Witness: Jackson doctor caused singer's death (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A medical expert testified Wednesday that a physician's repeated and flagrant violations of the standard of care involving a powerful anesthetic led to the death of Michael Jackson.

Dr. Steven Shafer told jurors the lack of proper medical equipment and the absence of notes and medical records by Dr. Conrad Murray, along with a breakdown of the patient-doctor relationship were factors in the death.

Murray was acting more like Jackson's employee than a physician who should have rejected the singer's requests for the anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid, Shafer said.

"Saying yes is not what doctors do," he testified. "A competent doctor would know you do not do this."

The Columbia University professor and researcher gave jurors a crash course on propofol, the powerful anesthetic used in hospital settings that has been cited as Jackson's cause of death.

A video shown to jurors detailed numerous safety measures that were not employed by Murray when he administered the drug to Jackson as a sleep aid at the singer's home, according to testimony.

"The worst disasters occur in sedation and they occur when people cut corners," Shafer said. In Jackson's case, "virtually none of the safeguards were in place," he added.

Shafer is expected to be the last prosecution witness in the involuntary manslaughter case against Murray.

He said the fact that Murray was on his cell phone in the hours before Jackson's death was a setup for disaster.

"A patient who is about to die does not look all that different from a patient who is OK," Shafer said, adding that doctors cannot multitask and properly monitor a patient who is sedated.

Shafer, who wrote the package insert that guides doctors in the use of the anesthetic, lectured the panel as if they were in a classroom. He narrated while the silent video took jurors into an operating room to see the specialized equipment and procedures.

The researcher told jurors that it appeared Murray intended to give Jackson large doses of propofol on a nightly basis. He said records showed Murray purchased 130 100ml vials of propofol in the nearly three months before Jackson's death.

Shafer said that is "an extraordinary amount to purchase to administer to a single individual."

He also told jurors that keeping records is essentially.

While narrating the video, Shafer noted the doctor in the footage was taking copious notes.

"Moment by moment, the anesthesiologist writes down everything that happens, as diligently as you are doing here," he said as jurors scribbled in notebooks.

He said the lack of record-keeping was an unconscionable violation of Jackson's rights, especially if something went wrong.

"He has a right to know what was done to him," Shafer said. "With no medical record, the family has been denied that right."

Testimony has shown that Murray took no notes on his treatment of Jackson and didn't record his vital signs on June 25, 2009, the day Jackson died.

"The record is not just some static document," Shafer said. "It's fundamental to the care that is given."

He also said Jackson should have signed a written informed consent form to show he knew the danger of his treatment.

"Verbal informed consent is not recognized," he said. "It does not exist."

Shafer said he was testifying for the prosecution without a fee because he wants to restore public confidence in doctors who use propofol, which he called a wonderful drug when properly administered.

"I am asked every day in the operating room, `Are you going to give me the drug that killed Michael Jackson,'" Shafer said. "This is a fear that patients do not need to have."

He said he has not charged for testifying in recent years because "there's a personal thing about not profiting from a medical misadventure" and he doesn't want to be accused of compromising his integrity.

Shafer, who edits journals on anesthesia and is widely published on the subject, gave jurors a demonstration from the witness stand of how propofol is drawn into an IV bag with a large syringe. He produced a bottle of the white substance that Jackson referred to as his "milk" and showed the steps involved, which took several minutes.

The explanation by Shafer and the depiction in the video seemed to belie an early defense claim that Jackson could have administered the drug to himself. The process shown Wednesday appeared too complicated for self-administration.

The video also suggested the only place for propofol to be administered properly is in a hospital with medical personnel on hand. The video showed a printed warning if problems arise: "Call for Help!"

"You have to respond instantly," said Shafer. "If there is a problem you call for help before you treat because you're going to need it."

Murray, who has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, told police he delayed calling 911 because he was giving Jackson CPR.

Murray has acknowledged giving Jackson doses of propofol in the superstar's bedroom as a sleep aid. However, his attorneys have said the amount of propofol given to Jackson on the day he died was too small to cause his sudden death at age 50.

Chief defense lawyer Ed Chernoff objected to showing the video, but Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor said it was relevant. He ordered a few segments excised by Deputy District Attorney David Walgren before he presented it.

Murray's attorneys will begin calling witnesses Friday. They plan to call 15 people, including police detectives, character witnesses and Randy Phillips, the head of AEG Live, the promoter of Jackson's planned series of comeback concerts.

Chernoff said the defense should rest its case by Wednesday.

Murray's attorneys are also going to call one of Shafer's colleagues, Dr. Paul White, as an expert to try to counter the prosecution case.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

___

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

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111019/ap_en_mu/us_michael_jackson_doctor

meteor shower 2011 home depot center lsu the replacements fleet week scarecrow festival scarecrow festival

Australia pressured to investigate Sri Lanka envoy for war crimes (Reuters)

CANBERRA (Reuters) ? Australia's government came under pressure on Monday from rights groups and lawmakers to investigate Sri Lanka's top envoy to the country for war crimes, risking a diplomatic row ahead of a summit of leaders from 54 Commonwealth nations next week.

The International Commission of Jurists' (ICJ) Australian section has handed police direct and credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Sri Lanka Navy during the last stages of the bloody civil war against Tamil rebels in 2009, The Age newspaper said, citing unidentified sources.

Sri Lanka's Canberra high commissioner, former admiral Thisara Samarasinghe was the navy's eastern and then northern areas commander, as well as chief of staff, in the last months of the war, during which naval ships allegedly fired on civilians as they fled the conflict, the paper quoted the ICJ as saying.

"The report ... is extremely serious," said Lee Rhiannon, a senator from Australia's influential Greens Party, which backs Prime Minister Julia Gillard's minority Labor government.

"With a delegation from Sri Lanka, headed up by their President Mahinda Rajapaksa due to arrive shortly in Perth for (the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting), the Australia government can no longer refuse to take action."

Police confirmed they were evaluating the ICJ's brief, received last Friday, but said in an email that they would not comment on possible charges or action until the process was completed.

Australia's government, already wallowing in opinion polls, will be reluctant to add a diplomatic upset to domestic concerns about carbon taxes and border security already worrying voters.

Samarasinghe told The Age that all of his and the navy's actions in the final months of fighting were legal under the rules of conflict.

"There is no truth whatsoever of allegations of misconduct or illegal behaviour. The Sri Lanka Navy did not fire at civilians during any stage and all action was taken to save the lives [of] civilians from clutches of terrorists," he said.

There was no evidence Samarasinghe was directly involved in or gave orders for shelling, The Age said, but the submission before Australian police stated that military superiors held "a command responsibility" for the actions of subordinates.

Amnesty International last month said between 10,000 and 20,000 civilians were killed in the war's last months, but a national inquiry has failed so far to investigate war crimes by both the army and Tamil rebels.

Sri Lanka deflected a Western-led push for a war crimes investigation at recent U.N. Human Rights Council sessions. Western nations are still calling for an independent probe for killing thousands of civilians in May 2009.

A United Nations advisory panel's report says there is "credible evidence" that both sides committed war crimes, which the government hotly contests. Many of the allegations originated with pro-Tamil Tiger sources or propaganda outlets.

Canada has publicly criticized Sri Lanka over its human rights record, setting the scene for a confrontation at the Commonwealth summit next week, at which human rights protesters have also promised to target "war criminals and parasites" among leaders.

The Greens Party's Rhiannon said Australia should follow the lead of the British and Canadian prime ministers, who have both spoken about Sri Lankan war crimes.

Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd would not immediately comment on the accusations as they were with police, but a spokeswoman for Rudd said Australia had already asked Sri Lanka to respond to the United Nations.

While Sri Lanka is not the official agenda for the Commonwealth summit, Australia expects the issue to come up among leaders as Colombo was hosting the Commonwealth meeting in 2013, she said.

"Australia takes allegations and investigations of war crimes seriously," the spokeswoman added.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111017/india_nm/india599269

windows live president obama white house peyton manning gia kristin chenoweth fashion night out

Largest ever genetic study of liver function could point the way to new treatments

ScienceDaily (Oct. 16, 2011) ? Researchers have identified a large number of areas in the human genetic code that are involved in regulating the way in which the liver functions, in a new study of over 61,000 people, published October 14 in the journal Nature Genetics.

The work is an international collaboration led by Imperial College London and it identifies 42 genetic regions associated with liver function, 32 of which had not been linked to liver function before. The work should lead to a better understanding of precisely what goes wrong when the liver ceases to work normally. Ultimately, it could point the way to new treatments that can improve the function of the liver and help to prevent liver damage.

The liver is the body's largest internal organ and the British Liver Trust estimates that around two million people in the UK have a liver problem at any one time. The liver carries out hundreds of different tasks, including making proteins and blood clotting factors, and helping with digestion and energy release. It also purifies the blood of bacteria, and of the by-products of digestion, alcohol and drugs.

In the new genome-wide association study, the researchers compared the genetic makeup of over 61,000 people, in order to identify areas of the genetic code that were associated with liver function.

The team assessed the function of the volunteers' livers by looking at the concentrations of liver enzymes in their blood. People who have liver damage have high concentrations of these enzymes, which are associated with an increased risk of conditions such as cirrhosis, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Dr John Chambers, the lead author of the study from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: "The liver is a central hub in the body and because it has so many diverse functions, it is linked to a large number of conditions. Our new study is a big step towards understanding the role that different genes play in keeping the liver working normally, and towards identifying targets for drugs that can help prevent the liver from functioning abnormally or becoming susceptible to disease."

The researchers identified 42 areas on the genetic code associated with liver function and they then went on to pinpoint 69 associated genes within these areas. Some of the genes are known to play a part in other functions in the body, including inflammation and immunity, and metabolising glucose and carbohydrates.

Professor Jaspal S Kooner, the senior author of the study from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, said: "This massive international research effort provides in-depth new knowledge about the genes regulating the liver. We are particularly excited about the genes whose precise role we don't yet know. Investigating these further should help us to fill in the gaps in our understanding about what happens when the liver ceases to function normally and how we might be able to tackle this."

Professor Paul Elliott, also a senior author of the study, from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said: "Liver problems affect a huge number of people and they can have a devastating effect on a person's quality of life. This study represents a vast discovery that opens up multiple new avenues for research."

The research was funded by the Imperial Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre award from the National Institute for Health Research; the Medical Research Council; the Wellcome Trust; and other sources.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted (with editorial adaptations by ScienceDaily staff) from materials provided by Imperial College London, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Journal Reference:

  1. Mar?a Soler Artigas et al. Genome-wide association and large-scale follow up identifies 16 new loci influencing lung function. Nature Genetics, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/ng.941

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/JPSzt0GxHGQ/111016132053.htm

chris christie cnet tampa bay rays netanyahu apple keynote apple keynote indianapolis colts

Wheldon's death hits Schmidt hard (AP)

LAS VEGAS ? As a driver, Sam Schmidt understood the inherent danger of driving a car at more than 200 mph. Even after a practice crash left him in a wheelchair, he accepted the this-is-part-of-it perils that go along with racing.

After watching Dan Wheldon's death punctuate an emotionally draining month, Schmidt may have had enough.

Speaking Monday from his go-kart facility not far from the Las Vegas Strip, Schmidt acknowledged that Dan Wheldon's death at Las Vegas Motor Speedway had left him shaken ? maybe even enough to leave the sport he loves.

"I'd by lying if I said I wasn't ? you've got to think about it," Schmidt said. "It's one thing to take the risk yourself and my situation, it's something I was doing since I was 5 years old and I'm still here to watch my kids grow up. It's an amazing parallel between Dan's age and my age when I got hurt and the ages of his kids.

"I just don't know if I can be this tightly associated with something like that in the future."

Schmidt knows a bit about adversity.

A rising star in the IndyCar series, he became a quadriplegic following a 2001 practice-session wreck near Orlando, Fla. Instead of folding his hand, the Las Vegas transplant instead used the cards he was dealt to start his own racing team.

Sam Schmidt Motorsports has been hugely successful in Indy Lights, winning five series titles, and this season in IndyCar ? its first as a full-time team in the series ? earned the pole at the Indianapolis 500 with Alex Tagliani. Sam Schmidt Motorsports also supplied Wheldon's winning car at the Indianapolis 500 last May for Bryan Herta Autosport.

The past month, though, has been trying for Schmidt and his team.

It started on Sept. 12, when Indy Lights team manager Chris Griffis died after collapsing during a pickup basketball game.

The team got an emotional lift when Josef Newgarden drove to the team's fifth Indy Lights title at Kentucky two weeks ago, and again when Victor Carbone drove to his first race victory at Las Vegas on Saturday.

The joy didn't last a day.

Starting from the back of the field as part of a $5 million promotion, Wheldon had moved up to the middle of the pack when cars started crashing all around him. Unable to avoid what would become a 15-car melee, Wheldon got caught up and his car went sailing over another vehicle and whirled into a catch fence, where it landed cockpit-first and burst into flames.

Wheldon was airlifted to the hospital and declared dead about two hours later from what the Clark County coroner said Monday was blunt head trauma. The 33-year-old Englishman was survived by a wife and two kids under 3.

"It's been a roller coaster," Schmidt said. "We lost a team member five weeks ago and we're still kind of reeling in that. Winning the championship in Kentucky really kind of uplifted the guys' spirits over that, then come here and have this happen. It's pretty trying.

"I'm generally a positive guy, silver lining and everything, but I haven't been able to find a silver lining lately."

Wheldon had teamed up with Schmidt for the chance at a $5 million promotion being offered by IndyCar to any non-full-time driver who could win the race. Wheldon and the team did a warmup race at Kentucky, finishing 14th, and had to start at the back of the field for Sunday's race as part of the promotion.

The partnership came to a disturbing end with the crash that left Wheldon dead and Schmidt devastated.

"I still feel like I'm in a state of shock," he said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111018/ap_on_sp_au_ra_ne/car_indycar_wheldon_schmidt

asn dukan diet mark sanchez faith hill non hodgkin lymphoma lymphoma ciara

French, German disagreement endangers Greek deal (AP)

BRUSSELS ? Disagreement between France and Germany may prevent eurozone leaders from reaching a crucial deal on a second rescue package for Greece this weekend, a person familiar with the negotiations said Tuesday.

A common position of the two biggest eurozone economies is seen as a precondition for reaching agreement between all 17 countries in the currency union at a crisis summit on Sunday.

Investors around the world hope a comprehensive plan to fight the debt crisis, including final details on Greece's second bailout, will keep the debt turmoil from pushing the global economy back into recession. Signs that such a plan is proving slower to clinch caused markets to slide on Tuesday.

Germany is pushing for banks to accept cuts of 50 percent to 60 percent on their Greek bondholdings, while France is insisting that leaders should only make technical revisions to a preliminary agreement reached with private investors in July, the person said.

The person was speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.

The July deal would lead to losses of some 21 percent on Greek bondholdings, much of that from cuts in interest rates and deferred payments.

While that would take some pressure off Greece in the coming years, it would do little to reduce Greece's overall debt load, which is set to reach more than 180 percent of economic output next year if the deal goes ahead, the person said.

German officials have said in recent weeks that the eurozone needed to find a solution for Greece that makes the country able to repay its debts in the long-run.

France on the other hand has been reluctant to back bigger losses for banks, since French banks are among the biggest holders of Greek government bonds. Its position is supported by the European Commission, the EU's executive.

Under the preliminary agreement reached in July, the eurozone would give Greece an extra euro109 billion in rescue loans. About one-third of that money would go into setting up expensive collateral funds for the banks that would secure them against any further losses on the Greek debt.

But because of worsened market conditions since July, setting up those funds has become more expensive. A revision of the deal would either have to result in bringing the costs for the eurozone back down or achieve somewhat higher cuts to the debt, the person familiar with the negotiations said.

The Institute of International Finance, the big bank lobby that has been leading negotiations of the deal, has said that banks would be unlikely to voluntarily accept much bigger haircuts on bonds than the 21 percent.

Charles Dallara, the managing director of the IIF, and Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann were in Brussels Tuesday for negotiations with eurozone officials, a spokesman for the institute said in an email, without giving further details.

But the person familiar with the negotiations would not rule out that private investors may eventually agree to bigger losses.

"It's not to say that because their first reaction was cold ... they will not engage in discussions," he said.

The second rescue package for Greece is part of a broader solution to the escalating debt crisis EU leaders have promised for this weekend. It will also include a deal to maximize the impact of the euro440 billion ($600 billion) rescue fund and higher capital levels for banks to make sure they can sustain market turmoil.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to scale back expectations of the summit Tuesday, warning that the meeting was "an important step, but it is clear that further steps will follow."

The disagreement between France and Germany on the Greek rescue signifies a larger split between the two countries. France ? which finds itself increasingly under scrutiny by worried investors ? is concerned that having to help its banks suffer through Greek losses will hurt its own credit rating, while Germany seeks to limit bailout costs for its taxpayers.

Rating agency Moody's warned Tuesday that it might in the next three months start a review of France's credit worthiness, due to the country's worsened economic outlook and a growing crisis bill.

"France may face a number of challenges in the coming months ? for example, the possible need to provide additional support to other European sovereigns or to its own banking system, which could give rise to significant new liabilities for the government's balance sheet," Moody's said.

The warning came as French Finance Minister Francois Baroin said that the 2012 growth estimate of 1.5 percent was "probably too high." In an interview on France-2 television, Baroin blamed the risk of a global slowdown, which he said could be "very vast" and "severe."

__

Angela Charlton in Paris and Juergen Baetz in Berlin contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111018/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis

lightning dominica fiji fiji ruby tuesday aliens lil kim

Low birthweight infants five times more likely to have autism

Monday, October 17, 2011

Autism researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing have found a link between low birthweight and children diagnosed with autism, reporting premature infants are five times more likely to have autism than children born at normal weight.

The children, some born as small as about a pound, were followed for 21 years making this study, published in the prestigious journal Pediatrics, one of the most remarkable of its kind. The infants were born between September 1984 through July 1987 in Middlesex, Monmouth, and Ocean counties in New Jersey at birthweights from 500 to 2000 grams or a maximum of about 4.4 pounds.

"As survival of the smallest and most immature babies improves, impaired survivors represent an increasing public health challenge," wrote lead author Jennifer Pinto-Martin, MPH, PhD, director of the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities Research and Epidemiology (CADDRE) at Penn Nursing. "Emerging studies suggest that low birthweight may be a risk factor for autism spectrum disorders."

Links between low birthweight and a range of motor and cognitive problems have been well established for some time, but this is the first study that establishes that these children are also at increased risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

"Cognitive problems in these children may mask underlying autism," said Dr. Pinto-Martin. "If there is suspicion of autism or a positive screening test for ASD, parents should seek an evaluation for an ASD. Early intervention improves long-term outcome and can help these children both at school and at home."

In future studies, Penn researchers will investigate possible links between brain hemorrhage, a complication of premature birth, and autism by examining brain ultrasounds taken of these children as newborns.

The researchers, including a team at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, followed 862 children from birth to young adulthood finding that five percent of the children were diagnosed with autism, compared to one percent of the general population in what researchers called "the first study to have estimated the prevalence of ASD . . . using research validated diagnostic instruments."

###

University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews

Thanks to University of Pennsylvania for this article.

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

This press release has been viewed 46 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114352/Low_birthweight_infants_five_times_more_likely_to_have_autism

work of art iphone update iphone update blackberry outage blackberry outage seal beach ca seal beach

Syrian forces target funeral, assassinate activist (AP)

BEIRUT ? Syrian security forces trying to suppress the resilient anti-government uprising killed five people Saturday, including one person who was attending a funeral procession for a teenager shot dead in protests a day earlier, activists said.

Another of the dead was an activist for the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights who was assassinated while in hiding in a besieged eastern city, the group said.

The uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime began in mid-March amid the wave of anti-government protests in the Arab world that have toppled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Assad retaliated with a military crackdown that, according to the U.N., has killed more than 3,000 people.

The funeral targeted Saturday was for 14-year-old Ibrahim al-Shayban, one of 11 people shot dead by Syrian troops on Friday. His funeral was held in the Damascus suburb of Midan. The shooting killed one person and wounded five, said the London-based Observatory and another opposition group, the Local Coordination Committees.

An amateur video posted online showed scores of mourners at the funeral chanting, "Oh Syrian, raise your hand, we don't want Bashar." Others carried a banner that read "We will not let you down, Ibrahim. We will keep the pledge and punish those who killed you."

Although mass protests in Syria have shaken one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, the opposition has made no major gains in recent months, it holds no territory and its leadership is still fragmented.

But there have been increasing reports of heavy fighting between security forces and army defectors, particularly in the country's north and in the flashpoint areas in and around the central city of Homs, located some 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Damascus.

Troops in armored vehicles opened fire on several neighborhoods in Homs Saturday, killing three people, said Syrian-based activist Mustafa Osso and the Local Coordination Committees. The city has been the scene of intense anti-regime protests since shortly after the uprising began seven months ago.

The activist killed Saturday, Ziad Tawfiq al-Obeidi, was targeted in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour. He worked for the Observatory but had been in hiding since Syrian troops stormed the city two months ago. The group did not provide details on how he was killed.

On Saturday, Assad set up a 29-member committee to draft a new constitution, part of reforms the president promised in a failed attempt to sap the uprising of its energy. The committee will have four months to produce a new charter, the state-run news agency reported.

Assad's opponents, however, say they won't accept anything short of his departure.

On Thursday, senior officials with Assad's ruling Baath party said the committee will amend the constitution to allow for the formation of more political parties and to define presidential terms and elections. Syria has not had presidential elections in decades.

In Damascus, an opposition figure said his group is opposed to any foreign intervention in Syria, adding that dialogue is the only way out of the crisis.

Qadri Jamil, member of the Popular Front for Change and Liberation and leader of a Syrian communist party, warned during a news conference that Syria's crisis could drag on for a long time.

A statement by the front called for confidence-building measures by the government, including the release of all political detainees and an end to all acts of violence.

Protests in support of Syria's uprising have been held in several countries around the region.

On Saturday, hundreds of people in northern Iraq gathered to condemn the Syrian regime's crackdown. About 400 members of the Syrian Kurdish community took to the streets in Sulaimaniyah to call for Assad's ouster.

Kurds are a minority in Syria and face considerable government discrimination. Many have moved to the Kurdish autonomous region of northern Iraq over the years to escape persecution.

___

Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed to this report from Damascus, Syria.

___

Bassem Mroue can be reached on http://twitter.com/bmroue

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111015/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria

lymphoma cancer glenn beck cacao cacao spartacus blood and sand starz kiwi

Colson Whitehead takes on the zombie trend

Colson Whitehead's new book puts an original spin on the post-apocalyptic genre, say reviews.

Colson Whitehead said in an interview with NPR that writing a book about one of the current monster phenomena was a little different from taking on his previous novels.

Skip to next paragraph

?I did have to give myself permission because zombies were so popular,? Whitehead told NPR about taking on a horror theme that can be seen in everything from AMC?s popular TV show ?The Walking Dead? to Seth Grahame-Smith's 2009 parody ?Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,? soon to be a movie. ?But I think the idea is that if it's good, people read it. So all I could do is really salute my childhood influences and try to do the best I could in reinvigorating the genre, putting a new spin on it.?

If reviews are any indication, it?s a satisfying spin. The new book by Whitehead, author of books including "Sag Harbor" and "The Colossus of New York" and a 2002 recipient of a MacArthur grant, is titled ?Zone One? and will be released tomorrow. In Whitehead?s new novel, society collapsed when zombies (called skels in this world) took over, but now the survivors are determined to take back the city of New York. Groups called ?sweepers? are sent into Manhattan to roam the area and kill any skels they encounter; our hero Mark Spitz is one of them.

Whitehead said he was a fan of movies like ?Escape From New York? and ?Planet of the Apes? growing up and that ?Zone One? is an homage to movie depictions of a post-apocalyptic New York.

?I wanted to cut back on the Whole Foods lines and make it easier to get a cab for my main characters,? he said about his decision to destroy New York in his interview with NPR. ?If you get rid of 90 percent of the population, life gets a bit easier in the city.?

Reviews for the novel have so far been mainly positive, with many writers praising Whitehead?s fresh take on the subject matter.

?When a Macarthur Fellow takes a whack at zombie lit, you know the neighborhood has gentrified,? James Kennedy wrote in an article for the Wall Street Journal. ?But Mr. Whitehead comes by zombies honestly ? he riffed memorably on Romero's zombies in his last novel, ?Sag Harbor?? an astute and often suavely ironic explorer of race in America, Mr. Whitehead is clearly aware of the subtle racial legacy of zombie stories, but what truly drives 'Zone One' is a sincere love of the genre.?

Patrick Ness of The Guardian praised Whitehead?s character development.

?These are real, three-dimensional characters fighting for their lives, for the future.? Ness wrote of Mark Spitz and the other members of his sweeper team. ?And, what a surprise, that makes this zombie story rather affecting.?

Molly Driscoll is a Monitor contributor.

Join the Monitor's book discussion on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/oxJYw8jF9zQ/Colson-Whitehead-takes-on-the-zombie-trend

occupy chicago occupy chicago gunsmoke ron white ron white widespread panic widespread panic

You Need a Core Story for Successful Legal Marketing : Larry ...

Alex Nottingham, PILMMA, law firm marketing, legal marketingTo win new clients and build your clientele, you need a "core story," according to Alex Nottingham, a business consultant, executive coach, lawyer and author. He spoke at the PILMMA national marketing summit in Las Vegas today.

The three most dangerous trends facing personal injury lawyers.

Marketplace Clutter: in 1992 consumers received an average of 3,000 commercial messages per day. Today it's 30,000. Therefore, differentiation is a must.

Competition: 18% of attorneys are in plaintiff personal injury practices - some 240,000 lawyers -- and it's a $51 billion industry.? Media choices have skyrocketed: in the 1960s people watched on three networks but today viewers can choose from hundreds of channels. In 2004, lawyers spent $250 million on TV advertising. In 2008 it jumped to $500 million. It will soon be $1 billion, according to Nottingham.

Consolidation: 89% of law firms have fewer than 20 employees. Smaller firms are terminating employees to reduce their cost costs. With fewer hands on deck, law firms need to find a new form of marketing that involves a systematic approach.

Four Reasons why clients don't hire you.

  1. Clients don't have access to you. They can't find you on the web, their friends haven't heard of you and they haven't seen your marketing.
  2. They need to be educated about you. Potential clients are scared and need information to before making a buying decision.
  3. Negative buying criteria. Clients have a negative perception as plaintiff PI lawyers as ambulance chasers. The more lawyers can educate potential clients about the results you bring them, the more confidence they have in you.
  4. Clients don't see you as special. They see you the same as any other lawyer.

Nottingham said lawyers need a core story, which an education-based marketing system designed to systemically accelerate business growth. You will attract more buyers if you teach them something. Only about 3% of your audience is ready to buy now, and you're competing for them against the entire phone book.

A core builds trust and includes:

A stadium pitch to capture their attention. Imagine you could make a presentation in a stadium filled with every potential client you could have. "What would you say to grab people's attention and make them hire you? The typical person's attention span is only 8 seconds," he said. A bad pitch would be, "Let us tell you about how our law firm has been around for 30 years." This is self-focused and 90% of listeners will walk out. A good pitch would be, "Here are the four tricks creditors use to keep you in debt."

Wow data. Include a gripping statistic about a client problem in your story. Problems are 5 times more persuasive than pleasure, according to Nottingham. For example, the headline for your core story can be "54 million Americas are unable to work from a disability that changed their lives" or "The average person will get into 6 car accidents in their lifetime." Present the data on your website and in your ads. Get the data from the US Census Bureau, and CNN.com.

Solutions. Give them a way to solve their problem -- something practical they can put to use right away. For example, give potential clients an accident notebook to put in their car's glove box. Advise them to see a doctor even though you don't feel hurt.

Differentiation. Talk about how you are different -- for example, that you have a client hotline or that you return phone calls the same day. Set forth a case study that shows how you took a person from a terrible situation and improved their lives.

Then lawyers should deploy their core story, using newsletters, referrals, radio, TV, partnerships and the Internet. "By putting a client's pain points on your web site, you can overcome the reasons that potential clients don't buy," he said.

?

Source: http://blog.larrybodine.com/2011/10/articles/marketing/you-need-a-core-story-for-successful-legal-marketing/

the perfect storm draya michele draya michele ozzie guillen ozzie guillen kevin smith kevin smith

French presidential race: Sarkozy vs. Hollande (AP)

PARIS ? The resurgent French left, riding on popular anger at conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy and global financial markets, endorsed former Socialist Party chief Francois Hollande on Sunday as its candidate for next year's presidential elections.

Voter worries about high unemployment, spending cuts and what to do about high state debt formed the backdrop for Sunday's Socialist Party primary, and are likely to dominate the overall presidential campaign.

Hollande, a 57-year-old legislator and moderate leftist, is a low-key consensus builder who says his main selling point is that he's not the attention-grabbing Sarkozy. Hollande was the longtime partner of the Socialists' last presidential candidate, Segolene Royal.

Hollande has no grand proposals for solving the euro debt crisis, which is costing France billions and unsettling markets the world over or for awakening growth in the world's fifth-largest economy. Or for solving tensions with immigrants.

And he's little known outside France, a potential handicap for someone who wants to run a nuclear-armed nation and diplomatic power. Sarkozy's conservatives swiftly criticized his victory as shallow.

Yet opinion polls suggest Hollande could easily unseat Sarkozy, who is widely expected to seek a second five-year term in elections in April and May. Leftist voters see Hollande as their most electable candidate, as they hunger for the Socialists' first presidential victory since 1988.

With 2.3 million votes counted after Sunday's run-off voting, the Socialist Party said 56 percent of the ballots were for Hollande and 44 percent for his challenger Martine Aubry, author of France's 35-hour workweek law.

The party estimates that more than 2.7 million people voted in Sunday's run-off, open to any voters who declare loyalty to leftist values.

Early this year, the Socialists' best hope for toppling Sarkozy was Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who led the International Monetary Fund until he was jailed in May in the United States on charges he tried to rape a New York hotel maid. Prosecutors later dropped the case, but Strauss-Kahn's reputation and presidential ambitions crashed.

Hollande made few promises in his three victory speeches, instead focusing on the need to keep the long-divided French left united behind him.

"I perceived the worries that surround our common future: the disorders of finance, the excesses of globalization, the insufficiencies of Europe and the multiple attacks on our environment," he said in one speech.

Later, he noted recent anti-capitalist protests around Europe and said such anger is mounting in France, too. "We have to be capable of ... hearing these cries, these alerts that are rising in our country."

Hollande's program calls for more spending to reverse cuts in education by Sarkozy's government, a new work contract to encourage companies to hire young people, and focus on reducing France's high budget deficit. It says little about international affairs, other than calling for an unspecified "pact" with Germany, the EU's economic engine, to spur on the now-troubled European project.

Hollande will now face questions about how he would keep France competitive at a time when sluggish growth has reined in state spending and emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil keep booming.

Hollande says trimming state debt is a priority, but has kept to Socialist dogma on issues such as shielding citizens from the whims of the financial markets and raising taxes on the rich.

Valerie Rosso-Debord of Sarkozy's UMP party dismissed the Socialist Party's jobs proposals and spending plans as "unrealistic and costly."

"The French should know that none of this will stand up, and at the end, they will have to pay the bill," she said Sunday night.

The U.S.-styled primary, the first of its kind in France, was designed in part to help Socialists overcome years of dissension in their ranks. While Socialists dominate local and regional politics, they've had only one president over the past half-century, Francois Mitterrand.

Aubry, who had sought to become France's first female president, quickly conceded defeat in Sunday's voting. She and Hollande led the first round of Socialist primary voting a week ago.

Among the losers in that round was Royal, the mother of Hollande's four children. They split up after her defeat to Sarkozy in 2007 but stood side-by-side during Hollande's victory appearance Sunday in a clear message of unity.

When Hollande led the Socialist Party from 1999-2008, the party was weakened and badly fractured. His critics note that he has never run a government ministry, while supporters praise his sense of humor and ability to bring people together.

In Paris' touristic and bohemian Montmartre neighborhood, voters streamed steadily into one polling station at an elementary school near the Sacre Coeur basilica.

"It'd be great to have a woman president," said Michelle Joly, 44, an unemployed former human resources director, who voted for Aubry. "The programs of Aubry and Hollande are a bit 'six of one, half a dozen of the other.'"

Joly's husband, Jean Audouard, however, voted for Hollande, despite his reputation for being too soft.

"I like his ability to unite, his humor," said the 50-year-old school director. "I think Sarkozy isn't suited to France today ? he's not a unifier at a time when we need cohesion."

___

Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet, Cecile Brisson and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111016/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_socialist_primary

joe mcginniss joan crawford joan crawford kat dennings listeriosis bonobos recent earthquakes