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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

T.I. Calls Taylor Swift Duet 'Phenomenal Opportunity'

'I was pleasantly surprised and confused,' Tip tells MTV News of invitation from Swift days after his prison release.
By Nadeska Alexis

T.I.
Photo: MTV News

Just a few days after completing an 11-month prison sentence in September, T.I. received a phone call directly from Taylor Swift, requesting that he join her on the Atlanta stop of her Speak Now Tour.

Tip graciously accepted Swift's offer to duet on his single "Live Your Life," and the October performance — T.I.'s first post-release — made plenty of headlines. While promoting his new VH1 reality series, "T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle," which premieres Monday night (December 5) at 9 p.m. ET/PT, the Atlanta MC told MTV News that he was just as shocked as his fans were about the collabo.

"I was pleasantly surprised and confused," T.I. said of receiving the phone call from Swift. "I was confused because I know it's a phenomenal opportunity, but being T.I. — the Rubberband Man — and Taylor Swift being America's Sweetheart, I had just gotten out of prison like two days [earlier] and all of a sudden my phone rings."

Tip says that on episode three of "The Family Hustle," fans will see how the show came together, but he gave us a brief summary of his experience.

"There were significant differences in a Taylor Swift show from a T.I. show," he said, clearly amused at the thought. "You could take the biggest of the biggest hip-hop artists — even a Kanye West or Jay-Z show — and their concerts or tours, they gon' be just a world away from a [Taylor Swift] show."

According to T.I., the most notable difference was having a drama-free experience. "Everything is so calm and cool and arranged and on time, and everything is so neat and people are quiet and polite," T.I. said of the concert, still in disbelief. "Everything just flows smoothly, not a hitch, not a wrinkle, not a hiccup. Whereas hip-hop shows, no matter how big the production, no matter how elaborate it is, it's always friction and ups and downs. With her, everything was smooth; nobody raised their voice."

When MTV News caught up with Taylor back in October, the pop star told her side of the story, explaining that she was just grateful T.I. had even fielded her request.

"Well, I called T.I. the night before the show, so I felt like it's such short notice that [he wouldn't do it with me], and he's just like, 'Hey, yeah, sure,' " she recalled. "And it was just amazing. I was so excited 'cause I'm such a fan and I thought, 'This is such short notice, this is so ridiculous that I'm asking him to do this the night before.' And he's like, 'I'll be there.' And he showed up for soundcheck and we were all just so starstruck."

"T.I. and Tiny: The Family Hustle" premieres tonight at 9 p.m. ET/PT on VH1.

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Monday, December 5, 2011

Confidence is key to women's spatial skills

ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2011) ? Boosting a woman's confidence makes her better at spatial tasks, University of Warwick scientists have found, suggesting skills such as parking and map-reading could come more easily if a woman is feeling good about herself.

Previous studies have established that women are slower and less accurate than men on a range of spatial tasks.

But new research carried out at the University of Warwick reveals that confidence levels play a key role in women's ability to perform spatial tasks.

University of Warwick psychology researcher Dr Zachary Estes, working with Dr Sydney Felker from the University of Georgia Health Center, looked at women's ability to perform a standard 3D mental rotation task, while at the same time manipulating their confidence levels.

They found that when they made women feel more confident about themselves, their ability to perform the task improved.

The research paper, Confidence Mediates the Sex Difference in Mental Rotation Performance, is published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.

Dr Zachary Estes said: "Prior research shows that women tend to do poorly on tasks that require spatial awareness.

"That's borne out in the common jokes we always hear about men being better at parking and map reading than women.

"But we wanted to see why that was so we manipulated people's confidence in our experiments with spatial tasks, and it does seem that confidence is a key factor in how well women perform at this kind of task.

"Our research suggests that by making a woman feel better about herself, she'll become better at spatial tasks -- which in the real world means tasks such as parking the car or reading a map.

"So a little bit of confidence-boosting may go a long way when it comes to reversing the car into a tight parking spot."

The researchers tested spatial ability through a series of four computer-based experiments on a total of 545 students at a university in the US.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Warwick.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Zachary Estes, Sydney Felker. Confidence Mediates the Sex Difference in Mental Rotation Performance. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 2011; DOI: 10.1007/s10508-011-9875-5

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205102315.htm

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Obama promises big push on payroll tax cut (reuters)

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Sunday, December 4, 2011

nfl: Red-hot Dolphins preparing a roadblock for visiting Raiders. @AlbertBreer makes his week 13 picks: http://t.co/HPyNLHU5

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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Congo elections: Poll results, and irregularities, trickle in

Guest blogger Jason K. Stearns -- who is observing the elections in Bukavu -- provides a few results, and warns that charges of irregularities suggest the potential for violence ahead.

Results are trickling in slowly, while speculations are flying around in all possible directions. Tshisekedi's people claim that they will win 55% of the vote, while the president's people are sure of victory. It is difficult to imagine a situation in which one of the hopefuls gracefully concedes; it is easy to imagine how violent escalation could take place.?

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I have posted some results below, all of which stem from Congolese civil society observers.

First, however, some developments. The compilation is proceeding very slowly, with only a few percent of votes in each province officially compiled. People who visit the four national compilation centers in Kinshasa report somewhat chaotic scenes, with some ballot envelopes torn and strewn about. Election commission president Ngoy Mulunda told reporters that election officials will invalidate any package that do not meet the requirements - which raised questions of what will happen with torn envelopes. In addition, he had previously been reported as saying that elections will not be repeated in areas where voters burned down polling stations, raising further question of voter disenfranchisement. The election commission is not making results known as it goes, and the media authority has banned any announcement of preliminary results in the press.?

UDPS (the opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress party)?officials have been sending text messages around the country reporting the arrival of airplanes full of ballots after election day. Diplomats confirm that three airplanes arrived at Njili airport in Kinshasa - one on November 29, two on the morning of November 30 - from South Africa. While some sources suggest that the first plane had 20 tons of election material on it, I have not been able to confirm the freight of the second two planes. It would, of course, be strange for the government to be importing ballots to the country when voting had ended in the vast majority of areas.

In the meantime, all major observation missions have put out preliminary statements on the process. All congratulated the Congolese on elections and the election commission on rising to the huge logistical challenge. None of them passed judgment on the elections in general - that will have to wait for their final report - and only the Congolese Renosec monitors from civil society confirmed that there had been fraud, "but not enough to call into question the process." The Carter Center suggested that in 16% of cases irregularities led to a negative evaluation of voting, while the European Union provided an exhaustive list of flaws but did not suggest that this had compromised the overall process. We will have to wait for 5 days (and perhaps longer?) for a final conclusion.?
Nonetheless, some preliminary results, to be taken with care (also, these are all urban areas):

Kananga town (53,000 votes counted):
Tshisekedi 95,7%
Kabila 3,5%
Uvira (38,000)
Kabila 65%
Kamerhe 30%
Tshisekedi 5%
Butembo town (63,000)
Mbusa Nyamwisi 37%
Kamerhe: 26%
Kabila: 22%
Beni town (54,000)
Mbusa Nyamwisi 33%
Kabila 24%
Kamerhe 21%
Bukavu (103,000)
Kamerhe 66%
Kabila 34%
Kisangani (unknown number of votes counted)
Kamerhe 2%-10%
Tshisekedi 2%-20%
Kabila 20%-80%

? Jason K.Stearns blogs about the?Democratic Republic of Congo?and the Great Lakes region at?Congo Siasa.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of Africa bloggers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger,?click here.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/yw_RviD3NkM/Congo-elections-Poll-results-and-irregularities-trickle-in

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Israeli defense chief: Iran strike may be needed (AP)

JERUSALEM ? Israel does not want to take military action against Iran over its nuclear program, but at some point may have no other option, Israel's defense minister said Thursday.

At this point, Israel does not intend to launch a strike against Iranian nuclear facilities but it retains the option as a "last resort," Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio.

"We don't need unnecessary wars. But we definitely might be put to the test," he said. "The non-diplomatic point is a last resort. The fact that all options are on the table is agreed upon by everybody."

Barak said he hoped that sanctions and diplomacy would pressure the Iranian leadership to abandon its suspected nuclear weapons program, but said he does not expect that to happen.

Israel, like the West, suspects Iran is developing a nuclear bomb, despite Tehran's insistence that its nuclear program is designed to produce energy.

Israel says a nuclear-armed Iran would threaten the Jewish state's survival, citing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated references to Israel's destruction, Iran's arsenal of ballistic missiles and its support for militant groups that fight Israel.

The U.S. ? as well as some security experts in Israel ? have loudly opposed the prospect of an Israeli military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities, because of its potential for touching off retaliation against Israel and a broader, regional conflagration.

But Barak suggested that Israel might not alert world powers before embarking on a strike.

"Israel is a sovereign state and it is the government of Israel, the Israeli army and security forces who are responsible for Israel's security, future and survival," he said.

Mysterious blasts, computer viruses and assassinations have disrupted Iran's nuclear program, and there has been speculation of Israeli involvement.

Barak would not comment on that possibility, but said, "We are not happy to see the Iranians move ahead on this (program), so any delay, be it divine intervention or otherwise, is welcome."

In an interview broadcast Thursday on Israeli TV, former Israeli Mossad chief Meir Dagan harshly criticized any plans to attack Iran.

Dagan, who recently retired from the spy agency, estimated that an Israeli attack would likely lead to a regional war in which Syria as well as Lebanese and Palestinian militants would get involved.

"I'm concerned about possible mistakes and I prefer to speak out before there is a catastrophe," he said. "I think that engaging, with open eyes, in a regional war is warranted only when we are under attack or when the sword is already cutting against our live flesh. It is not an alternative that should be chosen lightly."

Dagan said he believed the Iranians were not progressing as quickly as is widely believed and there was still plenty of time to stop them from acquiring the bomb.

A recent survey commissioned for the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution found Jewish-Israelis to be split almost evenly on a possible Israeli strike on Iran.

The Dahaf Institute poll found that 43 percent support an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities while 41 percent oppose it. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed also said they would prefer a nuclear-free region over one in which both Israel and Iran possessed nuclear weapons, while 19 percent favored the alternative.

Israel is widely believed to have nuclear capabilities.

The poll surveyed 510 randomly selected Jewish citizens of Israel earlier this month and had margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.

In another reflection of Israeli concerns over Iran, the Israeli military said Thursday that it has launched a project to teach Farsi, the dominant language in Iran, to Israeli high school students in hopes of preparing them for careers in military intelligence.

An intelligence official said a select group of 23 honors students had been carefully chosen to participate in the three-year course. An intelligence commander in uniform comes to their school to teach the course, and soldiers from the intelligence unit help them with homework.

"The need for Persian instruction is obvious," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with army protocol.

A few dozen high-school students graduated this year from a similar pilot course in high-level Arabic. Most of them subsequently enlisted into Israel's military intelligence, the official said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_iran

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Friday, December 2, 2011

Suit: School's HIV denial violates teen's rights (AP)

PHILADELPHIA ? A Philadelphia-area teen says he was denied admission to the private boarding school supported by the Hershey chocolate company because he's HIV-positive.

A discrimination suit filed Wednesday claims the Milton Hershey School violated anti-discrimination laws in denying the 13-year-old's request for admission to the school for disadvantaged students.

The AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania filed the lawsuit for the unidentified boy. Attorney Ronda Goldfein says her client requires no special accommodations.

In a statement released to WCAU-TV, school officials acknowledge the boy was denied admission for safety reasons. The school says it must protect the safety of the other 1,850 students already enrolled.

Founded in 1909 by chocolate maker Milton Hershey, the school educates low-income and socially disadvantaged students for free with the support of The Hershey Co.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/aids/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_re_us/us_admission_denied_hiv

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