'Breaking Dawn' Director Talks Sex Scene 'Adjustment'

'It was more about romance than hot-and-heavy action,' Bill Condon tells MTV News about toning down sex scene for PG-13 rating.
By Amy Wilkinson

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1"
Photo: Summit Entertainment

Was the first cut of "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1" racy enough to be slapped with an R rating?

In the December issue of Glamour UK, star Kristen Stewart revealed that Bella and Edward's feather-strewn sex scene was so saucy that it had to be recut.

"It was so weird, it didn't even feel like we were doing a 'Twilight' film," she recalled to the British mag. "I was like, 'Bella! What are you doing? Wow! What is happening here?!' It was very surreal. We [originally] got rated R. They recut it."

Though director Bill Condon couldn't confirm the R rating when MTV News recently spoke with him on the phone, he did reveal the edits necessary to earn a more teen-friendly PG-13 for the November 18 release.

"It's almost clinical the kind of strict guidelines [the MPAA] have about anything that appears to be — how do I put it delicately?

That appears to be, let's call it thrusting. In fact, you know, it was so much more about romance than it was about hot-and-heavy action, so it was a very kind of simple adjustment to make."

If re-editing the infamous sex scene was one of the simplest items on Condon's honeymoon to-do list, one of the most difficult was scouting the location: the secluded Isle Esme owned by Carlisle Cullen.

"We went to Brazil where it was at, that felt important to us," he said. "There are very few houses built on the water because it's against the law. So they're mostly built up, so it was hard to find a house that was like that. It took us — wow — we were five hours outside of Rio and then a boat trip of 40 minutes to get to this one island that had the house that we wanted."

It was a good thing Condon was satisfied with the locale seeing as he and the crew spent several unexpected extra hours there.

"We spent four days there and one night, when we had this incredible hurricane and couldn't get off the island," he said. "Eighty of us slept in the house on the floor and in bathtubs. It was incredible."

Check out everything we've got on "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1."

For young Hollywood news, fashion and "Twilight" updates around the clock, visit HollywoodCrush.MTV.com.

Related Videos

• MTV Rough Cut: 'Breaking Dawn' Director Bill Condon
• MTV News' Comic-Con Takeover 'Breaking Dawn' Special
• MTV Is Bringing You An Exclusive Look At 'Twilight: Breaking Dawn - Part 1'

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1673420/breaking-dawn-sex-scene.jhtml

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Series champion Cardinals a big hit at Saints-Rams (AP)

ST. LOUIS ? Chris Carpenter, Tony La Russa and the World Series champion Cardinals drew huge cheers Sunday at the NFL game between the St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints.

About a dozen Cardinals showed up at the Edward Jones Dome. They got a prolonged standing ovation when they were introduced early in the first quarter, and waved to the crowd from the end zone.

"To be on the sideline is definitely an adrenaline rush and we're not even playing today," pitcher Edwin Jackson said.

The Cardinals' presence revved up the fans and may have rubbed off on the Rams, too. Winless this season and two-touchdown underdogs to the Saints, the Rams led 17-0 at halftime.

Carpenter wore the jersey of star running back Steven Jackson when he went to midfield for the coin toss. Carpenter beat Texas in Game 7 on Friday night.

La Russa sported the jersey of injured quarterback Sam Bradford. The manager was joined by Matt Holliday, Kyle Lohse and several other Cardinals.

"This is my first time in this stadium. It's awesome to be part of this," catcher Yadier Molina said.

The Cardinals' victory parade was to be held later in the day and finish up a few blocks away at Busch Stadium.

"Listening to thousands and thousands of people going crazy for us is definitely going to give people chill bumps. I definitely wouldn't mind doing it again," Jackson said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111030/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_rams_cardinals_celebration

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Video: Rick Perry Plastered? (Little green footballs)

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Why the World May Be Running Out of Clean Water (Time.com)

Earlier this month, officials in the South Pacific island nation of Tuvalu had to confront a pretty dire problem: they were running out of water. Due to a severe and lasting drought, water reserves in this country of 11,000 people had dwindled to just a few days' worth. Climate change plays a role here: as sea levels rose, Tuvalu's groundwater became increasingly saline and undrinkable, leaving the island dependent on rainwater. But now a La Ni?a?influenced drought has severely curtailed rainfall, leaving Tuvalu dry as a bone. "This situation is bad," Pusinelli Laafai, Tuvalu's permanent secretary of home affairs, told the Associated Press earlier this month. "It's really bad."

So far Tuvalu has been bailed out by its neighbors Australia and New Zealand, which have donated rehydration packets and desalination equipment. But the archipelago's water woes are just beginning ? and it's far from the only part of the world facing a big dry. Other island nations like the Maldives and Kiribati will see their groundwater spoil as sea levels rise. Texas, along with much of the American Southwest, is in the grip of a truly record-breaking drought ? even after days of storms in the past month, Houston's total 2011 rainfall is still short of its yearly average by a whopping 2 ft., or 60 cm. Australia has experienced severely dry weather for so long, it's not even clear whether the country is in a state of drought, or more worryingly, a new and permanent dry climate that could forever alter life Down Under. "Climate-change impacts on water resources continue to appear in the form of growing influence on the severity and intensity of extreme events," says Peter Gleick, one of the foremost water experts in the U.S. and head of the Pacific Institute, an NGO based in Oakland, Calif., that focuses on global water issues. "Australia's recent extraordinary extreme drought should be an eye-opener for the rest of us." (See photos of the world's water crisis.)

Volume 7 of the Pacific Institute's regular report on global water usage, The World's Water, comes out today, just in time to address the squeeze of droughts, the increasingly apparent impact of climate change and the threats facing our relatively scarce supplies of freshwater. The sweeping report is a reminder that clean water is vital to life ? as Gleick points out, more than 2 million people die each year from preventable water-related diseases ? and that on the whole, we're not doing a very good job of husbanding that resource. There's even a risk here that parts of the U.S., especially the arid West, may have passed "peak water" ? the point at which it becomes essentially impossible to increase supply.

Potential water shortages are one more reason to try to reduce carbon emissions and blunt the worst impacts of climate change ? a warmer world is likely to further dry out already arid regions, even as extreme rainfall intensifies in already wet areas. But however severe the effects of climate change become, we're going to need to use water much more efficiently than we do now: the world's population is expected to pass the 7 billion mark by the end of this month, and more people will need more water. "New thinking about solutions and sustainable water planning and management, better data, case studies and efforts to raise awareness, are all needed," Gleick writes in The World's Water.(Read about radioactive water in Japan.)

Smarter water policy might mean rethinking other fields of resource use. Take, for example, natural gas drilling. Hydraulic fracturing has vastly increased American supplies of natural gas, which is good for gas companies and, because natural gas generally has a greener footprint, potentially good for the environment as well. But fracking requires a significant amount of water ? up to 5 million gal. (19 million L) per well. That might not be a major problem in a relatively wet state like Pennsylvania, but in bone-dry states like Texas, water-intensive fracking has sparked a backlash. There's also the uncertain risk of water contamination from fracking and drilling, and the problem of water waste. "The rapid expansion of the use of hydraulic fracturing to increase natural gas production has serious potential consequences for local water resources," says Gleick. It's important that "more effort be put into both understanding the real risks and protecting water resources before pushing for accelerated programs of natural gas production."

What we need most of all is a rethink of how we deal with water and a recognition of just how valuable it is ? especially in a warming world. That means focusing on modulating demand as much as increasing supply. Through most of the 20th century, governments dealt with water problems through massive construction projects designed to expand and regulate supply ? think the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas or the Three Gorges Dam in China.

But the era of those big projects may be ending, largely because we've begun to recognize the environmental problems that come with major dams, including the loss of aquatic wildlife and the displacement of local populations. Last month Burma's military government ? not ordinarily responsive to public opinion ? canceled a planned $3.6 billion Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam that would have displaced thousands of villagers. Just as we've recognized that energy efficiency is often the fastest and cheapest way to address carbon emissions, there's much that can be done to curb water waste. We need to "adopt 21st century strategies of new forms of sustainable water supply, rethink water demand and efficiency of use, and [embrace] smart use of pricing and economics," says Gleick. The alternative could mean ending up like poor Tuvalu ? high and dry.

Read about how people in Tucson, Ariz., are saving water.

See photos of the politics of water in Central Asia.

View this article on Time.com

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20111028/hl_time/08599209715900

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Recommended: The Lost Photographs of Captain Scott

Camp under the Wild Mountains, Beardmore Glacier, 1911 Image: Courtesy of Little, Brown and Company, ? 2011 Richard Kossow

The Lost Photographs of Captain Scott: Unseen Images from the Legendary Antarctic Expedition
by David M. Wilson. Little, Brown, 2011

One hundred years after Captain Robert Scott?s trip to the South Pole, his own photos of the otherworldly polar landscape and his crew have been col?lected for the first time. Historian David M. Wilson, great-nephew of an expedition member, provides context for the haunting images.

EXCERPT
The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life
by Robert Trivers. Basic Books, 2011

?It?s not a lie if you believe it.? So remarked George to Jerry in a classic Seinfeld line that turns out to encapsulate a scientific explanation for why we lie. Evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers of Rutgers University asks why humans continually deceive themselves and concludes that we do this so we can fool others and thereby enhance our own survival and reproduction. Here he describes deception in children.

?Children show a wide array of deception by ages two and three, and the earliest clear signs appear at about six months. Fake crying and pretend laughing are among the earliest. Fake crying can be discerned because infants often stop to see whether anyone is listening before resuming. This shows that they are capable of moderating the deception according to the victim?s behavior. By eight months, infants are capable of concealing forbidden activities and distracting parental attention. By age two, a child can bluff a threat of punishment, for example, by saying, ?I don?t care,? about a proposed punishment when he or she clearly cares. In one study, two-thirds of children age two and a half practiced deception at least once in a two-hour period.... Lies to protect the feelings of others?so-called white lies?appear only by age five....

?As children mature, they become increasingly intelligent and increasingly deceptive. This is not an accident. The very maturing capacity that gives them greater general intelligence also gives them greater ability to suppress behavior and create novel behavior. There is also clear evidence that natural variation in intelligence, corrected for age, is positively correlated with deception. A child is left in a room and told not to look in a box. By the time the experimenter returns, most children have peeked. Now they are asked whether they peeked. Most say no, and the brighter the children are on simple cognitive tests, the more likely they are to lie. Even health of the child at birth ... is positively correlated with lying. Because we experience deception aimed toward ourselves as negative does not imply that as deceivers we experience it as negative, at least when undetected.?

ALSO NOTABLE
Fool Me Twice: Fighting the Assault on Science in America,
by Shawn Lawrence Otto. Rodale, 2011

Who?s in Charge? Free Will and the Science of the Brain,
by Michael S. Gazzaniga. Ecco, 2011

Explorers of the Nile: The Triumph and Tragedy of a Great Victorian Adventure,
by Tim Jeal. Yale University Press, 2011

A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest,
by William deBuys. Oxford University Press, 2011

Thinking, Fast and Slow,
by Daniel Kahneman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011

Secret Weapons: Technology, Science and the Race to Win WWII,
by Brian J. Ford. Osprey, 2011

Reactions: The Private Life of Atoms,
by Peter Atkins. Oxford University Press, 2011

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=30e4a10acef303988bf40276537f4a5c

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Scientists measure dream content for the first time: Dreams activate the brain in a similar way to real actions

ScienceDaily (Oct. 28, 2011) ? The ability to dream is a fascinating aspect of the human mind. However, how the images and emotions that we experience so intensively when we dream form in our heads remains a mystery. Up to now it has not been possible to measure dream content. Max Planck scientists working with colleagues from the Charit? hospital in Berlin have now succeeded, for the first time, in analysing the activity of the brain during dreaming.

They were able to do this with the help of lucid dreamers, i.e. people who become aware of their dreaming state and are able to alter the content of their dreams. The scientists measured that the brain activity during the dreamed motion matched the one observed during a real executed movement in a state of wakefulness.

The research is published in the journal Current Biology.

Methods like functional magnetic resonance imaging have enabled scientists to visualise and identify the precise spatial location of brain activity during sleep. However, up to now, researchers have not been able to analyse specific brain activity associated with dream content, as measured brain activity can only be traced back to a specific dream if the precise temporal coincidence of the dream content and measurement is known. Whether a person is dreaming is something that could only be reported by the individual himself.

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry in Munich, the Charit? hospital in Berlin and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig availed of the ability of lucid dreamers to dream consciously for their research. Lucid dreamers were asked to become aware of their dream while sleeping in a magnetic resonance scanner and to report this "lucid" state to the researchers by means of eye movements. They were then asked to voluntarily "dream" that they were repeatedly clenching first their right fist and then their left one for ten seconds.

This enabled the scientists to measure the entry into REM sleep -- a phase in which dreams are perceived particularly intensively -- with the help of the subject's electroencephalogram (EEG) and to detect the beginning of a lucid phase. The brain activity measured from this time onwards corresponded with the arranged "dream" involving the fist clenching. A region in the sensorimotor cortex of the brain, which is responsible for the execution of movements, was actually activated during the dream. This is directly comparable with the brain activity that arises when the hand is moved while the person is awake. Even if the lucid dreamer just imagines the hand movement while awake, the sensorimotor cortex reacts in a similar way.

The coincidence of the brain activity measured during dreaming and the conscious action shows that dream content can be measured. "With this combination of sleep EEGs, imaging methods and lucid dreamers, we can measure not only simple movements during sleep but also the activity patterns in the brain during visual dream perceptions," says Martin Dresler, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry.

The researchers were able to confirm the data obtained using MR imaging in another subject using a different technology. With the help of near-infrared spectroscopy, they also observed increased activity in a region of the brain that plays an important role in the planning of movements. "Our dreams are therefore not a 'sleep cinema' in which we merely observe an event passively, but involve activity in the regions of the brain that are relevant to the dream content," explains Michael Czisch, research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Martin Dresler, Stefan P. Koch, Renate Wehrle, Victor I. Spoormaker, Florian Holsboer, Axel Steiger, Philipp G. S?mann, Hellmuth Obrig, Michael Czisch. Dreamed Movement Elicits Activation in the Sensorimotor Cortex. Current Biology, Published online Oct. 27, 2011 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.09.029

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://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/0N116s7dVn0/111028113626.htm

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New hybrid technology could bring 'quantum information systems'

Friday, October 28, 2011

The merging of two technologies under development - plasmonics and nanophotonics - is promising the emergence of new "quantum information systems" far more powerful than today's computers.

The technology hinges on using single photons the tiny particles that make up light for switching and routing in future computers that might harness the exotic principles of quantum mechanics.

The quantum information processing technology would use structures called "metamaterials," artificial nanostructured media with exotic properties.

The metamaterials, when combined with tiny "optical emitters," could make possible a new hybrid technology that uses "quantum light" in future computers, said Vladimir Shalaev, scientific director of nanophotonics at Purdue University's Birck Nanotechnology Center and a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering.

The concept is described in an article to be published Friday (Oct. 28) in the journal Science. The article will appear in the magazine's Perspectives section and was written by Shalaev and Zubin Jacob, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Alberta, Canada.

"A seamless interface between plasmonics and nanophotonics could guarantee the use of light to overcome limitations in the operational speed of conventional integrated circuits," Shalaev said.

Researchers are proposing the use of "plasmon-mediated interactions," or devices that manipulate individual photons and quasiparticles called plasmons that combine electrons and photons.

One of the approaches, pioneered at Harvard University, is a tiny nanowire that couples individual photons and plasmons. Another approach is to use hyperbolic metamaterials, suggested by Jacob; Igor Smolyaninov, a visiting research scientist at the University of Maryland; and Evgenii Narimanov, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue. Quantum-device applications using building blocks for such hyperbolic metamaterials have been demonstrated in Shalaev's group.

"We would like to record and read information with single photons, but we need a very efficient source of single photons," Shalaev said. "The challenge here is to increase the efficiency of generation of single photons in a broad spectrum, and that is where plasmonics and metamaterials come in."

Today's computers work by representing information as a series of ones and zeros, or binary digits called "bits."

Computers based on quantum physics would have quantum bits, or "qubits," that exist in both the on and off states simultaneously, dramatically increasing the computer's power and memory. Quantum computers would take advantage of a strange phenomenon described by quantum theory called "entanglement." Instead of only the states of one and zero, there are many possible "entangled quantum states" in between one and zero.

An obstacle in developing quantum information systems is finding a way to preserve the quantum information long enough to read and record it. One possible solution might be to use diamond with "nitrogen vacancies," defects that often occur naturally in the crystal lattice of diamonds but can also be produced by exposure to high-energy particles and heat.

"The nitrogen vacancy in diamond operates in a very broad spectral range and at room temperature, which is very important," Shalaev said.

The work is part of a new research field, called diamond photonics. Hyperbolic metamaterials integrated with nitrogen vacancies in diamond are expected to work as efficient "guns" of single photons generated in a broad spectral range, which could bring quantum information systems, he said.

###

Purdue University: http://www.purdue.edu/

Thanks to Purdue University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114740/New_hybrid_technology_could_bring__quantum_information_systems_

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Passenger arrested over stun gun in carry-on bag

NEWARK, N.J.?? A passenger on a flight from New Jersey to Hong Kong has been arrested after Transportation Security Administration officers at Newark Liberty International Airport detected a stun gun in his carry-on bag.

The passenger was going through the security checkpoint on Thursday when the weapon was discovered.

The TSA says the Port Authority Police Department confiscated the weapon and arrested the passenger. His name has not been released.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45077460/ns/travel-news/

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Turkey rescuers look for survivors at 4 buildings (AP)

ERCIS, Turkey ? Turkish rescue teams are still looking for survivors at four collapsed buildings six days after a powerful earthquake.

Authorities on Saturday said the death toll in the 7.2-magnitude earthquake is now 582. They said 455 of them died in the hardest-hit city of Ercis in eastern Turkey.

Searchers on Saturday pulled the body of a 27-year-old teacher from a crumbled building and continued drilling through the wreckage in search of two other missing people.

A mother was waiting outside wailing for her son, another teacher, believed to be trapped inside, as hopes of finding more survivors were dimming.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111029/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_quake

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Democrats call for State Department investigation on Keystone pipeline as protestors confront President Obama over the project (Washington Bureau)

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RIM delays PlayBook OS 2.0 update until next year (Digital Trends)

Given all the other hassles Research In Motion has been experiencing recently, this is news you can bet the company really did not want to have to give ? but it?s given it nevertheless. The BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 update will be delayed.

In an entry on the company?s BlackBerry blog posted on Tuesday, senior vice president David J. Smith said the Ontario-based company had ?made the difficult decision to wait to launch BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 until we are confident we have fully met the expectations of our developers, enterprise customers and end-users.?

So for exactly how long will PlayBook owners be left tapping their fingers? Smith?s answer will please no one: ?We expect to deliver the new BlackBerry PlayBook OS to customers in February 2012.?

But worse than that, the blog post says the long-awaited BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) app won?t be included in the update, leaving PlayBook owners having to continue using Bridge with a BlackBerry phone to get it on the tablet ? the same goes for email. Calendar and contact apps are also wrapped up in the delay ? features which PlayBook owners have been expecting since the tablet was launched in April.

With Amazon?s 8GB $199 Kindle Fire about to hit the shelves, it?s hard to believe consumers on the hunt for a tablet will opt for the PlayBook. Several outlets, such as Best Buy, recently cut the cost of all versions of RIM?s PlayBook, with the entry level 16GB device being reduced by $200 to $299. That at least made it a little more attractive. However, it turned out to be only a temporary sale price, and the tablet is once again selling for a hefty $499.?

Despite the delay with OS 2.0, Smith tried to be as upbeat as possible in the blog post: ?We believe BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 will deliver a great experience for our customers, building on the powerful performance introduced with BlackBerry PlayBook tablet earlier this year.?

?The software update will add advanced integrated email, calendar and contact apps, a new video store, as well as new functionality that will allow your BlackBerry smartphone and BlackBerry PlayBook to work together even better.? That?s all well and good, but the real question is, can PlayBook owners be bothered to wait four months?for the update?

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This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Northern lights take unusual trip down south

The northern lights shine over West Grand Traverse Bay on Monday night, Oct. 24 2011. The lights, also known as aurora borealis in the northern hemisphere, are caused by charged particles striking the Earth's atmostphere. (AP Photo/Record-Eagle, Jan-Michael Stump)

The northern lights shine over West Grand Traverse Bay on Monday night, Oct. 24 2011. The lights, also known as aurora borealis in the northern hemisphere, are caused by charged particles striking the Earth's atmostphere. (AP Photo/Record-Eagle, Jan-Michael Stump)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A baffling solar storm pulled colorful northern lights unusually far south, surprising space weather experts and treating skywatchers to a rare and spectacular treat.

A storm-chasing photographer captured the strange sky show in Arkansas Monday night. People in Kentucky and Georgia reported their sightings to local television stations. A special automated NASA camera that takes a picture of the sky every minute in Huntsville, Ala., captured 20 minutes of the vibrant red and green aurora borealis.

In Arkansas, Brian Emfinger called the view "extremely vivid, the most vivid I have ever seen. There was just 15 to 20 minutes where it really went crazy."

Emfinger, a storm chaser, captured the vibrant nighttime images on camera in Ozark, Ark.

He called it "a much bigger deal" than a tornado" because he sees dozens of those every year. This is only the second northern lights in a decade that he has seen this far south.

"They are very rare events," said NASA scientist Bill Cooke, who found the aurora photos in the Alabama camera's archive and posted them on the Marshall Space Flight Center's blog. "We don't see them this far south that often."

Officials at the federal Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo., said they were surprised at the southern reach. The center monitors solar storms, which trigger auroras.

Space weather forecast chief Bob Rutledge said given the size of the solar storm, the lights probably shouldn't have been visible south of Iowa. The storm was only considered "moderate" sized, he said.

He called the storm unusual, its effects reaching Earth eight hours faster than forecast. But that timing made it just about perfect for U.S. viewing, he said.

"The peak of the intensity happened when it was dark or becoming dark over the U.S., coupled with the clear skies. We did have significant aurora sightings," Rutledge said. "The timing was good on this."

In Huntsville, the aurora lasted from 8:25 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. CDT, Cooke said. In Arkansas, Emfinger went out shortly after sunset after getting a space weather alert. He saw auroras that lasted until after 11 p.m.

An aurora begins with a storm shooting a magnetic solar wind from the sun. The wind slams into Earth's magnetic field, compressing it. That excites electrons of oxygen and nitrogen. When those excited electrons calm down, they emit red and green colors, Rutledge said.

Often solar storms can cause damage satellites and power grids. This one didn't, Rutledge said.

___

Online:

NASA's automated camera capturing the aurora: http://bit.ly/t3n81N

Brian Emfinger's page: http://www.realclearwx.com/

The Space Weather Prediction Center: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-10-25-Northern%20Lights/id-5c22d858c26c454e932c18196a8b562f

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Madoff: Has remorse, doesn't contemplate suicide

In this Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 file photo, Bernard L. Madoff, the accused mastermind of a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, leaves Federal Court in New York. A book by Stephanie Madoff Mack, Madoff?s daughter-in-law, ?The End of Normal: A Wife?s Anguish, A Widow?s New Life? goes on sale Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson, file)

In this Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 file photo, Bernard L. Madoff, the accused mastermind of a $50 billion Ponzi scheme, leaves Federal Court in New York. A book by Stephanie Madoff Mack, Madoff?s daughter-in-law, ?The End of Normal: A Wife?s Anguish, A Widow?s New Life? goes on sale Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Stuart Ramson, file)

In this April 6, 2009 file photo, Ruth Madoff is escorted by private security as she leaves the Metropolitan Correctional Center after visiting her husband, disgraced financier Bernard Madoff, in New York. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

In this undated photograph provided by Security Traders Association of New York, Mark Madoff is shown. Madoff, one of Bernard Madoff's sons, was found dead of an apparent suicide Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010. A book by Stephanie Madoff Mack, Mark Madoff's widow, "The End of Normal: A Wife's Anguish, A Widow's New Life," goes on sale, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. (AP Photo/Security Traders Association of New York, Kimberly Unger) NO SALES

NEW YORK (AP) ? Disgraced financier Bernie Madoff has told an interviewer he has terrible remorse and horrible nightmares over his epic fraud, but also said he feels happier in prison than he's felt in 20 years.

Barbara Walters told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Thursday that she interviewed Madoff for two hours at the prison in Butner, N.C., where he's serving a 150-year sentence. No cameras were allowed in the prison.

Walters said Madoff told her he thought about suicide before being sent to prison. But since he's been there, he no longer thinks about it.

His comments come ahead of his wife's appearance Sunday's episode of CBS' "60 Minutes." Ruth Madoff said in excerpts that they tried to kill themselves after he admitted stealing billions of dollars in the largest Ponzi scheme in history.

Walters quoted Madoff as saying: "I feel safer here (in prison) than outside. I have people to talk to, no decisions to make. I know I will die in prison. I lived the last 20 years of my life in fear. Now, I have no fear because I'm no longer in control."

She also said he told her he understands why his one-time clients hate him, and that the average person thinks he "robbed widows and orphans." But he also told her, "I made wealthy people wealthier."

Ruth Madoff's appearance on "60 Minutes" will be her first interview since her husband's December 2008 arrest. She says they had been receiving hate mail and "terrible phone calls" and were distraught.

"I don't know whose idea it was, but we decided to kill ourselves because it was so horrendous what was happening," she says in the interview, according to excerpts released by CBS.

She says it was Christmas Eve, which added to their depression, and she decided: "I just can't go on anymore."

She says the couple took "a bunch of pills" including the insomnia prescription medication Ambien, but they both woke up the next day. She says the decision was "very impulsive" and she's glad they didn't die.

The couple's son Andrew Madoff also will talk about his experience.

Another son, Mark Madoff, hanged himself by a dog leash last year on the anniversary of his father's arrest. Like his parents, he had swallowed a batch of sleeping pills in a failed suicide attempt 14 months earlier, according to his widow's new book, "The End of Normal: A Wife's Anguish, A Widow's New Life."

Bernie Madoff was arrested on Dec. 11, 2008, the morning after his sons notified authorities through an attorney that he had confessed to them that his investment business was a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme. He admitted cheating thousands of investors. He pleaded guilty to fraud charges.

Madoff, who's in his 70s, ran his scheme for at least two decades, using his investment advisory service to cheat individuals, charities, celebrities and institutional investors.

An investigation found Madoff never made any investments, instead using the money from new investors to pay returns to existing clients ? and to finance a lavish lifestyle for his family. Losses have been estimated at around $20 billion, making it the biggest investment fraud in U.S. history.

___

Online:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-10-27-People-Madoff/id-4236c7827ee14f929c79301444674d69

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Protesters advocate making student loan debt disappear

NEW YORK?? As President Barack Obama announces plans to ease repayment of student loan debt, some in the ?Occupy? protest movement are agitating for a far more radical solution: debt forgiveness or a mass payment stoppage.

While economists say there is little chance that such tactics could succeed, the fact that they are even being talked about ? including the recent introduction of a congressional resolution calling for student loan forgiveness ? shows the depth of the frustration and anger brewing over what is cumulatively a crushing debt load for U.S. students and graduates.

At a gathering last week in a public atrium a few blocks from the square that is home to the ?Occupy Wall Street? encampment, New York University Professor Andrew Ross lead a discussion about the burden of student loan debt -- now estimated to be between $550 billion and $829 billon -- and proposed a radical solution: ?A Pledge of Refusal.? The idea is that protesters to sign a pledge to stop making payments on their student loans as soon as they had gathered 1 million signatures.

Ross told the crowd of about 50 people ? ranging from current students to long-ago graduates ? that while individuals are subject to heavy financial penalties if they stop paying on their student loans, a mass action by 1 million would make the banks take notice.

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?There is a lot of talk about student debt, but no one takes any action and that?s what ?Occupy Wall Street? is about,? the professor of social and cultural analysis said.

'It's just immoral'
Ross acknowledged the irony of protesting against one of the main sources of his salary, but added, ?I feel very bad that my salary has actually been financed (by these debts).? ? To me it is just heartbreaking to see my students carry so much debt. It?s just immoral.?

While Ross? effort is in the early stages, the idea of student loan forgiveness has gained a substantial following, based in part on the argument that such a move would have a substantial economic stimulus effect.

Robert Applebaum, a 37-year-old lawyer who graduated from Fordham Law School in New York City in 1998 with about $65,000 in debt, is the creator of ForgiveStudentLoanDebt.com. He said the website grew out of a proposal he first posted on Facebook in 2009 speculating on the economic impact it would have if student loan debtors suddenly had hundreds of dollars a month to spend. Within weeks, the post went viral and he had 300,000 ?likes? on Facebook, he said.

Appelbaum?s idea was born out of painful experience. He said he began championing loan forgiveness after going to work as an assistant district attorney in Brooklyn and realizing he could either pay his rent or make his payments on his student loans.? He said he chose to put his loans in ?forbearance? ? an agreement between the lender and the borrower that prevents a declaration of default but doesn?t prevent the continued accrual of interest ? until he left the DA?s office in 2004. After making his loan payments every month since then, his debt today stands at $88,000.

?I welcome the ?Occupy? protests,? Applebaum said. ?I think it?s long overdue and I think it?s wonderful that people are finally learning to speak up against the raping and pillaging of our country for the last 30 years. No other issue really highlights how badly that?s been done to the middle class than the issue of student debt.?

He acknowledges that the proposal to forgive student loan debt is ?intentionally provocative and dramatic to focus people on the problem.??

'With you for life'
?Your student loans are with you for life ? both federal and private loans,? he said. ?There is no recourse for student loan borrowers if they run into trouble. The only recourse they have is to put the loans into forbearance, like I had to do, or economic deferment.??

He was referring to the fact that student loans are very difficult to discharge through bankruptcy. And since they are federally guaranteed, a collection agency can take payments directly from paychecks, tax refunds, even Social Security payments. There is no statute of limitations on student loans: the government will get their money back. And the student who defaults has their credit ruined and still has to repay the principal, plus interest and fees from the collection agency.

Applebaum?s campaign has struck a chord. More than 600,000 people have signed his online petition in support of student loan forgiveness. He also received support from an unlikely corner this summer, when Rep. Hansen Clarke, D-Mich., introduced a resolution urging student loan forgiveness as a means of economic stimulus.

Statistics show why the issue has such resonance.

The total student-loan debt in the U.S. is at a historically high rate, $550 billion, according to a recent report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The FinAid.org website, which tracks information on financial aid, estimates the figure is even higher ? $829.785 billion ? and recently passed the amount of credit card debt owed by Americans.

Approximately 65 percent of students graduating after four years with a bachelor?s degree in 2007-2008 had some debt, according to FinAid.org. The median cumulative debt for those graduating with a bachelor?s degree was about $20,000 in 2007-08 ? but up to 10 percent graduated with $40,000 or more in debt, it said.

And given the tough job market, more people are defaulting on those loans. A total of 8.8 percent of all student loan borrowers defaulted on their loans during the 2009 fiscal year, up from 7.0 percent in 2008, according to data released by the Department of Education in September.? The problem was particularly bad at for-profit colleges and universities, which tend to serve low-income students, the default rate rose sharply from 11.6 percent in 2008 to 15 percent in 2009.

Still, most economists see little chance of the federal government embracing student loan forgiveness at a time when it is wrestling with a debt crisis.

?For the younger age group, this is the equivalent of being underwater on your mortgage,? said Isabel V. Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. ?... But the problems with just forgiving are the same is in the case of the mortgage story.

?If some people continue to pay their student loans back and other people don?t, the people who are still paying will be very angry and won?t feel like that was fair at all. ? And where would you draw the line? Would you say, we are going to do it just for people that are this age or in this situation, but not for others??

She also said that forgiveness would send a shockwave through the banking system, even though the loans are federally guaranteed.

?I realize no one is feeling particularly sympathetic toward financial institutions these days, but ? we do have to worry about the systemic effects.?

At last week?s ?Occupy Wall Street? gathering devoted to student loan debt, few of those engaged in discussing possible demands for reform appeared to be too worried about what the ripple effects might be.

Debate over best approach for reform
The group debated the idea and tossed out alternative solutions like insisting on ?reasonable? tuition, abolishing for-profit schools, reforming the current system or even setting up an escrow account for students to pay into until the system is reformed. There was consensus on one issue:? When one person asked if the group considered education to be a ?right? or a ?privilege,? there was a wave of ?twinkle? hand gestures from the crowd (an upwards wiggling of fingers) to show that they agreed education was a ?right.?

The broad appeal of the movement was illustrated by one passer-by who stopped to listen to the discussion.

?I married someone who had student loan debt, so by default that?s become part of my life now,? said David Solomon, wearing a button-down shirt and rain coat.

Solomon, a 27-year-old who works in tech support and lives in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, said he and his wife met at New York University where they both went for undergrad. His tuition was paid for, but his wife took out student loans to pay for school.? They currently pay about $400 a month in loan fees on her $150,000 in debut because they had worked out some deferments, but he said that? will rise to approximately $1,100 a month by September 2012.

?She had been interested in getting a house and we looked at the numbers,? said Solomon. ?But that?s just not going to happen ? not anytime soon at least.?

Solomon indicated he wasn?t ready to take to the streets just yet, but he believes the ?Occupy? protest has seized upon an issue that has not been taken seriously, despite the adverse impact it is having on so many lives.

?I haven?t been to any of the Wall Street stuff yet, this seems very interesting. The portrayal I?ve seen so far in the media, to be honest, is that it?s just a bunch of dirty hippies who don?t know anything. That is obviously not the case. There are people here having an intelligent discussion about a problem and they know what they are talking about.?

? 2011 msnbc.com Reprints

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45040659/ns/us_news-life/

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Tearful nurse testifies about warning to Jackson

Dr. Conrad Murray listens during cross examination of propofol expert Dr. Steven Shafer in Los Angeles Superior Court during his involuntary manslaughter trial in Los Angeles, Calif. Oct. 24, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical licenses if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Paul Buck, Pool)

Dr. Conrad Murray listens during cross examination of propofol expert Dr. Steven Shafer in Los Angeles Superior Court during his involuntary manslaughter trial in Los Angeles, Calif. Oct. 24, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical licenses if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Paul Buck, Pool)

Cheryln Lee, a nurse who treated Michael Jackson for sleep disorder in early 2009, testifies during the Dr. Conrad Murray involuntary manslaughter trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles, Calif. Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical licenses if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Paul Buck, Pool)

Dr. Allan Metzger, Michael Jackson's former physician, takes the witness stand during the Dr. Conrad Murray involuntary manslaughter trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles, Calif. Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical licenses if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Paul Buck, Pool)

Judge Michael E. Pastor presides over the Dr. Conrad Murray involuntary manslaughter trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles, Calif. Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical licenses if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Paul Buck, Pool)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A sometimes tearful nurse testified Tuesday that her efforts to save Michael Jackson from the drug he craved for sleep were rebuffed by the star who insisted he needed the powerful anesthetic that eventually killed him.

Cherilyn Lee, a nurse practitioner who tried to shift Jackson to holistic sleep aids in the months before he died, said the singer told her Dipravan, a brand name for propofol, was the only thing that would knock him out and induce the sleep he needed.

He told Lee he had experienced the drug once during surgery.

Lee almost didn't testify. She sat down in the witness box then said she felt dizzy before starting to cry.

"This is just very sensitive for me," she explained.

Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor had her taken to another room to rest, and she returned 20 minute later saying she felt better. She became tearful again while testifying that she had warned Jackson not to take the drug.

The day was also marked by poignant testimony from the head of AEG, the concert giant that planned Jackson's ill-fated "This Is It" shows in London.

Randy Phillips, the company president and chief executive officer who first proposed the concert to Jackson, said the star was excited and committed to restarting his career in London, where he could settle down with his children on a country estate "so they wouldn't be living as vagabonds."

"It was emotional," said Phillips. "I cried."

"Did he cry?" asked defense attorney Ed Chernoff.

"Yes," Phillips said softly.

Lee told of coming into Jackson's life at the beginning of 2009 and leaving just before Dr. Conrad Murray arrived. Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and is accused of giving Jackson a fatal dose of the drug Lee would not give him.

Lee recalled a meeting with the superstar at his rented mansion two months before his death.

"He was sitting very close to me," she said. "He looked at me and said, 'I have a lot of difficulty sleeping. I've tried a lot of things and I need something that will make me fall asleep right away. I need Dipravan."

Lee had never heard of the drug but did research and later told Jackson it was too dangerous to use in a home.

At one point she asked: "What if you didn't wake up?"

Jackson, however, was unswayed and adamant the drug would be safe if he had a doctor who could monitor him while he slept.

Prosecutors claim Murray abandoned Jackson after administering the fatal dose of propofol and failed to have proper life-saving and monitoring equipment on hand.

Lee was called to the stand by Murray's defense, but the impact of her testimony was mixed.

While she supported a defense theory that Jackson was doctor shopping in a desperate search for someone to give him propofol, a prosecutor seized on her warning to show Murray should have known the dangers too and refused the request by Jackson.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor David Walgren, Lee acknowledged a conversation with Jackson in which she told him: "No one who cared or had your best interest at heart would give you this."

She said her final refusal to provide the drug came on April 19, 2009, and she never saw Jackson again.

Another medical witness, Dr. Allan Metzger, testified Monday that Jackson also implored him to provide the anesthetic. Metzger also refused and instead gave the singer sleeping pills that had proven effective in the past.

Metzger saw Jackson just one day before Lee refused the request for drugs by the singer.

Attorneys for Murray, a Houston-based cardiologist, are trying to show that Jackson was a strong-willed celebrity who became the architect of his own demise when he insisted on getting the intravenous drug. They also alleged he gave himself the fatal dose after Murray left his bedroom.

Lee said she had treated Jackson for nutrition and energy issues as he prepared for his planned series of "This Is It" comeback concerts.

Lee was followed to the witness stand by Phillips, who said Jackson saw the series of appearances at the 02 Arena in London as a new beginning.

He said Jackson agreed to the plan with a few caveats: He wanted his own doctor to travel with him and a lavish country home for him and the children, complete with streams and horses.

However, in June, 2009, only weeks before they were to leave for London, Phillips said "This Is It" director Kenny Ortega became concerned about Jackson's absence from some rehearsals and there was a meeting of Jackson, Murray and the organizers. He said Murray spoke for Jackson at the meeting and said he was in good health and would be fine for the concert tour.

Phillips also said Jackson refused to be dissuaded from bringing his own doctor to London despite the expense, and Phillips agreed to hire Murray.

Judge Pastor blocked Murray's attorneys from asking Phillips about Jackson's contract.

Defense attorneys had wanted to introduce Jackson's contract to show he would have owed $40 million to the promoter if the concerts were canceled. The lawyers said Jackson would be desperate to make sure the shows continued and needed sleep to get through his rehearsals.

Pastor said there was no evidence Jackson was concerned about the money and allowing testimony about the contract might confuse jurors.

"This is not a contractual dispute. This is a homicide case," Pastor said.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

___

McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-10-25-Michael%20Jackson-Doctor/id-0aba725aea6f441091c89b1c5533f5f7

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Hugo Chavez: 'There is no government in Libya' (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday that he won't recognize Libya's new government and predicted more war in the country.

The Venezuelan leader condemned the killing of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, whom he had considered a friend. He defended Gadhafi throughout the conflict and strongly criticized NATO's military involvement in the country.

"For us, there is no government in Libya," Chavez told reporters at the presidential palace.

"We don't recognize the government that NATO has installed. It's installed a government through bombs in Libya and through a genocide ... and an assassination," Chavez said.

"Independently of who the president was, whether you or others didn't like him ... he was the president of Libya," Chavez said.

He said the conflict has left behind a shattered country, and he predicted that it isn't over.

"Libya isn't under anyone's control. A war will start there now," Chavez said. "Well, it already started, imposed by NATO and the United Nations Security Council."

"They destroyed that country, and now there's chaos there, violence everywhere," he added.

The Venezuelan president demanded peace negotiations during the conflict in Libya and denounced the rebels as "terrorists." Gadhafi at one point sent Chavez a letter thanking him for his support.

Chavez said after Gadhafi's death that he would be remembered as a martyr.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111026/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_libya

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Obama's student loan debt-relief plan: Too good to be true? (Christian Science Monitor)

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Selena and Justin adopt ... a puppy!

It?s actual puppy love for Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber!

According to People, the superstar teen couple adopted a puppy, a husky mix named Baylor, over the weekend.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Boy Who Makes The Tweens Swoon ? Justin Bieber

The couple recently stopped by D?Arcy?s Animal Rescue Centre in Winnipeg, Canada where they fell in love with their new furry little friend.

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Story: Bieber rents out theater for date with Gomez

?They spent a lot of time with the puppies,? D?Arcy Johnston, the rescue?s chief executive officer, told the mag. ?I was told that (Gomez) was missing the dogs that she has at home.?

Slideshow: Justin Bieber (on this page)

VIEW THE PHOTOS: ?Who Says? She?s Not Perfect?!? Young Phenom Selena Gomez

Selena, who is currently touring and played Winnipeg over the weekend, reportedly owns five rescue dogs.

Story: Justin Bieber: 'I want to be a young dad'

?I wasn?t expecting her to adopt a dog while she was on tour and has a busy schedule,? Johnston said. ?Baylor probably would have had a bad life or a very short life, but he got rescued and brought to our shelter and is now going to live a very good life.?

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Dogs And Their Stars

According to the mag, Selena, 19, was able to take Baylor the same day she visited the shelter after going through the routine screening process.

Copyright 2011 by NBC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45033574/ns/today-entertainment/

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Turkey earthquake: 7.2 quake is the worst in a decade (video)

Turkey earthquake: Rescue efforts continued as the death toll rose to 138 Sunday evening . Hundreds are reported missing after at 7.2 magnitude earthquake, near Van, Turkey.

More than 100 people were confirmed killed and hundreds more feared dead Sunday when a powerful earthquake hit southeast Turkey, flattening buildings and leaving survivors crying for help from under the rubble.

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As a cold night fell, survivors and emergency workers battled to pull hundreds of people believed to be buried under debris in the city of Van and town of Ercis, where a student dormitory collapsed.

Residents in Van joined in a frantic search, using hands and shovels and working under floodlights and flashlights, hearing voices of people buried alive calling from under mounds of broken concrete in pitch darkness and freezing temperatures.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who traveled by helicopter to the area to see firsthand the scale of Turkey's worst earthquake in a decade, told a nationally televised news conference at least 138 people had been killed -- 93 in Van city center and 45 in Ercis. The toll was expected to rise.

"The most important problem now is in the villages close to Van city center because the buildings are made of adobe. They are more vulnerable to quakes. I must say that almost all buildings in such villages are destroyed."

He said people were still trapped under rubble but gave no figure. An official at the Van provincial crisis center told Reuters up to 600 people had been injured and 300-400 were missing, feared buried beneath rubble of collapsed buildings.

The quake struck at 6:41 a.m. EDT.

More accounts of dead bodies and destruction emerged from smaller settlements across the remote area near the Iranian border, most of them left without electricity or phone access.

"The death toll is rising. Rescue teams are taking out dead bodies all the time," Reuters photographer Osman Orsal said in Ercis, a town of 100,000 some 100 km (60 miles) north of Van where a student dormitory collapsed.

In Van, a bustling and ancient city on a lake ringed by snow-capped mountains and with a population of 1 million, cranes were used to shift rubble of a crumpled six-storey apartment block where bystanders said 70 people were trapped.

"We heard cries and groaning from underneath the debris, we are waiting for the rescue teams to arrive," Halil Celik told Reuters as he stood beside the ruins of a building that had collapsed before his eyes.

"All of a sudden, a quake tore down the building in front of me. All the bystanders, we all ran to the building and rescued two injured people from the ruins."

At another site, three teenagers were believed trapped under a collapsed building. People clambered over the masonry, shouting: "Is there anyone there?"

An elderly rescue worker sat sobbing, his exhausted face covered in dust. Police tried to keep onlookers back. Ambulance crews sat waiting to help anyone dragged out of the debris.

There were reports of more bodies being pulled from rubble in hamlets outside Van. One village chief told NTV broadcaster: "Nobody has reached us, we have received no medical aid, the tents they sent are plain canvas. We are freezing."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/5qTWqjjmvss/Turkey-earthquake-7.2-quake-is-the-worst-in-a-decade-video

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