Nov
29

Powerball's $580-million jackpot inspires wishes, dreamers

Don't bother telling Wednesday night's Powerball winners  that a lottery is just a tax on those who flunked math....
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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Nov. 29

Our good friends at Google run a daily puzzle challenge and asked us to help get them out to the geeky masses. Each day’s puzzle will task your googling skills a little more, leading you to Google mastery. Each morning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you’ll see a new puzzle posted here.SPOILER WARNING:We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer....
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X Factor judge Louis Walsh settles defamation case

DUBLIN (Reuters) – Television personality and pop music producer Louis Walsh on Wednesday settled a 500,000 euro ($ 640,000) defamation case against News Group Newspapers in Ireland.The deal came after Walsh, best known for his role as a judge on the hit television show “The X Factor”, sued the group for publishing a story last year based on false allegations that he had groped a man in a Dublin night...
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Recipes for Health: Roasted Sweet Potato and Crispy Kale Salad — Recipes for Health

Andrew Scrivani for The New York TimesThis is a great salad to make with leftover roasted sweet potatoes but you can also roast them just to make the salad. The trick to succeeding with crispy kale is to make sure it is completely dry before you put it in the oven. If you are using bunched kale I recommend that you stem and wash it, spin it twice in a salad spinner, then set the leaves in single layers...
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The Next War: In Federal Budget Cutting, F-35 Fighter Jet Is at Risk

Luke Sharrett for The New York TimesVice Adm. David Venlet was named to lead the Joint Strike Fighter program in 2010 after problems had left it behind schedule and over budget. LEXINGTON PARK, Md. — The Marine version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, already more than a decade in the making, was facing a crucial question: Could the jet, which can soar well past the speed of sound, land at sea like...
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Nov
28

27 indicted in Mexican Mafia drug case in Ventura County

From a prison cell outside California, an inmate known as "Evil" was making himself known on Ventura County's streets.Martin...
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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Nov. 28

Our good friends at Google run a daily puzzle challenge and asked us to help get them out to the geeky masses. Each day’s puzzle will task your googling skills a little more, leading you to Google mastery. Each morning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you’ll see a new puzzle posted here.SPOILER WARNING:We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer....
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In elf ears and wizard hats, ‘Hobbit’ fans rejoice

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Wearing elf ears and wizard hats, sitting atop their dad’s shoulders or peering from balconies, tens of thousands of New Zealanders watched their favorite “Hobbit” actors walk the red carpet Wednesday at the film trilogy’s hometown premiere.An Air New Zealand plane freshly painted with “Hobbit” characters flew low over Wellington’s Embassy Theatre, eliciting roars of...
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Recipes for Health: Spinach and Turkey Salad — Recipes for Health

Andrew Scrivani for The New York TimesTurkey or chicken transforms this classic spinach salad (minus the bacon) into a light main dish, welcome after Thanksgiving and before the rest of the holiday season feasting begins. 2 cups (12 ounces) shredded cooked turkey, chicken breast or chicken breast tenders 1 6-ounce bag baby spinach 6 white or cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced...
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Facebook Gift Store Urges Users to Shop While They Share

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook is already privy to its users’ e-mail addresses, wedding pictures and political beliefs. Now the company is nudging them to share a bit more: credit card numbers and offline addresses. James Best Jr./The New York TimesFacebook Gifts is a service that prompts users to buy things for friends on the social network. Sharing Even MoreWhat...
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Nov
27

Man suspected of plotting to join Al Qaeda is held without bail

A Riverside man arrested on suspicion of plotting to join Al Qaeda with three other suspects was ordered Monday to be held without...
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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Nov. 27

Our good friends at Google run a daily puzzle challenge and asked us to help get them out to the geeky masses. Each day’s puzzle will task your googling skills a little more, leading you to Google mastery. Each morning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you’ll see a new puzzle posted here.SPOILER WARNING:We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer....
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Halle Berry’s ex claims he was victim in Thanksgiving brawl

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Halle Berry‘s ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry on Monday won a restraining order against the actress’s current lover, as the two men fought in the Los Angeles courts over who started their Thanksgiving Day brawl.Releasing photos of himself with a black eye and cuts to his face, Aubry claimed that he was the victim in the November 22 punch-up with Berry’s fiancé, French actor Olivier...
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Recipes for Health: Quinoa Salad With Avocado and Kalamata Olives — Recipes for Health

Andrew Scrivani for The New York TimesThis is inspired by a salad I recently enjoyed in a small vegetarian restaurant called Siggy’s on Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights. They called it a quinoa Greek salad, but really the only thing that was Greek about it was the kalamata olives. No matter, it was still delicious. 3/4 cup quinoa 1 1/4 cups water Salt to taste 1 small...
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Nov
26

Survey finds lots of unused vacation time

As an information technology supervisor at Pitzer College in Claremont, Dennis Crowley had so much work to do last year that...
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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Nov. 26

Our good friends at Google run a daily puzzle challenge and asked us to help get them out to the geeky masses. Each day’s puzzle will task your googling skills a little more, leading you to Google mastery. Each morning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you’ll see a new puzzle posted here.SPOILER WARNING:We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer....
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Jose Luis Borau, Spanish Filmmaker, dies at 83

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Influential Spanish filmmaker Jose Luis Borau died Friday in Madrid, the Spanish Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences said. He was 83.Borau had reportedly been suffering from throat cancer.Though Borau, who was born in Zaragoza in 1929, only made a handful of films since his 1960 directorial debut “En el Rio,” his talents were widely respected, and he received a...
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Agency Investigates Deaths and Injuries Associated With Bed Rails

Thomas Patterson for The New York TimesGloria Black’s mother died in her bed at a care facility. In November 2006, when Clara Marshall began suffering from the effects of dementia, her family moved her into the Waterford at Fairway Village, an assisted living home in Vancouver, Wash. The facility offered round-the-clock care for Ms. Marshall, who had wandered away from home several times. Her husband...
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Oprah Winfrey Seeks a Younger Audience to Bolster a Flagging Empire

Stephanie Diani for The New York TimesOprah Winfrey spoke last month at a convention held by O, The Oprah Magazine, in Los Angeles. LOS ANGELES — It’s not easy to find a fresh way to photograph Oprah Winfrey. That’s why the editors of O, The Oprah Magazine, recently tried to create a shot that recalled the glory days of Ms. Winfrey’s syndicated talk show. They arranged to photograph her for...
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Nov
25

Solar power plants burden the counties that host them

When it comes to attracting business to California's eastern deserts, Inyo County is none too choosy.Since the 19th century...
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A Google-a-Day Puzzle for Nov. 25

Our good friends at Google run a daily puzzle challenge and asked us to help get them out to the geeky masses. Each day’s puzzle will task your googling skills a little more, leading you to Google mastery. Each morning at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time you’ll see a new puzzle posted here.SPOILER WARNING:We leave the comments on so people can work together to find the answer....
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“Downton Abbey” Renewed for fourth Season by ITV

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – “Downton Abbey” fans have something to be thankful for.British network ITV has commissioned a fourth season of the hit historical drama, the network said Friday. The new season will consist of eight new episodes to premiere in fall 2013, with an extended episode for Christmas 2013. As with previous seasons, the opening and closing episodes will be feature-length.“Downton...
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M.I.T. Lab Hatches Ideas, and Companies, by the Dozens

HOW do you take particles in a test tube, or components in a tiny chip, and turn them into a $100 million company? Dr. Robert Langer, 64, knows how. Since the 1980s, his Langer Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has spun out companies whose products treat cancer, diabetes, heart disease and schizophrenia, among other diseases, and even thicken hair. The Langer Lab is...
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Lobbying, a Windfall and a Leader’s Family

Gilles Sabrie for The New York TimesPing An, one of China’s largest financial services companies, is building a 115-story office tower in Shenzhen. The company is a $50 billion powerhouse now worth more than A.I.G., MetLife or Prudential. SHENZHEN, China — The head of a financially troubled insurer was pushing Chinese officials to relax rules that required breaking up the company in the aftermath...
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