficulty in raising campaign cash is evidence of this. He is working a lot harder than he thought he would to raise a lot less than he had hoped.

Mr. Rove, the former senior adviser and deputy chief of staff to President George W. Bush, is the author of “Courage and Consequence” (Threshold Editions, 2010)

via Grantland.com

On Tuesday morning, word around the NFL was that the Bears were basically formalities away from locking up Vincent Jackson and Mario Williams. By 5 p.m., the Bears had acquired Brandon Marshall, but the Bills were now going to host Robert Meachem and Mario Williams and sign them both before their fans woke up the following morning. As the clock struck midnight on the East Coast, Meachem was on the Chargers, Williams was a free man, and we vowed to stop listening to the rumor mill. And then on Wednesday at 12:05 am on the East Coast, we started refreshing Twitter every five seconds while jonesing for our fix. We’re only human.

By the end of a busy first day of free agency, the league had raided the wide receiver and cornerback aisles and left them barren, with 10 notable signings between the two positions alone. About half of those moves made a lick of sense, as logic took a backseat to getting (or spending) cash now. It is our duty to cover both the insightful and the incoherent, and so we start our look at Day 1 of free agency in Washington, where the Redskins defied the odds to pull off their best Redskins impersonation.

The More I Get, The More I Want

With their draft picks tied up in the RG3 trade and their spending money repossessed by the NFL, you would have forgiven the Redskins for taking a rare opening day of free agency off. And then they would have said, “Thanks for forgiving us! Now, please get out of our way so we can get back to spending money we may or may not have. There are second-tier free agents just roaming around out there! For free! Without contracts!”

And so the Redskins found it in their hearts to give Pierre Garcon a five-year, $42.5 million contract with $21.5 million in guaranteed money. This is the same Pierre Garcon who has caught just over 53 percent of the passes thrown to him over the past three seasons despite having Peyton Manning at quarterback for two of those three years. The other Colts wide receivers caught just under 64 percent of the passes thrown to them over that time frame. And while a low catch rate is fine if you’re a deep threat or a demon after the catch, Garcon’s averaged 13.6 yards per catch over that span, which is almost exactly league average. Jabar Gaffney has averaged more yards per catch over the past three years than Pierre Garcon. Is he a downfield threat?

Garcon fits one of the archetypes we identified last year when we described the free agents you meet in hell, a second or third wideout from an effective passing offense. These sorts of players look good against single coverage with great quarterbacks around them, but when you move them into the no. 1 slot on a team with an inferior quarterback, they fail to meet expectations. Last year, Garcon’s raw numbers showed some improvement because he took more snaps and made it through all 16 games for the first time in his career, but his catch rate without Manning fell from 56 percent to 52 percent, and that came while Garcon enjoyed the splendor of garbage-time yardage for the first time in his career. He had three receptions for more than 40 yards all year, and two of them came in one game against the dismal Buccaneers. What about this guy says, “We need to give him $21.5 million as soon as possible?”

While the Redskins were seemingly down to Santana Moss and flotsam at wideout, they already had a useful receiver sitting in Mike Shanahan’s ample doghouse. Anthony Armstrong spent most of 2011 on the bench because Shanahan thought he couldn’t get off press coverage at the line of scrimmage, but Armstrong’s production as a starter in 2010 was arguably better than Garcon’s, despite the fact that the former swapped out Peyton Manning for Donovan McNabb and Rex Grossman:

Garcon might be the better player, but it’s not a clear case. At the very least, the difference between the two of them over the next two seasons certainly isn’t $21.5 million in guaranteed cash. As bad signings go, this isn’t bringing in Albert Haynesworth, since Haynesworth was at least at the top of his game in the two seasons before the Redskins paid too much for him. This is more like the signings of DeAngelo Hall or Brandon Lloyd, when the Redskins acquired (or retained) a B-list player by giving him A-list money. You can make the case that Washington needed to upgrade at wide receiver and give RG3 options, but you don’t accomplish that by throwing $21.5 million at league-average receivers.

On the other hand, the Redskins made a perfectly rational, reasonable decision to buy low on Josh Morgan, who broke his leg after five games and missed most of San Francisco’s 2011 season. Morgan’s statistics aren’t all that impressive, and he’s not regarded as a burner, but he’s spent the past three years playing with Alex Smith in a conservative offense. It’s also worth noting that he’s averaged 13.0 yards per catch over those three seasons, virtually identical to Garcon’s figure. The Redskins only paid $7.5 million in guaranteed money for Morgan on a five-year, $12 million contract that will void after two years (for cap purposes, the Skins will spread the signing bonus hit over five years, but it’s essentially a two-year deal). Washington may find that Morgan’s actually the better player of the two.

Big Receiver-a-Go-Go

We were right to assume that there were two oversize wideouts on the market who would move fast during free agency, but we had the wrong receivers. After the Saints locked up Marques Colston early Tuesday morning, the Bears abandoned their chase of Vincent Jackson and shockingly acquired Brandon Marshall from the Dolphins for a pair of third-round picks.

The Marshall trade didn’t obviously stink the way that the Santonio Holmes trade did — when the Jets acquired a Pro Bowl-caliber receiver for a fifth-rounder — but the sudden availability and acquisition of Marshall suggested that there was more to the move than meets the eye. It was no surprise hours later, then, when Adam Schefter reported that Marshall was being investigated by the league for yet another off-field incident. It later came to light that Marshall had allegedly “slugged” a woman in the face at a New York City club on Sunday, a move that might have inspired Miami’s desire to give up on Marshall.

The only logical perspective from which this makes sense for the Dolphins is the disciplinarian angle, where a new head coach simply wanted to move on from a frustrating player. That makes for wonderful quotes, but Marshall was the team’s best offensive weapon by a wide margin, and there’s nobody left on the market to replace him. They gave up two second-round picks for Marshall and then paid him $19 million for two years of above-average production before shipping him away for two third-round picks.

Obviously, what Marshall offers on the field is worth more than two third-round picks. Over the past five years, only four players have more receiving yards than Marshall, and his three 100-catch seasons all came in Denver with Jay Cutler at the helm. Cutler, of course, will be Marshall’s starting quarterback again in Chicago. Marshall’s arrival will take the heat off Devin Hester as a no. 1 wideout and keep Earl Bennett in the slot, moves that will make everyone in the offense better. In addition, the Bears won’t be responsible for paying Marshall’s signing bonus and should only owe Marshall his base salary (a little over $9 million) in each of the next three years. If Marshall becomes too much to handle, they can cut him without incurring any cap penalty.

We had a whole paragraph written here about how the Dolphins now needed to sign Reggie Wayne — even if it meant throwing him a few extra bucks — because it would fill their biggest need while giving Peyton Manning extra ammunition to choose Miami over Denver in his quest for a new organization. After being linked with Manning for the past week as a combo deal, Wayne stunningly returned to the one place Manning isn’t heading to, Indianapolis. The Colts gave him a three-year deal worth $17.5 million with $7.5 million guaranteed. It’s shocking that the a receiver-needy team like the Dolphins wouldn’t have offered Wayne more in guaranteed money, but perhaps the veteran wanted to finish his career in Indianapolis after all. The Colts don’t exactly need a 33-year-old wideout these days, but at that price, Wayne can be a viable target for the beginning of Andrew Luck’s career without costing the organization very much. It’s a win-win-oh-my-god-the-Dolphins-lose deal.

And as for Jackson, he finally got the long-term deal he’s sought for years by inking a five-year, $55,555,555 contract with the Buccaneers to serve as Josh Freeman’s top wideout. The deal guarantees Jackson $26 million. To put that in context, consider that Jackson has more receiving yards over the past three years than Garcon despite being thrown 97 fewer passes (344 for Garcon, 247 for Jackson), while his catch rate is at a far-superior 58 percent despite being the target of so many Philip Rivers prayers downfield. We’ll stop picking on Garcon now. Jackson has his own history of off-field issues and has spent his entire career playing in an effective passing offense with a great quarterback, so he could qualify as a free agent from hell (especially if you consider Antonio Gates to be the team’s top target), but his sheer size and athleticism should play well in a division with small corners like Brent Grimes and Jabari Greer. The Bucs should be a little concerned that they have two wideouts of markedly similar styles in Jackson and Mike Williams, though, and they might want to stay in the market to add a slot receiver who can do some damage underneath. That player could be Early Doucet, who the Cardinals can’t afford to retain.

The Chargers found their replacement for Jackson in Robert Meachem, giving the former Saints wideout a four-year deal with $14 million in guaranteed money after he failed to come to terms with the Bills. As a third or fourth option in the Saints’ passing attack over the past few years, Meachem’s been remarkably consistent. Over the past three seasons, he’s started either seven or eight games, caught between 40 and 45 passes, and averaged between 14.5 and 16.0 yards per catch. Those numbers have some value, but at 28, it’s worth wondering whether Meachem is ever going to become anything more than that. If the Chargers continue to use Meachem as a third target, they should find that he’s up to the task. If they expect Meachem to be their no. 1 receiver, though, San Diego might be disappointed by what they find.

Finnegan’s Wake of Money

Last August, Cortland Finnegan disappeared from Titans training camp and attributed the absence to a personal matter. The personal matter was that he wasn’t happy with his contract and wanted the Titans to give him a new one. As you might suspect, the Titans were not desperate to re-sign Finnegan this offseason and let him go to St. Louis, which released a bevy of veterans to sign Finnegan to a five-year, $50 million deal with $26.5 million in guaranteed money. Much like the Redskins, the Rams desperately needed help at cornerback. Their top three corners all went down with season-ending injuries last year, and since previous ace Ron Bartell’s injury was a fractured neck, it’s easy to understand why the Rams would go out and target a top corner.

Is Finnegan a top cornerback, though? Pro Bowl voting is far from exact, but Finnegan’s only made one Pro Bowl in his career, and that was in 2008. More importantly, is Finnegan going to be a Pro Bowler with the Rams? St. Louis is paying him like one, and there are reasons to be concerned about his future viability. Finnegan, who just turned 28 in February, is generously listed at 5-foot-9. The recent history of short cornerbacks making it into their thirties as starters is not very long, as only five players listed at 5-foot-9 or less have started 12 or more games in a season after they turned 31 since 2002. That includes a few embarrassingly bad seasons, too, for guys like Fred Thomas, Dre’ Bly, and Tyrone Poole. The only short corner to really keep up his performance at a high level into his early thirties is Antoine Winfield, while dozens of taller corners have lasted into and beyond that age range over the same time frame. The Rams might get a year or two of solid performance out of Finnegan, but this contract is likely to end very messily.

Compare the Finnegan signing to that of Carlos Rogers, who re-signed with the Niners on Tuesday on a four-year deal for about $30 million. There’s no word yet on the guaranteed money, but Giants cornerback Terrell Thomas re-signed with his team on a similar deal with about $11 million guaranteed, and it’s hard to imagine that Rogers would get more than $15 million or so of his deal locked up in guaranteed cash. Rogers was better than Finnegan last year, when he made his first Pro Bowl, and he’s arguably been better over the whole of the past three years. And for that, Rogers is getting about as much total money over the length of his contract as Finnegan’s getting in guaranteed cash. That’s a victory for the San Francisco front office, which now returns all 11 starters from last year’s dominant unit.

Block the Doors With Beef on Weck

Don’t let him leave the facility. It’s the rule that every team follows when a big-time free agent heads to their city for a visit. If you get a player to hop on your private plane and head to your town for hours of meetings and interviews, your best way to sign that player is to lock him in your offices until he puts pen to paper. If that means ordering in the fanciest dinner in town, turning on the stadium’s lights, and dining on the 50-yard line, you do it. If it means adding a few million dollars to the contract figure you had in mind, you do it. If it literally means locking the doors and stalling the player in question from getting in a limo to take him back to the airport, you do it. The moment that player leaves your facility and heads out of town, though, your odds of signing him decrease dramatically. The Bills had their shot at Mario Williams last night. They weren’t able to keep him in the facility.

Although we suggested that the Bills should only enter the market to make a Godfather offer to Williams, we were pleasantly surprised to see that they actually went ahead and convinced Williams to start his free agent tour in Buffalo. They presumably got Williams to head there by telling his agent that the organization would give Williams the prescribed $40 million in guaranteed money that would help make him the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history.

It’s here where the NFL’s business model shines through. Because the league’s television contract is entirely national and split evenly between the league’s 32 teams, every team has enough money to make a legitimate top-dollar offer to the best free agent on the marketplace. Meanwhile, baseball teams who were already struggling with an income gap between the haves and have-nots are facing cavernous differences in their local television deals. The Pirates would not have been able to credibly offer Albert Pujols $300 million this offseason. The Bills — in a tiny market with a 40-year-old stadium — can outbid the rest of the league for an elite player if they want to.

Unfortunately for the Bills, it takes two to tango, and it doesn’t appear that Williams wants to dance. In all likelihood, Williams chose to start his national tour in Buffalo to send a message to his other suitors. Baseball’s rumor mill is famous for introducing the Mystery Team, an unknown suitor who agents would perpetually report as lurking in the shadows to sign their free agent for an exorbitant sum. Williams has basically started free agency by going to visit the Mystery Team. He can now go visit any other team in the league and tell them that Buffalo’s made him the biggest offer any defensive free agent has ever seen, and unless they’re willing to come close to that offer, he’ll go back to Buffalo and take their money. The Bills don’t have the leverage to take their deal off the table, since there’s nobody else in the market who would be worth that sort of contract. Even if Williams has no intention of ever signing with the Bills, it makes total sense for him to start his search there and strike fear into the penurious hearts of owners around the league.

Of course, Williams could still end up sticking around in Buffalo and signing with the Bills. Maybe they sweeten the pot and make it $45 million, or Williams simply changes his mind after a long night’s sleep and decides to stay. Nobody even whispered Williams’s name in reference to the Bills before free agency began, so there’s little reason to trust the rumor mill surrounding him now. We know one thing for sure, though: You can’t sign a contract with one team when you’re locked inside another team’s facility. Once the Bills got Mario Williams inside of Ralph Wilson Stadium, he shouldn’t have left without a contract.

via WSJ.com

By SUMATHI REDDY

The morning after two groups of diners didn’t show up at the restaurant Noma in Copenhagen last month, chef and co-owner René Redzepi took to Twitter. “And now a message from the Noma staff: to the people of two different no-show tables last night,” he wrote, and sent a picture of staff members showing their middle fingers.

The tweet, deleted shortly after it was posted, was a joke, says Peter Kreiner, managing director of Noma. But at a restaurant that has just 12 tables and takes in as much as $500 per person for a meal, no-shows aren’t taken lightly. “It’s quite a large percentage of the sales that we missed out on,” he says.

As more people don’t show up for their reservations, some high-end restaurants are taking action, from charging no-shows to shaming them on social media. Sumanthi Reddy has details on Lunch Break.

Fickle diners are every restaurant’s worst nightmare. A select group of high-end chefs and restaurants are fighting back—from charging people who don’t cancel in time to using Twitter and other social media to call out no-shows.

The impact of an empty table can be a significant in an industry where average profit margins run as low as 3% to 5%. In cities like New York, it’s not unusual to find 20% of diners unaccounted for on any given night.

Restaurant owners expend tremendous resources trying to confirm reservations. Some restaurants, like Wylie Dufresne’s wd~50, will turn down a reservation from someone with a history of not showing up. Other chefs, like Ron Eyester of Rosebud in Atlanta, will jot down a note if a diner seems wavering on the phone, so that the staff knows not to hold the empty table too long.

A number of high-end restaurants now require credit-card numbers from anyone reserving a table. Some, like Hearth in New York and Cochon in New Orleans, seek credit cards only for larger parties and for special occasions. Others, like Eleven Madison Park in New York and Coi in San Francisco, extend the policy to parties of any size.

In January, Eleven Madison began charging anyone who didn’t show up or cancel a reservation 48 hours beforehand $75 a head. Owner Will Guidara says the restaurant was losing eight to 10 people per night. He adds, “With the length of our wait list and how many people we’re turning away, it just became really difficult to say, ‘No, no, no,’ to so many people and then have people who were supposed to be joining us just not showing up.”

Since the policy has been in place, Mr. Guidara says he has had to charge only a couple of cards a week.

According to online-reservation system OpenTable, 10% of restaurants nationally seek credit-card numbers for certain reservations, while about 15% of restaurants in New York do so. Those numbers have been trending down, the company says.

Eleven Madison Park / Francesco TonelliManhattan’s Eleven Madison Park requires credit cards for reservations and charge people who don’t show.

But Sherri Kimes, a professor at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, thinks the practice will only increase. Ms. Kimes says her research has found that consumers are open to being charged for last-minute cancellations—as long as restaurants keep up their end of the bargain. “When the customer shows up… their table better be ready,” she says.

In Australia, a campaign to publicly name no-show diners through Twitter has been gaining steam. Erez Gordon, owner of Sydney’s Bistro Bruno, said in an email that he has outed customers just a few times, when they failed to respond to his calls. He likened it to diners’ jumping online to anonymously rate restaurants. “With Twitter, we are given the opportunity to respond in exactly the same manner as our guests respond if they feel we have let them down,” he said.

In the U.S., too, frustrations run high. “Every single day I will look at how the previous night went and every single day there’s upwards of 40—four, zero—no-shows at Nobu,” says Drew Nieporent, owner of the Myriad Restaurant Group.

Mr. Nieporent has called people the next day to find out why they didn’t show up. “Quite frankly, it’s worse now, because with online reservations we’re not even speaking to the customer,” he says. “So it could be someone in theory who is a concierge at a hotel or a broker who can book prime-time tables 30 days in advance, hold on to tables for 29 days and maybe, if they feel like it, call to cancel.”

Often, the price charged for a no-show doesn’t compensate a restaurant for its loss. At New York City’s Del Posto and Jean-Georges, the no-show fee for OpenTable.com reservations is $50 a head. In October, Mr. Nieporent’s Corton began requiring credit cards to reserve tables on Friday and Saturday nights and charging no-shows a $50 fee if they don’t cancel 48 hours ahead.

Daniel Patterson, the owner of Coi, says that when he started a $25 and then a $50 penalty for no-shows about three years ago, he saw few results. It wasn’t until he upped the amount to $100 that the rate dropped from 20% to 10%. “Our menu is $165, so we’re still losing money,” he says. “It’s really not about charging people. It’s really more about making sure they’re serious about the reservation.”

Other restaurants charge more. When Torrisi Italian Specialties in Manhattan began accepting reservations in November, it chose to charge diners for the full $125 tasting menu if they don’t cancel 24 hours ahead. Diners who reserve its shorter $60 menu have until 4 p.m. that day.

At the Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare, where reservations are snapped up six weeks ahead of time, consumers pay the full $225 prix-fixe price about a week in advance.

Perhaps most radical is the system started last year at Grant Achatz’s Chicago restaurant Next. To dine there, customers must buy nonrefundable tickets for a meal in advance. A dynamic pricing system makes tickets at prime times pricier. Mr. Achatz’s business partner, Nick Kokonas, says the system has been so successful they plan to use it at their Alinea restaurant.

Mr. Kokonas is working on a system for other restaurants. Another Chicago restaurant will pilot-test it soon. He sees one reaction from restaurateurs: “Show me how to do it.”

Write to Sumathi Reddy at [email protected]

via economist.com

THE past few years have been “as miserable as I can remember”, says Johnny Boyer of Boyer Allen Investment Management, a British hedge fund focused on Asia. The fund, which looked after $1.9 billion at its peak, faced the prospect of spending the next few years trying to claw its way back to pre-crisis asset levels. Instead the founders decided to shut the fund and give investors their money back.

Others have also had enough. “I’ve been doing this for 15 years and I’ve never seen as many people give up as in the last three months,” says Luke Ellis of Man Group, a large listed fund. This trend is distinct from the round of closures in 2008. Then, managers were hit by investors’ redemptions and had no choice but to close; today many are electing to walk away.

For some managers, the markets have become too stressful. Running a hedge fund today is “three times as much work for a third of the fun,” says one. But many are motivated by economics. Hedge funds typically get paid a 2% management fee on assets to cover expenses and a 20% performance fee on the returns they achieve for investors. Most funds do not earn performance fees unless they outperform their peak level or “high-water mark”. At the end of 2011, 67% of hedge funds were below their high-water marks, according to Credit Suisse, and 13% have not earned a performance fee since 2007 or earlier.

Funds can survive off a management fee for a couple of years, but four is a long time to go hungry. Most managers were banking on a recovery in 2011 but the average hedge fund slid by 5.2%—much worse than the S&P 500, which returned 2%. Poor performance is causing changes in the way the industry markets itself (see article). It also means many funds will have to wait even longer to earn a performance fee again. According to Morgan Stanley, 18% of hedge funds are more than 20% below their high-water marks.

 

 

Smaller funds have been more likely to close than their larger peers. That’s partly because it used to be possible to run a hedge fund with $75m under management. Today funds need at least double that amount because administrative and compliance costs are higher than ever. Larger funds also depend less on performance fees because their management fees bring in so much cash. John Paulson, a hedge-fund giant whose flagship fund was clobbered last year, has pledged to make up investors’ losses but his fund is so large that he can easily afford to carry on. That risks distorting the original point of hedge funds—that they are small, limber operations which come and go often (see chart).

For investors, it is generally a good thing if underperforming managers are returning cash and not milking them for fees. But others worry that high-water marks could skew funds’ investing decisions. Managers who have not earned a performance fee in years could take bolder bets to get back into the black. Leverage levels have been creeping up. Some may prefer to go out with a bang, not a whimper.

vía Politico.com

1. “They [OPEC] want to go in and raise the price of oil because we have nobody in Washington that sits back and says you’re not going to raise that f—-ing price, you understand me?” — Donald Trump (April 2011)

2. “I figured out Karl Rove’s political strategy – make gas so expensive, no Democrats can afford to go to the polls.” — Sen. John Kerry (May 2004)

3. “President Obama must announce today in his Nashua address that he is firing Secretary Chu and replacing him with a pro-American-energy appointment. If he doesn’t, then the American people will know the president is still committed to his radical ideology, which wants to artificially raise the cost of energy.” — Newt Gingrich (March, 2012)

4. “You’ve got Donald Trump saying don’t pay OPEC $100 for the oil. Just tell them you’ll give them $50. Really? I go into Trump’s hotel, it’s $1,000 for a suite and I say I’m not going to give you that, I’ll give you $200. I’m on the street looking for another place to sleep. You can’t tell them I’ll give you $50 when the world market is $100. It just doesn’t work that way.” – T. Boone Pickens (Feb. 2012)

5. “We went into a recession in 2008 because of gasoline prices.” – Rick Santorum (Feb. 2012)

6. “I can get you a gallon of gasoline for a dime. … You can buy a gallon of gasoline today for a silver dime. A silver dime is worth $3.50, it’s all about inflation and too many regulations.” – Ron Paul (Sept. 2011)

7. “Since the president has been president, the cost of gasoline has doubled. Not exactly what he might have hoped for. … He’s said it’s not my fault. By the way, we’ve gone from ‘Yes, we can’ to ‘It’s not my fault.’ Well, this is in fact his fault.” – Mitt Romney (March 2012)

8. “Somehow, we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.” – Energy Secretary Steven Chu (Sept. 2008)

9. “The next time you hear some politician trotting out some three-point plan for $2 gas, you let them know, we know better. Tell them we’re tired of hearing phony, election year promises that never come about.” — President Barack Obama (March, 2012)

10. Honorary mention: Dan Aykroyd, playing President Jimmy Carter in a Saturday Night Live skit in the 1970s, had some fun with Carter’s famous suggestion that Americans put on sweaters and turn down the heat:
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73891.html#ixzz1ovXMQif3

via

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department’s civil rights division on Monday objected to a new photo ID requirement for voters in Texas because many Hispanic voters lack state-issued identification.

Texas follows South Carolina as the second state in recent months to become embroiled in a court battle with the Justice Department over new photo ID requirements for voters.

Photo ID laws have become a point of contention in the 2012 elections. Liberal groups have said the requirements are the product of Republican-controlled state governments and are aimed at disenfranchising people who tend to vote Democratic — African-Americans, Hispanics, people of low-income and college students.

Proponents of such legislation say the measures are aimed at combating voter fraud. But advocacy groups for minorities and the poor dispute that and argue there is no evidence of significant voter fraud.

In regard to Texas, “I cannot conclude that the state has sustained its burden” of showing that the newly enacted law has neither a discriminatory purpose nor effect, Thomas E. Perez, the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, said in a letter to the Texas secretary of state.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot has said the Obama administration is hostile to laws like the one passed last year in Texas.

The National Conference of State Legislatures called the voter ID issue “the hottest topic of legislation in the field of elections in 2011,” with legislation introduced in 34 states.

The department had been reviewing the Texas law since last year and discussing the matter with state officials. In January, Texas officials sued U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, seeking a court judgment that the state’s recently enacted voter ID law was not discriminatory in purpose or effect.

As a state with a history of voter discrimination, Texas is required under section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to get advance approval of voting changes from either the Justice Department or the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

In a letter to Texas officials that was also filed in the court case in Washington, the Justice Department said Hispanic voters in Texas are more than twice as likely than non-Hispanic voters to lack a driver’s license or personal state-issued photo ID. The department said that even the lowest estimates showed about half of Hispanic registered voters lack such identification.

The range was so broad because the state provided two sets of registered voter data.

In December, the Justice Department rejected South Carolina’s voter ID law on grounds it makes it harder for minorities to cast ballots. It was the first voter ID law to be rejected by the department in nearly 20 years.

In response, South Carolina sued Holder; the state argued that enforcement of its new law will not disenfranchise any voters.

Other states have moved toward photo ID requirements in the past year.

Alabama has a photo ID law, but it does not go in effect until 2014. Mississippi voters approved a photo ID law, but the state legislature has not yet adopted enabling legislation. The Justice Department has not yet reviewed the initiatives in either state.

The Justice Department has said it is reviewing voter ID laws in other states, but has not identified which ones.

BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Anthera Pharmaceuticals ANTH -47.51% shares plunged nearly 50% to $3.67 on Monday during the first trading session after it announced it was halting a key Phase III study. Late Friday, Anthera said it stopping a Phase III clinical trial for its heart-drug candidate varespladib over concerns that it was ineffective.

SOURCE

via pennlive.com

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State’s trustees have said something most already know: They fired late coach Joe Paterno in November over his alleged failure to follow up on a sexual abuse allegation against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. That “constituted a failure of leadership,” the board of trustees said.

• Read the full report.

The report says the same thing of President Graham Spanier, who was ousted as president the same night Paterno was fired. Spanier remains a professor at the university.

A report issued today by the trustees says the board ultimately decided to fire Paterno after learning the details of his testimony before a grand jury when charges were filed against Sandusky.

The report also says the board decided to fire Paterno by phone because his home was surrounded by media and they deemed there was no “dignified, private and secure way” for trustees to meet with him in person.

Paterno died of lung cancer in January.

Neither Paterno nor Spanier were charged with a crime.

Sandusky’s trial on charges he sexually abused boys, many of them while on the Penn State campus, is scheduled for May, although that may change after a hearing today. He maintains his innocence.

Israel’s Iron Dome

via & photo via

The Iron Dome system intercepted about 90 percent of the rockets fired at Be’er Sheva, Ashdod and Ashkelon, including three on Sunday morning.

Despite the rocket barrage, Israel kept open the Erez Crossing for passengers and employees of international organizations operating in Gaza. Kerem Shalom was open for the delivery of 200 truckloads to Gaza residents.

Its deployment this past weekend appears to have defeated Hamas, at least for the time being. The terrorist organization has been talking with the new regime in Egypt for another ceasefire after failing to inflict mass casualties or property damage on Israel.

The problem with the Iron Dome is its cost and the lack of enough systems to defend all of Israel. The United States is providing funds to Israel to buy more of the made-in-Israel systems, each one of which costs more than $100 million.

The Iron Dome has been able to defend Israel’s three most populous southern cities, but if Hamas unleashes longer-range missiles that can reach Rehovot, Kiryat Gat and Kiryat Malachi, closer to metropolitan Tel Aviv, the IDF would lack enough systems to cover everyone. Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday morning that expanding the system should be a national emergency project.

In addition to the defensive action of deploying the Iron Dome, the IDF also has taken the offensive against terrorists.

It targeted two members of the Popular Resistance Committee terror organization on Friday. The squad was responsible for planning a combined terror attack that was to take place via the Sinai Peninsula and the Israel-Egypt border.

In response to the ensuing rocket and missile bombardment from Gaza, the Israel Air Force targeted several weapons manufacturing facilitates and terrorist cells preparing to launch missiles.

(via) H/t @StockJockey

Is California Facing a Grape Shortage?

Grape prices are going up, but consumers have grown accustomed to bargains

California’s grapegrowers finally have something to cheer about—grape prices are going up. But does that mean higher prices for consumers? Winery owners are trying to cut costs so they can keep prices low at a time when drinkers still want value.

After nearly three years of sluggish sales and an oversupply of wine, vintners have cleared their cellars of older vintages and are looking to increase their grape purchases. But two small harvests and an absence of new plantings mean they are competing for a smaller amount of fruit. That demand is pushing up grape prices and bulk wine prices. “If you are buying wine on the bulk market, or you’re a négociant, your costs are going to go up,” said Adam Lee of Siduri and Novy Family wines. Larger producers like E. & J. Gallo are actively signing long-term contracts with vineyard owners to guarantee grape supplies at a set price.

Grape costs can vary depending on the vineyard, its location and the size of the harvest. On average, the price of all California grape types rose in 2011. The average cost of red grapes increased 12 percent per ton while white grapes jumped by 8 percent compared to 2010, according to a preliminary report on the 2011 grape crush by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

At the height of the recession, California’s wine industry faced an excess of wine. Sales of bottles priced at $20 and above slumped as consumers traded down to cheaper brands. Winery cellars backed up with unsold wines as restaurants and retailers tried to move existing inventory. Many winemakers had to change their tactics to stay afloat. To stimulate sales, producers and négociants turned to bulk wines and created second labels to meet consumers’ taste for values. Many looked to the state’s Central Valley for inexpensive grapes and processed juice.

Vintners attributed the surplus of wine during the recession to slow sales, not an excess of grapes. “The reasons for these oversupplies have been primarily economic, not due to particularly bountiful harvests,” said Cameron Hughes, founder of the eponymous négociant, which purchases surplus juice from wineries and bottles it under its own labels.

Wineries are now selling off that inventory. Over the past year Americans consumed more wine and reached for more expensive bottles. Wine Spectator sister publication Impact Databank reported that sales increased in volume by 1.7 percent in 2011. With cellars now empty, wineries are scrambling to buy grapes. “For the first time in three years most varietals across California are in demand,” said Brian Clements, vice president of California wine brokerage firm Turrentine.

“Some growers are already saying they are sold out [of their 2011 harvest] when a few years ago they were begging to sell fruit,” said Bill Brosseau, winemaker at Testarossa Winery in the Central Coast. Like many small and medium-size wineries, Testarossa relies on growers for most of its grapes.

Some of California’s largest producers are flexing their financial muscle to secure access to fruit. Winery giant E. & J. Gallo has signed long-term contracts with grape growers for 90,000 acres and announced that it plans to add 10,000 more, mainly in the Central Valley, over the next year. “With our forecasts for projected growth in the wine business, we are and will continue to make major long-term financial commitments to the California wine industry,” said Joe Gallo, E. & J. Gallo’s president and CEO.

A pair of challenging vintages is adding to the pressure to find good grapes at good prices. Data in the USDA’s 2011 grape crush report show that the grape harvest was down 3 percent in 2010 and nearly 10 percent last year compared to the 2009 harvest. “Yields have been down pretty dramatically and for all varieties as well,” said Siduri’s Lee. The 2011 vintage brought cold and wet weather throughout the growing season and a late frost in the Central Coast.

Another issue facing wineries is that the number of new vineyards being planted has slowed since 2006. “No one is planting right now,” said Ed Sbragia of Sbragia Family Vineyards. “So as demand for these wines grows, grape prices are going to go up; as a winery owner you’re going to have to pay more.”

But some argue that the shortage is not as severe as has been reported. “California wine shipments have grown steadily throughout the last decade but that growth is not outpacing supply,” said Hughes. He argues that shipments to wholesalers have outpaced wine sales, emptying cellars and creating an illusion of a shortage. And even though 2010 and 2011 were smaller harvests than 2009, they were still some of the largest in California history. Hughes worries any price increases would be very bad for sales right now.

If the shortage is real, wineries may have to raise their prices or change how they operate to offset the rising costs. While the economy is recovering, most customers are still price conscious—and many got used to discounts during the tough times.

Vintners are looking for ways to save money in their wineries so they don’t scare off customers. Brosseau said Testarossa is focusing on direct-to-consumer sales instead of going through distributors or wholesalers, who buy wine at reduced cost. “We’ve gone direct to restaurants and retail and are stimulating more sales in the tasting room, to offset higher grape prices.”

How wine drinkers will respond to potentially higher prices remains to be seen. And with analysts predicting that California’s shortages could last for several years, wineries will have to consider their options carefully. Grape prices could stay high because of demand even if the state sees a large harvest in 2012. “If we had a bumper crop this year it would be absorbed no problem,” said Clements. “Across the board there are more buyers than sellers.”

Israel asks U.S. for arms that could aid Iran strike (click for source)

JERUSALEM | Thu Mar 8, 2012 6:16pm EST

(Reuters) – Israel has asked the United States for advanced “bunker-buster” bombs and refueling planes that could improve its ability to attack Iran’s underground nuclear sites, an Israeli official said on Thursday.

“Such a request was made” around the time of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington this week, the official said, confirming media reports.

But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the issue, played down as “unrealistic” Israeli reports that the United States would condition supplying the hardware on Israel promising not to attack Iran this year.

White House spokesman Jay Carney, asked whether the Israelis had made such a request to U.S. officials during the visit, said “there was no such agreement proposed or reached” in President Barack Obama’s meetings with Netanyahu or his aides.

But when asked if the matter was raised with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta or other U.S. officials, Carney told reporters he had no information on that. “I would refer you to other officials,” he said.

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that military capabilities came up in discussions between Netanyahu and Panetta but did not elaborate. No deals were struck during those talks, the official added.

Netanyahu made clear to Obama at a White House meeting on Monday that Israel had not yet decided on military action against Iran, the White House has said.

Netanyahu has hinted that Israel could resort to force should Tehran – which denies suspicions that it is covertly trying to develop atomic bombs – continue to defy big powers’ diplomatic pressure to curb its nuclear program.

The risk of an Israeli-Iranian war troubles Obama, who is up for re-election in November and has cautioned against sparking greater Mideast turmoil, though he has also asserted that military action remains an option if sanctions fail. A Gulf conflict could send oil prices soaring.

A front-page article in the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv on Thursday said Obama had told Netanyahu Washington would supply Israel with upgraded military equipment in return for assurances there would be no attack on Iran in 2012.

Israel is widely assumed to have the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal but its conventional firepower may not be enough to deliver lasting damage to Iran’s distant, dispersed and well-fortified facilities, many experts say.

Israel has limited stocks of older, smaller bunker-busting bombs and a small fleet of refueling planes, all supplied by Washington.

Western powers suspect Iran’s uranium enrichment program is aimed at stockpiling fissile material for nuclear weapons. Iran says it is strictly for civilian energy uses.

(Writing by Maayan Lubell, additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Alister Bull and Phil Stewart in Washington; editing by Mark Heinrich and Todd Eastham)

by Verne Gay at Newsday

I am reliably told that NBC and Matt Lauer are closing in on a deal that will pay him an estimated $25 million per year over the course of a multiyear deal, possibly as many as three, but more likely two.

NBC declined to comment.

According to an industry source, this deal, I am further told, could be announced soon, though I would bet that it will be unveiled by the May upfronts — capping, in fact, what are expected to be the most upbeat upfronts at NBC in years, with a resurgent primetime — umm, I mean “The Voice” — and a pair of smart newcomers in “Smash” and “Awake.”

But this deal, which is expected to happen, is huge, needless to say. Foremost, it keeps the ship steady, and with Matt aboard, “GMA’s” granular assault on the show’s ratings supremacy remains just that — granular. Moreover, keeping Matt means any sort of uncertainty is erased by the time the Olympics roll around: Both “Today” and the Os have a richly symbiotic relationship, and to imperil that at this point would be detrimental to new owner Comcast.

Ah yes, Comcast — which surely has had dark thoughts in the middle of the night about this expensive not-quite-albatross it has bought: With Matt retained, the Yankees have their captain and another shot at the pennant.

Enough with my mixed metaphors and hyperbole — and for that I sincerely apologize.

Now, to that $25 million payday: Not as big deal a deal as it seems (I kid) but about an $8 million bump for Matt. This is baseball money, but more to the point, this is syndication money. This deal will keep Matt away from the world that ultimately seems to lure all major talk talent; and when you consider that someone like Judge Judy makes well north of $50 million per year, then surely Matt’s value is on equal par, right? In fact, it’s of much greater value. Along with ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” “Today” is the richest franchise on TV, and among the most important.

A final word on Ryan Seacrest: I’m not entirely sure this means he is not part of the future either in some capacity. But the pending Matt deal does suggest that those early conversations were a feint by NBC and nothing more.

via AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The largest solar storm in five years is racing toward Earth, threatening to unleash a torrent of charged particles that could disrupt power grids, GPS and airplane flights.

The sun erupted Tuesday evening, and the effects should start smacking Earth between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. EST Thursday (0600 GMT and 1000 GMT), according to forecasters at the U.S. government’s Space Weather Prediction Center. They say the storm, which started with a massive solar flare, is growing as it speeds outward from the sun.

“It’s hitting us right in the nose,” said Joe Kunches, a scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He called it the sun’s version of “Super Tuesday.”

Scientists say the sun has been relatively quiet for some time. And this storm, while strong, may seem fiercer because Earth has been lulled by several years of weak solar activity.

“This is a good-size event, but not the extreme type,” said Bill Murtagh, program coordinator for the space weather center.

The solar storm is likely to last through Friday morning, but the region that erupted can still send more blasts our way, Kunches said. He said another set of active sunspots is ready to aim at Earth right after this.

But for now, scientists are waiting to see what happens Thursday when the charged particles hit Earth at 4 million mph (6.4 million kph).

NASA solar physicist Alex Young added, “It could give us a bit of a jolt.” But he said this is far from a super solar storm.

The storm is coming after an earlier and weaker solar eruption happened Sunday, Kunches said. The latest blast of particles will probably arrive slightly later than forecasters first thought.

That means for North America the “good” part of a solar storm — the one that creates more noticeable auroras or Northern Lights — will peak Thursday evening. Auroras could dip as far south as the Great Lakes states or lower, Kunches said, but a full moon will make them harder to see.

Auroras are “probably the treat we get when the sun erupts,” Kunches said.

But there is potential for widespread problems. Solar storms have three ways they can disrupt technology on Earth: with magnetic, radio and radiation emissions. This is an unusual situation when all three types of solar storm disruptions are likely to be strong, Kunches said.

That means “a whole host of things” could follow, he said.

The magnetic part of the storm has the potential to trip electrical power grids. Kunches said utility companies around the world have been alerted. The timing and speed of the storm determines whether it knocks off power grids, he said.

In 1989, a strong solar storm knocked out the power grid in Quebec, causing 6 million people to lose power.

Solar storms can also make global positioning systems less accurate, which is mostly a problem for precision drilling and other technologies, Kunches said. There also could be GPS outages.

The storm also can cause communication problems and added radiation around the north and south poles, which will probably force airlines to reroute flights. Some already have done so, Kunches said.

Satellites could be affected, too. NASA spokesman Rob Navias said the space agency isn’t taking any extra precautions to protect astronauts on the International Space Station from added radiation.

via CNET.com

The iPad‘s new screen specs are impressive.

 

Apple announces the new iPad.

(Credit: Donald Bell/CNET)

 

That’s really all you need to know about the new iPad. That, and a reminder that pricing still starts at $499 for a 16GB Wi-Fi model, with 4G starting at $629.

Forget all of the minor tweaks and incremental updates Apple has made to its third-generation tablet. The faster processor, the upgrade to 4G data, the improved camera–it’s all housekeeping. It’s the stuff it had to do. It’s the stuff any manufacturer could have done.

Announcing Apple’s 4G LTE iPad (photos)

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Now, doubling the iPad’s screen resolution to a 2048×1536 resolution that exceeds any current tablet or laptop–that’s a move only Apple has the scale and industry muscle to pull off. At this point, if Apple decides that the next iPad will be made from unicorn tears, I wouldn’t bet against it.

But in this pre-unicorn era, we’re stuck with the new iPad and a design that is virtually indistinguishable from 2011’s iPad 2. The tablet’s glass and aluminum construction is still 9.5 inches tall and 7.31 inches wide. Thickness is now 0.37 inch, weighing in at 1.5 pound.

 

Related stories

• All iPad HD coverage from CNET
• Apple iPad with Retina Display makes its debut
• Apple TV announced, with 1080p
• Apple iOS 5.1: First Take

 

This design is not exactly identical to the iPad 2’s, though. Apple knocked the camera quality up to 5-megapixel with 1080p video recording and backside illumination. Apple has yet to release spec information on the front-facing camera, if it’s been changed at all.

The screen
Remember the first time you saw an HD television? You were probably excited about the future but also a little sad that your current TV’s days were numbered. For tablet fans, a glance at the iPad’s new screen may offer this same emotional cocktail of envy and loss.

But what did you expect? You take a product that is 90 percent screen and a company hangs its reputation on making the prettiest products around, and you’re bound to arrived at this: the point when Apple ruins other screens for you.

What else is new?

The iPad’s processor has been upgraded to a A5X. Can you feel the difference? Not really. At least, not in the few minutes I had to play with the tablet. App load times seemed a little faster, but mostly the beefed-up quad-core graphics processor seems to be a necessary measure for juggling twice the pixels of the previous model.

I never felt the idea of Siri on the iPad was as natural a fit as it is for the iPhone. Luckily, Apple feels the same way. While Siri won’t be coming to the iPad, voice dictation will. That said, voice dictation on a tablet still strikes me as weird. I’m assuming you won’t jog with your iPad and while transcribing your every brilliant utterance, the way you would with an iPhone. Also, if someone asks you where to find great Thai food nearby, your phone is likely to be your first point of reference. Still, voice dictation is a welcome addition, and I suspect it will come in handy for dictating e-mails and bypassing the touch-screen keyboard when searching for information online.

I still contend that it’s a bit silly waving a tablet around to capture photos and video, but I understand the counterpoint and I’ll admit that the iPad’s screen makes a better display than any camera or smartphone. Also, if you’re a fan of Apple’s FaceTime video chat, the improved back camera quality is an obvious advantage over the camera in the iPad 2.

And finally, for all of you jet-setting, mobile-data-devouring types, the iPad is now available in a 4G LTE model. Prices for 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB come in at $629, $729, and $829, respectively.

What’s missing?
As far as disappointments go, Apple could have been more aggressive with its processor performance, or perhaps brought the iPads cameras up to iPhone 4S specs. Perhaps it could have gone thinner or done more to extend its lead in battery life.

Heck, let’s also throw in the age-old complaints about Apple’s reluctance to include microSD memory expansion, a dedicated port for video output, or a truly universal charging connection. Oh yeah, and Adobe Flash support while you’re at it.

Personally, there’s really nothing I can point to and say, “Apple has clearly doomed itself.” The company took its already excellent product and updated it with a gorgeous screen.

I suppose the only missed opportunity I can point to is the lack of a Kindle-priced competitor. The rumor mill suggests that Apple may release a smaller tablet later this year, but until then, it seems that Apple’s only answer to the budget tablet craze is its $199 Apple iPod Touch.

Buy it or skip it?
If you have an original iPad, by all means upgrade to the iPad 3. The used market for first-generation iPads is still alive and well and will hopefully afford you at least $100 toward the new iPad that is nearly half the thickness and twice the pixels as the original iPad.

For iPad 2 owners, the question is a little fuzzier. Since the design is virtually unchanged, the question really comes down to how much you’ll appreciate the new screen. If you get a big kick out of showing the latest tech toy, the mew iPad and its industry-first QXGA touch screen should be a crowd-pleaser. If your job involves sales or presentations, the new iPad’s dramatic screen upgrade may also makes sense (as might that 4G connectivity).

The final little push I’ll give it is the same push I’d give to someone considering a better TV or even a new kitchen table: if it’s something you’ll be looking at every day, then spend the money for something that’s going to put a smile on your face. I feel corny saying it, but as a chronic cheapskate, it’s something I have to tell myself often.

Still, cheapskate that I am, if a tablet isn’t already a staple of your daily routine, waiting can’t hurt you. If you’re new to tablets, consider dipping your toe in the water with a $199 Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet.

Final thoughts
I have to admire Apple’s gamesmanship. It was the first to make a tablet people cared about. Then, just when the competition started to feel confident, Apple sliced the iPad to an impossibly thin design. For its third act, Apple has pushed tablet screen expectations to a ludicrous new height.

The competition will inevitably catch up, just as surely as Apple will raise the stakes all over again.

 

Read more: http://trade.cc/augs

via Breitbart.com

Earlier today, Buzzfeed’s Ben Smith announced on Twitter that video researcher Andrew Kaczynski had released “the mysterious Harvard/Obama/race video that the Breitbart folks have been talking about.”

The video, which Kaczynski says was “licensed from a Boston television station,” shows a young Barack Obama leading a protest at Harvard Law School on behalf of Prof. Derrick Bell, a radical academic tied to Jeremiah Wright–about whom we will be releasing significant information in the coming hours.

However, the video has been selectively edited–either by the Boston television station or by Buzzfeed itself. Over the course of the day, Breitbart.com will be releasing additional footage that has been hidden by Obama’s allies in the mainstream media and academia.

Breitbart.com Editor-in-Chief Joel Pollak and Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro will appear on The Sean Hannity Show to discuss the tape. The full tape will be released tonight on Fox News’ Hannity.

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