The Golden Truth: "Game On" For Gold And Silver!

The emergence of technical fund and speculative short selling has created the finishing touches to a market structure set up that is good to go in gold and maybe in silver as well... The bottom line is that an important price low is being put in, if it has not been seen already. - Ted Butler

My corollary to Ted Butler's statement is:? outside of 2001 and October 2008, right now is currently the single best time to invest in the precious metals and mining stock sector over the course of this 12-yr - so far - bull market.? What makes now potentially more compelling than 2001 and 2008 is that the fundamental reasons for investing in this sector are stronger than at any time over the last 12 years.

Here's just one example:? back in 2001, the notion of a global currency debasement war was nothing more than the fantasy of gloom and doom conspiracy theorists.? Today, the world is in the middle of a currency war that intensifies with every official pronouncement that denies its existence (see the recent G-20 statement).

I wanted to follow up on my article last week that analyzed the Comex Commitment of Traders (COT) for gold futures. I had suggested the likelihood that the recent increase in the gold futures short position of the large hedge funds, and the concomitant large reduction in the net short position of the commercial traders (mainly the bullion banks), was a signal that this vicious price correction in gold/silver is nearly over.

The COT report released Friday (through Tuesday's cut-off day) was nothing short of stunning. I knew the hedge funds were piling onto the short side of gold and silver, and that's why the metals have been getting slaughtered recklessly like this. But the increase in the hedge fund gold short position is unprecedented, as far as I know.?? You can read my latest analysis here:? Holy Hedge Fund Shorting

We probably won't see an immediate "V" type move here (although I wouldn't rule it out).? The large hedge funds have no choice but to defend their massive short position.? But as the physical market off-take intensifies - India and Asia have both been buying hand-over-fist over the last week (and that's physical off-take, not fraudulent paper contracts).? But, as the impending move higher builds momentum and pushes through key technical price points, the scramble by the hedge funds and small speculators to cover their unprecedented short position will ignite a move that will be explosive.

Source: http://truthingold.blogspot.com/2013/02/game-on-for-gold-and-silver.html

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Caterpillar CAT B15 smartphone offers a taste of rugged Jelly Bean

We've seen our fair share of rugged smartphones, but there's a certain amount of attention due when a heavy equipment builder like Caterpillar gets involved. Its newest smartphone, the CAT B15, undoubtedly has the survivability you'd expect from a company that makes bulldozers: the aluminum-and-rubber shell can survive 5.9-foot drops on to hard concrete, stay immersed in 3.3 feet of water for half an hour and keep working in temperatures between -4F to 122F. Just don't expect top-flight performance elsewhere. While we're big fans of the CAT B15 shipping with Jelly Bean, its 4-inch WVGA screen, dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 chip, 512MB of RAM and 5-megapixel camera won't have many of us giving up our faster, more fragile devices. The phone's £299 and €329 European prices (about $437) could still lead to the more accident-prone among us picking up a CAT B15 when it ships in March.

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SKorea's 1st female leader yet to hire many women

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? The country with the developed world's biggest gender income gap now has its first female president, but Park Geun-hye already has South Koreans wondering whether she'll improve the status of women in a society still dominated by men.

Wearing a traditional Korean dress of red and gold silk, Park strode up the steps of the presidential Blue House after her inauguration Monday. So far, she has chosen only two women to join her in top positions ? two less than a male liberal predecessor.

Park faces expectations that she will do something about pervasive sexism, and many other issues. Those include authoritarian rival North Korea, which conducted a nuclear test two weeks ago and warned Monday of a fiery death for Seoul and its ally Washington.

South Korea also struggles with deep societal rifts that many trace back to the 18-year dictatorship of Park's father. With a stagnant economy and job worries, there's pressure for Park, a member of the conservative ruling party, to live up to campaign vows to return to the strong economic growth her father oversaw ? the so-called Miracle on the Han River.

Park's election in December was an important moment for women in South Korea, who on average earn nearly 40 percent less than men, the largest gap among the 26 member nations of the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development. South Korean women are often paid less for doing the same work as men and seldom rise to the top of high-profile industries.

During her presidential campaign, Park criticized "traditionally male-centered politics" for corruption and power struggles, saying that "South Korean society accepting a female president could be the start of a big change."

Critics, however, are taking note that Park has nominated women for only two of 18 Cabinet posts ? and that one of those positions, the minister responsible for gender equality, hasn't been held by a man since being launched in 2001. Park's conservative predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, also nominated two women to start his term, while former President Roh Moo-hyun, Lee's liberal predecessor, named four.

Kyunghyang Shinmun, a liberal daily newspaper, pointed out in a recent editorial that there are no women among the 12 officials tapped as senior presidential advisers.

Park's nomination of so few women is disappointing, as there was a high public expectation for better gender equality in her Cabinet, said Park Seon-young, a researcher at the government-affiliated Korean Women's Development Institute in Seoul.

Park either didn't search hard enough for qualified women for her Cabinet, the researcher said, or such women were filtered out during a screening process.

Park's inauguration was attended by at least one other female world leader, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. U.S. National Security Adviser Tom Donilon and Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso also attended.

Before Park took her oath of office, South Korean superstar PSY performed his global hit "Gangnam Style" before tens of thousands. Children and the elderly alike joined him in the contagious horse-riding dance he made famous in the song's video.

In her inauguration speech, Park mentioned North Korea's Feb. 12 nuclear test, its third since 2006, calling it "a challenge to the survival and future of the Korean people" and saying Pyongyang should abandon its nuclear ambitions and work for peace.

"There should be no mistake that the biggest victim will be none other than North Korea itself," she said.

As Park was sworn in, North Korea's state media, referring to the North as a "full-fledged nuclear weapons state," criticized Seoul and Washington over annual military drills that Pyongyang calls an invasion rehearsal, warning that the allies would "die in flames" if they attack.

North Korea's nuclear test sets up a challenge to Park's vow to soften Seoul's current hard-line approach to Pyongyang.

Pyongyang, Washington, Beijing and Tokyo are all watching to see if Park pursues an ambitious engagement policy meant to ease five years of animosity on the divided peninsula, or if she sticks with the tough stance of former President Lee Myung-bak.

Park's decision will likely set the tone of the larger diplomatic approach that Washington and others take in stalled efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

"If Park Geun-hye wants to contain, the U.S. will support that," said Victor Cha, a former senior Asia adviser to President George W. Bush. "But if Park Geun-hye, months down the road, wants to engage, then the U.S. will go along with that too."

Park's last stint in the presidential Blue House was bookended by tragedy: At 22, she cut short her studies in Paris to return to Seoul and act as President Park Chung-hee's first lady after an assassin targeting her father instead killed her mother; she left five years later, in 1979, after her father was shot and killed by his spy chief during a drinking party.

Her first weeks in office will be complicated by North Korea's warning of unspecified "second and third measures of greater intensity," a threat that comes as Washington and others push for tightened U.N. sanctions as punishment for the nuclear test.

That test is seen as another step toward North Korea's goal of building a bomb small enough to be mounted on a missile that can hit the United States. Pyongyang called the test a response to U.S. hostility.

Park has said she won't yet change her policy, which was built with the high probability of provocations from Pyongyang in mind. But some aren't sure if engagement can work.

The economic aid and other benefits that North Korea would have received by "choosing electricity over bombs ... will be made much more difficult, if not impossible, for at least the next five years," American scientist Siegfried Hecker, a regular visitor to North Korea, said in a posting on the website of Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation.

As she takes office, however, Park will be mindful that many South Koreans are frustrated at the state of inter-Korean relations after the Lee government's five-year rule, which saw the North conduct two nuclear tests and three long-range rocket launches. In addition, attacks blamed on North Korea that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

So far, Park's transition to power has been rocky.

She began her first day as president with lawmakers deadlocked over her government restructuring plans, which include newly created or revamped ministries. Some of the people she has nominated for ministry posts have been accused of tax evasion, real estate speculation and ethical lapses.

Park handed top jobs to people with ties to her father, reviving claims in the campaign that she doesn't fully understand her father's complicated legacy. Park Chung-hee is both reviled as a dictator and human-rights abuser, and revered for leading South Korea from the economic rubble of the Korean War.

To help an economy facing weak overseas demand for South Korean products and record household debt that's hurting domestic demand, Park plans to spend more than two thirds of the annual budget during the first half of the year, and announced an 18 trillion won ($16.6 billion) fund meant to aid debt-burdened South Koreans.

__

AP business writer Youkyung Lee contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/skoreas-1st-female-leader-yet-hire-many-women-091522822.html

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Sneaky Janet Jackson Married Wissam Al Mana Last Year!

Sneaky Janet Jackson Married Wissam Al Mana Last Year!

Janet Jackson and Wissam Al Mana have confirmed that they secretly married last year. The 46-year-old singer and her 37-year-old billionaire businessman husband reveal they had a “quiet, private, and beautiful ceremony”. Janet Jackson and Wissam spoke about about rumors of a lavish wedding, saying, “The rumors regarding an extravagant wedding are simply not true. ...

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Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/02/sneaky-janet-jackson-married-wissam-al-mana-last-year/

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US, NATO, mull Afghan troop strength after combat

BRUSSELS (AP) ? Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and his NATO counterparts are considering leaving 8,000 to 12,000 troops in Afghanistan after 2014, but a dispute arose Friday between the U.S. and German defense officials over whether that contingent would be an international force or an American one.

The conflicting accounts came as NATO defense ministers gathered here to discuss the endgame of the 11-year-old war in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama has said that the last combat troops will leave Afghanistan on Dec. 31, 2014, leaving the bulk of the country's security in the hands of the Afghans.

German Defense Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters Panetta had informed him at the Brussels meeting that the United States would leave between 8,000 and 10,000 troops in the war-torn country at the end of 2014.

But Panetta, speaking to reporters later, called de Maiziere's comments inaccurate.

Panetta, who will leave Obama's Cabinet when his successor is confirmed, told reporters that he and the NATO partners instead talked about ranges of options for the post-2014 troop force. And he said the figures reflected contributions that other nations would make, in addition to the United States.

"There's no question in the current budget environment, with deep cuts in European defense spending and the kind of political gridlock that we see in the United States now with regards to our own budget, is putting at risk our ability to effectively act together," he said. "As I prepare to step down as secretary of defense, I do fear that the alliance will soon be, if it is not already, stretched too thin."

His spokesman, George Little, told reporters that the range for an international force was 8,000 to 12,000.

"The reports that the U.S. told allies that we are considering 8,000 to 12,000 U.S. troops after 2014 are not correct," Little said. "A range of 8,000 to 12,000 troops was discussed as the possible size of the overall NATO mission, not the U.S. contribution."

Little said Obama had not yet decided on the size of the post-2014 force in Afghanistan.

"We will continue to discuss with allies and the Afghans how we can best carry out two basic missions: targeting the remnants of al-Qaida and its affiliates, and training and equipping Afghan forces," he said.

Panetta said officials are planning to leave troops in all sectors of the country as well as in Kabul. Pentagon officials have said the military has mapped out plans to carry on its mission of training and advising the Afghan forces and also leave a small counterterrorism force to battle insurgents.

When asked about troop numbers, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters that no decision had yet been made.

The Obama administration is considering a plan to maintain 352,000 Afghan troops for the next five years as part of an effort to maintain security and help convince Afghanistan that America and its allies will not abandon it once combat troops leave in 2014, senior alliance officials said Thursday. NATO officials are also widely considering that option.

Such a change, if NATO endorses it, could increase the costs to the U.S. and allies by more than $2 billion a year, at a time when most are struggling with budget cuts and fiscal woes. Last May, NATO agreed to underwrite an Afghan force of about 230,000, at a cost of about $4.1 billion a year after 2014. It costs about $6.5 billion this year to fund the current Afghan force of 352,000, and the U.S. is providing about $5.7 billion of that.

Panetta said Friday that he can defend that spending to Congress because it would give the U.S. more flexibility and savings as it withdraws troops from Afghanistan.

Maintaining the larger troop strength could bolster the confidence of the Afghan forces and make it clear that NATO is committed to an enduring relationship with Afghanistan, a senior NATO official said.

In private meetings with other defense ministers, Panetta warned allies that Washington's fiscal impasse will have repercussions abroad, as impending budget cuts force the military to scale back its training and presence overseas.

Many of his meetings, however, centered on the plans to wind down the war in Afghanistan, including the withdrawal of 34,000 U.S. troops over the next year and the transfer of security responsibilities to the Afghan forces.

According to an Obama administration official, the Pentagon plans to reduce the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to about 60,500 by the end of May; then to 52,500 by November, keeping a relatively stable number of troops there during the peak fighting season. The sharpest cuts in U.S. troop strength will come over the winter months as the remaining 20,500 leave after the main fighting season. There currently are about 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Panetta acknowledged those ranges of numbers on Friday, but also added that the U.S. would maintain the 34,000 through the Afghan elections, then withdraw the final combat troops toward the end of 2014.

The administration officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the numbers publicly.

This is Panetta's fifth visit to Brussels for a NATO meeting ? a trip he never intended to take. Expectations were that defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, would be confirmed by the Senate last week and he would travel to the meeting.

Hagel's nomination stalled, however, as it got caught up in senators' complaints about the attack in Benghazi, which left four Americans dead, including the ambassador. There are indications now that Hagel has support from enough senators to be confirmed next week.

___

Associated Press writers Don Melvin and Julie Pace contributed to this report.

___

Lolita C. Baldor can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lbaldor

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-nato-mull-afghan-troop-strength-combat-181617728--politics.html

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SOUTH AFRICA: Judge to decide on Pistorius bail as hearing ends

Oscar Pistorius arrived in a South African court early on Friday for what is expected to be the final day of a bail hearing for the "blade runner" sports star, who has been charged with murder over the Valentine's Day shooting of his girlfriend.

The star sprinter entered the court building at around 7:30 am local time, his head covered by a jacket.

Defence lawyers for Pistorius say the athlete shot dead his girlfriend only by terrible mistake, and deserves bail to prepare for a case that has garnered global attention and has been marred by a bungled police investigation.

The Olympic champion, whose lower legs were amputated in infancy, has become an even more globally recognised figure since he killed model Reeva Steenkamp, 29, in the pre-dawn hours of Valentine?s Day at his home.

Prosecutors have told the court it was a premeditated murder, with Pistorius firing four shots through a locked toilet door at a cowering Steenkamp on the other side. She was hit in the head, arm and hip.

'We were deeply in love.' The affadavit of Oscar Pistorius, Feb. 19.

Witnesses said they heard gunshots and screams comingfrom the home in a gated community surrounded by three-metre-high stone walls and topped with an electric fence.

Blind panic

Pistorius contends he was acting in self-defence, mistaking Steenkamp for an intruder and feeling vulnerable because he was unable to attach his prosthetic limbs in time to confront the threat, he said in an affidavit read in court.

The 26-year-old said he grabbed a 9-mm pistol from under his bed and went into the bathroom.

Pistorius described how he fired into the locked toilet door in a blind panic in the mistaken belief that the intruder was lurking inside.

Bail hearings in South Africa allow for prosecutors and defence lawyers to lay out their basic arguments, based on preliminary evidence.

The arrest of Pistorius stunned millions who watched in awe last year as the Olympic and Paralympic sprinter reached the semi-final of the 400 m in the London Olympics.

The impact has been greatest in sports-mad South Africa, where Pistorius was seen as a rare hero who commanded respect from both blacks and whites, transcending the racial divides that persist 19 years after the end of apartheid.

Police investigating Pistorius pulled their lead detective off the athlete?s case on Thursday after it emerged he himself faces attempted murder charges for shooting at a minibus.

(FRANCE 24 with wires)

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Sony Next-Gen Conference | Video Game Blog, Video Games ...

It?s the day we?ve been waiting for all month, everyone. Sony?s press conference on their next gen gaming tech. After a month of concepts, teasers and rumors, we?re all anxious to get the details straight from the company?s mouth. So let?s take a look at what went down.

The Playstation Vita

The opening of the conference was mostly talking about Sony?s newest handheld, the Playstation Vita. Sony mentions that the Vita is the most powerful handheld console out there. They feel that it?s so powerful that it has potential in the living room alongside your home console. We should expect a lot of Vita integration with the PS4. I predict we?ll get more support for playing console games on your handheld and using the Vita as a controller for your console. Sony gave a live demo of the PS4 title,?Nac, running on the Vita through remote play. Sony says that its goal is to make every game on the PS4 remote play compatible. There will also be services such as Netflix and Amazon Video on the handheld. Sony also spoke of some features for smartphones and tablets, so we?ll keep an eye on that.

Hardware

The head of Sony?s hardware team was really excited about the PS4?s specs. The team did extensive research by talking to developers to find out what kind of hardware they should fit the console with. Here?s what?s inside the console:

• X86 processor
• Enhanced GPU
• 8GB unified memory
• Local Storage HDD
• GDDR5 Memory (CPU and GPU share a single pool of memory)

We also got a look at an actual DualShock 4 .

The new controller will feature a share button for the PS4?s social features (more on that later). From the way it was described, it sounds like Sony made the analog sticks and trigger buttons more rigid. I also saw a micro USB port with a headphone jack in it. Hopefully this will mean a very simple way for players to listen to in-game audio, a feature that wasn?t well-handled?in the PS3. There is also a camera featured in the controller to judge depth. This sounds a lot like teh same technology used to create the Nintendo Wii Remote?s pointing features. It also seems to have a touchpad on teh front of the controller.

PSN and Social

Sony had a lot to say about its new cloud system. Sony claims that Gaikai will help it create the world?s fastest and most powerful gaming network. They might not have said it themselves, but this to me seemed like a large middle finger to Microsoft, whose supporters are always quick to bring up Xbox Live?s superiority to PSN.

Sony is bringing some welcome improvements to the Playstatino Store. Players will be able to demo digital games, like the 60 minute demos currently available to PSN+ subscribers. Digital version of games available in physical media will be the complete game, instead of a version watered down to create a smaller download. Players will also be able to play the game as it downloads, instead of waiting for the entire game to finish downloading before starting.

Sony is also doing more to integrate Ustream and Facebook. Sony wants your Facebook friends to know that you?re an expert at?Journey, apparently. Just as rumors and speculation said, players will be able to Livestream their games. I?m a bit?disappointed?that they decided to go with Ustream?instead?of Twitch, but it?s still a great feature. Players will also be able to watch their friends game, while even chatting with them. There is also a feature where your friends could take control of your screen or direct the game to help you through a tough spot.

The PS Move got some time in the spotlight, too. It seems that Sony has decided to change directions with the motion controller. Instead of trying to emulate the Wii, they have decided to turn the focus towards creative art programs, including 3D sculpting.

Hopefully they decide to have a ?if you want it, it?s there; have fun? attitude instead of shoving it down our throats.

Games

What would the Playstation be without games? Today Sony unveiled a lot games for their next console. We saw a trailer and a bit of gameplay for?Nac,?a cartoony-looking game where humanity is fighting against a troll threat. We were also shown?some gameplay footage for?Killzone: Shadowfall. While the playthrough was going on, Sony uploaded the footage using the share button and it is available hereThe second new IP was Drive Club.?Drive Club is a team racing game where players can form clubs and race against other clubs around the world. The game will allow you to customize weather and time for your courses, and challenge other Clubs and players to beat your time. Next on the list was?InFamous: Second Son. In this game?s universe, the US has been turned into a?surveillance-heavy society. We get a new protagonist in this game, but there?s no?guarantee?that we won?t see our old friend Cole McGrath. Next was the trailer for another new IP,?The Witness. This is an open world puzzle game that focuses on the theme of epiphany. Instead of making the world huge and padding gameplay,?The Witness will focus on every small detail. Everything has its place for a reason.

To unveil the new Panta Rhei engine, Sony showed a trailer for Deep Down, an RPG with possibly a similar plot to the .//hack?series. Square Enix also gave a presentation showing what their games would look like on?the?new platform. They have also announced a new?Final Fantasy game and said to be excited for E3 this year. Ubisoft showed up to let us know that the?Watch Dogs?IP will be returning. Blizzard came out tonight to confirm that Diablo III will not only be available on the PS4, but on the PS3 as well. Activision also made an appearance to announce Bunjie?s new project,?Destiny.?The game is slated to become Bunjie?s next great FPS. It will be available for the Playstation 3?and 4 at launch.?

Article from Gamersyndrome.com

Related posts:

1. Sony Suggests PS4 will Release After Xbox 720
2. Rumor: Dual Shock Won?t Be The Next Sony Console Controller
3. Sony Holds Press Conference Regarding PSN, More Info Revealed
4. PS3 Hackers Issued Lifetime PSN Bans by Sony
5. Sony Patents New Dual-Shock Move Hybrid Controller

Source: http://gamersyndrome.com/2013/video-games/sony-next-gen/

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Gingrich: GOP Failed to Change With the Voting Public

Poor strategy and questionable consulting choices cost Republicans at least nine Senate seats in the last election, says former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Gingrich told ?CBS This Morning? Wednesday the losses came because GOP strategists failed to respond to the changing demographic landscape.

He said President Barack Obama's campaign was ?eight, maybe 10 years ahead? of the Republican Party when it came to understanding how the American electorate was changing.

?You can't just be an opposition party,? said Gingrich. ?You have to be a party that has a better alternative."

Democrats, Gingrich said, have accepted and adapted to voters who are ?in many ways younger, more Latino, more African-American, than Republican strategists are capable of dealing with."

In an op-ed piece published in the weekly conservative newspaper Human Events, Gingrich also criticized former presidential adviser Karl Rove's new super PAC, Conservative Victory Project, saying it is ?repugnant? for Rove to use the PAC against Republican candidates he doesn't think are fit for a general election race.

?I am unalterably opposed to a bunch of billionaires financing a boss to pick candidates in 50 states,? Gingrich wrote. ?This is the opposite of the Republican tradition of freedom and grassroots, small-town conservatism. No one person is smart enough, nor do they have the moral right, to buy nominations across the country.?

Rove's efforts are also being criticized by other conservatives and tea party activists, who say he should not determine who runs for office. Rove, however, counters that other groups have put millions of dollars behind tea party candidates, including Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Florida's Marco Rubio, the Washington Times reports.

Rove said his PAC was launched to prevent further Republican losses in the wake of the November election, when candidates like Todd Akin of Missouri and Richard Mourdock of Indiana damaged the party's reputation.

Gingrich says Rove's explanation of his PAC effort doesn't make any sense because it doesn't address GOP losses in other states last year.

?Republicans lost winnable Senate races in Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida,? Gingrich wrote in his op-ed for Human Events. ?Of the losing races, the Rove model has no candidate-based explanation for failure. Our problems are deeper and more complex than candidates.?

Spending millions to weed out candidates won't help the party, he concluded.

?Handing millions to Washington-based consultants to destroy the candidates they dislike and nominate the candidates they do like is an invitation to cronyism, favoritism and corruption,? he said.

? 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/gingrich-republican-strategy-senate/2013/02/20/id/491161

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500 injured by blasts as meteor falls in Russia

MOSCOW (AP) ? A meteor that scientists estimate weighed 10 tons (11 tons) streaked at supersonic speed over Russia's Ural Mountains on Friday, setting off blasts that injured some 500 people and frightened countless more.

The Russian Academy of Sciences said in a statement that the meteor over the Chelyabinsk region entered the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of at least 54,000 kph (33,000 mph) and shattered about 30-50 kilometers (18-32 miles) above ground.

The fall caused explosions that broke glass over a wide area. The Emergency Ministry says more than 500 people sought treatment after the blasts and that 34 of them were hospitalized.

"There was panic. People had no idea what was happening. Everyone was going around to people's houses to check if they were OK," said Sergey Hametov, a resident of Chelyabinsk, about 1500 kilometers (930 miles) east of Moscow, the biggest city in the affected region.

"We saw a big burst of light then went outside to see what it was and we heard a really loud thundering sound," he told The Associated Press by telephone.

Another Chelyabinsk resident, Valya Kazakov, said some elderly women in his neighborhood started crying out that the world was ending.

Some fragments fell in a reservoir outside the town of Cherbakul, the regional governor's office said, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency. It was not immediately clear if any people were struck by fragments.

The agency also cited military spokesman Yarslavl Roshupkin as saying that a six-meter-wide (20-foot-wide) crater was found in the same area which could be the result of fragments striking the ground.

Meteors typically cause sizeable sonic booms when they enter the atmosphere because they are traveling much faster than the speed of sound. Injuries on the scale reported Friday, however, are extraordinarily rare.

Interior Ministry spokesman Vadim Kolesnikov said that about 600 square meters (6000 square feet) of a roof at a zinc factory had collapsed. There was no immediate clarification of whether the collapse was caused by meteorites or by a shock wave from one of the explosions.

Reports conflicted on what exactly happened in the clear skies. A spokeswoman for the Emergency Ministry, Irina Rossius, told The Associated Press that there was a meteor shower, but another ministry spokeswoman, Elena Smirnikh, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying it was a single meteor.

Amateur video broadcast on Russian television showed an object speeding across the sky about 9:20 a.m. local time (0320 GMT), leaving a thick white contrail and an intense flash.

Donald Yeomans, manager of U.S. Near Earth Object Program in California, said he thought the event was probably "an exploding fireball event."

"If the reports of ground damage can be verified, it might suggest an object whose original size was several meters in extent before entering the atmosphere, fragmenting and exploding due to the unequal pressure on the leading side vs. the trailing side (it pancaked and exploded)," Yeoman said in an email to The Associated Press.

"It is far too early to provide estimates of the energy released or provide a reliable estimate of the original size," Yeomans added.

Russian news reports noted that the meteor hit less than a day before the asteroid 2012 DA14 is to make the closest recorded pass of an asteroid -- about 17,150 miles (28,000 kilometers).

But the European Space Agency, in a post on its Twitter account, said its experts had determined there was no connection.

Small pieces of space debris ? usually parts of comets or asteroids ? that are on a collision course with the Earth are called meteoroids. When meteoroids enter the Earth's atmosphere they are called meteors. Most meteors burn up in the atmosphere, but if they survive the frictional heating and strike the surface of the Earth they are called meteorites.

The dramatic events prompted an array of reactions from prominent Russian political figures. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, speaking at an economic forum in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, said the meteor could be a symbol for the forum, showing that "not only the economy is vulnerable, but the whole planet."

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the nationalist leader noted for vehement statements, said "It's not meteors falling, it's the test of a new weapon by the Americans," the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the incident showed the need for leading world powers to develop a system to intercept objects falling from space.

"At the moment, neither we nor the Americans have such technologies" to shoot down meteors or asteroids, he said, according to the Interfax news agency.

---(equals)

Max Seddon in Moscow contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/500-injured-blasts-meteor-falls-russia-105758757.html

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Black Relationships: Valentine's Day Advice

The Confab: Join Staff Writer Jen?e Desmond-Harris and Assistant Editor Akoto Ofori-Atta as they chat with The Root contributing editors Demetria L. Lucas and Ivory Toldson about persistent black marriage myths and unacceptable Valentine's Day shenanigans.

Source: http://www.theroot.com/multimedia/hanging-his-mama-valentines-day-uh-uh

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Washington's 'presidential library' taking shape

In this Wednesday Feb. 13, 2013 photo, construction continues on the George Washington Library in Mount Vernon, Va., part of George Washington?s historic Mount Vernon estate. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

In this Wednesday Feb. 13, 2013 photo, construction continues on the George Washington Library in Mount Vernon, Va., part of George Washington?s historic Mount Vernon estate. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

In this Wednesday Feb. 13, 2013 photo, a guide looks at plans for the new George Washington Library, part of George Washington?s historic Mount Vernon estate, in Mount Vernon, Va. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

In this Wednesday Feb. 13, 2013 photo, Curt Viebranz, the president of George Washington?s historic Mount Vernon estate, stands outside what will be a climate controlled book vault inside the under-construction George Washington Library, at Mount Vernon, Va. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

In this Wednesday Feb. 13, 2013 photo, Curt Viebranz, the president of George Washington?s historic Mount Vernon estate, stands outside what will be a climate controlled book vault inside the under-construction George Washington Library, at Mount Vernon, Va. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

MOUNT VERNON, Va. (AP) ? George Washington's 1796 farewell address contained a stern warning to the nation about partisan politics, or the "dangers of faction" in the language of the founding fathers.

So, when a bipartisan group of U.S. senators was looking last fall to reach agreement on a plan to address the country's budget and deficit woes, it seemed only natural that they went outside the Capital Beltway and met at Washington's Mount Vernon estate, in hopes of finding inspiration in Washington's shadow.

It's the kind of meeting that the keepers of Mount Vernon hope to promote as they work toward completion of a $47 million National Library for the Study of Mount Vernon. The estate was to announce Friday that the library, now under construction, will open Sept. 27.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., one of the members of the Gang of Eight who met at Mount Vernon in the fall, said it's an ideal place to meet and think about the long-term health of the republic.

"To be able to be in the quintessential American history site, and talk about where America is heading in the 21st century, is pretty cool," said Warner, who is sponsoring legislation to move the Presidents' Day holiday from the third Monday in February to Feb. 22, Washington's birth date. "I think we all understood the seriousness of what we were doing, but (being at Mount Vernon), boy, it sure did drive the point home."

The library will serve as a presidential library of sorts, with a few important distinctions from the dozen or so modern presidential libraries that operate under the auspices of the National Archives.

For starters, Mount Vernon has prided itself on never accepting government funding, and makes a point to emphasize that this library is not affiliated with the federal government, as modern presidential libraries are.

The planned library is not intended for visits by the general public. It is designed as a scholarly destination and a conference center for groups that see a benefit from soaking in the estate's historical vibe. Mount Vernon, which draws about a million visitors a year, has extensive exhibits open for public view, including a museum, orientation and education center that all opened in 2006, as well as the centerpiece mansion overlooking the Potomac River.

And the library is a project on a smaller scale than modern presidential libraries. Washington's library comes with a $47 million price tag, though Mount Vernon is raising $100 million to endow the ongoing operation of the library. Mount Vernon President Curt Viebranz says the estate has so far raised $93 million. Meanwhile, the George W. Bush Presidential Library, set to open May 1 in Dallas on the campus of Southern Methodist University, has a $250 million price tag and, at 225,000 square feet, is five times the size of the Mount Vernon library.

Lastly, modern presidential libraries, by law, inherit the documents and papers that presidents generated over the course of a term in office. Washington's papers scattered to the winds after his death and are considered some of the most valuable artifacts in American history. When documents and artifacts with a Washingtonian provenance make their way to auction, they fetch premium prices. Mount Vernon has been working in recent years to reacquire key papers when it can.

Washington himself had hoped to build a library to archive his personal papers, which he said with understatement "are voluminous and may be interesting."

Among the outstanding features of the library: a climate-controlled, oval-shaped vault that will house the estate's rare books ? basically the books that Washington himself owned and touched that the estate has been able to acquire.

Just 150 feet from the library proper is a 6,000-square-foot scholars' residence that will be home to seven researchers a year who will live there and study topics related to the founding father. The inaugural group of scholars, announced last month, includes researchers who plan to study Washington's role in shaping the Constitution, the plight of enemy prisoners in the Revolutionary War and Mount Vernon's role in sparking the historic preservation movement, among other topics.

Conference rooms that accommodate groups of 10 to 75 are built into the library, along with a leadership hall that will feature ultra high-definition video technology to allow the library to record seminars held there and make them available over the Internet.

Mount Vernon has a 200-seat auditorium, but it is ill-equipped for small and mid-size groups.

Viebranz said Mount Vernon's location, about 15 miles south of Washington, will appeal to conference organizers. It's close to the city and Washington Reagan National Airport, but just far enough out to feel like a getaway. And psychologically, it's worlds away from the us-vs.-them mentality that dominates the city named for the first president.

"It's hard for anyone to come here and not want to drop their gun belt at the door," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-15-George%20Washington-Library/id-af8d724a30a04e389ad129c0a7890269

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Video: Marco Rubio gives GOP response to SOTU

Ted Nugent: Answer to reducing gun violence "so simple, it's stupid"

Rock musician Ted Nugent, a vocally pro-gun rights advocate who attended this year's State of the Union as a guest of Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, told CBS News after President Obama's address that tighter gun laws are not the answer to the nation's escalating gun violence problem; strengthening detection of mental illness is.

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsVideo/~3/gVaXeR2bC-g/

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Player regrets getting entangled with match-fixing

In this Nov. 5, 2012 photo, Croatian soccer player Mario Cizmek is seen at a stadium in Zagreb. Soccer player Mario Cizmek thought it would just be one match. Ease up and let the other team win, he told himself, then collect the payoff, and start clearing his debts. But the broke and desperate athlete soon learned that it wouldn't be just one match. He would have to throw another game, then another, then another. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

In this Nov. 5, 2012 photo, Croatian soccer player Mario Cizmek is seen at a stadium in Zagreb. Soccer player Mario Cizmek thought it would just be one match. Ease up and let the other team win, he told himself, then collect the payoff, and start clearing his debts. But the broke and desperate athlete soon learned that it wouldn't be just one match. He would have to throw another game, then another, then another. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

In this Nov. 5, 2012 photo, Croatian soccer player Mario Cizmek is seen at a stadium in Zagreb. Cizmek was sentenced involvement in match fixing. Former player Mario Cizmek was convicted of rigging games in Croatia's first division in 2010. At his trial and in subsequent interviews with The Associated Press, he spoke about the unwritten rules of match-fixing. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

In this Nov. 5, 2012 photo, Croatian soccer player Mario Cizmek is seen at a stadium in Zagreb. Cizmek was sentenced involvement in match fixing. Former player Mario Cizmek was convicted of rigging games in Croatia's first division in 2010. At his trial and in subsequent interviews with The Associated Press, he spoke about the unwritten rules of match-fixing (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

In this June 9, 2010 photo, Croatian soccer player Mario Cizmek is seen in a police van in Zagreb, Croatia. Cizmek was sentenced to 10 months in prison for involvement in match fixing scandal. Soccer player Mario Cizmek thought it would just be one match. Ease up and let the other team win, he told himself, then collect the payoff, and start clearing his debts. But the broke and desperate athlete soon learned that it wouldn't be just one match. He would have to throw another game, then another, then another. (AP Photo) CROATIA OUT

In this June 14, 2009 photo, Croatian soccer player Mario Cizmek, is carried by his teammates and fans after victory in the national Cup match in Zagreb, Croatia. Cizmek was sentenced to 10 months in prison for involvement in match fixing scandal. Soccer player Mario Cizmek thought it would just be one match. Ease up and let the other team win, he told himself, then collect the payoff, and start clearing his debts. But the broke and desperate athlete soon learned that it wouldn't be just one match. He would have to throw another game, then another, then another. (AP Photo) CROATIA OUT

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) ? Soccer player Mario Cizmek thought it would just be one match. Ease up and let the other team win, he told himself, then collect the payoff and start paying off your debts.

But the broke and desperate athlete soon learned that one match wouldn't do it. He would have to throw another game, then another, then another.

And so it went until, in what he described as his "worst moment," he was arrested at his home in front of his two daughters on charges of match-fixing, frantically dialing his wife to take the children because police were hauling him off to jail.

"Twenty years of hard work I destroyed in just one month," he said.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is part of a six-month, multiformat AP examination of how organized crime is corrupting soccer through match-fixing.

___

The Croatian midfielder was the perfect target for fixers: He was nearing the end of his career, his financially unstable club hadn't paid him a regular salary for 14 months, and he owed money on back taxes and his pension.

Cizmek's story is typical of how the world's most popular sport is increasingly becoming a dirty game ? sullied by criminal gangs like the one that bribed Cizmek, and by corrupt officials or others cashing in on the billion-dollar web of match-fixing.

An examination of Cizmek's case turns up contrasting portraits of the 36-year-old with quick feet and an engaging smile.

One is of a victim ? a player forced into match-fixing by an unscrupulous club and preyed upon by a shadowy former coach convicted of bribery, fraud and conspiracy in a Croatian match-fixing case and banned for life from soccer by FIFA, the world soccer body. That's the picture painted by FIFPro, the global players' union, which has used Cizmek's story to warn players.

Croatian prosecutors, armed with reams of phone calls and text messages from police wiretaps, have a different take. At a match-fixing trial at the County Court of Zagreb, they portrayed Cizmek as the ringleader who got several FC Croatia Sesvete players to throw six games and tried to fix a seventh in spring 2010. The authorities said he organized the players, handed out sealed blue envelopes of euros, and promised that they could stop whenever they wanted.

Cizmek readily admits he delivered the payments but says it was only because his apartment was closest to the fixer. Looking back, he says, he realizes he was manipulated.

"Now I see that he didn't want to be seen handing over the money," he said in an interview with The Associated Press.

___

Cizmek joined FC Zagreb on a junior scholarship, signed at 18, and played there for eight years.

"Those were the best years. All my dreams came true," he said. "I signed a professional contract and was among the better players. They thought highly of me. I was even a captain of this club."

After stints in Israel and Iceland, he returned home to play for FC Croatia Sesvete in the country's second league. In 2008, Cizmek scored the goal that sent his team into the top division. That goal benefited every player on the team and lined the pockets of the club's owner, Zvonko Zubak.

But the team fell on hard times, especially with the European economic downturn.

The entire FC Croatia Sesvete locker room was in an uproar for months, with players trying to make ends meet, Cizmek said. A study by the FIFPro union reported that more than 60 percent of Croatian players do not get paid on time.

"We had no money, and we no longer spoke about training or football, but only about how we were going to survive," Cizmek said.

"Every other day we would ask whether we would be paid, and they would say 'Yes, on Monday.' Then we say, 'OK, on Monday,'" he said. But there would be no pay on Monday ? only a promise to be paid Wednesday ? and then no money that day either.

"It would go on for weeks," Cizmek said, shaking his head.

One man who hung around the players offering advice and sympathy ? and loans to those short on cash ? was Vinko Saka, a former assistant coach for Dinamo Zagreb, the soccer powerhouse that has won Croatia's national title every year since 2006.

Saka was always somewhere around the field or at the bars where the players gathered, Cizmek said.

A flashy figure in his 50s who drove a BMW X6, he promised to introduce young players to the dozens of foreign coaches and clubs he said he knew.

"He was always offering presents," Cizmek said. "I had known Vinko for years. We were kind of friends. He was someone who was related to sports, whom I was seeing at the matches. He coached junior teams."

Midfielder Dario Susak, then 22, testified that Saka suggested he could help him get a contract with a foreign club, then loaned him $2,550 at a high interest rate. Once he owed the money, Susak testified, Saka told him he would have to lose matches.

Unbeknownst to any of them, Croatian police were already running a wiretap on Saka after being tipped off by German investigators.

Croatian prosecutors said Saka bribed up to 10 people on Cizmek's team, and another five tied to either FC Varteks or FC Medimurje.

Saka ended up being convicted of fraud, bribery and conspiracy and going to jail. His lawyer confirmed the plea bargain but wouldn't discuss the case.

___

The deal involving Cizmek came together at Fort Apache, a steakhouse on the truck route between Zagreb, the Croatian capital, and Slovenia. Cizmek and his goalkeeper met there with Saka and two associates on March 25, 2010, to fix a game with FC Zadar two days later, according to players' testimony and police transcripts.

Six players would get $24,220, although the money was not divided equally. One of the unwritten rules of match-fixing is that the goalkeeper gets the biggest share because his statistics suffer the worst blow; defenders get the next-biggest, midfielders get less and strikers often are not even included in the fix.

The result: Zadar won 2-1 as Cizmek, one of the best players, stayed on the bench. After the game, he said, he collected $2,550, bought his kids a bunk bed and stashed the rest away, saving up to pay an overdue tax bill.

Cizmek saw himself as a Robin Hood-sort of figure: stealing money from crooks to put food on the table for his teammates and their families who were being crushed by an unjust system.

The match-fixing train had begun rolling, and it would prove difficult to stop.

The stakes were raised for an April 3 match against FC Slaven Belupo, according to players' testimony. This time it was $51,000 for eight players. They not only had to lose, but to do so by at least three goals. That enabled those in on the deal to win two bets in one match.

Cizmek's team lost 4-0. Saka, however, delivered only $43,300, eight Croatia Sesvete players testified in court. Cizmek said Saka did not explain why.

The demands for an April 14 game against FC Rijeka were even greater: $51,000 to trail at halftime, a final score that included more than three goals, with the team losing by at least two goals, Cizmek testified.

Player Ante Pokrajcic testified that he was happy to have scored a goal until the team's owner stormed into the locker room, cursing about the 1-1 halftime score. Only then did Pokrajcic realize the game had been fixed.

The team lost 4-2, but Saka delivered only about half of what was promised, according to players' testimony.

The players were furious. In the next game, they won 3-1 against Inter Zapresic.

But another unwritten rule of match-fixing soon became clear to Cizmek: Once a player has fixed a game, he is trapped forever.

The criminal gang usually has enough evidence to get a player thrown out of the sport for life. Plus, the shame alone will keep him silent, and the fixer's demands will keep escalating until the player quits, retires or gets caught. Some implicated in match-fixing have even committed suicide.

When Cizmek approached the goalkeeper and a midfielder about fixing an April 17 game against FC Lokomotiva, they refused. He handed the money back to Saka two hours before the game, he said.

"If I was really the ringleader, I could have made them do it," he told the AP. "But I couldn't do it. ... We told them, 'No more.'"

Saka exploded in anger but made sure not to bet, Cizmek said. FC Lokomotiva won 2-1 anyway, and Cizmek said he scored a goal "just for pride" in the second half.

For the last three games of the season, Saka went above the players' heads to fix the game, according to players' testimony. Those involved now included the coach and one of the owner's sons ? both of whom were convicted in the case.

"Saka came to me and said, 'I have arranged everything higher up. If you want you can check with the son,'" Cizmek said.

Cizmek said he refused to deliver that message to the other players, making the son talk individually with each athlete. Other players confirmed his account in court. Cizmek said the fixer made sure not to involve the owner's other son, a young player on the team.

With substantial bribes now going to the coach, the payouts for the players grew meager: $22,300 for seven players in the last game, according to testimony.

Overall, Cizmek earned $26,130 from match-fixing, not as much as goalkeeper Ivan Banovic ($37,600), defender Jasmin Agic ($35,000) or coach Goran Jerkovic ($33,000), according to the findings of the court in its sentencing document.

___

The season ended in early May but police did not come knocking until June 8.

Cizmek was arrested at his home and taken to Zagreb's Remetinec jail, where he stayed until July 15. His wife handed police the $20,000 he had been saving for his tax bill. The bunk beds were all he had to show for his money.

He went on trial for match-fixing with 14 others.

With the wiretaps, prosecutors had a very strong case. Cizmek made a full confession, pleaded guilty and gave testimony to the players' union against match-fixing. But he and the coach still got the longest sentence ? 10 months.

The goalkeeper, the owner's son and three others were given nine months; two players got eight months; and the youngest member of the team, a 20-year-old midfielder, got a seven-month suspended sentence.

They are now free, awaiting the result of their appeal.

Saka cut a plea bargain with prosecutors in which he was convicted of fraud, bribery and conspiracy to commit a crime against the public order and sentenced to one year in prison. The Zagreb court ordered him to pay back $58,800 of the $844,000 it estimated his fixing operation made in Croatia.

Saka served his time in jail and then went to Italy to be questioned in a match-fixing investigation there. His lawyer in Italy, Kresimir Krsnik, said prosecutors have six months to decide whether to press charges.

"Saka will answer any call from the court. He has given his statement there and returned home," Krsnik told the AP.

Saka is back living in an affluent Zagreb neighborhood, driving around in his BMW.

___

Cizmek is trying hard not to be bitter.

Chain-smoking Marlboros at a Zagreb coffee bar, he dreads going back to jail.

"I was in there already, with murderers and rapists and drug addicts," he said. "It was a scary place."

He is angry that Saka got a much better plea deal than the players and doesn't hold out hope for his appeal, which is pending.

He says his club still owes him salary but went bankrupt in 2012 and dissolved.

He works on his family's organic farm, peddling jams and berry tea at farmers' markets, but is just scraping by. In one of his last interviews with the AP, Cizmek mentioned his recent divorce, and worry lines around his eyes seemed deeper.

He mourns for his lost soccer career and doesn't know what he will do with the rest of his life.

"I should have just taken my football shoes and hung them on the wall and said: 'Thank you, guys' and gone on to do something else," Cizmek said.

Still, he knows what he did was wrong.

"Everything I lost is my fault. I need to take the responsibility. I don't blame anyone, not even Saka," he said. "No one made me do this."

He cited an old Balkan expression: "The one who confesses, half their sins will be forgiven."

"I have opened my soul to you," he said. "I hope it will pay me back in karma for being so honest."

___

Norman-Culp is AP's Assistant Europe Editor in London. Prior to that, she covered FIFA for AP in Zurich. Follow her at snormanculp(at)twitter.com

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-13-The%20Dirty%20Game-The%20Player/id-0f8f77200e584958805af230ab1d8a45

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Ask an OkCupid Founder for Any Last-Minute Valentine's Day Advice

OkCupid: you use it to find both love or random hookups, and since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, you're probably looking for at least one of those. Accordingly, we have Sam Yagan, one of the dating site's founders, here to answer all your burning (let's hope not) questions. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/-jBM2ky9UaA/ask-an-okcupid-founder-for-any-last+minute-valentines-day-advice

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Why Sports Illustrated Put Kate Upton on Its Cover - Again

By Kate Hogan

02/12/2013 at 07:00 AM EST

Kate Upton

Courtesy of Sports Illustrated

Kate Upton's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover is very hot ? but during her photo shoot in Antarctica, all the model could think about was the freezing cold.

"It was definitely the hardest shoot I've ever done," Upton, 20, tells PEOPLE. "The best as well ? Antarctica is one of the most beautiful place I've ever been to. But I'm from Florida, so it was pretty painful."

The pain paid off, however: the perfect shot earned Upton her second consecutive SI cover, a distinction not seen since Tyra Banks covered back-to-back issues in 1996 and 1997.

"Everything about the picture is perfect," Swimsuit Issue editor MJ Day tells PEOPLE. "The light, the background, the suit. It's different from what we've done in past years, and it was an exciting moment for us to have those photos work out."

Exciting, because Day and her crew didn't know if they'd get any usable photos out of their Antarctica shoot ? the first-ever fashion shoot on the continent.

"It was difficult," Day admits. "First of all, it's cold, even though we were there in summer. The windchill was sub-zero ? the elements are really working against you." As the crew dealt with a whole host issues ? batteries dying in the cold, crazy weather rolling in and out ? Upton was a total pro, Day says. "She never complained. She'd just say, 'Okay, let's go do it again.'"

Because of costs and the planning required to go to Antarctica ? Day says this shoot was three years in the making ? Upton was the only model taken to the faraway locale.

"I knew that if I needed to bury someone in clothing, I needed her physique and curves to come through," Day explains. "So to bring her was obvious: I knew I could put a one-piece on her and she wouldn't look flat, she'd still look voluptuous and healthy and shapely and sexy."

Upton's now-infamous Canada Goose Chilliwack Bomber coat, paired with white Letarte by Lisa Cabrinha bottoms, was an afterthought. "I figured, why not a coat?" Day says. "We threw it on, took maybe 100 frames, then moved on. Then that night, the photographer and I were looking at photos, and he said, 'I don't know, could this be it?' It just had that energy."

The only downside of the whole experience was the fact that the cover leaked on Friday, four days before it was supposed to be revealed. "I didn't get to tell Kate she was the cover, which was kind of sad," Day says. "I wanted to see the look on her face when she found out."

In fact, Upton found out from fans, via Twitter. But despite the early reveal, she's still beyond excited about the feat.

"It was an accomplishment just to get through the shoot," she says. "I didn't even think about the possibility of being the cover until after I thawed out a bit! But now it's like, wow ? I actually went down there and was able to accomplish that. I'm part of history, and it's a great feeling."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/people/headlines/~3/QYA6foBmDk4/0,,20673005,00.html

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Book Review: Telling Ain't Training (Stolovitch, Keeps)

Telling Ain?t Training?is an outstanding book for trainers and educators on how to develop effective training. Published by the American Society for Training & Development, this is the?best book that I?ve found in this speaking niche.

Our Six Minutes survey last fall indicated that a third of our readers are teachers, instructors, professors, or corporate trainers. If you are one of them, or if you would like to start delivering effective training sessions, you should read this book.

This article is one of a series of public speaking book reviews from?Six Minutes.

What?s Inside?

Telling Ain?t Training is packed with outstanding content from cover to cover.

The first two sections are primarily learning theory, while the following sections are more practical. This is an oversimplification, however, since the first two sections also contain dozens of practical examples while the later sections provide ample theoretical guidance. The most accurate description may be to say that theory and practicality are mixed throughout!

Here?s the table of contents:

• Section 1: The Human Learner ? What Research Tells Us
  • Chapter 1: Learning is Not Easy
  • Chapter 2: An Introduction to Some ?Familiar Terms?
  • Chapter 3: The Human Learner
• Section 2: What You Must Know To Be a Better Trainer
  • Chapter 4: Getting Learners to Learn
  • Chapter 5: Adult Learning Principles
  • Chapter 6: A Five-Step Model for Creating Terrific Training Sessions
  • Chapter 7: Getting Learners to Remember
• Section 3: Applying What You Have Learned ? Making Learning Research Work
  • Chapter 8: Training Approaches and a Cornucopia of Learning Activities
  • Chapter 9: Testing or Examining ? What?s the Difference?
• Section 4: Training-Learning with Technology and Beyond
  • Chapter 10: Training and Technology
  • Chapter 11: Learning with Technology: Making it Work
• Section 5: Wrapping it Up
  • Chapter 12: Hit or Myth: What?s the Truth?
  • Chapter 13: Concluding Reflections on Telling Ain?t Training

I appreciate how the authors applied their own advice while writing the book. They illustrate many of their principles with:

• in-chapter quizzes,
• end-of-chapter reviews,
• attention-grabbing anecdotes,
• summary tables, diagrams, illustrations,
• worksheets, and
• much more?

Thus, the book is its own example of how to apply the knowledge you will gain from reading it. (In the same way that Garr Reynolds? writing style conveys a sense of calm that is consistent with his Presentation Zen brand, Telling Ain?t Training is itself a well-executed training resource.)

The Price

At the time of writing this review, you can get this book for only $35.08?from amazon.com. This is 10% off the list price.

What I Loved about Telling Ain?t Training

1. Learner-centric throughout.

I love the emphasis throughout the book on learning research and understanding how we learn. The authors devote much of the book to topics such as:

• motivating learners
• helping learners to remember what you teach them
• understanding different types of learners, and how to adapt to their needs

I?ve argued in the past that all speeches and presentations should be focused on the audience?s needs (not the speaker?s), and training sessions are no exception. This book provides both the theoretical basis and practical advice for designing training sessions around the needs of the learner.

2. Dozens of practical tips.

I love books which explain theories to me (and this book certainly delivers learning theory). But it?s even better when the book shows me how to apply the theories easily and directly.

Telling Ain?t Training gives dozens of practical tips that you can use immediately in your classes or training sessions. (This is very timely for me, as I?m in the process of refreshing some courses, and designing new ones.) While these ideas are found throughout, the longest chapter in the book (Chapter 8) is almost exclusively focused on describing a number of activities which can be incorporated into a wide variety of courses. Additionally, these activities are classified by suggested settings:

• Instructor-led large group
• Instructor-led small group
• Individual learning
• Peer learning
• On-the-job learning

I will reference this book often whenever I design training courses.

3.?Detailed appendices point to additional resources.

A full 34 pages of endnotes provide background details and links to further resources, including dozens of books, academic papers, and other resources. This detailed bibliography accomplishes three things:

1. It allows the main chapter text to be relatively clean and free of sidebar diversions.
2. It offers a wealth of recommended reading, curated by experts in the field.
3. It adds immensely to the authors? credibility. The theories upon which they base their core arguments are not flimsy, made-up theories ? they are based upon decades of learning research.

How could it be better?

?I will reference this book often whenever I design training courses.?

1. Instructors need feedback too.

There?s adequate coverage in the book about the importance of providing feedback to the learners. However, it?s important for trainers to receive feedback too, but this topic is not addressed in the book.

Perhaps this element was omitted because the book focuses on the learner, and evaluation of the trainer is considered secondary?

2. Wanted: supplementary materials.

There are so many great concepts, models, and practical tips in the book, and I would love to have even easier access to them after reading the book.

For example, I would love to see worksheets, 1-page summaries, ?cheat sheets?, or other downloadable and printable resources made available to highlight the core principles discussed in the book. (I have created small wall posters to summarize the lessons in my PowerPoint design course, and my students love them!)

It?s possible that some of these are available in the supplementary book: Beyond Telling Ain?t Training Fieldbook?. I don?t have a copy yet, so I?m merely speculating.

Listen to the Author

In this podcast from learningrevolution.net, one of the authors (Harold Stolovitch) discusses the core concepts in Telling Ain?t Training.

What Others Think

Ratings on amazon.com are very high: 29 out of 37 reviewers give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Julie Wilson:

This learner-centered book is a must-read for anyone designing and delivering training whether a novice or experienced trainer or developer.

Marie Wallace:

The authors are workplace learning and performance consultants and the co-editors of several other books. They share a common passion??developing people? which comes through clearly in the book.

Mathieu Marechal:

Really interesting and very practical, I bought it because my company is launching a training programme and it enabled me to get good ideas on how to actually train our employees.

Verdict

I wish all trainers and educators would read Telling Ain?t Training. Reading this book is a fabulous investment.

This book has helped me design my training modules, and I believe it will help you too, whether you are just getting started or whether you?ve been training others for decades.

Andrew Dlugan ?is the editor and founder of Six Minutes. He teaches courses, leads seminars, coaches speakers, and strives to avoid Suicide by PowerPoint. He is an award-winning public speaker and speech evaluator. Andrew is a father and husband who resides in British Columbia, Canada.

Source: http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/book-review-telling-aint-training/

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