Rush Limbaugh 'Resting Comfortably' at Honolulu Hospital

Limbaugh Taken to Hospital for Chest Pains, Reportedly on Medication for Back Pain

Popular talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh is recovering in a Honolulu hospital today, hours after being admitted for chest pains he suffered while on vacation. "Rush was admitted to and is resting comfortably in a Honolulu hospital today, after suffering chest pains," according to a statement from "The Rush Limbaugh Program."

"Rush appreciates your prayers and well wishes, and he will keep you updated via RushLimbaugh.com."

Limbaugh had been scheduled to return to his talk show Jan. 4 but a spokesman told ABC News that it is unclear whether he will be back by then.

Paramedics arrived at the Kahala Hotel and Resort at 2:41 p.m. Wednesday and found Limbaugh, 58, sitting in a chair in his ninth-floor hotel room, according to ABC's Honolulu affiliate KITV.

Sources say Limbaugh told emergency workers he was taking medication for a back problem. He was treated at the hotel before being transferred to the hospital.

While in Hawaii on vacation over the holidays, Limbaugh had been seen golfing at the Waialae Country Club, according to KITV.

Limbaugh has been a polarizing figure in U.S. politics, once asking, "What is so wrong with saying I want Barack Obama to fail?"

But he made headlines in 2003 by admitted an addiction to painkillers after reports claimed he was illegally obtaining narcotics. He settled the charges against him in a plea deal that included a $30,000 fine. He entered a drug rehabilitation program.

Yet in recent years he has seemed to have a renewed commitment to healthy living, even announcing in the fall that he'd lost about 90 pounds since March.

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Report: Charlie Sheen, Brooke Mueller Could Lose Custody of Sons

Could the domestic dispute for which Sheen was arrested on Christmas cost the actor and his wife custody of their twin sons?

Charlie Sheen’s Christmas Day domestic dispute has already put his career and star power in jeopardy, but new reports suggest it could also cost him custody of his twin boys.

According to a report from HollywoodLife.com, Sheen and wife Brook Mueller are being investigated by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, which could temporarily remove nine-month-old twins Max and Bob from their custody.

Immediately following the dispute Friday, when Mueller alleged that Sheen attacked her with a knife and threatened to kill her, DCFS was alerted to the situation by Colorado police and immediately began an investigation into the matter. Sheen was arrested on suspicion of menacing, second-degree assault and criminal mischief.

RELATED: Will Charlie's TV career suffer?

Sheen, 44, has denied threatening his wife with a knife or choking her; he told officers that he and his wife had slapped each other on the arms.

But Sheen’s denial likely won’t be sufficient in the eyes of DCFS. Sources tell HollywoodLife.com that in all likelihood, a third party will move in with the family.

“It could be a grandmother, mother, sister, anyone with a clean record that is cleared by the court,” the source said.

RELATED: Brooke Mueller Tells Police Charlie Sheen Put Knife to Her Throat

Sheen’s history of domestic violence and substance abuse, coupled with Mueller’s reported struggles with substance abuse could make the couple seem unfit as parents to DCFS officials, HollywoodLife.com reports.

Meanwhile, with Sheen facing up to eight years in prison if convicted, his career as a television star on the comedy “Two and a Half Men” could also be in danger. The show is consistently a top performer in ratings, but without a star, filming seems highly unlikely.

Season 7 of “Two and a Half Men” premiered in September and, in accordance with previous seasons, should be slated to conclude in May of 2010. While filming is currently down, Audiences Unlimited, which provides tickets to shows taping in front of studio audiences, lists scheduled taping dates for next month, FoxNews.com learned Tuesday.

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Nonprofits benefit from for-profit practices

Socially minded enterprises get nimbler amid weak economy, stiff competition for donations

Seth Weinberger has built a local educational foundation into a million-dollar social enterprise serving about 30,000 underprivileged students in 15 states, proving that not every nonprofit is struggling these days.

Most of the growth has come during the past 18 months, when the Evanston foundation, Innovations for Learning, launched TeacherMate, a literacy program centered on hand-held computers equipped with special software in English and Spanish.

While new research from the University of Illinois at Chicago indicates the hand-held gadgets improve students' reading scores, the program also receives high marks for cost efficiency. By contracting with a Chinese manufacturer to produce the devices, Weinberger said, he can price the TeacherMate system at $100, which includes reading and math software for kindergarten through second grade. That's less than the cost of textbooks over the same period, he said.

Weinberger, an attorney at Mayer Brown who also serves as president of the foundation, adopted best practices from the for-profit arena to expand the nonprofit. In 2010, he plans to make the literacy software available as an iPhone app, boosting efficiencies and extending the software's reach to more children.

"If you have limited resources, then you have to get even smarter," he said.

Unlike many for-profit startups whose plans have been curtailed by the credit crunch, Innovations for Learning has had a steady stream of funding.

Besides sales to schools, the program receives about $800,000 in financial contributions from grantors and individuals, including Weinberger, who donates about $350,000 a year to the foundation. Weinberger receives a tax benefit but no equity for his contribution. In addition, JPMorgan Chase has contributed more than $300,000 a year since 2007.

Nationally, charitable contributions from foundations and individuals are down this year, according to The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit research and consulting group. Eight out of 10 nonprofits reported funding cuts, up from 52 percent a year ago, according to Bridgespan's fall survey. Nearly half reported dipping into reserves to cope.

Competition for foundation dollars in Illinois could intensify in 2010 when a state law takes effect, allowing the creation of low-profit limited liability companies, or L3Cs. A form of LLC, the L3C structure can be used by for-profit ventures that have a primary goal of achieving a socially beneficial purpose. The law, which takes effect Jan. 1, aims to make it easier for social enterprises to attract capital, particularly from foundations interested in making program-related investments in for-profits with charitable purposes.

"There is enormous interest from both social enterprises and, more recently, foundations," said Chicago attorney and financial adviser Marc Lane of Marc J. Lane Wealth Group. "L3C has to be the hottest topic" among family foundations right now.

Still, not every social enterprise should be structured as an L3C, Lane said. "We are accepting about 1 out of 5 prospective clients," he said. When determining which structure is best for a social enterprise, "form follows function," he said, adding that entrepreneurs should seek legal counsel.

"We are definitely seeing a blurring of sectoral lines," said Liz Livingston Howard, a lecturer in the SEEK social enterprise program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. "Our definition of a social enterprise is any organization that uses business skills to further a social mission."

When deciding whether to organize as a for-profit or nonprofit, "often it comes down to the financing piece, where your money is going to come from," Howard said.

For organizations targeting underserved populations that can't afford to pay for services, the nonprofit 501(c)(3) status might be the best option because it provides a tax exemption to the organization and allows for tax-deductible contributions.

At Innovations for Learning, 20 percent of the foundation's $1.1 million budget comes from sales from TeacherMate and 80 percent from tax-deductible contributions, Weinberger said. Innovations for Learning also provides training for teachers as well as volunteer tutors for children in the program, which is in nearly 200 Chicago schools.

Teaching children trumps profits for contributor JPMorgan Chase.

"Seth is not in it to make money, which is key to making education technology accessible to the classroom," said Mark Rigdon, national director of educational grant making at JPMorgan Chase. "He is very nimble at blending his business innovations with the education needs of early elementary students and teachers."

Every year, Weinberger makes measured improvements by modifying content and professional-development support, Rigdon said.

No matter how a social enterprise is structured, it's important to use business tools to further the social mission, Howard said.

"There is an increased sophistication that has to happen on the part of all organizations because competition in the nonprofit sector has grown significantly," Howard said. "It is no longer enough just to do good. You have to do good well. You have to focus more on the management."

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Jobless Rate Improved in Most States in November

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Unemployment rates eased in most states in November, although many continued to shed jobs, the Labor Department said Friday.

Eight states registered increases in unemployment rates over the month, while 36 states and the District of Columbia reported decreases, and the rest were unchanged.

Still, over the year, jobless rates increased in all 50 states and the nation’s capital.

Michigan continued to have the highest unemployment rate in the country, although it edged down to 14.7 percent in November, from 15.1 percent in October. Michigan’s jobless rate has been dropping since hitting a high of 15.3 percent in September.

The number of jobs increased in 19 states and dropped in 31 states and the District of Columbia. The largest increase was in Texas, which gained 17,300 jobs, and the biggest drop was in Florida, which lost 16,700 jobs.

According to the Florida labor department, the state has been losing jobs since August 2007, with health care the only growth sector for much of 2009. Most of Florida’s job loss has been in construction, trades, transportation, utilities and professional services.

Because unemployment affects states on two levels — through dropping tax revenue and increased demands for assistance — states measure recessions and recoveries by changes in their work forces.

Michigan’s unemployment rate is now at its lowest level since May. That is encouraging for a state that has suffered the worst unemployment during the recession that started in 2007, mostly because of the downturn in the automobile industry.

“The Michigan jobless rate remains high but has stabilized,” said Rick Waclawek, director of information at Michigan’s labor department. “However, employment continues to trend downward, as payroll jobs have fallen in nine of the first 11 months of 2009.”

The economic storms hitting workers nationally may be abating. A report earlier this month showed that the national unemployment rate eased to 10 percent, from 10.2 percent in October, and the country lost 11,000 jobs last month, many fewer than expected.

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Adam Lambert and Tiger Woods: A Tale of Two American Idol Scandals

Adam Lambert and Tiger Woods. One's career trajectory is on the way up. The other's appears on the way down -- or certainly stuck in a deep, sand trap.

What do they share in common beyond celebrity? Among other things, the double-edged power of the persona or public image; the perils of image management turning on you like a hydra-headed viper; the merciless maw of celebrity gossip, and the media's penchant for cheerleading 'schadenfreude', that timeless and timely German term meaning to take pleasure from someone else's misfortune.

Schadenfreude is something at which the news and entertainment media are so deft at exploiting to grab audiences all the while laying off on them the motivation for media saturation or piously laying on the "need to know rationale."

To illustrate: A few weeks ago, as the Tiger's ever-widening bimbo eruption was up to about... several, and his tempest was only just beginning to leak gaseous odors of scandal of the century proportion, MSNBC was jumping on the story like a bear on spawning salmon. On the network's status-conscious The NYT Edition with John Harwood and Norah O'Donnell, O'Donnell was literally shimmering with delight as she cast her smirking eye over this open-ended, gift that keeps on giving "this delicious scandal" -- Tiger Wood's marital crisis.

As per Norah, "covering this ‘news event' is justified, among other things, because it shows that this squeaky clean icon is human."

WTF Norah! Tiger Woods. Human! Really! Who knew?

Why the lame justification, Norah? Why not just "own" your penchant for prurience, your taste for titillation. How about just accepting your slumming for eyeballs as its own justification? Everyone else is. Oh, right: It's not about MSNBC. It's about The NYT Edition on MSNBC. Got it.

But back to our idols-in-distress. For days, Adam was the celebrity scandal de jour and his fans were still cheering last month's American Music Awards (AMA) cheeky display of (depending on your sexual color code) raunchy or raging erotic simulations, loving every kiss and freeze-framed oral sex tableau the news media and YouTube had anointed "viral."

Adam's fans didn't blink at the AMA Adamgate affair, but they did cry foul and double-standard at the cancellations of his appearances on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live and ABC's New Years Rockin' Eve.

The Lambert Controversy was afoot. Lambert Gossip fed all the entertainment engines. Adam Lambert was media-HOT and media-everywhere -- and he was working it. Hey, free publicity!

Then, like an ATM mugging, the capricious celebrity fates intervened. Adam's face was driven off the front pages of celebrity gossip by someone in Florida diving into a fire hydrant. The moment's newer scandal de jour - The Tiger Woods marital meltdown-- had begun. His coveted privacy instantly a memory, Tiger had become the star of a 24/7 celebrity roast-on every media platform on planet earth.

What had Adam's scandal cost him? A few ABC cancellations (although other gigs, including one on ABC, were already waiting in the wings). Financially, though, not much. He had no product endorsements to protect, no sponsors worried about appeasing and mollifying the so-called family values crowd.

Truth is, Adam's injury risks from the AMA scandal were light. His ship had already come in from American Idol veneration, personal appearances, and YouTube exposure. He had already staked out the gay, "bad boy," Glam Rock image. In other words, for Adam's fans, there was surprise but no shock over the AMA dust-up. He and they moved on.

I had the opportunity to read a trove of reactions to my blog on reactions to Lambert's "erotic moments at the AMA," sent to me courtesy of Teresa Walton-Helm whom, I believe, is one of the keepers of the Official Adam Lambert website. Here's a representative sample:

"...Hopefully, Adam will open some closed minds and not get bruised in the process. He is magnificent!"

"Thanks for posting. Good article. It confirms what Adam said; that it was discrimination and a double standard to blur his kiss, etc."

"Very interesting article ... Since I have followed Adam so closely during Idol, and have seen all available performances pre-Idol, none of what was shown on the AMA was particularly 'new' to me. Perhaps the change is gonna come as we have more opportunities to view gay men express their sexuality on mainstream TV. Intentionally or not Adam has cracked the door open for others to come on thru."

"Very cool and remarkable that it's in Psychology Today! Loved the last line: "The bad thing is that, indeed, it is a mad, mad world. The good thing is the times they are a-changin.'"
"wow its really getting discussed everywhere!!!!!!! I know Adam wanted to push the boundaries but I suspect he never thought it would go this far!!!"

"Very astute, and very true. And I'm sure that Adam does know there's an upside and a downside and while he might have slightly underestimated what the downside was going to be, I think he's absolutely telling the truth when he says he wouldn't do anything differently (except to sing it better, LOL)."
"Isn't it ironic that 40-50 years ago the American Psychological Association considered homosexuality a mental disorder, and now they're discussing double standards? LOL"

"Psychology today???? Now I really believe everyone is writing about Adam LOL"

Nice comments. Supportive of Adam.

Tiger Woods is another scandal narrative entirely. He had staked out the iconic, All-American athlete image and role model and was making megamillions on the PGA Tour and in endorsements. But, then on an early Black Friday morning, his life took a sharp turn toward the dark side as his Cadillac Escalade crashed into a tree and fire hydrant. Tiger set was on course for his existential pratfall.

As days dragged by new, more lurid details of betrayal and serial, extra-marital trysts kept erupting, keeping the media messengers gasping for breath. Tiger's family and his fans were rocked, shocked and awed into anger. Media-phobic Woods was not of that world. He tried to stay out of the spotlight and limit his comments to prepared statements of contrition and regrets. He failed miserably!
Tiger cannot avoid the negative publicity, mocking gossip, the reach of the intrusive paparazzi, late night TV comedy evisceration -- or the dreaded, whiney wrath of CNN's Nancy Grace. All that's missing is a giant, Times Square running Bimbo score board. Control the story? "Forget it,Tiger. It's Chinatown."

So, we have two celebrities who shocked the public and titillated the media's erogenous zone with their sexual behaviors (granted, of different orders of magnitude and personal consequence).

Lambert, unapologetic and defiant, dismissed criticisms of his "spontaneous" sexuality and bad boy image and called off the dogs of probity with a suitably terse "I'm a performer," who then went on to appear on the Barbara Walters Special, The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009.

Adam's words and actions and outcomes seem to support the maxim there is no such thing as bad publicity - at least in the world of celebrity when your principal audience and patrons inhabit the Glam Rock youth industry of STYLE and REBELLION.

Tiger cannot avoid the negative publicity, mocking gossip, the reach of the intrusive paparazzi, late night TV comedy evisceration -- or the dreaded, whiney wrath of CNN's Nancy Grace. All that's missing is a giant, Times Square running Bimbo score board. Control the story? "Forget it,Tiger. It's Chinatown."

So, we have two celebrities who shocked the public and titillated the media's erogenous zone with their sexual behaviors (granted, of different orders of magnitude and personal consequence).

Lambert, unapologetic and defiant, dismissed criticisms of his "spontaneous" sexuality and bad boy image and called off the dogs of probity with a suitably terse "I'm a performer," who then went on to appear on the Barbara Walters Special, The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2009.

Adam's words and actions and outcomes seem to support the maxim there is no such thing as bad publicity - at least in the world of celebrity when your principal audience and patrons inhabit the Glam Rock youth industry of STYLE and REBELLION.

In effect, Tiger has had a crash course on the limits to that fading maxim about bad publicity when you've assumed the status of American role model an icon. Too bad he never fully grasped why athletes like basketball great Charles Barkley, and repeatedly denounced the"role model" label. Barkley saw its pitfalls when living the almost unavoidable public life of a sports figure. It was a smart move indeed. Barkley has not lived the life of a choirboy and, most importantly, no one expects it of him. Perhaps "expectations" is the operative word here.

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Delta drops Cincinnati-Providence route

WARWICK – Delta Air Lines Inc. said Tuesday it will eliminate direct flights between T.F. Green Airport and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport in February, The Associated Press reported.

Atlanta-based Delta also plans to drop direct service between Cincinnati and Montreal, Oklahoma City, Okla., Des Moines, Iowa, and Tennessee’s Tri-Cities region.

No employees will be laid off because of the flight reductions, a Delta spokeswoman said.

Delta, which merged with Northwest Airlines Inc. last year, currently has nine daily departures from T.F. Green, according to the R.I. Airport Corporation. The carrier recently added a fifth daily flight from Green to Detroit and began using a larger plane for daily service to Atlanta.

Additional information is available at pvdairport.com.

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TEA PARTY CANDIDATES MOST FAVORED IN NBC/WSJ POLL

An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday asked voters to rate Democrats, Republicans and the Tea Party movement as positive or negative. The Tea Party topped the list at 41%, either Very or Somewhat Positive, Democrats followed with 35%, Republicans, 28%. It seems there is some discontent out there!

Tim Cox is deeply aware of that discontent, and is scheduled to appear on the Fox & Friends morning show, this Sunday at 7:50 EST. His organization, called “Get Out of Our House,” or GOOOH (pronounced GO), promises a sensible, practical way to replace every member of the House of Representatives. GOOOH was the brainchild of Cox, a Texan whose simple plan takes the two parties and the corrupting special interests out of the political process. GOOOH replaces “professional politicians” with citizen legislators who serve their country and go home.

1. GOOOH candidates are selected for all 435 House seats outside the election primary process.

2. Candidates are selected locally by their peers, based on their answers to a 100-question issue survey. Issues are determined locally. GOOOH is a party without a platform.

3. Each GOOOH member pledges to donate $100 to fund a national campaign, generating $50M from 500,000 people.

4. Candidates pledge to limit themselves to two terms in office.

Go to www.goooh.com to see videos of GOOOH founder Cox explaining the GET OUT OF OUR HOUSE concept.

Cox said, in an interview Wednesday on WGN Midday News, Chicago, “We contend the problem is politicians of both parties.” Cox sees GOOOH as a system that groups across the country can utilize to elect their candidates. Cox envisions the day, coming soon, when “GOOOH will combine all these splinter groups into a baseball bat!” Watch Tim on Fox & Friends this Sunday, 7:50 a.m. EST.

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Logan Flight Backup Could Stretch Into Monday

BOSTON - cancellation notices were sprawled across the monitors at
Logan Airport on Saturday, but the powerful storm hitting the East Coast still had its upsides.“Business is kind of busy right now, which is kind of good,” said Mike Montelongo, who was tending shop at Brookstone. “It’s usually dead, but right now we have a lot of people coming in and out buying stuff to keep them warm and comfortable while they’re in the airport.”Foot traffic was high at Logan all afternoon, but many passengers hoping to beat the storm found that flights along the mid-Atlantic states were canceled.“I actually don’t have a flight,” said one woman. “I was supposed to be flying out of Providence today to Dulles, but that got canceled, so I’m trying to get a new one.”The storm, which reached Massachusetts in the evening, is expected to push back flights throughout the weekend, and transportation officials said the air traffic backup could stretch into Monday morning.Travelers were advised to contact their airline or check airport listings before heading to Logan. In anticipation of the storm, several airlines also scaled back the number of flights they were operating over the weekend at the request of state officials.Behind the counter at Brookstone, another employee tried to lighten the spirits of a grounded passenger.“Have a good day and enjoy your stay at Boston Logan Airport,” he said, handing the woman her change.“Yah, right,” she replied. “The sooner I can get out of here the better.”

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Iran's leading grand cleric dies

TEHRAN, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, a leading clerical figure, passed away at his home in Iran's holy city of Qom, the local English language satellite Press TV reported on Sunday.

Montazeri, 87-year-old, passed away due to cardiac arrest earlier Sunday morning, said his son Ahmad Montazeri.

Montazeri was one of the leaders of the Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979. He is well-known as the one-time designated successor to the Revolution's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Roohallah Khomeini and fell out with him in 1989 over government policies.

Montazeri lived later years of his life in Qom, and remained politically dissident and influential in Iran, especially upon reformist politics.

The semi-official Fars News Agency reported that Montazeri supporters gathered at his office Sunday morning after hearing the news. He will be buried on Monday,

On Sunday afternoon, thousands of supporters of leading cleric Montazeri were travelling to attend his funeral on Monday in the Shi'ite holy city of Qom, local official IRNA news agency reported.

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WV Dot Road Conditions : Road Conditions West Virginia

WV Dot is reporting the following road conditions for West Virginia Saturday. West Virginia road conditions today can be monitored 24/7 using WV Dot’s toll free number 1 (877) WVA-ROAD. For Saturday, the following conditions currently exist:

“Power Lines Down: US-119 in Boone county. ROAD CLOSED NORTH OF DANVILLE, IN THE ROCK CREEK AREA, DUE TO POWER LINES DOWN ACROSS THE ROADWAY….Road conditions refer to the impact on area roads due to the weather. …. NOTICE: Highway conditions are subject to change with weather conditions. Observe caution when driving in wet or freezing conditions. Maintain a safe speed and increase following distance.”

“Primary road conditions: Roadways are Snow and/or Ice covered in the following areas Northwest, West, West Central, North Central, Southwest Coal Field, Southern Mountains, Greenbrier Valley, Northern Mountains, Potomac Highlands, Eastern Panhandle, Central Mountains and in Brooke, Hancock county. With Snow and/or Ice spots in the following areas Marshall, Ohio county.

read full article: Road Conditions West Virginia – WV Dot Road Conditions!
news.lalate.com

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6.4 magnitude earthquake hits Taiwan, minor damage reported

A strong earthquake rocked much of Taiwan on Saturday, geological officials said, with local television reporting minor injuries and structural damage to some buildings.

The U.S. Geological Survey said on its website (www.usgs.gov/) the quake had a magnitude of 6.4 and was centered just off the island's east coast, 25 km (15 miles) south-southeast of the city of Hualien.

The quake was recorded at 9.02 pm local time (1302 GMT) and was centered 44 km (27 miles) below the earth's surface, Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau said.

Early television reports that a building had collapsed near Taipei were not correct, a Taiwanese disaster agency said.

At least four people were hurt during the quake, Taiwanese television reported later. A water tower collapsed and glass shattered in a hotel, it said.

TSMC, the worlds largest contract chipmaker, reported no damage at its Taiwan facilities.

An aftershock of 4.8 on the Richter scale was reported about an hour later in the same area as the initial quake, officials said.

Earthquakes occur frequently in Taiwan, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin.

One of Taiwan's worst-recorded quakes occurred in September 1999. Measuring 7.6 on the old Richter scale, it killed more than 2,400 people and destroyed or damaged 50,000 buildings.

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The Friends of the Wissahickon held a presentation Wednesday evening at Valley Green Inn on current and future projects in the Wissahickon Park. Speaking at the event were Friends of the Wissahickon (FOW) Executive Director Maura McCarthy and Fairmount Park Commission (FPC) Executive Director Mark Focht.

McCarthy spoke first and explained that FOW’s projects primarily revolved around the park’s 55 miles of trails. “Trails, trails, trails,” she said, detailing how trail maintenance and improvement advances the group’s mission “to preserve the natural beauty and wildness of the Wissahickon Valley and stimulate public interest therein.”

Trail use is the primary way users interact with the park, but many of the paths are overused which causes erosion and compromises the water quality in the Wissahickon Creek, which provides about one third of Philadelphia’s drinking water.

In conjunction with the Fairmount Park Commission and various other agencies, FOW ranked all of the park’s trails based on sustainability and have launched projects to improve, close, or reroute the most degraded of them.

Although construction on a trail project usually takes about three to five months, the entire process of launching a project is more like three to five years, taking into account approval, study, an assessment by engineers and plant biologists, and ongoing monitoring. Adding to the complexity, there are 15 city, state, and regional plans informing work in the Wissahickon and all projects must fit the guidelines.

McCarthy credited FOW volunteers for carrying out activities towards advancing the group’s mission, including clean-up, trail construction, invasive species removal, and new “trail ambassadors” who receive training and deploy in the park to interact with and assist users.

McCarthy then detailed some of the group’s ongoing projects. One is the improvement of the orange trail south of Bell’s Mill, which includes re-routing part of the trail as well as invasive removal and planting of native species.

Another work in progress is construction around Devil’s Pool. This heavily used area suffers from major erosion as well as graffiti and litter buildup. Some of the users “may have a different understanding of how to maintain a public space,” McCarthy quipped.

Volunteers have engaged with park users to encourage better behavior, in addition to new trail construction that discourages direct access to Cresheim Creek and the removal of two bridges that lead to jumping off points into the pool.

Other projects in the works for FOW include improving trails around the Andorra Tree House which have been degraded by storm water, addressing erosion and sedimentation in four of the park’s gullies, and seven more miles of trails nominated for improvements. Some of the money for gully improvement came from a Merck settlement for $780,000 after a tetra cyanide spill in 1996.

Mark Focht took the floor to explain a number of projects in the Wissahickon undertaken by the Fairmount Park Commission. They include manure containment at Northwestern Stables and restoration at Houston Meadow. The meadow project aims to return 14 bird species that historically populated the area, improve breeding for seven more, and remove invasive plants.

Also FPC is taking on five more gully improvement projects in addition to the four being worked on by FOW.

Other work ongoing includes erosion and storm water control at Allen’s Lane and Cathedral Road.

The agency has recently been granted nearly $1.8 million through federal stimulus funds through the Forest Service which will be applied to ecological restoration, forest canopy assessment, and job training in arboriculture and eco-restoration. In the Wissahickon specifically the funds will go towards improvements at Carpenter’s Woods and Andorra Meadow aimed towards restoring native plants.

Finally Focht cited a number of additional projects in the Wissahickon run by the Philadelphia Water Department and the Army Corps of Engineers, including restoration work at Wise’s Mill, Bell’s Mill, St. Martins, Valley Green, and Gorgas Lane. The Engineers are also working on fish passage at several of the dams along the Wissahickon Creek.

Focht reiterated that all the work was ongoing despite the city budget cuts, and that the new Parks and Recreation department takes seriously its mission to be the nation’s premier park and recreation system. “This is not an empty statement,” Focht emphasized.

“The current restoration work is unparalleled in the city of Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania.”

For more information on projects and other events visit the Friends of the Wissahickon website at www.fow.org and the Fairmount Park website at http://www.fairmountpark.org.

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Marian Speech Team First at Thornridge Tourney

Four individual titles spark superb team performance

Chicago, IL–(ENEWSPF)– Sparked by four individual first-place event finishes, the Marian Catholic High School Speech team captured first place in the recent Thornridge Tree Tournament.

Marian prevailed behind first-place points from Colleen Daw (Homewood) in Special Occasion Speaking, Summer Fields (Richton Park) in Original Oration, Jon Williamsen (Steger) in Dramatic Interpretation, and Zach Henry (Lansing) and Adam King (Lansing) in Humorous Duet Acting.

Second-place points came from Joe Wlos (Crete) in Extemporaneous Speaking and Impromptu Speaking, while Jaboukie Young-White (Harvey) earned a third-place in Original Oration and Fields was third in Oratorical Declamation. Kiayla Jackson (Sauk Village) finished in fourth place in both Original Comedy and Poetry Reading.

Marian also received scores from Conor Keane (Oak Forest) for fifth in Informative Speaking, Martin Kudra (Chicago Heights) for fifth in Extemporaneous Speaking, Keegan Marz (Crete) for sixth in Informative Speaking, and Trevor Thompkins (Olympia Fields) for seventh in Informative Speaking.

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Loleini Tonga Pictures: What is the Real Story

Loleini Tonga Pictures: What is the Real Story about Chris Henry and Loleini Tonga – She is the most search women in the internet now. Loleini Tonga and her pictures seem to get the biggest attention online. It was said that Chris Henry was in the back of Loleini Tonga’s pick up track where he fell out and ended up in the hospital with severe injuries.

And right now, Chris Henry’s condition is extremely critical and serious. It was occurred near Henry’s house and according to the police officials report, Henry jumped into the bed ofTonga’s pick up truck while Loleini Tong was kind running away from him.

Henry fell out of the moving vehicle as he couldn’t keep his balance. Due to his apparent condition it required for him to be immediately shifted to the trauma unit of Medical Centre of Carolina. Till the last reports, the post admission condition of the NFL player remains unknown. However, the word is that Chris requires life-support for what causes his health now.

Now here’s the picture of a happy family that includes Chris Henry and Loleini Tonga together with their children, in which already spreading and in hot search over the internet as of this moment.

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Hillary Clinton tries to save Copenhagen talks

COPENHAGEN — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton threw a climate change Hail Mary on Thursday in hopes of salvaging the Copenhagen talks from collapse – pledging U.S. participation in a multinational fund to provide poor nations with a $100 billion a year by 2020.

Clinton, who flew into Copenhagen as China’s representatives balked at a deal requiring them to provide transparency on emissions, made her offer contingent on China’s acceptance of a comprehensive “operative agreement” fiercely resisted by Beijing.

"It would be hard to imagine, speaking for the United States, that there could be the level of financial commitment I have just announced in the absence of transparency from [China], the [world’s] second biggest emitter,” she told reporters.

The Chinese delegation had no immediate response but cancelled a previously scheduled news conference after the secretary spoke.

China's lead negotiator at the talks, Su Wei, told Bloomberg News that a

COP-15 pact was still possible and Beijing "hopes" it could be translated into a final deal "by the middle of next year, if possible, or if not, then by the end of the year."

Clinton pointedly reminded China that President Hu Jintao personally assured President Barack Obama that Beijing was committed to a comprehensive deal that includes some kind of international verification of claims that China will drastically reduce its pollution.

“All major countries [must] stand behind full transparency,” added Clinton, who called China’s no-transparency position a “deal-breaker.”

The offer puts the U.S. at the low end of offers made by other industrialized nations – but significantly increases the U.S. commitment, which had previously been a more vague pledge to provide $10 billion per year over the next few years.

The fund, which would go to developing nations who bear the brunt of global warming, could be replenished from a variety of sources, Clinton said, including with unspecified public, private and “alternative” revenues. Many advocates of the approach believe such subsidies are likely to come from cap-and-trade revenues or carbon taxes.

It’s not clear if Clinton’s commitment would be contingent on the Senate’s passage of its stalled climate change bill.

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US HOT STOCKS: Exxon, XTO Energy, Citi, Calif Micro Devices

U.S. stocks were trading higher Monday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 24 points to 10495, the S&P 500 up 4.6 points to 1111 and the Nasdaq Composite up 10 points to 2200. Among the companies with shares actively trading in the session are XTO Energy Inc. (XOM), Citigroup Inc. (C) and California Micro Devices Corp. (CAMD).

Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM, $70.09, -$2.74, -3.76%) announced an agreement to acquire XTO Energy ($48.11, +$6.62, +15.96%) for $31 billion in stock, boosting the oil giant's presence in the natural-gas industry at a time of low prices for the commodity. XTO holders will get 0.7098 share of Exxon for each share of XTO. That values the stock at $51.69, a 25% premium to Friday's closing price. The deal also includes the assumption of $10 billion in debt.

Meanwhile, some competitors of XTO gained as analysts said this could be the first in a round of consolidation for the natural-gas and oil industry. Tudor Pickering Hold said that the next major targets could include EOG Resources Inc. (EOG, $90.23, +$4.18, +4.86%), Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN, $43.94, +$2.49, +6.00%), PetroHawk Energy Corp. (HK, $23.50, +$1.33, +6.00%), Encana Corp. (ECA, $29.77, +$1.51, +5.33%), Devon Energy Corp. (DVN, $66.89, +$3.00, +4.70%), Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK, $24.41, +$1.38, +5.99%) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC, $60.00, +$2.01, +3.47%). Range Resources Corp. (RRC, $46.93, +$3.55, +8.18%) and St. Mary Land & Exploration Corp. (SM, $34.08, +$0.83, +2.50%) were among the others rising.

Citigroup ($3.75, -$0.20, -5.09%) will repay $20 billion in government assistance and exit a program under which the U.S. would cover losses on billions of dollars in loans, bringing an end to months of wrestling with its regulators and the Treasury Department. Citigroup will raise $20.5 billion mainly by issuing common stock to repay the Treasury. The bank has also decided to replace some of the cash it had agreed to pay employees with $1.7 billion in stock.

ON Semiconductor Corp. (ONNN, $8.39, +$0.28, +3.45%) will acquire California Micro Devices ($4.65, +$1.60, +52.46%) for $108 million, the latest acquisition in the tech sector as stronger players scoop up smaller companies. The deal will also give ON $45 million, costing it a net $63 million. California Micro holders will get $4.70 a share, a 34% premium to Friday's closing price close for the maker of semiconductor protection devices for the mobile handset, high brightness LED and digital electronics markets.

European Union antitrust regulators reacted positively to a proposal Monday by Oracle Corp. (ORCL, $23.26, +$0.48, +2.11%) to safeguard the MySQL database, putting Oracle's bid for Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA, $9.12, +$0.76, +9.09%) on a path to be cleared by the bloc. European approval is the last major hurdle for the $7.4 billion purchase.

Central Pacific Financial Corp. (CPF, $0.99, -$0.17, -14.90%) agreed to a cease-and-desist order with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. requiring the Hawaiian company to improve its capital position, asset quality and management oversight, among other conditions.

Luna Innovations Inc. (LUNA, $2.75, +$1.28, +87.07%) announced a settlement agreement with Hansen Medical Inc. (HNSN, $2.99, +$0.32, +11.99%) that resolves litigation between the two and clears the "largest hurdle on [Luna's] pathway to emerge" from bankruptcy protection. Under the agreement, Luna's fiber-optic shape-sensing technology will be used in Hansen's surgical robots and Hansen will receive a 9.9% stake in Luna. Luna also said it filed with the bankruptcy court plans to emerge from Chapter 11 protection as "soon as possible." The plans include how it will pay claims and allow stockholders to retain their shares.

Other Stocks In Focus:

Barron's said online retailer Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN, $130.52, -$3.63, -2.71%), Amazon is trading at such a rich value that, over the next decade, it could experience little price appreciation and could fall on any disappointment.

Celldex Therapuetics Inc. (CLDX, $4.84, +$0.35, +7.80%) said a Phase 2 study on its treatment from patients with heavily pre-treated, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancers had positive results and met the primary goal of "significant antitumor activity."

Citigroup reshuffled its ratings on real estate investment trusts Monday, saying the sector enters 2010 with a backdrop that could support current elevated valuations, but that there remain long-term risks to the recovery. Among other moves, the broker upgraded Codgell Spencer Inc. (CSA, $5.76, +$0.32, +5.88%) and Kite Realty Group Trust (KRG, $3.84, +$0.31, +8.78%) to buy from hold and PS Business Parks Inc. (PSB, $47.38, +$0.47, +1.00%) to hold from sell. It also downgraded Highwoods Properties Inc. (HIW, $32.03, -$0.87, -2.64%), Kimco Realty Corp. (KIM, $12.30, -$0.20, -1.60%) and Corporate Office Properties Trust (OFC, $35.74, -$0.73, -2.00%) to sell from hold.

CoinStar Inc. (CSTR, $26.09, +$1.39, +5.63%) subsidiary Redbox Automated Retail, a DVD-rental kiosk operator, extended its deal with Hollywood giant Paramount Home Entertainment Inc. through at least June, giving Paramount more time to possible extend it ultimately through 2014.

Dynegy Inc. (DYN, $1.89, -$0.08, -4.06%) said it will repurchase $830 million of debt that matures in 2011 and 2012 from an unnamed investor, or 83% of the amount of that debt outstanding. The independent power producer said it will fund the buyback with asset sales, including the recent $970 million it raised from selling power plants.

Barron's said this week that Atlanta-based Invesco Ltd. (IVZ, $21.88, +$0.41, +1.91%) Chief Executive Martin Flanagan has moved to boost Invesco's profile by expanding its investment offerings and improving its performance, which could leave its shares set to outperform in the next year

Jefferies raised its rating on Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc. (PPDI, $21.98, +$1.04, +4.97%) to buy from hold, saying the new leadership is righting the ship and has the analysts predicting improving business wins and growth.

RadioShack Corp. (RSH, $20.03, +$0.55, +2.82%) shares should see outsized gains next year as it accrues benefits of recent steps, Barclays Capital said in upgrading the stock to overweight from equal-weight. The addition of T-Mobile as a third wireless carrier, the nationwide rollout of the iPhone, a new branding campaign and other business extensions, such as managing wireless kiosks in Target Corp. (TGT, $47.24, +$0.31, +0.65%) stores are among positive factors, Barclays said. "We would be accumulating a position at the current level and view the stock as a solid investment for 2010."

Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW, $17.77, -$0.66, -3.58%) received $6 billion in net new assets last month from customers, while average client trades tumbled 27% from a year earlier, when the market downturn was roiling investors. But Chief Financial Officer Joe Martinetto also said the company expects fourth-quarter earnings lower than the third quarter's, while analysts had been expecting them to be flat.

Teradyne Inc. (TER, $10.27, +$0.65, +6.76%) was boosted to overweight from neutral by PiperJaffray which said it "is one of the best positioned mid cap semiconductor companies for the current upturn" as it significantly expanded its market opportunity during the downturn.

Goldman Sachs economists said they are expecting a consumer recovery in Russia and Turkey in the 2010 and 2011 periods to be the fastest among the emerging markets, which led Goldman analysts to boost the ratings on telecommunications stocks from the countries. Russia's Vimpel Communications (VIP, $18.96, +$0.91, +5.04%) and Turkey's Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (TKC, $16.31, +$0.51, +3.23%) were both raised to buy from hold.

Visa Inc. (V, $84.97, +$3.63, +4.46%) and Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (MJN, $43.15, +$0.70, +1.65%) will be added the Standard & Poor's 500 index with credit-card payment processor Visa replacing networking-equipment provider Ciena Corp. (CIEN, $11.12, -$0.38, -3.30%) and pediatric-nutrition company Mead Johnson replacing bond insurer MBIA Corp. (MBI, $3.38, -$0.29, -7.90%).

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Dubai Bailout Boosts Euro

TOKYO -- The euro rose against the dollar on Monday after Dubai said it received billions of dollars in emergency funds to bail out its troubled state-owned conglomerate, easing concerns that the debt crisis there might worsen and roil the global economy.

Dubai said in late Asian trading hours it had received $10 billion in financing from neighboring oil-rich emirate Abu Dhabi to pay part of the debt of Dubai World and its struggling property unit, NaThe news eased worries that Dubai could rock global financial markets and the economy by defaulting on its debt, dealers said. Traders responded by buying the euro and other c

"The news gave some relief to the foreign exchange markets," said Koji Fukaya, a senior currency strategist at Deutsche Securities. Mr. Fukaya added that the euro is unlikely to rise above $1.4750 at least this week because the overall effects of the Dubai development on the global economy or major currencies are limited.

Optimism over the global economy was also encouraged by news that Citigroup Inc. is about to repay its credit-crunch bailout from the U.S. government.

The main beneficiary of the improved mood was the euro, but investors appeared wary of pushing the single currency too far while they wait for Greece to unveil its plans for reducing its budget deficit. Without a convincing timetable, international support for Greek bonds will continue to fall and the country runs the risk of defaulting on its sovereign debt

Investors are waiting for Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to unveil details of plans to reduce the country's budget deficit over the next four years to 3% of gross domestic product from about 12.7% now.

Satoshi Okagawa, chief foreign-exchange forward trader at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., noted that Greece's unsolved debt problems remain "a major bottleneck" for euro investors. Uncertainty over whether the country, like the Dubai government, could get outside help to avoid defaulting on its debt make it hard to buy the euro above $1.4800 now, Mr. Okagawa said.

By 1035 GMT, the dollar had fallen to 88.53 yen from 89.22 yen late Friday in New York, according to EBS. The euro was up at $1.4648 from $1.4621 but down at 129.68 yen from 130.43 yen.

The pound fell to $1.6229 from $1.6239. Sterling largely shrugged off the latest housing report from Rightmove showing that prices fell 2.2% this month.

The news on Dubai emerged too late to help Asian stock markets recover all of their earlier losses and the Nikkei ended down 0.2% on the day.

Some analysts reckon that the Abu Dhabi move will be instrumental in helping risk appetite to recover.

"Markets are likely to reverse the risky asset decline seen Nov. 25 when Dubai announced that it would not stand by its debt obligations," said currency strategists at BNP Paribas SA.

European stocks started the day higher with gains of about 1%, with investors also buoyed by a report of Citigroup's repayment plans. This will be the last of the major U.S. banks to exit the U.S. government's bailout program.

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DALLAS WHITE ROCK MARATHON 8 a.m. Sunday

Running has become Kate Meise's escape, her chance to just be Kate, not mom to six young children. It's also led to a dramatic transformation.

Meise, 37, described her life a year ago as being in a general state of "miserableness." She was approaching 230 pounds and on the verge of needing size 22 clothes. She was unhappy with the way she looked and felt.

"You know you're unhealthy," she recalled. "It's a horrible way to be. I couldn't be this big and take care of all these children."

Meise, 37, joined Weight Watchers in June 2008, focused on healthy eating and began consistently training with Nikki Davis' Runwell Training in January. Over the last 18 months, she shed nearly 90 pounds, and she's rediscovered her 5-10, 140-pound self.

Running helps Meise cope with the rigors of caring for Ben, 7, Cal, 2, and Mia, Jack, Ellie and Lizzie, her surviving sextuplets, who are 4. Jack is severely handicapped and requires 24-hour nursing care.

"I'm in awe of her," Davis said. "You have to change your life to make it work. People find all sorts of excuses to not get healthy. Kate still shows up."

'Our world changed'

Facing life's challenges, day by day, has been the only way Kate and David Meise have survived the chaos that ensued after a September 2004 sonogram revealed sextuplets. Ben was nearly 2, their 2,500-square-foot Tudor home in Old East Dallas was organized, and life seemed idyllic.

"That's when our world changed," said Kate, who was seeking a second pregnancy using a fertility treatment that had worked so well the first time. "They found six sacks and six heartbeats. It's indescribable."

Matthew died in utero. The five others were born in February 2005, days shy of 28 weeks.

The three girls spent four months in the neonatal intensive care unit and underwent several surgeries before coming home with feeding tubes. They began eating real food after their third birthdays.

Liam lived 7 ½ months but didn't survive emergency bowel surgery. Jack left the NICU after 10 months but spent six weeks in a care facility as his parents learned how to manage his tracheotomy and ventilator.

His weak heart and lungs led to an April 2006 incident that caused brain damage.

"There was not time to pause too much," Kate Meise said. "You just kept getting up. There wasn't a lot of sleeping. I don't know how we did it."

Then Cal was born in June 2007, after the Meises learned they could get pregnant on their own.

"Every time you think you're comfortable, something happens, and you have to readjust," Meise said. "Our life isn't harder. It's just crazier."

Busy but orderly

There was a sense of calm amid the constant commotion at the Meises on a recent visit. The children played in the cozy den, already decorated for Christmas with the tree and the family's 10 stockings hung on the mantel, including ones in memory of Liam and Matthew.

Meise had a rare morning to herself to shop and prepare dinner while Ben was at school and his sisters were at preschool. Cal spent the morning with Meise's parents, who along with her sister live nearby and frequently help.

"I'm always busy, picking up, making food, cleaning up food," Meise said.

As dinner time approached, his sisters and Cal colored at the preschool-sized table between the kitchen and laundry room.

Meise served dinner for the kids and David. She visited until it was time to change for her weekly Wednesday night group run at the Katy Trail.

David said he looks forward to his time with the kids on Wednesday nights. David, an architect, works a second job two evenings a week and plays soccer on Friday nights.

"It's hard," said David, who gets everyone bathed and put to bed. "Running is important to Kate. It's become my time with the kids."

Getting motivated

Meise decided she would run a 5K when she dropped to 160 pounds. She hadn't been able to motivate herself to stick to any exercise routines.

In December 2008, she contacted Nikki Davis of Runwell Training after reading about her program. Davis reassured her by e-mail that Meise could successfully train to run a 5K as long as she regularly attended practices.

Davis then checked out Meise's blog, www.surviving six.blogspot.com, which was mentioned in her e-mail.

"I thought, 'There's no way she's going to stick around,' " Davis said. "She has six good reasons not to run. But a month later, she was still there. She proved me wrong."

Consistency has been the key, Davis said. Meise also credits the group camaraderie.

"I couldn't motivate myself," Meise said. "I needed the group."

Meise adjusted her schedule and says she's learned to get up at ungodly hours. She typically trains four days a week. Her longest run in advance of the half marathon was 14 miles.

"I couldn't run more than a minute in January, and now I can run around White Rock Lake without stopping," Meise said. "I cannot believe I'm the same person."Sunday's forecast: Cool conditions

As race day nears, the forecasted high has begun to drop, which should lower finish times. According to the National Weather Service's forecast, Sunday's high should be 59 degrees with sunny skies. CHAT about Sunday's Dallas White Rock Marathon with Debbie Fetterman and race director Marcus Grunewald at 11 a.m. Thursday. dallasnews.com/sports

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Circus catch Bataille performing well for NU

Bill Coen likes to call Baptiste Bataille the Renaissance Man of the Northeastern men’s basketball team. But the fourth-year coach knows that doesn’t even scratch the surface when it comes to defining his 5-foot-10-inch senior guard from Ferin, France.

“He’s very adventuresome and very accomplished,’’ says Coen. “There is a lot of depth there.’’

That is evident from his bio in NU’s media guide. Bataille, it says, enjoys playing piano, water sports, scuba diving, and table tennis. He speaks three languages. But there, at the bottom of his profile, is this nugget: “was in the circus as a child.’’

To those who have watched Bataille play for the Huskies the last three seasons, that explains a lot.

“You think so?’’ says Bataille. “You mean, the way I play?’’

It is not unlike watching a trapeze artist work without a net. It can be an experience replete with thrills, chills, and spills.

“That’s exactly right - he’s fearless,’’ Coen says. “For a guy his size, he’s not afraid to give up his body, whether it’s taking a charge or getting on the floor for a loose ball. Those are all energy plays that our team feeds off.’’

“Renaissance Man’’? Perhaps Bataille, who is averaging 9.4 points in 26.1 minutes a game this season, would be better suited as NU’s ringmaster.

“I try to use what I have,’’ he says. “I’m a small guy and I try to outquick people and try to outsmart them. Some of those guys are so much more athletic than I am, so I have to compensate and try and use a little more of my brain and stay low to the ground.

“As Coach Coen always says, ‘Low man wins.’ If you’re a big guy and I’m attacking you, if I’m lower than you - my center of gravity is lower than you - then I have a chance to beat you.’’

And when Bataille attacks the basket, challenging bigger opponents, it can be akin to sticking his head in a lion’s mouth.

“I’ve never done that in the circus,’’ he says, “but I like the metaphor.’’

Flipping over acrobats

The allure of the big top first struck Bataille when he was a teenager, participating in a summer discovery program sponsored by Cirque du Soleil, which ran satellite programs across the country, including the Isle of Oleron, where Bataille and his family vacationed every summer.

“I think I was about 13-14 years old, and so I started this camp and we would put together shows,’’ Bataille recalls. “I was with the acrobats. Me and this other guy would carry and throw around these little girls who would do all sorts of flips.

“Acrobatics were my specialty. I got to try out almost everything, but acrobatics was something I was pretty good at, so I kept doing it.’’

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Community’s Danny Pudi on His Humble Beginnings As a Butt-Dialer Read more: Community’s Danny Pudi on His Humble Beginnings As a Butt-Dialer

Community has been one of this fall’s breakout shows, and Abed — the kindhearted, socially awkward student played by newcomer Danny Pudi — is one of the season's best new characters. The Chicago native studied at Second City and had recurring roles on Greek and Gilmore Girls, but if he looks familiar, it may have to be for the string of commercials he’s appeared in, including spots for T-Mobile and McDonald's. Before tonight’s episode, we got Pudi on the phone to talk about selling stuff, Slumdog Millionaire, and what zoo animal he most resembles.

So, how did you land Abed?
I’ve been auditioning for a while. I’ve been in Los Angeles for about four years. So this came in like any other audition during pilot season, but I read the script, and I was trembling. I realized how fun it could be. The minute I read it, I was like, “Oh man, I will give all my fingernails and shave my eyebrows for this role.” Thankfully, they didn’t make me do that … it wasn’t in the script or part of the audition process. I knew my one potential negative was that I am half-Polish, so I decided not to reveal that till a later time.

You were also appearing in a lot of commercials right before Community began airing.
I did the butt-dialing commercial for T-Mobile, and it did help get my face out there a bit. When I went out for the Community audition, one of the producers recognized me and was like, “Hey, you’re the butt-dialer!” Right away, that makes me feel more comfortable, when someone’s like, “Butt dialer’s here!” I imagine it would be more difficult if you were going out for a leading man. Like if they’re making Gladiator 2 and I walk in, and they go, “Butt-dialer!” It’s gonna be really hard to be, you know, Euophonius the Master of the Ring and slaying soldiers when two seconds ago they were calling you butt-dialer. But for this role, it actually worked out perfectly.

What is it about you that makes people think you can sell stuff?
This is sort of a good time for Indians, and I am half-Indian, so I’m perhaps riding some of the Slumdog wave? Literally the other day on set, there was a person who came up to me, and this is not even a joke, they literally were like, “Hey man, were you in Slumdog?" I don’t think I look that much like Dev Patel, if you look closely. But I was like, “Okay, for people who haven’t seen a lot of Indians before, I guess you can kind of group us together.” Also, my body is really awkward looking, kind of long and lanky. I get compared to giraffes a lot. And I think there’s something funny about that, that people can relate to. Or at least they like to see me next to a product — “Oh, there’s a giraffe. Oh, it’s actually Danny Pudi, actor. Not playing a giraffe. Selling T-Mobile phones.”

Speaking of Indian actors in movies — I saw the trailer for Road Trip: Beer Pong, where you do an accent. How okay are you with playing those broader characters?
That’s hard to say. I think that everything is project by project, story by story. For Beer Pong, I had to play a son of a dictator from a fictitious country, so definitely an accent was needed there. But also you could take more liberty with what it is: Not a lot of people are going to be taking that character very seriously. If I had to do accents all the time, I would probably be a little bit frustrated, and especially if I knew it was being portrayed like, “Let's laugh at the accent itself.” I’ll never go into a place doing an accent. That’s just not me: I don’t speak Hindi, I’m not from India. I speak Polish. Not many people ask me to do a Polish accent.

Oh, and one other thing for your question about the ads, the other thing I was gonna say, this is part of the whole giraffe thing: I’m nonthreatening looking. Even though sometimes I wish I was a little more threatening. It didn’t help as a kid. Or with ladies. Ladies tend to like more aggressive guys. Sometimes my wife and I talk about that, I think she wishes I was a little more violent-looking.

Back to Community — what are the nerves like on a new show, where the possibility of a quick cancellation is always there?
I think everyone handles it differently. If the show got canceled, I’d still feel like this was a wonderful opportunity. Also, we get along so well, and the cast is incredible, it’s a great family. And it’s really helpful to surround yourself with people who are better and smarter than you. You know, six months ago, I was making poop jokes or watching birds, or walking the aisle of a grocery store just cause it feels comforting. Every time I miss home I’ll go to a grocery store and walk the aisles. And usually I’ll get dental floss, that’s my go-to, if I‘m feeling nostalgic, or if I’m feeling lonely, and then I’ll come home … what was I talking about?

The Halloween episode was a real standout, especially your Batman impersonation. Was it hard to nail that growly voice?
It took a few days, but eventually I got it. Every morning, I would be practicing in my trailer, and people would be knocking on the door, and they’d hear me say [puts on growl], “red letter, yellow letter,” doing old-school theater vocal warm-ups in my Batman voice. I’d be walking to Peet’s Coffee [growly voice], “All right I’m gonna get a coffee. A dark roast.” Definitely the dark roast, too, by the way.

You and Donald Glover, who plays Troy, have great chemistry, and you both come from sketch-comedy backgrounds. Do you get a chance to improvise at all?
We get to improvise a bit. For instance: The Halloween episode, the tag where it’s just Donald and I talking, that was all improvised. And then the tag where we’re sitting there on the couch and all the people are outside and we’re like talking about what they’re doing, making up voices for them, “Hi, I’m a Desperate Housewife,” that was improvised as well. They’ll give us moments. The rap, for instance, was not improvised. Even though it came from an improvised rap. The creator of the show saw us do an interview where we did a random freestyle for the interview, and he loved that so much that he decided to put that into a tag.

What is your previous beatboxing experience, by the way?
I do a lot of beat boxing. I’ve always been a huge fan of hip-hop. Growing up, I loved the Roots, loved Wu-Tang. A lot of people look at me and think, “Wow, Danny, you don’t look like a hard-core rapper, you don’t look like a gangster rapper.” But you know, I think growing up, part of me always wanted to be a gangster rapper. Again, the physique kind of limited me.

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Taylor Lautner SNL lights up Saturday Night Live: Videos and photos

Taylor Lautner, star of Twilight / New Moon, hosted Saturday Night Live on Dec. 12th with Bon Jovi. Twilight fans couldn't wait for the SNL show, Tweeting and posting numerous times in anticipation. In fact, Twitter went viral, with thousands of Tweets lighting up the site in a matter of minutes during and after the Saturday Night Live episode. Lautner is one of the ten youngest celebrity hosts in the Saturday Night Live show's history.

Lautner plays Jacob Black in the Twilight and New Moon film series, along with Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan) and Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen). Actor Taylor Daniel Lautner, 17, was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

According to mtv.com, Taylor Lautner was reportedly spotted hanging out with Taylor Swift at the 102.7 KIIS FM Jingle Ball concert in Los Angeles last weekend. It is rumored that Lautner and the country singer are dating.

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PROFILE: James Cameron

If the word avatar is one you’ve been tempted to look up in a dictionary, it’s a good bet that James Cameron’s latest bank-breaking cinema blockbuster isn’t aimed at you. If, on the other hand, you already have up to half a dozen personal avatars living lives of their own in cyberspace, then welcome to heaven.

Originally from Sanskrit, and used to describe the earthly incarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu, avatar is a common term among digital games players for the pixelated representations of themselves in the online world. Avatar is also the title of Cameron’s new epic science-fiction adventure, in which a crippled former marine is given the body of an alien to infiltrate the culture of a world under invasion by the Earth.

It is hugely ambitious, colossally expensive and Cameron’s first film since Titanic in 1997. That movie was labelled in advance as an overpriced folly but went on to make boxoffice history.

When Cameron picked up his Oscar for best director, to join those for best film and best editing, he famously emulated his star Leonardo DiCaprio’s arms-outstretched pose on the doomed ship’s prow to declare: “I’m the king of the world.”

During the dozen years since, some thought the king had abdicated, his career sunk without trace. But Cameron had other things on his mind. He had written Avatar in outline two years before Titanic and was waiting for technology to make it possible.

Avatar is likely to have been the most expensive movie yet produced. Cameron is not remotely daunted. “If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success,” he told The New Yorker magazine, with all the hubris that often has critics wishing the world’s most successful movie director will fall on his face.

Cameron is not just aiming to add to his Oscar collection but to save cinema itself, with revolutionary 3-D technology that will awe audiences and, for the foreseeable future, be impossible to reproduce at home. Avatar is being hyped as an “immersive experience”, its key technology an innovative camera designed by the director himself, which enables him to see his actors in their computer-generated onscreen forms.

“If I want to fly through space or change my perspective, I can. I can turn the whole scene into a living miniature and go through it on a 50 to 1 scale. It’s pretty exciting,” he enthused. “It’s like a big powerful game engine.”

That will be music to the ears of a key audience, 15 to 24-year-old males, the first generation in nearly a century that the cinema is in danger of losing. With computer gaming growing faster than the movie industry, Hollywood has desperately been making game spin-offs (Resident Evil, Final Fantasy).

Cameron hopes to restore the movies to their supremacy — although there is an Avatar spin-off game, too — and the big Canadian may be the man to do it. At 55 he still has a natural affinity with the enthusiasms of his target audience.

He was born in the small mining town of Kapuskasing, near Niagara Falls in Ontario, where Phillip, his father, was an engineer and Shirley, his mother, a painter. He described her as being “very bold and occasionally irrational in a good way”, while his father was “coldly analytical, strongly disciplined”.

Cameron Sr also disapproved of his geeky son’s addiction to sci-fi comics, which he would throw in the bin. Cameron inherited qualities from both his parents and began writing short stories while developing an interest in astronomy and engineering, building model rockets and aeroplanes out of junk.

As early as nine he boasted that he could make a better movie than the vintage sci-fi horror picture King Kong vs Godzilla, but it was Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey that really rocked his boat. He saw it 10 times and was inspired to start experimenting with his father’s home-movie camera.

The family moved to California and at school and college, where he studied physics, the geeky young “Jim” got bullied by the jocks. In the end he dropped out, married a waitress and got a job driving trucks. He did not go back to a college reunion until he had won his Oscars and outstripped the jocks.

He maintained his interest in the movies, however, moving to Los Angeles and borrowing money to make a 12-minute short called Xenogenesis. Despite a minimal plot, the short demonstrated his skill at special effects and was enough to get him a job in the modelmaking department of a low-budget film company. However, it was a nightmare that would make his dreams come true: a vision of a robot assassin from the future.

He swapped his waitress wife for the film company’s head of marketing, Gale Anne Hurd, persuaded her to get investment for the film and let him direct it, then chose a muscle-bound, Austrian-born body-builder as his star. It cost a modest $6.5m (about £4m at today’s rates) but became a cinematic — and political — milestone. The Terminator made Cameron a hot property overnight and set Arnold Schwarzenegger on the road to becoming the governor of California.

Cameron went on to direct Aliens, the second in the sci-fi horror series starring Sigourney Weaver, and recrafted the storyline around her character, Ellen Ripley — the only survivor from the original movie — giving the film an unexpected emotional depth. He then nearly threw it all away with The Abyss, a deep-sea sci-fi spectacular in which the director overindulged his passion for the grand scale, building the world’s biggest underwater set, which required 7m gallons of water.

The film was a critical flop while the tensions involved led Cameron to a second divorce. But his prodigious technical talent was rewarded when the film won an Oscar for best visual effects. He bounced back in sparkling form with Terminator 2: Judgment Day, garnering more best effects Oscars along the way, then turned his attention from sci-fi to True Lies, an action thriller about a secret agent who suspects his wife of infidelity.

In making Titanic he once again got carried away with the science of creating illusion, spending millions on a scale replica of the liner, vast sets and sea-bed explorations. The film went wildly over budget, sparking rumours that it could ruin 20th Century Fox, and nearly gave Cameron a breakdown.

In fact, it refloated the whole of Hollywood. His transformation of the disaster story into a tragic romance captured the global imagination, bringing in $1.8 billion and turning DiCaprio into a megastar.

In the years that followed, Cameron found himself increasingly dismissive of the Hollywood studio bosses who had given him such a hard time over his extravagance and turned his attention to underwater exploration, designing camera housing systems and working on robotics. While he had — not unlike his sci-fi author hero Arthur C Clarke — seen the ocean depths as the nearest most of us would come to experiencing another world, he was asked by Nasa to join an advisory board designing cameras that may one day go to Mars.

All the while the world of Avatar had been taking shape in his mind. It was only when he saw the computer-generated character of Gollum in the second of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies that he realised the CGI technology was advanced enough to do what he wanted.

Now he believes it is so advanced that Neytiri, the 10ft-tall alien native warrior princess in Avatar, will evoke “actual lust” for a character who — despite having the actress Zoe Saldana behind her movements, voice and facial expressions — will be “made of pixels”.

Cameron believes there is a certain “geek population that would much rather deal with fantasy women than real women”. He is not ashamed to admit that, now married for the fifth time (to the Titanic actress Suzy Amis), he has at times belonged to that population.

The director can be irascible and demanding to work with: he reduced a starlet to tears in The Abyss by telling extras to urinate in their wetsuits to save time, let Kate Winslet believe she was drowning at one stage in Titanic to get a better performance and hit the Avatar star Sam Worthington with a 10ft rubber stick to get the right reaction in a battle scene.

In Cameron’s own words, Avatar makes Titanic “look like a picnic”. It will no doubt be controversial, too, as an attack on the greed-driven human pillaging of our own world’s natural beauty and resources, as well as a thinly veiled criticism of the “war on terror”. The conflict on the distant planet of Pandora is the result of human mining and scorn for the local populace, while the campaign to suppress them is described as “shock and awe”. The human marines sent in are told — in language familiar from the deserts of Iraq — “You’re not in Kansas any more.”

Beyond the ground-breaking technology, Avatar may be that rare thing: a blockbuster that makes people think. “It integrates my life’s achievements,” said Cameron. Making humanity reach for the stars from the comfort of their multiplex seats.

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Massive protest held as climate conference downplays expectations

COPENHAGEN — Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Copenhagen on Saturday to demand a strong global-climate pact, even as world leaders reiterated that the coming week’s talks will not lead to a binding legal agreement.

Among the balloons and climate-themed sails waved during the massive demonstration flew the flags of left-of-centre European political parties, as well as signs reading "there is no planet B."

While most of the march was peaceful, riot police detained between 600 and 800 people around the Danish capital after some black-clad demonstrators threw bottles and smashed windows.

"And the number is growing," police spokesman Flemming Steen Munch said.

The marchers spread out across six kilometres as they walked toward Copenhagen’s Bella Centre, the high-security site of the international talks.

Estimates ranged from 30,000 upwards to 100,000 protesters, all of whom flocked to the Danish capital from across Europe and the world.

"They marched in Berlin, and the wall fell. They marched in Cape Town, and the wall fell," South African cleric and Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu told a candlelit vigil of protesters. "They marched in Copenhagen — and we are going to get a real deal."

Supermodel Helena Christensen gave a speech in which she described a trip to her mother’s home country of Peru. There, she said farmers, alpaca herdsmen and their families are already suffering the effects of climate change. Melting glaciers are threatening their water supplies and ability to grow food.

"Whether you are a skeptic or an activist on this front, I believe there’s one underlying truth that we need to acknowledge: we must collectively take more responsibility for the well-being of our planet, and of each other," said Christensen, who is half-Danish.

At the tail end of the procession, police separated several hundred protesters from the main group and carried out a number of arrests.

"The police had just come in and sliced off a section of the march," said Australian activist Nicola Bullard, 51.

"Anybody could have been there."

TV images showed the handcuffed protesters sitting on the ground, ordered in long lines along Amagerbrogade, one of the city’s major shopping streets.

The Copenhagen march was the centrepiece to demonstrations that took place around the world.

Australia, the developed world’s worst per-capita polluter, saw as many as 50,000 people taking to the streets nationwide, according to organizers.

In Indonesia, the third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after China and the United States, activists rallied outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta to urge the country to support developing nations in reducing emissions.

In the Philippines, hundreds of protesters wearing red shirts banged on drums and sang songs outside Manila’s City Hall demanding global action on climate change.

Although the protesters were marching for quick action to prevent what they say will be catastrophic climate change, the United Nations talks are still stuck on a number of major issues.

They include the type of legal framework for the agreement, the toughness of targets for developed countries, adaptation funding for poorer countries, and whether or not there should be hard caps on emissions on developing countries such as China.

After meeting with protesters, UN climate chief Yvo de Boer said countries are likely to come out of Copenhagen with a set of decisions that launch immediate action on adaptation, preserving forests, industrialized emission targets and financial support for developing countries. For that, they should be proud, he said.

“Given the state of play, and given the amount of remaining time, we cannot cast that all in a legal binding agreement here in Copenhagen," de Boer said.

"We do need to do that within the next six or 12 months in 2010 to really capitalize on what comes out of Copenhagen and turn it into strong legal text."

A draft of an agreement released Friday said developed nations should cut their emissions on average by at least 25 to 40 per cent, ranging up to about 45 per cent by 2020, also from 1990 levels. That is significantly tougher than Canada’s current proposal of cutting emissions from 2006 levels by 20 per cent over the next decade.

Both Canadian chief negotiator Michael Martin and federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice have said they can work from the text, but have serious concerns. Martin has said for the agreement to be fair, major but developing countries — such as China or India — need to have legally binding commitments open to scrutiny just as developed nations do.

"Clearly the text requires some work, but we continue to be optimistic," Prentice said during a brief news conference Saturday evening. Prentice will spend the entire weekend meeting with his global counterparts.

For delegates at the conference, there is hope that the arrival of environment ministers and heads of state this weekend and early next week will bring about a successful conclusion.

"Never have you had this civil society pressure. Never have you had world leaders coming in for a decision-making meeting like this," said Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists.

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