Zachary Quinto: Grateful, Honored, Ready to Join National Debate


Zachary Quinto has admitted to the world: he is a proud gay man. Now what?

Now the former Heroes star is excited to take part in an important discussion on the topic of sexuality in America and around the world.

Zachary Quinto Photo

"I'm just grateful to be able to participate in conversations more authentically now and to be able to stand up on behalf of people that aren't quite ready to stand up on their own and give them whatever shred of light or hope in a real sea of darkness," Quinto told E! News at the NYC premiere of Margin Call this week.

He added: "It's a gift that I've been given to pass forward, and it's an honor. And with honor comes responsibility and challenge, and I've just done what I can to face it every step of the way."

[Photo: WENN.com]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/10/zachary-quinto-grateful-honored-ready-to-join-national-debate/

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PFT: Vikings aren't giving up, Frazier insists

San Francisco 49ers v Detroit LionsGetty Images

Though Eagles and Lions fans understandably disagree, something stinks about the ability of quarterback Mike Vick and running back Jahvid Best to re-enter their respective games on Sunday after suffering possible concussions.? If, as the ?WHEN IN DOUBT, LEAVE THEM OUT? memo sent by the league to all teams before the season states, players should be removed from games if there is ?any suspicion? they have suffered concussions, Vick and Best should have been shut down.

The problem arises from the absence of independent neurologists at games.? ?The team medical staff examines players during games,? NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told PFT via email.? ?The team neurologist is not required to attend games.?

The league relies on independent neurologists when determining whether a player who has been diagnosed with a concussion will be cleared to play.? The thinking is that independent neurologists won?t be influenced by the inherent tension that a team physician experiences when caught between the interests of their patients and the interests of the teams that employ them.? It?s a coveted assignment for doctors, whose practices realize a significant boost when they become hired by an NFL team.? Most doctors don?t want to jeopardize that job by keeping football players from playing football.

It?s arguably more important to have truly independent neurologists available during games, when players possibly can get back on the field despite suffering a possible concussion.

Specifically, independent neurologists should have the power to hold players out of a game until it is determined, by the independent neurologist, that any player with a possible concussion has neither a concussion nor ?concussion-like symptoms.?? The process could be aided by the presence of a safety official in the replay booth, whose duties would include monitoring the live action, replays, and anecdotal evidence from the sidelines for the purposes of flagging players who must be held out until cleared to return by an independent neurologist assigned to each team.

It?s a relatively simple fix that the NFL and its players should welcome, if the league is truly serious about dealing with the dangers of concussions.? During games, doctors wearing polo shirts bearing team logos will be hesitant, when in doubt, to hold players out, especially when the players and the coaches want to get the players back on the field.? The NFL needs to have someone with true independence involved in the process of determining which players should be keep on the sidelines due to concussions (or other potentially serious injuries, like punctured lungs or fractured eye sockets) at a time when the heat of the battle will compel players and coaches to take potentially unnecessary risks ? and to have a dim view of any team physicians who try to stand in the way.

If Eagles doctors had deemed Vick a ?no go? during Sunday?s game with the Redskins and if the Eagles had lost the game without Vick at quarterback and if it later was determined that Vick didn?t have a concussion, the Eagles doctors who contributed to the slide to 1-5 possibly wouldn?t have been Eagles doctors for much longer.? Until that environment changes, with the game-day judgment of team doctors trumped by the discretion of independent physicians, a potentially dangerous loophole will continue to exist.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/19/frazier-vikings-not-giving-up-on-the-2011-season/related/

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Occupy St. Louis to show commercial-free World Series (Reuters)

ST. LOUIS (Reuters) ? Occupy St. Louis invited baseball fans on Tuesday to watch the World Series for free on a big screen at its campsite, and said it would stream its message against economic inequality between innings.

The group, part of the nationwide Occupy Wall Street movement, said it would show the opening game of the series, which starts on Wednesday at Busch Stadium, at its Kiener Plaza campsite.

"Come watch the game with the 99 percent," the group's Facebook posting said. "Show the world that there isn't a need for corporate sponsors to enjoy baseball."

"We will be projecting the game on our big screen, but without corporate sponsors. Commercials will be replaced with other Occupy groups' livestream," it said.

About 25 to 100 demonstrators have been camped since the beginning of the month at the plaza, located near the Gateway Arch just a few blocks from Busch stadium.

Police arrested 10 people there for curfew violations a week ago. But city officials, police and protest organizers have worked out an arrangement to allow the demonstration to continue.

"We recognize that people have the right to protest and as long as they are peaceful we are more than happy to have them down there," said Kara Bowlin, a spokeswoman for Mayor Francis Slay.

The National League champion St. Louis Cardinals play the Texas Rangers in the best-of-seven game series with the first two games in St. Louis.

Security will be high at the opening game, and Major League Baseball warned fans on Tuesday to get to the stadium early and expect security checks just like those at the airport.

Police said they met with the Secret Service to provide heightened security because of the planned attendance of First Lady Michelle Obama at the game.

President Barack Obama was in St. Louis last week during another playoff game but, while there were protests, no trouble was reported.

(Editing by James B. Kelleher and Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111019/us_nm/us_usa_wallstreet_protests_baseball

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RIM shares shed 5 percent after apps offer (Reuters)

TORONTO (Reuters) ? Shares of Research In Motion dropped more than 5 percent on Monday after it sought to appease disgruntled BlackBerry customers by offering free apps and technical support to make up for last week's global smartphone outage.

Tens of millions of BlackBerry users were left without mobile email and other messaging for up to four days last week after a failure at a RIM data center in England triggered a service disruption across five continents.

RIM will offer premium apps worth more than $100 to customers and a month of technical support for businesses free of charge, hoping to stem fresh defections from the BlackBerry, whose market share was already shrinking before the incident.

Analysts have said RIM needs to quickly repair the damage to its image caused by the outage and stem the loss of corporate customers who are now questioning the reliability of the BlackBerry.

"RIM has responded swiftly but this won't undo the damage done to its reputation," analyst Geoff Blaber at CCS Insight told Reuters earlier on Monday. "This may go some way to appeasing customers but what's critical is that the problem does not repeat itself."

The stock was trading 5.1 percent lower at $22.75 on the Nasdaq by 11:30 a.m. It has shed more than 60 percent of its value since the start of the year.

The BlackBerry has in recent years lost market share to Apple Inc's iPhone and devices powered by Google's Android system. At the same time it has sought to make deeper inroads beyond its core corporate base, with a special focus on younger consumers and in emerging markets.

Highlighting the challenges, Apple said it sold 4 million of its new iPhone 4S in the first three days after launch last week.

"DEEPLY GRATEFUL"

RIM co-Chief Executive Jim Balsillie told Reuters on Monday the company wanted to make amends with customers.

"This is our way of expressing appreciation for their patience during the recent service disruptions and a tangible way of telling them how deeply grateful we are for their continued business," he said in a phone interview.

Balsillie declined to estimate how much the offer would cost RIM and said he was unable to say whether RIM might have to revise its earnings forecast for the current quarter, which ends in late November.

The financial impact could prove sizable if a large enough portion of RIM's more than 70 million subscribers take up the offers.

Balsillie said RIM was not running any tests on its network at the time of the failure and was still investigating the precise cause of the breakdown, the company's worst ever.

The free apps on offer include games such as Bejeweled, and premium versions of a translation service and the music discovery tool Shazam.

Richard Levick, who runs a U.S. consultancy that specializes in crisis management, praised the move but said the company should have made the announcement last week.

"I think it's a good start, but they are always late," he said. "They are always behind the curve."

Francisco Jeronimo, an analysts at IDC, had a different perspective on the offer. He said the decision was a clever move by RIM because it would help customers to discover the app service.

He said the company was likely to have struck a deal with app developers to keep the cost down.

"For RIM, this is an interesting way to attract users to the App World and incentivize them to search and download apps," he said.

"More important than the offer itself, is that RIM is showing goodwill and being humble. They recognized the problem, apologized and now they are compensating their users."

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp, Pav Jordan, Kate Holton and Tarmo Virki; Editing by Frank McGurty)

This story corrects Apple iPhone sales to 4 million from 3 million in the 8th paragraph

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111017/wr_nm/us_researchinmotion

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Facebook campaign heralding change in Bhutan?

For a sign of things to come with isolated Bhutan's young democracy, look no further than a draconian smoking law, some bar talk, and a Facebook page.

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For decades, Bhutan has been the world's most reclusive kingdom, with conservative villagers living under an absolute monarch. The introduction of parliamentary democracy in 2008 by the then-king was forced on many reluctant subjects who still look to the monarch as the final arbiter of justice.

But earlier this year Kinley Tshering, then a media consultant in the capital, Thimphu, discussed with friends over drinks the jailing of a Buddhist monk for three years for possessing $3 worth of tobacco, one of the first to be prosecuted under a new law banning public smoking.

More than 50 people have been jailed over the law, which allows police with sniffer dogs to raid homes in search of illegally imported tobacco and makes holding as much as a carton of 200 cigarettes a jailable offence.

Angry, Tshering decided to form a Facebook page, a digital protest unheard of in this Himalayan kingdom of 700,000 people wedged in between India and China.

Within months, the page had several thousand followers and was the talk of the town, signaling how a younger generation is embracing social media and democratic rights, confidently challenging an established order of elderly and mostly conservative leaders.

"Facebook was important. It opened the floodgates for open criticism of the government," said opposition leader Tshering Tobgay. "People feel the need to be more vocal. Only two years ago, criticism - constructive or not - was quite anonymous."

It is not just social media but traditional newspapers - the first private ones appeared in 2006 - that are becoming increasingly aggressive in probes into the government.

No one expects any revolution in Bhutan, where the king is revered. There is broad support for the kingdom's cautious embrace of globalization and its philosophy of Gross National Happiness (GNH), the idea that personal well-being and the environment are as important as GDP.

Alienated younger generation
But, tentatively, Bhutan is becoming a country where its first-ever democratic government - elected in 2008 - may have to increasingly take into account its people, especially its younger and modern, urban and wired generation.

For decades, criticism and grievances were aired among families and close friends.

"There are a lot of speeches about GNH. It sounds like we are doing a lot," said Tashi Choden, a senior researcher at the Centre for Bhutan Studies in Thimphu. "But there is a different reality on the ground. The youth are increasingly alienated. We could lose what we have if we are not careful."

The predominantly Buddhist Bhutanese are mindful of the fate of other Himalayan kingdoms: the monarchy in Nepal was abolished after a civil war, Sikkim was absorbed by India and Tibet by China.

Story: Bhutan king and queen share first public kiss

The marriage of King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck on Oct. 13 to a young student may cement the future of the popular monarchy that acts as the checks and balances on an unsure democracy, funneling grievances through the ancient rights of subjects to appeal to the king.

But there is far more skepticism about its elected leaders.

"The next election (in 2013) will be fascinating," said Francoise Pommaret, a French anthropologist and historian who has lived in Bhutan for three decades. "I have no idea what will happen, but there are profound social changes. Our leaders will have to listen to a new generation."

Bhutan's government faces a slew of challenges.

Most glaringly, there is a massive generation gap between an elderly conservative elite and young people who pose problems for the government that range from unemployment, urban gangs and drug abuse.

There is also a growing disparity in wealth. Bhutan is not one of the world's poorest countries - its GDP per head puts it in the league of lower middle-income nations - and yet more than a fifth of the population lives on less than $0.70 a day.

Increasing expectations of better lives are fed by television, which was only introduced to the country in 1999, as well as the ever-more-frequent sight of expensive land cruisers plying Bhutan's roads.

"Is there is one thing that keeps leaders awake at night, it's the growing disparity between the haves and have-nots," said one senior government official, who asked to remain anonymous.

Tide turning slowly
It is a change that goes to the far reaches of a kingdom roughly the size of Switzerland.

In the south, lower-caste villagers with historical Hindu roots are suing their upper-caste neighbors for discrimination, saying it is illegal under the new constitution. Pommaret calls it "a landmark in Bhutan's history".

In Thimphu, some 200 people carried out Bhutan's first-ever street protest in 2009 against the slow official reaction to the drowning of seven youngsters in a monsoon-swollen river.

A highway through a national park connecting eastern Bhutan with the central part of the country has sparked national debate on television, and protests to the prime minister.

The new taste for popular debate is not restricted to an urban, educated elite: village migrants studying in college towns are embracing Facebook. And the government is smoothing the way, setting up computer centers in many rural areas.

Story: Bhutan's 'Dragon King' marries his commoner bride

Dupthob Tashiyangtse, a lawmaker from a remote rural region in the east, recounted how, after he was elected, villagers started making all kinds of demands including asking him to charge their mobile phones or pick up their groceries.

"When we campaigned we told them we were here to help them," Tashiyangtse said. "They took us literally. People are now coming forward. They are more demanding."

And everyone talks about the Facebook page.

"People are coming out," said Tshering, who is now managing editor of Business Bhutan, a newspaper that has spearheaded investigations into the government. "We were really surprised by the reaction, quite scared actually. We were unsure what the government would do."

In fact, the prime minister signed up on the Facebook page, a signal that the leaders of this country may see the tide cannot be turned.

But it is not without tension and fear.

Organizers say the street protest was photographed by plain clothes police. A normally assured prime minister angrily accused a newspaper of playing to foreign interests over an investigation into a state lottery scandal.

There is a long way to go. Many people are still reluctant to talk openly. Change will probably come hesitantly.

Asked is he had any more plans for protests, Tshering smiled, and said: "That was enough, for now."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44919623/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

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ChatON, Samsung's iMessage-Like App, Offers Free Messaging for Android [Video]

ChatON, Samsung's iMessage-Like App, Offers Free Messaging for Android Android: Samsung's alternative texting, multimedia messaging, and chat app is now available in the Android Market. Similar to Apple's iMessage and BlackBerry's BBM service, ChatON could possibly help you save on messaging fees?once Samsung starts sending verification codes, that is.

Although the app is ready for download now for Android 2.2 and above, you might not be able to use it right away. Like other commenters for the app on the market, after downloading the app some time ago (it's been 20 minutes), I'm still waiting for Samsung to send the verification code so I can start using the service.

ChatON does look pretty neat. The app description says in addition to the SMS and MMS functionality, chat, group chat, and video sharing, you can create animated messages by drawing.

Versions of ChatON are coming for iOS and Blackberry too, and there are plans to have a web client as well. But, first things first: Verification code, please, Samsung!

ChatON | Android Market via TechCrunch


You can follow or contact Melanie Pinola, the author of this post, on Twitter or Google+.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/8TZldiSl9wg/chaton-samsungs-imessage+like-app-offers-free-messaging-for-android

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Washington-Area Commuters Watch as Tornado Crosses Freeway in Front of Them (ContributorNetwork)

Although not unheard of, tornadoes are fairly rare in Virginia, particularly in the Washington metro area. So commuters stuck in the usual traffic jam on Interstate 95 could be forgiven on Thursday if they were caught unawares when one quickly formed and then proceeded to travel right across the freeway in front of them. The tornado was one of two confirmed twisters in the area that day.

Perhaps not surprising was the fact several of those commuters thought to take photos and videos of the phenomena while stuck in their cars. Travel on the expressway had come to a halt in evening rush hour traffic, leaving motorists with nowhere to go in the face of the storm.

Here is some of the information regarding the tornadoes that hit Northern Virginia on Thursday.

* One of the tornadoes hit in the area that was the epicenter of August's earthquake.

* The tornadoes touched down primarily in New Kent County and Louisa County, Va. The New Kent County tornado is thought to have also touched down in Prince William County and Charles City.

* The New Kent funnel at times covered a path estimated to be six miles wide. That twister damaged an elementary school and at least 30 homes. Five of those homes were condemned as total losses on Friday.

* In Louisa County, the tornado endeavored to finish off the destruction of an historic plantation home that had been heavily damaged in the August earthquake. The house, known as Sylvania, was built in 1746.

* The tornadoes came as warnings and watches covered nearby areas including Baltimore and Arundel. Those areas were also under coastal flood warnings until noon on Friday.

* The weather is part of a larger severe-weather system that beat up the area on Thursday and Friday. Residents in both the Washington Metro area and Fairfax County, Virginia, were subjected to very heavy rains in addition to the tornadoes.

* There is the possibility that a third tornado actually touched down in the area as well, but the National Weather Service had yet to confirm those reports as of late Friday.

* Preliminary estimates by the National Weather Service regarding the New Kent County tornado pegged that funnel at approximately 95 miles per hour and 200 yards across. If those estimates prove accurate, that would make the New Kent twister a F1 category tornado according to the Fujita Tornado Scale.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111015/us_ac/10207787_washingtonarea_commuters_watch_as_tornado_crosses_freeway_in_front_of_them

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Egypt's Mobinil says customer boycott subsides (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? The number of subscribers cancelling their Mobinil subscriptions has tumbled from a peak earlier this year when some customers took offence at a cartoon posted online by the company's founder, its chairman said on Sunday.

The Egyptian mobile company suffered a boycott after Christian business tycoon and politician Naguib Sawiris tweeted a cartoon of Mickey Mouse with a long beard and Minnie Mouse veiled in black in June.

Some customers took it as an offence to Islam.

"Certainly the impact of the tweet has diminished drastically since the peak," Mobinil Chairman Alex Shalaby told Reuters. "We will feel it in this quarter which will be announced shortly."

He said the number of "porting out" requests by subscribers reached around 20,000 a day at the peak of the boycott, compared to 1,000 or less per day before the incident.

"Today we are way below that figure, a fraction of that figure for sure," said Shalaby.

Mobinil, a venture of Sawiris's Orascom Telecom and France Telecom, competes with Vodafone's Egyptian unit and Etisalat Misr, the Egyptian arm of Abu Dhabi-based telecoms group Etisalat.

Shalaby, speaking at the launch of an initiative to give users better access to government services, said Mobinil was "fully ready" to begin talks with the government to bring fourth-generation (4G) telecommunication services to the country.

The number of mobile phone users in Egypt grew to 78 million at the end of July from 71 million at the end of 2010 but analysts say the market is reaching saturation and providers need to focus on data services to keep revenues expanding.

Egypt suffered a sudden exodus of investors in the wake of the uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak and many are hesitant to return.

Shalaby said Egypt's interim government needed to boost security on the streets and more actively engage in dialogue with the private sector to improve the investment climate.

"(The main step) is security, to give confidence to investors that Egypt is secure, that the streets of Egypt are secure, that the rule of law prevails," Shalaby said.

(Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed; Writing by Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Sophie Walker)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111016/wr_nm/us_mobinil

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Candidate Romney reaps $14 million in latest report (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney raised more than $14 million for his presidential campaign in the third quarter ended September 30, his campaign said on Friday.

Expectations had been that Romney and the other candidates in the 2012 election would pull in less cash than in the three months ended in June, when Romney pulled in $18 million.

The third fund-raising quarter is typically weak, largely due to the summer vacation season.

President Barack Obama's campaign reported raising $70 million in the third quarter, including funds raised for the Democratic National Committee.

Romney is among the leaders in the race for the Republican nomination to oppose Obama's bid for re-election next year.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Kim Dixon, editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111014/pl_nm/us_usa_campaign_romney

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