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Monday, December 5, 2011

Photo of the day: Around the bend in Arizona

Aaron Keigher/UGC

Horseshoe Bend, Page, Ariz.

Reader Aaron Keigher captured the unique angles of Horseshoe Bend in Page, Ariz., and shared his photo with It's A Snap.

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Swift, Minaj get Billboard honor, talk Grammy nods (AP)

NEW YORK ? Taylor Swift doesn't think the Recording Academy is mean. Though she won the Grammy for album of the year in 2010, she's not sad her latest multiplatinum effort isn't up for the honor this time around.

"I got three nominations. I was just so excited," she said Friday, before she was honored as Billboard's "Woman of the Year."

Among the Swift achievements that led to her Billboard honor was the best-selling performance of her third album "Speak Now," which has sold more than 3.7 million copies and generated hits like "Mine" and "Mean."

There was some surprise when the critically acclaimed album wasn't among the overall best album nominees when the Grammy nominations were revealed Wednesday, but Swift says she's excited by her nominations, which include best country album and two for "Mean," in which she answers her critics and challenges bullies.

"That song is so personal, and I'm so glad that the Grammys recognized it," she said on the red carpet ahead of the event.

Swift got a standing ovation as she accepted her honor. Swift recalled reading Billboard as a teen, pouring over its pages and hoping one day to see her name in the trade magazine.

"I got here today and there were all these flashing camera bulbs ... I got to the table, and I saw the magazine on the chair and it had me on it," she said. "All the daydreams I had as a little kid, I guess this is what it looked like."

One of the country singer's favorite artists, Nicki Minaj, was also honored at the event as Billboard's "Rising Star."

Like Swift, Minaj was rocking blonde bangs.

"This is my Taylor Swift look," Minaj joked.

But the rapper and singer got teary-eyed at the event when Minaj received her honor. She's costarred on dozens of hit songs in the last two years, and her debut CD, "Pink Friday," has sold more than 1.6 million copies in the United States. Minaj is nominated for four Grammys, including best new artist, pitting her against the Band Perry, Bon Iver, Skrillex and J. Cole.

"I don't ever expect to win those kinds of things, but it's good to be recognized and it's good for girls to see that you can do whatever kind of music that you want to do," Minaj said on the red carpet.

Minaj is also up for best rap album, where she'll face her mentor, Lil Wayne, as well as Kanye West, Jay-Z and Lupe Fiasco. She says she's diligent, and that lethargic people annoy her.

"I always say hard work pays off. Don't be lazy. I am racist against lazy people. I wish they would not exist in this world," she said.

Minaj, known for her outrageous and colorful fashion style, says she's learning to "trust my first instinct." The 28-year-old says proof of that will show on her upcoming album, "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded," due out on Valentine's Day.

"Things are happening so much easier for me now because I was over-thinking on the first album. I was trying to give people what I thought they needed, and what I needed my reputation to be," she said. "And now it's like, `I don't care what you think. I'm going to do what I wanna do for my core fans and if you like it, you like it. If you don't, bye!'"

___

AP Music Editor Nekesa Mumbi Moody contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://www.billboard.com

http://www.taylorswift.com

http://www.mypinkfriday.com

___

Mesfin Fekadu covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/musicmesfin

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_en_mu/us_music_swift_minaj

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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Iranian diplomats set to leave UK (AP)

LONDON ? The deadline is approaching for Iranian diplomats to leave Britain following their expulsion by the U.K. government after protesters attacked the British embassy in Tehran.

Early Friday, the Iranian flag was still flying at Tehran's embassy in London, with diplomats given until 2 p.m. GMT (9 a.m. EST) to leave the U.K.

Phones at Iran's London embassy and consulate rang unanswered.

Tehran's relations with Britain have become increasingly strained in recent months, largely due to tensions over Tehran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment ? a process that can lead to developing nuclear weapons.

On Tuesday, Iranian protesters stormed and ransacked the U.K. embassy compounds in Tehran.

The incident ? broadcast around the world ? showed demonstrators tearing down Union Jack flags and brandishing a looted picture of Queen Elizabeth II. It has deepened Iran's isolation and significantly escalated tensions with the West.

In retaliation, Britain ordered Iranian diplomats off its soil, pulled its diplomats out of Iran and backed new sanctions on the Islamic republic. At least four other European countries, including Germany and France, also moved to reduce diplomatic contacts with Iran.

The storming of the embassy came two days after Iran's parliament voted to reduce ties with Britain following London's support for the recently upgraded U.S. sanctions on Tehran.

Although host nations are supposed to ensure security for embassies, the mob rampaged for hours at the British compound. Attackers torched a vehicle, tossed looted documents through windows, tearing down Union Jack flags and replacing them with Iran's flag and a banner in the name of a 7th-century Shiite saint, Imam Hussein.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has said the attacks were "clearly premeditated" by high-ranking officials, but claimed there were "divisions within the Iranian regime" about the move.

Iran's government has criticized the attacks. But hard-liners have spoken out in support of the protesters. Mohammad Mohammadian praised the attackers, saying they had targeted the "epicenter of sedition."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_re_eu/iran_britain

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Thursday Dirt

Celebrities With Tramp Stamps–The Frisky Hanson Brothers Launching Their Own Beer?–HollyWire Jersey Shore’s Vinny Raps About Rape?–Right Celebrity Beatles Amplifier Sells for Thousands?–The Celebrity Cafe [...]

Thursday Dirt Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2011/12/01/thursday-dirt-4/

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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Is ozone gas an earthquake precursor?

Stories abound of animals behaving oddly in the moments before an earthquake: dogs bark incessantly, birds gather in tight flocks, toads flee their ponds. What could they be sensing that humans don't?

That question led a group of University of Virginia physicists to start grinding rocks and measuring gases in a lab experiment designed to mimic an earthquake and see what might be setting the animals off. What they found was dramatic: The rocks they crushed produced ozone gas at levels up to 100 times higher than a smoggy Los Angeles day.

"Even the smallest rock fracture produced ozone," team member Catherine Dukes told OurAmazingPlanet. "The question is, can we detect it in the environment?"

If that answer is "yes," the ozone signal Dukes and her colleagues saw might someday be used to warn of impending quakes.

Crushing rocks
Dukes' group tested several igneous and metamorphic rock types in their lab ? including basalt, granite, gneiss and rhyolite, which together account for more than 95 percent of the Earth's crust.

The crushed rocks produced ozone at levels ranging from 100 parts per billion (ppb) to 10 parts per million (ppm). The ozone signatures were all higher than background levels, which can range from less than 40 ppb in rural areas to more than 100 ppb in urban centers.

Exactly how the crushed rocks produced ozone is not clear, but it was likely due to differences in the electric charge between fractured rock surfaces, said Dukes. Electrons from charged rock surfaces break down oxygen molecules in the air, which recombine to form ozone at ground level.

"It's like mini lightning strikes," Dukes said.

Haiti quake ozone
The University of Virginia study, detailed in the Nov. 14 issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters, is the first to measure ground-level ozone associated with rock fracturing. Other groups, though, have found increased atmospheric ozone in the wake of major earthquakes.

After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Chapman University geophysicist Ramesh Singh used satellites to detect rising ozone levels in the days immediately following the quake. Whether the ozone came from fractured rocks, as in the University of Virginia lab experiment, is unclear, but a variety of observations will help scientists unravel the physical processes at work, Singh said.

"What they're seeing in the lab at a small scale may begin to explain the measurements we've taken by satellite," Singh said in an interview, "but the whole Earth is a very complex system of systems."

Not a prediction
Eventually, Dukes and her colleagues would like to see if there is a correlation between ground movements and ozone measurements by placing arrays of ground-level ozone detectors (which are inexpensive and simple to use) in areas with active faulting and low background ozone levels.

Dukes and Singh both emphasized that studies like theirs are not intended to predict earthquakes. Rather, they help explain the physical processes behind earthquakes and other natural phenomena.

"This is not a way to predict earthquakes. We will never be able to say, 'we found some ozone, now you have five minutes,'" Dukes said. "It's just a way to warn that the Earth is moving and something ? an earthquake, or a landslide or something else ? might follow."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45525848/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Video: Growth in Business

An outlook on the M&A market and what activists are doing to gain opportunities in economic uncertainty, with Donald Drapkin,Casablanca Capital chairman/founder.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Kanye earns 7 Grammy nods, beating out Adele

Adele scored six Grammy nominations on Wednesday, including for record, song and album of the year, but the owner of the 2011's best-selling album with "21" wasn't the night's top nominee ? and that wasn't the evening's only surprise.

Kanye West came away with a leading seven nominations, including a bid for song of the year for his all-star song "All of the Lights." However, the album from which it came ? "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy," heralded by many critics as the best album of 2010 ? was not in the best album category, and all of his other nominations were relegated to the rap fields.

Other notable omissions in the top categories included country phenomenon Taylor Swift and veteran crooner Tony Bennett.

Bruno Mars and the Foo Fighters tied Adele with six nominations each, including in the album of the year category. Lil Wayne had five nods and critical-darling folky act Bon Iver scored four nominations, with two in the prestigious record and song of the year categories. But dubstep star Skrillex may have been the night's biggest surprise, getting five nominations, including a bid for best new artist.

"It feels incredible. Me and these guys, we locked ourselves in the studio not too far from here and worked on this album, especially 'Grenade,'" Mars said after the nominations were announced. "That's the song we worked the hardest on. That's like our trophy right there. Of all the songs we've been fortunate enough to be a part of this year, we were most proud of that one."

Story: List of Grammy nominations in top categories

The nominations were announced after the Recording Academy's fourth annual live concert special, which aired on CBS from the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The hour-long event featured key nominees like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj and the Band Perry.

Even though Adele didn't get the lion's share of nominations, she got them where it counted: Her "21," the mournful post-breakup album that produced smash hits like the torch ballad "Someone Like You" ? was nominated for album of the year. The searing groove "Rolling in the Deep," which spent seven weeks at No. 1 this past summer, got nominations for both record and song of the year. Only Mars got nominations in all three categories as well.

Other nominees in the record of the year category included Bon Iver's ballad "Holocene"; Mars' ballad "Grenade"; Mumford & Sons' "The Cave"; and Katy Perry's inspirational anthem "Firework." For song of the year, which honors the writers of the tune, contenders included "The Cave," "Grenade" and "Holocene."

The best album category was as noteworthy for who was excluded as it was for who was nominated. Lady Gaga garnered her third straight nod in the category for "Born This Way," while veteran rockers the Foo Fighters were nominated for "Wasting Light," along with Mars' debut album, "Doo-Wops & Hooligans," and Rihanna's steamy dance album "Loud."

Shut out were perceived favorites like 85-year-old Bennett, who became the oldest person to score a No. 1 debut when his "Duets II" album was released earlier this year, and the megawatt collaboration of Jay-Z and West with the heavily hyped "Watch The Throne."

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The biggest snub may have been to Swift, who won in the category in 2010 and was considered by some critics to be a favorite for "Speak Now," which has sold 3.7 million copies. She did get three nominations, however, including for best country album.

(Another blonde diva, Beyonce, merited just two nominations in lesser categories).

Unlike the past two years, which saw Swift and fellow country act Lady Antebellum soar in the general categories, the only country act that got a mainstream nomination was the country sibling act The Band Perry. Best known for their poignant ballad "If I Die Young," they got a nomination for best new artist. Their competition also includes Bon Iver, Jay-Z rap prot?g? J. Cole, Skrillex and rapper-singer Nicki Minaj, who scored four nominations in total.

The 54th Grammys will be held Feb. 12 in Los Angeles. The ceremony will mark the first since the academy shaved its categories from 109 to 78 this year, amid some protest. Some of the more niched categories, like best Zydeco or Cajun music album, were eliminated.

In addition, men and women now compete together in vocal categories for pop, R&B and country, instead of having separate categories for each sex. This year, the category is best pop solo performance and Bruno Mars is the only man nominated for "Grenade." His competition includes Adele for "Someone Like You," Lady Gaga for "You and I," Pink for "(Expletive) Perfect" and Perry for "Firework."

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45492241/ns/today-entertainment/

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