Merle Haggard has pneumonia, cancels Jan. dates,

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2007 photo, singer Merle Haggard is photographed at his ranch at Palo Cedro, Calif., A concert promoter says country music legend Merle Haggard was hospitalized with an undisclosed illness this week in central Georgia. Promoter Mike Blackwell tells The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that a Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, concert in Columbus, Ga., has been canceled. He said the 74-year-old Haggard was hospitalized in Macon because of an illness. Tour manager Frank Mull says that Tuesday night's show at the Macon City Auditorium was abruptly canceled, seven minutes before it was to start. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 2007 photo, singer Merle Haggard is photographed at his ranch at Palo Cedro, Calif., A concert promoter says country music legend Merle Haggard was hospitalized with an undisclosed illness this week in central Georgia. Promoter Mike Blackwell tells The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer that a Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, concert in Columbus, Ga., has been canceled. He said the 74-year-old Haggard was hospitalized in Macon because of an illness. Tour manager Frank Mull says that Tuesday night's show at the Macon City Auditorium was abruptly canceled, seven minutes before it was to start. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

MACON, Ga. (AP) ? Country music legend Merle Haggard is being treated for pneumonia in a Georgia hospital and has had to cancel the rest of his January concert dates.

Publicist Tresa Redburn said she spoke to Haggard by phone Wednesday in his Macon hospital room.

The 74-year-old Haggard was taken to the hospital Tuesday after canceling a Macon show at short notice. He had at least four more dates scheduled for the rest of this month, from Kentucky to Oklahoma.

Tour manager Frank Mull tells The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (http://bit.ly/yPAGQW ) that Haggard has been sick since leaving his home in northern California last week.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-18-People-Merle%20Haggard/id-3d3b183c37a6481296238fd01c54223c

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500 million-year-old 'tulip' in a class by itself

Our annual Weird Science Awards pay tribute to the strangest scientific tales of the past year, and you just know the 2012 edition had to be a doozy. While we're waiting for the Maya apocalypse ? and we may be waiting a long, long time ? let's count down the top 10 Weird Science stories, as determined by an ironically unscientific Live Poll.

No. 10 is the discovery that having a painful need to urinate can impair your judgment. "When people reach a point when they are in so much pain they just can't stand it anymore, it was like being drunk," says Brown University neurologist Peter Snyder. "The ability to hold information was really impaired." To say nothing of the ability to hold water.

The research won Snyder and his colleagues a share in one of 2011's Ig Nobel Prizes, which honor science that makes you laugh, and then makes you think. Watch Snyder explain the study in this YouTube video, then click the "Next" button for more laugh-provoking science ? or scroll quickly all the way down to the bottom if you have a painful need to go.

? Alan Boyle, msnbc.com science editor

9. Flies hooked on meth ... and sugar

When researchers noticed that meth addicts often take in large amounts of sugary drinks, they decided to do a little experiment: First, they got fruit flies hooked on methamphetamine. Then the scientists fed some of the flies a diet heavy on trehalose, an insect blood sugar. They found that the sugar-gobbling flies outlived the flies who didn't get the sweet stuff. Maybe sugar metabolism plays a role in meth's toxic effects. "Hopefully, some of these insights might lead to opportunities to deal with the problems associated with the drug," says University of Illinois toxicologist Barry Pittendrigh. But more research is required to trace the effects on mammals. In the meantime, watch out for those meth-head fruit flies.

8. Monster pictures make a splash

2011 saw a double-header (so to speak) in the marine-monster category. The most popular Loch Ness monster-like picture came from Alaska, where Andy Hillstrand of the "Deadliest Catch" TV show captured the footage for the Discovery Channel. Some might suggest that the creature is an eel, or a fish, or even a trick of light on the water. Not Hillstrand. "I've never seen anything like it," he told Discovery News. He suspects that the picture shows a Cadborosaurus, a legendary beast that has long been said to frequent Alaska's waters. Meanwhile, another picture purporting to show a creature that's been nicknamed "Bownessie" made waves in England.

7. Glowing dog has an on-off switch

In past years, our Weird Science Award winners have included glow-in-the-dark kitties and glow-in-the-dark puppies. How could scientists possibly top that? Would you believe a dog with a gene that turns the fluorescence under UV light on or off, depending on whether a particular drug is added to its food? That's exactly the kind of dog that South Korean scientists produced in 2011. Why, you ask? Well, the ultimate aim of these glow-in-the-dark exercises is to splice in genes that can help treat diseases ? and having an on-off switch would give physicians more control over the treatment. That feat would make other researchers turn green ... with envy.

6. Just this once, Samoa skips a Friday

For more than a century, Samoa was on one side of the International Date Line, and Australia and New Zealand were on the other. When the Samoans were at Sunday church, the Aussies were starting their business week on Monday. And when Samoa was trying to finish up its own business week, the Kiwis were settling into the weekend. To remedy that, the Samoans switched over to the Australia-New Zealand side in 2011, going directly from Thursday, Dec. 29, to Saturday, Dec. 31. To top it all off, workers were paid for the non-existent Friday. If only we could all get to the weekend that quickly ... and spend it on a tropical island.

5. Pole shift forces airport makeover

Might as well face reality: Shift happens. Earth's shifting magnetic poles are not a sign of the apocalypse. They're just a fact of life on our dynamic planet. We do have to cope to the shift that life throws at us, though. For example, in early 2011, Tampa's airport had to repaint the numbers on its runways to reflect their shifting orientation with respect to magnetic north. The good news is that even dramatic changes in the poles' position would have no effect on life on Earth, despite what the doomsday prophets say.

4. Corpse-dissolving machine invented

"Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." Does that old saying apply to building a better corpse-dissolving machine as well? Resomation Ltd. hopes so. The Scottish company installed its machine in a St. Petersburg, Fla., funeral home and hopes the system will be legalized in other jurisdictions. The alkaline hydrolysis unit liquefies a body's soft tissues and flushes the sterile liquid into the municipal water system. The bones and other hard parts are left behind to be crushed. Company founder Sandy Sullivan says the machine lets people express their environmental concerns "in a very positive and I think personal way." Sounds good, as long as they don't put a Soylent Green factory next door.

3. Preacher gets doomsday wrong ... twice!

First, figure out exactly when Noah's Ark was floated by the Flood, and exactly when Jesus was crucified. Then come up with an arcane biblical numerology to add 7,000 years to the former, and 722,500 days to the latter. That was California preacher Harold Camping's formula for determining that May 21 was the date for the beginning of an apocalyptic Rapture. When May 21 didn't work out, he said Oct. 21 was the fallback date for the end of the world. And when that didn't work out ... well, now Camping says he's rethinking this whole doomsday business. But what about the 2012 apocalypse? That's too kooky, even for Camping. "Mr. Camping does not believe the Mayan calendar holds any significance at all," a spokeswoman says. Camping's mathematical acumen earned him a share in one of 2011's Ig Nobel Prizes.

2. 'Aflockalypse' is for the birds

The year 2011 was rung in with a series of reports about mass die-offs, involving blackbirds (the so-called "Aflockalypse" in Arkansas), fish, crabs and other creatures. Some wondered whether a global environmental crisis was in the offing, but experts said the Aflockalypse was simply a case of people connecting the dots between unrelated events, facilitated by global communication systems. Die-offs can happen for a variety of reasons. The Arkansas blackbird deaths, for example, took place after the birds were spooked by New Year's Eve fireworks. And wouldn't you know it? The Aflockalypse happened again to kick off 2012.

1. Fungus turns ants into zombies

If books like "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" and video games like "Resident Evil" can generate billions of dollars in sales, it shouldn't be surprising that the top Weird Science honors go to a story about zombie ants being taken over by a brain-controlling fungus. The fungus apparently uses temperature cues to decide when to have the ant clamp down on a cool leaf with a death grip. Pennsylvania State University's David Hughes speculates that the fungus does its thing to ensure it "has a long cool night ahead of it, during which time it can literally burst out of the ant's head to begin the growth of the spore-releasing stalk." It's the perfect plot for a horror movie directed by one mean mother: Mother Nature.

Honorable (?) mention

Other weird tales that almost made the top 10:

Does 13th zodiac sign mean your horoscope is wrong?
Was the Shroud of Turin created in a blinding flash?
Science reveals how to win at 'Rock, Paper, Scissors'

Previous Weird Science winners:

Cricket testicles and 2011's other Weirdies
Kinky fruit bats and other Weirdies from 2010
2,700-year-old marijuana and other 2009 Weirdies
Glow-in-the-dark kitties and other Weirdies from 2008

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46048230/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Minn. couple among those missing from cruise

MINNEAPOLIS?? A Minnesota couple missing after a cruise ship capsized off the west coast of Italy are devout Catholics who spend part of almost every day at church, where he teaches religious classes and she hands out baked goods and other sweet treats to parishioners.

Church members described the kindness and good deeds of Jerry and Barbara Heil on Monday as a search continued along the Italian coast. The Heils are among more than two dozen people still missing after the Costa Concordia hit a reef and ran aground near Tuscany on Friday night.

Six people have been confirmed dead, and prosecutors are investigating the ship's captain for manslaughter, abandoning ship and causing a shipwreck. The ship's owner said the captain, Francesco Schettino, caused the crash by deviating from the authorized course.

Diane Vorland, who is confined to a wheelchair, told The Associated Press that Jerry Heil, 69, came to her house every Thursday for the past three years to administer her communion and recite the rosary. The trip, she said, "was a big deal for them."

"On the Thursday before he left, he said, 'The next time you see me I'll have been to Rome,'" Vorland said.

Captain?s favor to crew to blame for cruise disaster?

Other members of Church of St. Pius X in White Bear Lake described the Heils as quiet, kind people deeply involved in the congregation. They joined the church in 1973, and their four children attended its elementary and middle school, said Larry Erickson, the parish administrator.

Jerry Heil taught religious education classes for everyone from children to senior citizens. Dennis Hardy, who attended one of his classes, said Barbara Heil, 70, often accompanied her husband, bringing baked goods she gave to class members.

"Both of them are at the church, I'd say, pretty much every day," Erickson said.

The Heils live in White Bear Lake, a suburb of about 25,000 people 15 miles outside St. Paul. The community sits between two large lakes, White Bear and Bald Eagle, which are encircled by opulent homes and historic cottages dating to the early 1900s when the area was a weekend destination for wealthy St. Paul residents. Today, the city retains vestiges of a resort aura but also is home to middle- and working-class neighborhoods.

Jerry Heil retired from a job at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. While reserved, he possesses a dry sense of humor, Vorland said. After communion and prayers, she said, he would engage her in deep and thoughtful conversations about history or church teachings.

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"Every Christmas he and his wife would come and give me some fudge," she said. "They're just solid people."

Jerry Heil also is a longtime member of the congregation's Knights of Columbus chapter. Duane Jabas, a former grand knight, called him a jack-of-all-trades who helped plan and run nearly every chapter function for years. "You always knew every detail would be covered if Jerry was involved," Jabas said.

Shawn Gutoski, who works at St. Pius X, said the Heils were the type of people every church needs to function. "They're not people that want to draw attention to themselves, but you knew if they were involved that it would get done," Gutowski said.

The church's music director announced before Sunday Mass that the Heils were missing after the shipwreck.

"A lot of people gasped," said Hardy, who was in attendance. "I know there are a lot of prayers going over to Italy right now."

Hardy, who recently lost his driver's license, said Jerry Heil offered to drive him around on errands.

Several family members did not respond to phone calls from the AP on Sunday and Monday. A family friend outside the home of the couple's son, Aaron Heil, gave the AP a statement from the family.

"We are waiting patiently for the rescuers to safely try to find our parents," it said. "Our prayers and thoughts are with our parents; those others that are still missing and their families; and the brave rescuers. We are working closely with the U.S. Embassy in Italy and are confident that everything is being done to find our parents."

Sarah Heil, their daughter, told WBBM radio in Chicago that her parents had been looking forward to their 16-day vacation.

"They raised four kids and sent them all to private school, elementary to college, so they never had any money," Sarah Heil said. "So when they retired, they went traveling. And this was to be a big deal ? a 16-day trip. They were really excited about it."

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46013950/ns/us_news-life/

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Parties pick 1st Islamist Egypt parliament speaker

Saad el-Katatni, secretary general for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, right, attends a press conference in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Jan. 16, 2012. El-Katatni, secretary general of the influential Muslim Brotherhood political arm, has been selected Monday by a number of Islamist and liberal parties to hold the post when the parliament convenes on Jan. 23. (AP Photo/Mohammed Abu Zaid)

Saad el-Katatni, secretary general for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, right, attends a press conference in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Jan. 16, 2012. El-Katatni, secretary general of the influential Muslim Brotherhood political arm, has been selected Monday by a number of Islamist and liberal parties to hold the post when the parliament convenes on Jan. 23. (AP Photo/Mohammed Abu Zaid)

CAIRO (AP) ? Top parties in Egypt's incoming parliament have agreed to select an Islamist politician as house speaker for the first time in decades, party leaders said Monday.

The Muslim Brotherhood, the big winner in the first election since the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak last February, said it joined several other parties in backing Saad el-Katatni, the secretary-general of the Brotherhood's own party.

The main function of the new parliament is to pick a 100-person commission to draw up a new constitution for Egypt, while preparations take place for presidential elections scheduled for June.

The selection of el-Katatni showed the power of the Islamists to influence that process.

The Muslim Brotherhood-led alliance won more than 45 percent of the 498 parliament seats. A more radical Islamist movement won another 25 percent. The two are not seen likely to join forces on many issues because of their religious differences.

On Monday, Brotherhood leaders met with heads of other parties to try to reach wide agreement over the choice of a speaker.

Mohammed Morsi, the Brotherhood party's leader, said the meeting was meant to give assurances that there would be no "exclusions, no polarization and no conflict. Instead there will be national consensus" in parliament.

Mohammed Abouel Ghar, head of secular Egyptian Social Democratic Party, which emerged from the popular uprising, said, "We agreed to have consensus on selection of the heads of subcommittees. Even the small parties and those with only one seat will not be excluded."

Parties like his that represent reformers and activists at the center of the movement that toppled Mubarak failed to parlay that success into voting strength, splitting into several factions and winning less than a quarter of the seats in parliament.

Besides choosing the constitutional commission, the powers of the incoming parliament are limited.

The parliament, set to convene Jan. 23, cannot form a government or request a vote of no confidence, according to an interim charter that transferred Mubarak's powers to the head of the ruling military council.

On Monday, the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch group urged the new parliament to urgently reform laws used to curb freedoms and repress rights.

The group said that the parliament's top priority should be to revise laws that limit association and assembly, allow indefinite detention without charge and shield the police force from accountability.

"Egypt's stalled transition can be revived only if the new parliament dismantles Egypt's repressive legal framework, the toolbox the government has relied on for decades to silence journalists, punish political opponents, and stifle civil society," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"Egypt's new political parties need to live up to the promises of the Egyptian uprising by ensuring that no government can ever again trample on the rights of the Egyptian people," she said.

According to Human Rights Watch, the ruling military has relied on existing laws to arrest protesters and journalists and to try more than 12,000 civilians before military courts.

___

Associated Press writer Hadeel Al-Shalchi contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-16-ML-Egypt/id-c7ecdddd89424483a291c8da66d5a1a9

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Source: http://www.triaktilinedeepwrinklefiller.com/automotive-servicing-guidelines-be-sure-that-know/

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T-Rob, Taylor lead No. 7 Kansas over No. 3 Baylor (AP)

LAWRENCE, Kan. ? Baylor sauntered into Allen Fieldhouse on Monday night with a No. 3 ranking, a perfect record and all the swagger that comes with the best start in school history.

The Bears left like so many other teams with designs on knocking the Jayhawks from their Big 12 perch: with a humbling defeat.

Thomas Robinson had 27 points and 14 rebounds, Tyshawn Taylor matched a career-high with 28 points and the seventh-ranked Jayhawks cruised to a 92-74 victory, proving once more that the road to a conference championship goes through Kansas.

"Start with their leadership. Thomas Robinson showed why he's a player of the year candidate. Tyshawn Taylor was outstanding," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "Early on we didn't have some success in the paint, got away from it. From there we couldn't stop them all night long."

It was the first loss for Baylor in football or men's and women's basketball since Oct. 29 ? a span of 40 games. It also ruined the longest winning streak in school history.

"Their fans got into the game," said Perry Jones III, who had 18 points to lead Baylor. "We still tried to stay together and not let the noise affect us."

Quincy Miller added 17 points, Quincy Acy had 14 and Pierre Jackson had 11 points and 11 assists, but the long and lean Bears were dominated inside and had no answer for the combination of Robinson and Taylor, one of the best inside-outside tandems in the nation.

Robinson overpowered the Baylor front line with an array of rim-rattling dunks and short-range jumpers, while Taylor hit four 3-pointers and doled out six assists.

The outcome left No. 1 Syracuse and No. 12 Murray State as the only undefeated teams in Division I.

"If you let it affect you and affect you next game, you've got no chance," Drew said. "They did what they had to do. They defended the home court."

Travis Releford and Elijah Johnson added 11 points each for the Jayhawks (15-3, 5-0), who won their 16th straight game at Allen Fieldhouse and 10th in a row at home over the Bears.

Kansas is 17-2 against them all-time.

Facing its fourth top-10 opponent of the season, the veteran Jayhawks swarmed the younger Bears with pressure from the opening tip, making life miserable on both ends of the court.

Robinson provided the early boost, scoring eight of his 12 first-half points in the opening 6-plus minutes. The run included a dazzling one-handed dunk off an alley-oop feed from Taylor that set Twitter ablaze and generated a roar inside Allen Fieldhouse that could be heard in Kansas City.

"He pressed the up button and he went and got it," Taylor said with a grin.

The Bears answered the first salvo with a 16-5 run of their own.

Jones started it with a jumper, and Gary Franklin curled in a 3-pointer for his only points of the game. By the time Jackson knocked down another 3 and Acy added a basket inside, Baylor had pulled ahead 27-22 and Self asked for a timeout.

It sure seemed to settle down the Jayhawks.

Robinson scored on a nifty spin move inside and Jeff Withey added two free throws to start a 17-2 run to end the half. Taylor scored 11 of the final 13 points, including a 3 from the top of the key with Jackson staring him down in the closing seconds to make it 39-29.

"It's going to come down to the best players on each team making plays. That's what happened," Taylor said. "We came out in attack mode, and kept it on all game."

Jackson hit a 3-pointer to trim the lead to 39-32 in the opening minute of the second half, and Brady Heslip added another 3 a couple of minutes later to make it 43-37 with 17:32 to go.

That was as close as Baylor got.

Kansas scored on its next seven possessions, another dunk by Robinson pushing the lead to 59-42 with 13:04 left. The lead swelled to 19 when Taylor scored on an acrobatic scooping layup, missed the ensuing foul shot, and then hit a 3-pointer from the wing after Kansas got the offensive rebound.

Robinson's basket with 6:54 left made it a 20-point game.

"We missed some jump shots they got some run-outs, we didn't get back. They do such a good job in transition in this building," Drew said. "They feed off the atmosphere."

By the time Robinson checked out with just over a minute to go, the crowd that had jammed the Jayhawks' historic field house to the rafters ? and generated crowd noise registering at 114 decibels at the tip ? was on their feet and giving him a standing ovation.

It was the first time an unbeaten team had come to Kansas during Big 12 play. The last time it happened with a current league member was on Jan. 21, 1986, when Oklahoma came into the game 17-0.

Just like Baylor, the Sooners went home 17-1.

"Early on they were good, right now they're even better," Drew said, "and I think the nation saw how tough they are. But that's what's great about this league. Night in and night out, you're going to face good teams, and if you don't play well and they play well, you've got no chance."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_on_sp_co_ga_su/bkc_t25_baylor

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Wahlberg says he wants to meet reputed mob boss (AP)

BOSTON ? Mark Wahlberg says he's considering a jailhouse meeting with James "Whitey" Bulger, but victim's relatives are criticizing the actor's interest in the reputed former mob boss.

Bulger has reached out to Wahlberg, the actor told Boston's WAAF-FM radio Friday, and he speculated Bulger wants to give him rights to his story.

"He wants me to come down and visit him. Maybe he'll give me the exclusive rights to tell his story, `cause he knows, you know, we can do it better than anybody else," Wahlberg said.

Wahlberg grew up in South Boston, also Bulger's home when he ran a local gang in the `70s, `80s and `90s while working as an FBI informant. Bulger, 82, is accused of participating in 19 murders before fleeing in 1995, allegedly after his FBI handler tipped him that an indictment was coming. He was caught in California last year after 16 years on the run.

Wahlberg said his "heart goes out" to loved ones of Bulger's victims, but the story has tremendous potential.

"If there's a story to be told there, and, you know, we can do it in the way we want in the way that we best see fit, then, you know, then it's certainly something that we would explore," he said.

Patricia Donahue, whose husband, Michael Donahue, was allegedly killed by Bulger during a hit on another man, said Saturday that's there nothing she can do to stop someone from making a movie. But, she said, she prays the filmmakers don't make Bulger a hero and "will portray him as he really is, the murderer that he is."

Donahue said she doubted Bulger would be honest with Wahlberg.

"The government can't get the truth out of him, nobody seems to be able to get the truth out of him, so why is he gonna to pour his heart out to Markie Wahlberg?" Donahue said.

But Wahlberg's local roots could help him sort through the lies, she added.

"He has a pretty good idea of who's who in this whole episode," she said.

Steven Davis, whose sister, Deborah Davis, was allegedly strangled by Bulger, told the Boston Herald that Bulger ruined "my whole family" and shouldn't be glamorized.

"I have a lot of respect for Mark (Wahlberg). I would hope that he would reach out to us, too," he said.

A Massachusetts legislator, Sen. Stephen Brewer, has proposed a bill that allows only Bulger's victims to profit from his story.

Bulger is awaiting trial. A federal prosecutor said Wednesday at a status conference that he believes Bulger is trying to "manipulate the system" so he's never brought to trial for his role in the murders.

Bulger's lawyer said the volume of evidence he has received from prosecutors is "enormous" and he and other lawyers need more time to go through it, and noted that it generally takes 18-30 months for a murder case to go to trial in Massachusetts.

Another status conference in the case is scheduled for next month.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120114/ap_en_mo/us_whitey_bulger_arrested

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