CEO Dick Costolo on Twitter?s future
?We?re not a media company. We?re in the media business. We distribute traffic. We?re one of the largest drivers of traffic to all sorts of other media property.?
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo at the D:Dive Into Media conference in Dana Point, Calif.
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Artspace, an e-commerce startup that helps connect contemporary artists and galleries with potential customers, has raised a $2.5 million Series A funding round with participation from Felicis Ventures, Accelerator Ventures, Blue Equity LLC, and Metamorphic Ventures. The round also includes a wide range of accomplished entrepreneurs. The full roster: Michael Yavonditte (Hashable, Quigo), David Rosenblatt (1stdibs.com, Doubleclick), Dave Morgan (Simulmedia), Seth Goldstein (turntable.fm), Thomas Stemberg (Founder/former CEO of Staples); Rob Selati (Madison Dearborn Capital Partners); Todd Simon (CEO of Omaha Steaks) and Peter Ricketts (former COO of Ameritrade). The company previously raised a $1.2 million seed round last spring. Artspace is setting out to make contemporary art accessible to those of us who aren't necessarily deeply immersed in the art world already???and to help connect artists and galleries with potential buyers.?The site also allows art fairs to create a virtual representation of their fair, which helps expand the number of potential buyers beyond those who can attend an event in-person.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Zl9VFjVA1rk/
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POMPANO BEACH, Fla. ? Mitt Romney said Monday he has overcome his South Carolina setback and returned to the Republican primary forefront by aggressively returning Newt Gingrich's fire and by presenting himself as a Washington outsider. Gingrich said Romney is "pretending he's somebody he's not."
Romney said that in the days leading up to the South Carolina's Jan. 21 primary, he was getting beaten up rhetorically by the former House speaker on a variety of fronts and says he didn't fight back very well. Now, Romney said, he has "pushed back" more effectively. He said he feels Florida's voters are responding to his charges that Gingrich benefited from his business relationship with the mortgage giant Freddie Mac at a time when the housing market in the state was taking a dive.
For his part, Gingrich argued that the former Massachusetts governor has bought "an amazing amount of ads" to leverage himself into better position for Florida's primary Tuesday, but said it won't work. "I think he's going to find this a long campaign," the former speaker said of his rival.
Gingrich said that on the big, philosophical issues, Romney "is for all practical purposes a liberal, I am a conservative."
"It's closing here in Florida," Gingrich said, "and I think the next 24 hours in going to make a big difference."
Romney said he believes he has reinvigorated his campaign through a combination of changes in his message and a change in campaign tactics. He said that Gingrich's charges that Romney is the establishment candidate aren't working.
"It's not selling here in Florida. ... He was able to get away with it in South Carolina. If there's anybody that's a Washington insider, it's Newt Gingrich."
A day before voting begins in Florida's Republican primary, Romney is running ahead of Gingrich in polls. Romney earned positive reviews during two debates and has put the former House speaker on the defensive over ethics and Freddie Mac.
"It's only when he can mass money to focus on carpet-bombing with negative ads that he gains any traction at all," Gingrich is complaining.
But instead of stepping back and refocusing on President Barack Obama ? as he did in Iowa when it became clear that Gingrich had lost ? Romney is ratcheting up his rhetoric and continuing his attacks until the very end. He hopes to close the Florida campaign strongly to push Gingrich as far back as possible.
Gingrich said Monday he was closing the gap between him and Romney in Florida. He said the Republican Party needed a "clear conservative" to run against Obama in the fall, and that there was very little difference between Obama and Romney when it came to their policies and politics, such as health care.
"Mitt Romney will have a very, very hard time trying to differentiate himself," Gingrich said.
"His record is one of failed leadership," Romney had said of Gingrich at a rally in Sunday night in Pompano Beach, in South Florida. And Romney challenged Gingrich to "look in the mirror" to figure out why the former House speaker has fallen back in Florida.
"His record is one of failed leadership. We don't need someone who can speak well perhaps or can say things we agree with, but does not have the experience of being an effective leader," he said.
Aides say Romney's attacks are partially a response to increasingly angry rhetoric from Gingrich, who on Sunday called the former Massachusetts governor "somebody who is a pro-abortion, pro-gun-control, pro-tax-increase liberal." Gingrich also accused Romney of lying. "I don't know how you debate a person with civility if they're prepared to say things that are just plain factually false," Gingrich said.
Romney's campaign on Sunday fired back immediately, starting with the candidate and continuing with statements from top surrogates who cast Gingrich's assault as an unfair attack on Romney's character.
"Mitt Romney is man of impeccable character," said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. "It offends me that Newt Gingrich would attack the character of Mitt Romney."
Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty called the attacks "over the line."
Romney's supporters particularly defended his anti-abortion credentials following Gingrich's attack. Gingrich allies are also running radio ads attacking Romney's record on the issue.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi called Romney a "champion for pro-life values" as she introduced him at the rally. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen offered a similar defense during an earlier rally with the Cuban American community in Hialeah.
In what has become a wildly unpredictable race, the momentum has swung back to Romney, who just last weekend was staggered by Gingrich's victory in South Carolina. Romney has begun advertising in Nevada ahead of that state's caucuses next Saturday, illustrating the challenges ahead for Gingrich, who has pledged to push ahead no matter what happens in Florida.
An NBC News/Marist poll published Sunday showed Romney with support from 42 percent of likely Florida primary voters, compared with 27 percent for Gingrich.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, trailing in Florida by a wide margin, skipped campaigning to be with his 3-year-old daughter, Bella, who was hospitalized. He planned to campaign in Missouri and Minnesota early this week.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who has invested little in Florida, looked ahead to Nevada. The libertarian-leaning Paul is focusing more on gathering delegates in caucus states, where it's less expensive to campaign. But securing the nomination only through caucus states is a hard task.
Romney has three events scheduled across the state Monday. He planned events in Jacksonville and the Tampa area. Gingrich has five planned events.
Romney appeared Monday morning on NBC's "Today" show and on Fox News Channel. Gingrich was interviewed on "CBS This Morning" and ABC's "Good Morning America."
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INDIANAPOLIS ? Hear what Patriots quarterback Tom Brady told the pep rally before leaving New England for the Super Bowl? He got `em riled up by saying he hoped to come back as a winner, greeted by an even larger crowd.
Wait, don't yawn! Sure, it's not the most controversial comment, not even close to a foot-in-mouth moment. But it can't be overlooked.
For this Super Bowl rematch, Brady's tame words are about as trashy as it gets.
The Patriots (15-3) and the New York Giants (12-7) don't have any bad things to say about each other. Even if they did, their coaches wouldn't allow it. Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin are long-time friends who share the same old-school philosophy when it comes to saying anything about the opposition.
Zip it. Tight.
Or else.
"Players have personalities, and they are who they are," Coughlin said Monday, shortly after the Giants arrived from New York. "You want a certain amount of that on your football team, but you don't want someone who puts themselves in a position to hurt your team. So there's a standard there with how flexible you are."
By Super Bowl standards, it's extremely tame.
The most memorable moments leading up to the title game have been delivered by players willing to say exactly what's on their mind. Joe Namath started it with his guarantee of a Super Bowl win, back in the days when etiquette called for players to say nothing even remotely inflammatory.
As the culture of the game changed ? more trash talk, touchdown celebrations and look-at-me moments ? the Super Bowl became the big stage for the biggest mouths. During the title game of the 2005 season, for instance, Seattle tight end Jerramy Stevens ignited a back-and-forth with Pittsburgh's Joey Porter by suggesting Seattle was going to win. Porter shot back that Stevens was a "first-round bust" who was "soft" and would end up "on his back" a lot during the game.
The trash talk made for a lively week capped off by the Steelers getting the final word with a win.
The Giants did a little trash dressing when they played the then-undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl four years ago, arriving in Arizona in black suits to show they were serious about ending New England's bid for a perfect season. Eli Manning led a late touchdown drive for a 17-14 win.
When they arrived for the rematch on Monday, the Giants' clothes were as subdued as their words ? no statements anywhere.
"Honestly, for us, that '07 thing was kind of like us coming together as a football team," defensive end Justin Tuck said of the "Men In Black" look. "We just said we wanted to kill a dynasty, and that's what they were. But now, we've been here before and we felt as though all that is secondary."
Their coaches have to be pleased.
Belichick is known for cracking down when one of his players spouts off. Last year, receiver Wes Welker sat out the opening series of a playoff loss to the Jets after he made several foot and toe references ? subtle digs on Jets coach Rex Ryan, the subject of foot-fetish reports in New York.
This season, Belichick muzzled longtime self-promoter Chad Ochocinco, known to do anything ? including changing his name ? to get attention when he was in Cincinnati. The receiver has been on good behavior this season after arriving from the Bengals in a trade, wanting to play in a Super Bowl rather than cover one for his social media network.
So, Ochocinco has followed the team philosophy, which receiver Deion Branch summed up on Monday.
"Do what's right, put the team first," Branch said. "You're not going to jeopardize what we have going here. Look at the big picture and put the team first."
Coughlin sees it the same way, which is why his Giants weren't about to instigate anything when they hit town. Coughlin's philosophy, which he had printed on T-shirts in 2007: "Talk is cheap. Play the game."
Not even a little prodding could get them riled up. When Brady's comments to the pep rally back home were mentioned on Monday, the Giants immediately came to his defense.
Yes, they took his side.
"Man, it was a pep rally," Tuck said. "What was he supposed to say?"
Linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka had the same reaction when reporters gave him a chance to put a little edginess into Super Bowl week.
"I wouldn't expect anything else," Kiwanuka said, referring to Brady's comment. "Now if someone wants to come out and throw some legitimist trash talk, we will talk about that.
"But it's just that you guys need something to do for the week, I guess."
Could be a quiet week.
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Continue reading Introducing 'Follow The Saga': the whole story, regardless of where you jump in
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Lindsay Lohan Fires Back Against Rehab Employee Lawsuit
Lindsay Lohan is hitting back at claims she assaulted a Betty Ford Center staff member in 2010, filing a legal response to Dawn Bradley’s claims. [...]
Lindsay Lohan Fires Back Against Rehab Employee Lawsuit Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News
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NEW YORK ? Remember Greece?
It's been two years since a financial crisis erupted in the birthplace of drama, and the final act is still unfinished. A second week of talks in Athens ended Friday with no deal between the country, the European Union and private holders of Greek bonds.
Remarkably, even after the crisis became such an international worry last year that the leaders of France and Germany were actually referred to as "Merkozy," the European debt bomb could still explode, with Greece as the fuse.
Economists and investors see a Greek default as the biggest test of the world financial system since the crisis that followed the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment house in 2008.
It is also the biggest threat to what has been a successful start to the year in the U.S. stock market. The Standard & Poor's 500 index has gained 4.7 percent, roughly half its average for a full year, in just four weeks.
"If talks break down next week and it looks like they can't reach a deal, it raises all sorts of risks," says Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial. "The stock market could probably lose half its gains for the year."
On paper, it's hard to see how Greece could take down financial markets in the U.S., the world's biggest economy, with $15.2 trillion in goods and services churned out every year.
Consider:
? Greece's economy weighs in at euro220 billion, according to the International Monetary Fund's estimates. That translates to $285 billion, which puts Greece's economy on par with Maryland's. The U.S. sells about $1.6 billion in weapons, medicine and other products to Greece each year, a minuscule 0.07 percent of exports.
? U.S. banks say Greece on its own poses no danger to them. Unlike European banks, they're not major lenders to Greek businesses and aren't saddled with Greek government debt. In its most recent report, JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., said it had just $4.5 billion at risk in Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined. That's about what the bank makes in revenue in two and a half weeks.
? Many worry that U.S. banks would struggle to cover the insurance contracts they sold on Greece's euro350 billion, or about $460 billion, in government debt. But the amount of insurance taken out on that debt totals $68 billion, according to the clearinghouse for the contracts. That's hardly enough to pull down the banking system. And the banks have offset all but $3.2 billion of those contracts with other contracts. In other words, pocket change.
"The direct impact of a Greek default is almost zero," Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, told CNBC on Thursday.
So what's everybody ? well, everybody but Jamie Dimon ? worried about?
A breakdown in talks could trigger steep losses in stock markets in Europe and the U.S. Just as in 2008, banks could stop lending to each other, and the credit freeze could cause a market panic.
More importantly overseas, it could cause borrowing rates for Portugal and Italy to jump, pushing those much larger countries closer to defaults of their own.
That's only the beginning. A Greek default could unleash a host of larger problems. Some are already anticipated while others are likely to blindside even the closest observers, says Nick Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group. "In any complex system, you're going to have unintended consequences," he says.
He compares it to the collapse of Lehman Brothers: Analysts saw it coming, but the fallout in still caught them by surprise. A money market mutual fund found that it couldn't redeem its customers' money. Money market funds, which many considered as safe as savings accounts, suddenly looked suspect until the Federal Reserve backed them up.
At a conference on sovereign debt this week in New York, Steve Hanke, professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University, predicted that even commodity prices would plunge in response to a messy Greek default.
If Greece goes under, traders seeking safety would immediately sell euros and buy dollars, Hanke said. The dollar would soar and prices for commodities like oil and wheat, which are bought and sold in dollars around the world, would collapse. A single dollar would buy much more oil or wheat.
"If the bomb is set off by Greece, commodity prices will collapse," Hanke said.
Hanke, who has advised governments around the world on managing their currencies, argued that Greece appears bound to collapse under its debts as its economy shrinks. "Greece is doomed," he said.
So investors will be watching what happens this week in Athens. At the sovereign debt conference, Hans Humes, president of Greylock Capital Management, said this week could bring "the precedent-setting moment." He warned that if the banks and investment funds that hold Greek bonds take steep losses, then Portugal, Italy and other countries shouldering heavy debt burdens can be expected to follow Greece's lead.
It's comparable to a messy default. Traders will respond by immediately selling government bonds from those countries, Humes said. Borrowing costs will rise, and Europe's debt crisis will turn much worse.
Humes has been involved in the negotiations on the side of creditors holding Greek bonds so he has a stake in the game. But it's a scenario other money managers often cite.
"There's a fear that other countries won't negotiate at all. They'll just say, `We'll pay you back at 50 percent or maybe less," Kleintop says.
To Colas, the deepest concern isn't how the S&P 500 reacts or whether the dollar rises if Greece drops the European currency. It's the possibility for panic, especially a run on European banks.
What if people across France and Germany crowd into banks to pull their deposits? Banks, after all, are some of the largest buyers of government debt.
"Human emotions can drive things off the rails," Colas says.
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Getty ImagesFor many younger football fans, the name ?Joe Namath? doesn?t conjure memories of Broadway Joe or Super Bowl III but a drunken pass at ESPN sideline reporter Suzy Kolber during a December 2003 edition of Sunday Night Football.? His ?I wanna kiss you? moment became the stuff of TV legend, even making its way into an epic auto-tune mash-up from D.J. Steve Porter, who coincidentally now crafts similar projects for the four-letter network.
In an HBO documentary on Namath?s life, which debuted at 9:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, Kolber addresses the incident for the first time.? Without saying ?don?t blame us, we didn?t know Joe was drunk,? she seems to try a little too hard to offer up not-so-subtle excuses for not knowing Joe was drunk, even though perhaps everyone involved should have known, or at least suspected, that Joe was drunk.
Especially once he started talking.
?Joe was escorted onto the field by a number of Jets personnel,? Kolber says of the subject of her eventual interview.? ?And what I recall is that he and I never really had a chance to chat, because he wouldn?t stand still.?
Kolber creates the impression that she didn?t have any opportunity to observe his behavior (Namath admits that he?d been drinking all day and night) until the interview started.? ?When we were really getting to close to when our producer wanted to have him on, I took his arm because I just didn?t want him to walk away,? Kolber says.
And even when the interview began, Kolber explains (with her trademark perky nonchalance) that no one thought anything was amiss as he gave a stumbling, incomprehensible answer to the first question:? ?What impresses you about Chad [Pennington]??
?I believe that anything anyone else has watched Chad play impresses me the same thing impresses them,? Namath said at the time, clumsily and awkwardly.
She attributed his off-kilter behavior to, yes, the weather.? ?When we first started talking and he was slow and deliberate in his speech,? Kolber says, ?what was going through my head was, ?Maybe it?s just really cold.??
But here?s the kicker from Kolber, the thing that made me think for the first time that ESPN adroitly has been able to avoid for more than eight years the question of how they put him on the air in the first place, and why they didn?t kill the interview after his initial rambling response.? ?None of the executives in the truck were alarmed either, because nobody said, ?Stop,?? Kolber says.? ?The direction in my ear was, ?Keep going.??
None of this changes the fact that Namath was at fault for drinking too much and agreeing to go on camera and then acting like a jerk by saying ?I wanna kiss you,? not once but twice.? But I?ve been involved in the TV side of this business long enough now to realize that there are (or at least should be) layers of folks who when trouble pops up can make good decisions in the blink of an eye, or even faster.? Still, until seeing Kolber?s roundabout effort to help ESPN continue to sidestep shrapnel for allowing the ?I wanna kiss you? moment to happen by not ending the interview (or by never doing it in the first place), I never made the connection.? Joe was always the bad guy, and ESPN and Kolber were always without blame of any kind.
After hearing Kolber?s explanation, I?m starting to think that maybe a few tougher questions should have been asked back in late 2003.? It?ll be interesting to see if any of those questions are asked now.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/28/finally-kolber-addresses-namath-incident/related/
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NEWARK, N.J. ? The state's largest city must produce a list of documents related to a $100 million pledge to its public schools from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, a judge ruled Friday.
The ruling stemmed from of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a group representing Newark schoolchildren that is seeking more transparency about the donation. The Associated Press and other news outlets also have made such requests.
State Superior Court Judge Rachel Davidson's ruling requires the city to produce the list, believed to enumerate about 50 pages of emails pertaining to the donation, by Feb. 10. The city could seek to block the publishing of some of the emails on the list, according to ACLU New Jersey attorney Ed Barocas.
The city, in a response letter to an AP request for the documents in 2010, said that any conversations between Democratic Mayor Cory Booker and Zuckerberg were "not made in the course of the Mayor's official duties" and therefore were exempt from open-records laws.
Were Booker found to have been acting in his capacity as mayor, the letter continued, the city didn't have the records requested. But it added that if the records were found, their release was barred under executive privilege.
The ACLU, in its lawsuit, argued that privilege can be claimed only by the governor, not by a sitting mayor. It argued that the public has a right to know how the grant funds are to be used and who is making the decisions on their allocation.
"We don't want to make it seem that there was necessarily something nefarious going on," Barocas said Friday. "All we ask is for this to be transparent. The public should be aware what, if any, agreements were made prior to or as part of the grant of the money."
Booker's office didn't immediately comment on the decision Friday.
Newark's public school system is the state's largest, with 75 schools and a student population of about 40,000, according to its website. The schools have been plagued for years by low test scores, poor graduation rates and crumbling buildings. The district was taken over by the state in 1995 after instances of waste and mismanagement, including the spending of taxpayer money by school board members on cars and restaurant meals.
The $100 million pledge to the schools was announced in the fall of 2010 by Booker, Zuckerberg and Republican Gov. Chris Christie as they appeared together on Oprah Winfrey's syndicated talk show.
Zuckerberg described the gift as a "challenge grant" to Booker, who has sought to raise $100 million more to match what Zuckerberg promised to contribute over five years. Zuckerberg's social networking website, based in Palo Alto, Calif., is estimated to be worth more than $50 billion.
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WASHINGTON ? Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is acknowledging publicly for the first time that a Pakistani doctor provided key information to the U.S. in advance of the successful Navy SEAL assault on Osama bin Laden's compound last May.
Panetta told CBS's "60 Minutes," in a profile to be broadcast on Sunday, that Shakil Afridi helped provide intelligence for the raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
Afridi ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify bin Laden's presence in the compound. He has since been charged by Pakistan with treason. Panetta said he is "very concerned" for the doctor.
Panetta also told "60 Minutes" that he remains convinced that someone in the Pakistani government "must have had some sense" that a person of interest was in the compound. He added that he has no proof that Pakistan knew it was bin Laden.
The Pakistani government had hoped to resolve the Afridi matter quietly, once media attention died down, perhaps releasing him to U.S. custody, according to two Pakistani officials. They requested anonymity because the investigation into charges the doctor behaved treasonously was ongoing.
___
AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report.
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Asher Elias was galvanized into activism on behalf of his fellow Ethiopian Jews in Israel by a 1996 revelation.
Avalanche awareness classes to make backcountry skiing safer
A growing numbers of skiers in Colorado want to try backcountry skiing, away from the groomed and patrolled trails. Shan Sethna's classes help newcomers learn about avalanche dangers.
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Sue Paterno, center, wife of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, consoles her grandson as they leave a memorial service for Joe at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa., Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A capacity crowd of more than 12,000 packed the Bryce Jordan Center for one more tribute to Paterno, the Hall of Fame football coach who died Sunday from lung cancer. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Sue Paterno, center, wife of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, consoles her grandson as they leave a memorial service for Joe at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa., Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A capacity crowd of more than 12,000 packed the Bryce Jordan Center for one more tribute to Paterno, the Hall of Fame football coach who died Sunday from lung cancer. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Jay Paterno, son of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, speaks during a memorial service for Joe Paterno at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. A capacity crowd of more than 12,000 packed the Bryce Jordan Center for one more tribute to Paterno, the Hall of Fame football coach who died Sunday from lung cancer. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Pallbearers including sons Jay Paterno, foreground right, and Scott Paterno, foreground center, carry the casket with the remains of former Penn State coach Joe Paterno after funeral services at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State campus Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 in State College, Pa. Paterno died Sunday morning, Jan. 22. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Phil Knight adjust the microphones before he speaks during a memorial service for former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa. Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. Knight, the Nike founder, got a standing ovation at Paterno's public memorial for defending the late coach's response to an accusation of child sex abuse against a former assistant. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Phil Knight, former CEO and co-founder of Nike, becomes emotional as he speaks during a memorial service for former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa. Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A capacity crowd of more than 12,000 packed the Bryce Jordan Center for one more tribute to Paterno, the Hall of Fame football coach who died Sunday from lung cancer. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Jay Paterno leaned over his dying father, gave him a kiss, and whispered in his ear.
"Dad, you won," he said. "You did all you could do. You've done enough. We all love you. We won. You can go home now."
Joe Paterno died Sunday of lung cancer at age 85.
At a memorial service Thursday that drew some 12,000 people to the Penn State basketball arena, Jay Paterno reflected on what he called the "magnificent daylight" of his legendary father's life. It was primarily a glowing tribute to Paterno and his accomplishments during 46 years as Penn State's football coach ? but also an opportunity to defend his legacy against criticism that he failed to do more when told about an alleged child sexual assault involving one of his former assistants.
Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight won a thunderous standing ovation when he defended Paterno's handling of the 2002 allegations against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky. Paterno, he hinted, had been made a scapegoat.
"If there is a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation and not in Joe Paterno's response," Knight said. Paterno's widow, Sue, was among those rising to their feet.
Capping three days of mourning on campus, the 2?-hour ceremony was filled with lavish praise for the man called "JoePa." Paterno racked up more wins ? 409 ? than any other major-college football coach, led his team to two national championships, and preached "success with honor" while insisting his athletes focus on academics. The Paternos donated millions to Penn State.
The family on Friday offered their thanks for the outpouring of support through an ad on the back page of the campus student-run newspaper, The Daily Collegian. The family plans to run similar ads in other papers as well.
"Thank you," read the ad which featured the picture of the smiling Paterno used throughout services and tributes this week. "You have touched our hearts and lifted our spirits. The Paterno Family."
Though the campus and surrounding community have been torn with anger over the Sandusky scandal and Paterno's summary dismissal by the board of trustees two months before his death, Jay Paterno said his father didn't hold a grudge.
"Despite all that had happened to him, he never wavered in his belief, in his dream, of Penn State. He told me he wanted to use his remaining time on earth to see Penn State continue to thrive. He never spoke ill and never wanted anyone to feel badly for him," Paterno said.
Players from each decade of Paterno's career as the Nittany Lions' coach spoke in loving terms about their mentor, saying he rode them hard, but always had their best interests at heart and encouraged them to complete their educations and become productive members of their communities.
Among the speakers were Michael Robinson, who played for Paterno from 2002 to 2005 and flew in from Hawaii, where he was practicing for his first Pro Bowl; star quarterback Todd Blackledge from the 1980s; and Jimmy Cefalo, a star in the 1970s. Like Robinson, Blackledge and Cefalo went on to play in the NFL.
Former NFL player Charles V. Pittman, speaking for players from the 1960s, called Paterno a lifelong influence and inspiration.
Pittman said Paterno challenged his young players, once bringing Pittman to tears in his sophomore year. He said he realized later that the coach was molding him into the man he would become.
"What I now know is that Joe wasn't trying to build perfection. That doesn't exist and he knew it. He was, bit by bit, building a habit of excellence," said Pittman, now a media executive on the board of The Associated Press.
Paterno was fired Nov. 9 after he was criticized for not going to police in 2002 when he was told that Sandusky had been seen sexually assaulting a boy in the showers. Sandusky was arrested in November and is awaiting trial on charges that he molested 10 boys over a 15-year span.
As the scandal erupted, Pennsylvania's state police commissioner said Paterno may have met his legal duty but not his moral one. Penn State president Graham Spanier was also fired in the fallout.
Knight, appearing about midway through the memorial, became the first speaker to explicitly address the scandal. He said the coach "gave full disclosure to his superiors, information that went up the chains to the head of the campus police and the president of the school. The matter was in the hands of a world-class university, and by a president with an outstanding national reputation."
Lanny J. Davis, an attorney for the board, responded after the service by saying: "All the reasons for the board's difficult and anguished decision ? made unanimously, including former football players and everyone who still loves Coach Paterno and his memory ? reached a decision which was heartfelt. All 32."
"The facts speak for themselves" and include the grand jury testimony, he said.
Chris Marrone, another former player who eulogized Paterno, said Knight was his "new hero" for expressing the "pent-up frustration" of Paterno's supporters.
"I think the response that he got is indicative of how folks feel," Marrone said.
Only one member of the university administration ? the dean of the college of liberal arts ? and no one from the board of trustees spoke at the memorial, which was arranged primarily by the Paterno family.
People said it felt good to remember and celebrate the good times.
Tennessee Titans coach Mike Munchak, who played for Paterno, said he attended the service "because I'm a part of his legacy."
"It was not only about football," Munchak said. "It was about life and how he affected all of us as men."
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Source: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/nc71718960.php
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Princess, a Bactrian camel famous for her ability to correctly predict the winner of football games, nuzzles with John Bergmann, general manager of Popcorn Park Zoo in Lacey Township, N.J. on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012, one day after Princess picked the New York Giants to beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Princess makes her "picks" by choosing one of two graham crackers Bergmann holds out to her, with each cracker corresponding to one of the teams involved in the game. She's 88-51 lifetime, and predicted the winners of five of the last six Super Bowls. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
Princess, a Bactrian camel famous for her ability to correctly predict the winner of football games, nuzzles with John Bergmann, general manager of Popcorn Park Zoo in Lacey Township, N.J. on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012, one day after Princess picked the New York Giants to beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Princess makes her "picks" by choosing one of two graham crackers Bergmann holds out to her, with each cracker corresponding to one of the teams involved in the game. She's 88-51 lifetime, and predicted the winners of five of the last six Super Bowls. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
John Bergmann, general manager of Popcorn Park Zoo in Lacey Township N.J. scratches the next of Princess, a Bactrian camel famous for her ability to correctly predict the winner of football games, on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012, one day after Princess picked the New York Giants to beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Princess makes her "picks" by choosing one of two graham crackers Bergmann holds out to her, with each cracker corresponding to one of the teams involved in the game. She's 88-51 lifetime, and predicted the winners of five of the last six Super Bowls. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
Princess, a Bactrian camel famous for her ability to correctly predict the winner of football games, at her home in Popcorn Park Zoo in Lacey Township, N.J. on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012, one day after Princess picked the New York Giants to beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Princess makes her "picks" by choosing one of two graham crackers the zoo's general manager holds out to her, with each cracker corresponding to one of the teams involved in the game. She's 88-51 lifetime, and predicted the winners of five of the last six Super Bowls. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
Princess, a Bactrian camel famous for her ability to correctly predict the winner of football games, nuzzles with John Bergmann, general manager of Popcorn Park Zoo in Lacey Township, N.J. on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012, one day after Princess picked the New York Giants to beat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Princess makes her "picks" by choosing one of two graham crackers Bergmann holds out to her, with each cracker corresponding to one of the teams involved in the game. She's 88-51 lifetime, and predicted the winners of five of the last six Super Bowls. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) ? People use all sorts of ways to try to predict the winner of the Super Bowl: comparing regular season records, judging who looked stronger in the post-season run-up to the big game, or watching the betting lines from Las Vegas oddsmakers.
But the closest thing to a sure thing may come from a camel in New Jersey.
Princess, the star of New Jersey's Popcorn Park Zoo, has correctly picked the winner of five of the last six Super Bowls. She went 14 and 6 predicting regular season and playoff games this year, and has a lifetime record of 88-51.
Her pick this year: The New York Giants.
The Bactrian camel's prognostication skills flow from her love of graham crackers. Zoo general manager John Bergmann places a cracker and writes the name of the competing teams on each hand. Whichever hand Princess nibbles from is her pick. On Wednesday, she made her pick with no hesitation at all, predicting bad news for Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, even though the Las Vegas oddsmakers have New England favored by about 3 points.
Her only miscue in the big game was picking the Indianapolis Colts over the New Orleans Saints two years ago, indicating that even camels know it's generally risky to go against Peyton Manning.
"It started out when a local radio station was looking to have some fun, so they asked Princess who was going to win a particular game each week, and it just took off from there," Bergmann said. "Now we have guys calling up on Sunday morning wanting to know who Princess has picked that week. One guy even asked if she does lottery numbers."
Her best season was 2008, when she got 17 out of 22 games right, including correctly picking the Pittsburgh Steelers to win the Super Bowl.
Princess doesn't do point spreads. But she has nearly mastered the art of picking straight-up winners.
The cunning camel was once the personal pet of heiress Doris Duke, the only child of tobacco and electric energy tycoon James Buchanan Duke.
Doris Duke raised Princess and her sister Babe from youngsters, Bergmann said.
The pair of camels had their own barn, and spent summers at Duke's Rhode Island estate. During bad weather, they were put up in the solarium.
After Duke's death in 1993, the camels stayed on her estate in Hillsborough. Babe died several years ago, leaving just Princess.
When Princess' caretaker was about to retire, the estate offered Princess to Popcorn Park Zoo, which took her in. The zoo cares for abandoned and abused animals.
___
Wayne Parry can be reached at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC
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LONDON ? World stock markets rose Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates low until late 2014 to nurture the country's stubbornly slow economic recovery.
The Fed cut rates to near zero in December 2008 during the financial crisis and has held them there ever since. The announcement that it expected rates to remain low was a sign that the Fed expects the U.S. economy, which is improving, to need significant help for three more years. But it also reinforced investors' confidence that the Fed was committed to restoring growth.
The statement was made by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the central bank's group of policy-setters.
"With the FOMC sending out a strong signal that monetary policy is likely to remain accommodative for even longer than previously expected, risk assets are in a very good position," said Stan Shamu of IG Markets in Melbourne.
Economic data out of the U.S. also helped market sentiment. Orders to U.S. factories for durable manufactured goods increased in December, lifted by solid business spending on machinery and equipment. Separate data showed a rise in weekly jobless claims, although the four-week average is still trending down.
Combined with the Fed's comments, the indicators pushed investors to snap up stocks, the euro, emerging markets currencies and commodities.
Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.3 percent to 5,795, Germany's DAX gained 1.8 percent to 6,539.85 and France's CAC-40 added 1.5 percent to 3,363.23. The euro was up 0.4 percent at $1.3150.
Wall Street likewise rose on the open ? the Dow Jones industrial was up 0.2 percent at 12,778.1 while the S&P 500 was down slightly, 0.25 percent, to 1,322.77.
Corporate news was mostly upbeat, with strong earnings from construction equipment maker Caterpillar and conglomerate 3M. In Europe, Nokia posted a loss but its shares rose slightly on hopes that sales of its new Windows phone would gain pace.
Developments in Europe's debt crisis were also mostly positive. An Italian bond auction saw a drop in the country's borrowing rates, further easing pressure on Italy, the country considered the next most vulnerable in the debt crisis but too expensive for Europe to rescue.
The resumption of talks on a crucial Greek debt relief deal also heartened traders. Greece and its bailout rescuers ? other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund ? are asking private creditors to swap their Greek bonds for new ones with a lower value and interest rate.
The two sides have disagreed over what interest rate the new bonds should take and the hope is they will find a compromise shortly. The creditors' representatives have said they aim to get a deal by Monday, when European leaders meet in Brussels.
In Asia, gains were more muted. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.3 percent to 1,957.18 though Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.6 percent to 20,439.14 on its first trading day since the Chinese New Year holiday. Benchmarks in Thailand, Singapore and New Zealand also rose.
Japan's Nikkei was 0.4 percent lower at 8,849.47 as a weakening dollar pressured the country's exporters. Benchmarks in Malaysia and the Philippines also fell.
The dollar fell to 77.57 yen from 77.81 yen. The prospect of low interest rates dragged on the dollar, since it reduces the returns that investors get from holding assets denominated in that currency.
Markets in Taiwan and mainland Chinese remained closed for the Chinese New Year. Markets in India and Australia were closed for public holidays.
Benchmark crude for March delivery was up $1.10 at $100.50 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose by 45 cents to finish at $99.40 per barrel in New York on Wednesday.
Oil prices have been torn between worries about slow economic growth and tensions over Iran. Iran has threatened to block crude shipments out of the Persian Gulf if Western nations don't retract their embargoes on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program. The EU and Australia were the latest to boycott Iran in hopes of pressuring it to drop a nuclear program that they claim aims to develop nuclear weapons.
___
Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.
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NEW YORK ? Eiko Ishioka, a bold, Academy Award-winning visual artist whose surreal and sensual costumes were worn by Broadway actors, Olympic athletes, Cirque du Soleil performers and movie stars like Jennifer Lopez, has died in Tokyo. She was 73.
Her studio manager, Tracy Roberts, said Thursday that the designer died of pancreatic cancer.
Ishioka, who also worked in advertising and other graphic arts, won the 1992 Academy Award for Best Costume Design for the film "Bram Stoker's `Dracula,'" directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Her dreamlike, billowing designs were featured in the 2001 film "The Cell," staring Lopez.
She won a Grammy Award in 1986 for her cover design of Miles Davis' album "Tutu" and she directed the music video for the single "Cocoon" from Bjork's album "Vespertine." She also won the 1985 Cannes Film Festival Award for Artistic Contribution for her production design work on the Paul Schrader film "Mishima."
Ishioka, who died Saturday, was the director of costume design for the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing and designed racing uniforms and outerwear for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
A graduate of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, she became the first woman to be elected a member of the Tokyo Art Directors Club. She opened her own design studio in 1970 and was known for a bold, thought-provoking style even when advertising Japanese shopping complexes.
In 1983, she published a retrospective of her graphic design and art direction work entitled "Eiko by Eiko." She also wrote the book "Eiko on Stage," which focuses on her stage and screen work.
On Broadway, she made the sets and costumes for David Henry Hwang's 1988 Tony Award-winning drama "M. Butterfly," which earned her two Tony Award nominations for scenic design and costume design. She also tried her hand at opera with her costume design for Richard Wagner's "Ring Cycle" at the Netherlands National Opera.
She designed over 130 costumes for the Cirque du Soleil show "Varekai" and was the visual artistic director for a David Copperfield show on Broadway in 1996. Her comic book inspired costumes can currently be seen in "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark."
"Her work will continue to touch audiences for years to come," said "Spider-Man" producers Michael Cohl and Jeremiah J. Harris said in a joint statement, adding that Thursday's performance would be dedicated to her memory.
She was honored in 1992 to be named to the Hall of Fame by the Art Directors Club Hall of Fame. Her work can be seen at museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
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Entertainment Writer Frazier Moore contributed to this report.
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WASHINGTON ? The Pentagon is preparing to tighten its belt, but with an election-year battle looming in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants to stress the positive: Parts of the budget devoted to reshaping the military to fit a new global strategy will actually get fatter, he says.
But that's unlikely to mollify Republicans who say President Barack Obama's plan will leave the Pentagon stretched too thin to handle potential security threats in the Middle East, Asia and beyond.
Panetta is expected to outline the main areas of proposed spending cuts and increases at a Pentagon news conference Thursday, more than two weeks before the Obama administration submits its 2013 budget proposal to Congress. He will be joined by Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for a presentation designed to highlight the military leadership's embrace of defense cuts.
Panetta and Dempsey are expected to cast the plan as one that reflects President Barack Obama's strategy for reorienting the military as it recovers from a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Prominent in the Obama plan is a renewed focus on Asia, where China's rapid military modernization has raised worry in Washington and rattled U.S. allies. That, along with continued security threats in the Middle East ? especially Iran ? is why Panetta wants to invest more in certain air and naval assets. He also is putting a focus on cybersecurity and commando forces like those who killed Osama bin Laden last May and who swooped into Somalia on Tuesday to rescue two hostages, including an American.
The Pentagon has embraced a proposal by special operations chief Adm. Bill McRaven to send more manpower and equipment to worldwide "Theater Special Operations Commands" to strike back wherever threats arise, according to a senior defense official who spoke to The Associated Press, and other current and former U.S. officials briefed on the program. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the details of the proposal are still being worked out, including how fast the changes could be made.
The stepped-up network would put top special operations personnel closer to the problems they face, better able to launch unilateral raids like this week's Somalia mission. McRaven also wants the newly invigorated commands to build new relationships with foreign armies to help them lead their own operations, the senior defense official said.
To save money, Panetta would reduce the size of Army and Marine Corps ground forces and shrink the U.S. presence in Europe, while maintaining a commitment to building missile defenses in Europe.
He also is expected to delay production of perhaps 100 or more of the F-35 Lightning II stealth attack planes that the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps are counting on to replace a portion of their aging aircraft fleets. The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program. Nonetheless, it is among those that Panetta has publicly identified as central to a strategy for maintaining American air dominance.
According to defense officials, substantial budget savings will come from slowing ? but not eliminating ? programs. In the case of the F-35, Loren Thompson, defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, said there are no plans to cut the total number of fighters purchased ? which is about 2,400. Instead, the intention is to reduce the number bought each year over the next five years.
The construction of some Navy ships also may be stretched out over a longer period.
Panetta also has made clear the administration will resist any effort to shrink the Navy's fleet of aircraft carriers. He said last weekend while on board the fleet's oldest carrier, the USS Enterprise, that keeping 11 of the warships is a "long-term commitment" that Obama believes is important to keeping the peace.
"Our view is that the carriers, because of their presence, because of the power they represent, are a very important part of our ability to maintain power projection both in the Pacific and in the Middle East," he said.
Obama has said he hopes to further reduce the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, but Panetta is expected to make clear that the basic structure ? a "triad" of land, sea and air nuclear forces ? will be maintained. The Pentagon may find some savings by stretching out planned modernization programs.
The defense budget is being reshaped in the midst of a presidential contest in which Obama seeks to portray himself as a forward-looking commander in chief focusing on new security threats. Republicans want to cast him as weak on defense.
Obama has highlighted his national security successes ? the killing of Osama bin Laden, the death of senior al-Qaida leaders and the demise of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi ? to counter Republican criticism. He also has emphasized the completion of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq and the start of a drawdown in Afghanistan as turning points that offer new opportunities to scale back defense spending.
But several congressional Republicans see a political opening in challenging the reductions in projected military spending that the GOP and Obama agreed to last summer as part of a deal to raise the nation's borrowing authority. They've echoed Obama's potential presidential rivals Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, who plead for fiscal austerity but contend that sizable cuts would gut the military.
The defense budget this year is nearly $671 billion, including a base budget of $553 billion and $118 billion in war costs. Panetta is expected to announce on Wednesday that the administration's request for 2013 will drop to about $525 billion for the base budget. That is still far higher than the $480 billion base budget for the Pentagon in 2008, President George W. Bush's final year in office.
The administration's projected defense cuts would total nearly $490 billion over 10 years. If Congress fails to agree on other reductions in federal spending this year, the defense hit could double under automatic cuts that would take effect in January 2013.
Several Republicans argue that even the initial cuts totaling nearly $490 billion would "hollow" the military and costs tens of thousands of jobs nationwide, adding to an 8.5 percent unemployment rate that they already blame on the president's economic policies.
"While Secretary Panetta has conceded that our nation is now accepting more risk as a result of the budgetary vise squeezing the Pentagon, it remains unclear exactly what risks our nation is assuming," Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., a House Armed Services Committee member, said this week.
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Associated Press writers Kimberly Dozier and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.
___
Robert Burns can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP
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A dazzling display of auroras lit up the far northern skies Tuesday night (Jan. 24) in a supercharged light show captured on camera by skywatchers around the world.
"I was screaming from excitement like a small kid at Christmas," said skywatcher Jens Buchmann, who watched the northern lights dance across the sky from Kiruna, Sweden.
The northern lights show was sparked by an intense solar flare that erupted from the sun late Sunday (Jan. 22). The flare unleashed a wave of charged particles, triggering the strongest solar radiation storm since 2005, NASA scientists said, adding that some minor satellite interference was possible.
Buchmann and a friend booked a last-minute flight from Stockholm to Kiruna after hearing about the solar storm. They braved freezing temperatures of about minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 30 degrees Celsius) in order to see the aurora display, moving inside only to thaw off before heading out again. Their photos show wispy green ribbons of energy rippling across the sky over a snow-covered landscape. [See video and photos of the solar storm's northern lights]
"After the main show was over I just continued lying in the snow for nearly two hours and watched the fainter, but fast-pulsating auroras that were everywhere," Buchmann told SPACE.com in an email. "All faint stars just lost their meaning behind these auroras."?
The auroras from the solar flare could potentially be seen at latitudes as low as Maine or Montana, they added.
"The trip was totally worth it!" Buchmann said.
Delta Airlines officials said the commercial airline rerouted some planes from polar routes as a precaution to avoid any interference from the solar storm, according to press reports.
Buchmann and his friend were not the only skywatchers to make a special trip to see the auroras.
In Muonio, Lapland in Finland, skywatcher and photographer Antii Pietk?nen made a special snowmobile ride with companion Thomas to try to catch the display. They posted one photo to the skywatching website Spaceweather.com, which received several others from different observers.
"The show started slowly and after 15 [minutes] the landscape was green!" Pietk?nen told Spaceweather.com. "This was the first time for Thomas to see the northern lights, and he was very happy."
Photographer Chad Blakely in Lapland, Sweden recorded an eye-popping time-lapse video of the northern lights display, showing auroras swirling over a snowy meadow while observers alternate between snapping photos and staying warm at a campfire.
A streaming camera at the Aurora Sky Station in Sweden's Abisko National Park, an observing post for aurora hunters, beamed real-time photos of the northern light show every few minutes. The images revealed stunning hues of red and green across the northern night sky.
Auroras are created when charged particles from the sun interact with Earth's upper atmosphere, causing an energy release that can be seen as lights. Because the charged solar particles are typically funneled to Earth's poles by the planet's magnetic field, the most dazzling displays occur in the far north and south. The so-called northern lights are known as the aurora borealis, while their southern counterpart is dubbed the aurora australis.
Tuesday's aurora display was sparked by a powerful solar flare on Sunday night that triggered an eruption of solar plasma, called a coronal mass ejection. The flare was classified as an M9-class solar flare, a moderate ? but still powerful ? sun storm. This eruption flung charged particles out into space, which delivered a glancing blow to Earth.
The sun storm is only the latest solar weather to ignite dazzling auroras on Earth. A series of flares late last week made for a great weekend northern lights show for some observers, even as the sun was unleashing its latest solar tempest.
The sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year solar cycle, which is called Solar Cycle 24. Solar activity is expected to peak in 2013.
You can follow Tariq Malik on Twitter?@tariqjmalik.?Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.
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JUNEAU, Alaska ? A new report shows average annual employment on Alaska's North Slope at a 20-year high in 2010.
The report, commissioned by the Senate Finance Committee, looks at North Slope employment trends and work activity, and at nonresident workers in Alaska's oil and gas industry. It was conducted by the McDowell Group, and released this week.
It comes amid debate on whether Alaska should change its oil tax regime to boost oil production and investment. The report doesn't address any possible impact that the tax, passed in 2007, has had on hiring.
It shows average annual North Slope employment of 8,445 in 2010, the most recent full-year payroll data.
Job growth has occurred amid declining production. The report says high oil prices and investment in existing infrastructure are the main drivers.
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