Author: Serkadis

Marshall High School beat out 64 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District in the annual Academic Decathlon, district officials announced Thursday night.

Anastasya Lloyd-Damnjanovic was the highest scoring individual student, with 8,933 points. 

The second-placed school was El  Camino Real and the third was Granada Hills Charter High School.

The decathlon tests students’ knowledge in a variety of areas, such as history, speech and interviews. This year’s focus was the French Revolution.

Members of Marshall High School’s winning Academic Decathlon team include: Un Sil “Cherry” Park, Brandon Schwartz, Anastasya Lloyd-Damnjanovic, Andrew Dang, Alejandra Cardenas, Kittinan Ponkaew, Liliana Delaguila, Amber Esponda and Marcos Chinchilla. Their coach is Larry Welch.

Marshall High School first won a national championship in 1987.

Since then, the district has won 15 state and 10 national competitions. 



West High School of Torrance won the Los Angeles County Academic Decathlon for the second year in a row, county officials announced Thursday afternoon.

The top-scoring individual student was Jordan Smolinsky of West High, who scored 8,525 points.

The second-place school was Keppel High, followed by Torrance High in third place.

Members of West High School’s winning Academic Decathlon team include Aaron Cheng, Chris Miro, Patrick Xiao, Joey Hahm,  Hussein Nasr, Jordan Smolinsky, Kevin Gupta, Jeffrey Ho and Joon Park.

Their coach is Ann Cortina. 

The winners now head to Sacramento to compete in the state competition March 12 -15. The top-scoring school will go to the nationals to be held April 21-24 in Omaha.

–Nicole Santa Cruz

A rising emerging Asia tide floats all boats, even Japan, whose economy grew robustly in the fourth quarter:

Bloomberg:

Gross domestic product rose an annualized 3.6 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31, following a 1.3 percent expansion in the third quarter, according to the median forecast of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

…

Japan’s economy expanded 0.9 percent from the previous quarter, the survey showed. Overseas shipments increased 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, analysts surveyed said. Net exports, or shipments minus imports, may have added 0.5 percentage point to growth.

It appears that strong exports boosted fourth quarter GDP expansion by over 50% (0.5 / (1.3 – 0.5) ). On an annualized basis, 3.6% is strong when put into context with Japan’s recent GDP figures, higher than any quarter shown below except Q1 2004 based on data from Trading Economics.

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See Also:

• It Begins: Japanese Post Bank Urged To Diversify Away From Government Bonds
• Toyota’s Jugular Exposed As Congress Gangs Up With Ford And GM For The Take-Down
• Goldman: Ford And GM Clobbering Toyota And Set For Huge Growth

Get to know the handy new weapons at your disposal in the latest trailer of Capcom’s upcoming zombie-bashing action adventure title, Dead Rising 2. Can we say “gore, gore, gore”.

The Law is on. Well, The Law trailer for Red Dead Rdemption, that is. Rockstar’s cowboy-rockin’ title sports some suave musicality on this one too.
 
 
 

Dear denizens of the Palmetto State:

I understand you’ll interpret this latest complaint as more tedious South Carolina-bashing, but I’d wager that even your neighbors might think y’all are letting the heat get to you. It’s not enough that your Wanderlustinator (with the emphasis on “lust”) wants more authority that he can blithely shirk in order to boink his Argentine mistress or that one of your lizard-brained U.S. Senators won’t be happy until Charleston is under water. Now your legislature has created a Subversives Registry?

Terrorists who want to overthrow the United States government must now register with South Carolina’s Secretary of State and declare their intentions — or face a $25,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison.

…

While the intention of the law is apparently aimed at Islamic terrorists, it’s unclear in the law’s wording whether it can be applied to right-wing militias, some of whom have reputedly called for the overthrow of the US government. The law states that “fraternal” and “patriotic” groups are exempt from the law, but only if they don’t “contemplate the overthrow of the government.”

It’s one-stop shopping for terrorists in South Carolina! Get your subversive organization registered and pick up your driver’s license all in one visit.

And for those terrorists who fail to file their registration fees with the Secretary of State and face prison time, not to worry. You can always pass the years behind bars by volunteering to wash the First Lady’s filthy labrador retrievers.

You may remember last year that the Conference Board of Canada (who, until then, was pretty well respected) released a report on “intellectual property policy” that was blatantly plagiarized from US copyright industry lobbyists. While the Conference Board at first insisted that it stood by the report, eventually it recalled three reports and admitted that they “did not follow the high quality research standards” of the organization. Many months later, it appears that the replacement report has been released, and it’s much more balanced. I still think there’s plenty in the report that doesn’t make much sense to me, but it’s significantly better than the totally one-sided, blatantly plagiarized piece from last year.

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This game put the “hero” back in the superhero video game genre, and now it’s time to put it right back on your To-Buy list. Batman: Arkham Asylum Collector’s Edition has dropped some major dollars that you

In a game postponed due to last Tuesday’s snow storm, the Lady Hawks basketball team defeated Wright College, 67-58, to move their record to 17-8 overall and 8-3 in conference action.

The starting five played a full 40 minutes in the victory and they were paced by Anna Kirchoff’s 26 points and 8 rebounds, Peggie Parhas scored 18 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, dished out 5 assists and recorded 3 steals, Siobhan Cerney added 12 points and 5 rebounds. Noreen Davis added 6 points and Nina Montero tallied 5 points and 7 rebounds to round out the game stats.

Next up will be a trip to Milwaukee this Saturday for a 1:00 PM contest against Milwaukee Area Technical College.

If you think you know what to expect from Sony for this year, think again. They’ve got some more tricks up their sleeves, and they’re all for you. That’s part of their thanks for a great 2009!
 
 
 

Global housing prices: There are always bigger bubbles – Simone Baribeau – Unless you’re in Ireland.  An economic letter put out by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco today put the US housing run-up in perspective. In a cross-country comparison they found that home prices in the US rose less than those in a whole swath of European countries. – FT.com

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about agency CMO’s: Peril for Products Tied to Mortgages – By AGNES T. CRANE and ANTONY CURRIE – … Partly because of this backing, $176 billion of C.M.O.’s were issued in the second half of 2009, four times the amount in the second half of 2008, according to data from Thomson Reuters. About $1 trillion of the instruments are outstanding, Barclays Capital estimates. … – NY Times

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New Jersey Jumbo borrowers continue to fall behind – By Sean Sposito -  … About 7.4 percent of "jumbo" borrowers in the state were delinquent by at least two months in the first month of the new year, up from 7.1 in December.  … (US)  … Usually, these borrowers’ performance is driven by unemployment. .. -  The Star-Ledger NJ.com

and
Jumbo Mortgage ‘Serious Delinquencies’ Rise to 9.6% – By Jody Shenn – U.S. prime jumbo mortgages at least 60 days late backing securities reached 9.6 percent in January from 9.2 percent in December, the 32nd straight increase for “serious delinquencies,” according to Fitch Ratings.  “The trend line for delinquencies indicates the 10 percent level could be reached as early as next month,” Vincent Barberio, a Fitch managing director in New York, said today in a statement. The rate almost tripled in 2009, Fitch said. – Bloomberg

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another view: Home Underwater? Walk Away from Geithner’s Perverse ‘Homeowner Relief’ Plan – Zach Carter -  The plan to supposedly aid homeowners drowning in debt adopted by Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is just a money trough for the banks. – AlterNet

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Option ARMs Don’t Measure Up in HAMP: BofA – by DIANA GOLOBAY – HousingWire

Silent Second Lien Risk to RMBS Getting Louder – by DIANA GOLOBAY – … as many of these investors may not even know if a second lien is tied to their collateral investment. … – HousingWire

unemployment benchmark revision makes things worse – The Revolution Will Not Be Revised – … But the big news is the annual benchmark revision, which trimmed previously estimated payroll levels by a substantial amount. … As you can see, the revisions to previous data are substantial.  When you consider that even slightly better or worse than expected jobs numbers can cause equity and bond markets to move, a revision that comes to roughly 50k jobs per month over the course of over 2 years is a big deal. … – Annaly Salvos

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wow – Stiglitz Says U.S., U.K. Default Is ‘Absurd’ Investor Notion – By Jennifer Ryan – … Both nations “deserve to keep the Aaa rating” and “the likelihood of a default is so small, particularly in the U.S. because all we do is print money to pay it back,” he said in response to questions after a speech in London yesterday. “The notion of a default is so absurd, it’s another reflection of the absurdities in the financial markets.” … – Bloomberg BusinessWeek

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Job Stimulus Like Rescuing Drowning Man: David G. Blanchflower – You don’t refuse to save someone from drowning because they might die of cancer in a few years. They might not. Critics of U.S. President Barack Obama don’t seem to have figured it out yet that saving jobs now will increase employment in the future. – Bloomberg

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The Dumping Begins: Chinese Reserve Managers Notified That Any Non-USG Guaranteed Securities Must Be Divested – Submitted by Tyler Durden  – It appears that this time China’s posturing is for real. Following up on our earlier post that Chinese military officials want to "punish" America by selling Treasuries, Asia Times Online is reporting that an explicit directive by the Chinese government has notified reserve managers to sell all risky US assets, including asset backed and corporates, and just hold on to explicitly guaranteed Treasuries and Agency debt. – Zero Hedge

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Fed’s exit may leave rates low until 2012: Bullard – … Bullard said in an interview with Fox Business News. On any decision to raise the Fed funds rate, Bullard said: "If you look at…how the FOMC has behaved in the past, it’s been two-and-a-half to three years before we’ve raised rates after the end of a recession. … – MarketWatch

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Global Warming: Survival Of The Fittest – Jonathan Fahey – Part of a forest will be enclosed, heated up and pumped with CO2 to see who wins and loses if the planet heats up. – Forbes

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Testimony by Chairman Bernanke on the Federal Reserve’s exit strategy – Released by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
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Rorty disagrees has reasons why – Some Random Thoughts on FDIC Insurances in the Debates – So a meme that has always been there, but has been growing in popularity recently for reasons I’ll attribute to the tea party movement, is that FDIC insurance on commercial banking deposits is in large part responsible for our current financial crisis. – Rortybomb

Veoh was one of a number of online video YouTube-wannabes that, despite being connected to Michael Eisner and raising money from Time Warner and Goldman Sachs, never got very much actual traction… and… got tangled up in a lawsuit with Universal Music pretty quickly over alleged copyright infringement, despite Veoh abiding by the DMCA. Every single step of the way, Veoh basically won big in the lawsuit. Time and time again, every trick that Universal Music tried — including suing Veoh’s investors directly, was rejected by the judge, and the final ruling late last year was that Veoh abided by the DMCA and was protected by its safe harbors from Universal Music’s lawsuit. It was a complete victory.

The only problem? Veoh spent a lot of time, money and effort on this lawsuit, and no one was using Veoh.



I’d heard about a month ago that the company was flat broke, but that it had a good chance of raising more money to continue fighting the appeal from Universal Music… but it looks like that fell through. The company has laid off everyone and is shutting down. Those involved with the company are blaming Universal Music… and certainly it’s tempting to blame UMG and this pointless lawsuit, which definitely sucked up a ton of resources. But, let’s also face facts: no one was using Veoh. When was the last time you were sent a Veoh video? I get sent videos on YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo and even DailyMotion every so often. But I can’t recall ever hearing about a Veoh video.

Still, with the company declaring bankruptcy, I’m not quite sure what this would mean for Universal’s appeal in the lawsuit. While the company was a total flop, the district court ruling last year set a very important precedent in clearly stating that the DMCA’s safe harbors did protect such sites (like YouTube) as long as they complied with the takedown process. Without a company to continue fighting what happens to the appeal? I’m not that familiar with how bankruptcy plays into such lawsuits, so any lawyers here want to chime in and let us know….



Update: Surprised that no one actually answered this question in the comments, but thankfully Eriq Gardner from THR, Esq. has a post explaining what happens to the lawsuit now in all probability:

If Veoh declares Chapter 7, a bankruptcy judge would issue an automatic stay in the case. UMG would likely file a motion with the bankruptcy court seeking relief from the stay to perfect its appeal. The trustee would engage legal counsel and make financial arrangements to cover the costs of defending the case before the 9th Circuit.

We’re betting that all of this happens. The requiem on Veoh is now being written, but the company could continue to play a significant role in helping shape copyright liability for tech companies. (We wouldn’t even be surprised to see Google acquire Veoh just so it could share in the fun of the action.)

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The place where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan is the front line of the battle against the Asian Carp.

It’s also the place where environmental concerns butt up against what people do for a living.

Chip Collopy owns 20 Shoreline Sightseeing boats that ply the waters between river and lake all summer long.

“In the summertime we have 290 employees on payroll,”said Collopy, “overall payroll for the season is a little under $4 million.”

The Obama administration has committed nearly $80 million to stop the carp from getting into the Great Lakes. But one of the options under consideration is closing the locks altogether, cutting the lakes off from the river and canal system, and shutting down thousands of jobs.

Michael Borgstrom, president of Wendella Boats, said “My company provides jobs that support more than 140 families.”

Illinois Congressman Debbie Halvorson wants lawmakers to steer a middle course between environmental and business concerns.

At a news conference Halvorson said , “We here think that any closure would have a devastating impact.”

The tour and taxi boats are part of a $12-billion tourism industry.But the river is also a major artery for barges, the cheapest way to move things like road salt, petroleum, cement and grain.

“A lot of our grain goes out of illinois on the barge,” explained Jim Robbins, a Peoria corn farmer. “It would really impact our industry. And if the costs go up for us it ultimately would get put in the grocery stores and ultimately your food costs would go up.”

Several states have sued Illinois to close the locks. But Illinois lawmakers are convinced the shutdown would cause flooding and ultimately help spread the carp, not contain it. They ask that decisions be based on solid science, not fear of an ugly fish.

Read the original article from FOX Chicago News.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

The weekly US PlayStation Store update is now up. This weeks content includes a bunch of PSN game sales, special offers, the highly anticipated Heavy Rain demo, the usual game add-ons, a new PSP Minis and some

United States Mint Director Ed Moy launched the 2010 Lincoln “Preservation of the Union” One-Cent Coin today during a special ceremony at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM).

The coin’s new reverse (tails side) design is emblematic of President Abraham Lincoln’s preservation of the United States as a single and united country, as required by Title III of Public Law 109-145 (the Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005).

Americans can expect to see the new coin in their change beginning this year.

“This one-cent coin honors the preservation of the union, which was Abraham Lincoln’s ultimate achievement,” said United States Mint Director Ed Moy.

“Because of his presidency, despite bitter regional enmity and a horrific civil war, we remained the United States of America.”

Guests at the event included Jan Grimes, ALPLM acting executive director, and Dr. James Cornelius, its curator.  Elizabeth Wooley, WICS-TV News anchor, served as master of ceremonies.

Following the ceremony, Director Moy and guests handed out new Lincoln cents to children 18 years and younger, while adults exchanged their currency for rolls of the new coin.

On the eve of the launch ceremony, Director Moy met with local coin enthusiasts at ALPLM, where he answered their questions and shared information about the United States Mint and its coin programs.

The reverse of the 2010 and beyond Lincoln cent was designed by United States Mint Artistic Infusion Program Associate Designer Lyndall Bass and executed by United States Mint Sculptor-Engraver Joseph Menna.

The design depicts a union shield with a scroll draped across and the inscription ONE CENT.

The 13 vertical stripes of the shield represent the states joined in one compact union to support the federal government, represented by the horizontal bar above.

The horizontal bar features the inscription E PLURIBUS UNUM — “out of many, one” — while the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is depicted along the upper rim of the coin.

The obverse (heads) continues to bear Victor David Brenner’s likeness of President Lincoln that has appeared on the coin since 1909.

A digital image of the 2010 Lincoln cent is available at:  http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?action=photo#2010LincolnPenny

The 2010 Lincoln cent has a metallic content of 2.5 percent copper, with the balance being zinc.  The coin will be issued for circulation in quantities to meet the demands of commerce.

Numismatic (proof and uncirculated) versions will be included in the United States Mint’s annual product offerings.  The coin will also be available for sale in two-roll sets this spring.

A satellite feed of B-roll of the new Lincoln cent being produced will be available at the following times:

• Thursday, Feb. 11, 2:30-3:00 pm, Eastern Time, Galaxy 28C, Tr. 15, DL 4000V
• Friday, Feb. 12, 2:00-2:15 pm, Eastern Time, AMC 3C, Tr. 3, DL3760H

The United States Mint, created by Congress in 1792, is the Nation’s sole manufacturer of legal tender coinage.

Its primary mission is to produce an adequate volume of circulating coinage for the Nation to conduct its trade and commerce.

The United States Mint also produces proof, uncirculated and commemorative coins; Congressional Gold Medals; and silver, gold and platinum bullion coins.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

Carpentersville police arrested two men on several drug charges Wednesday night on charges they had heroin and an illicit pain killer.

Troy D. Petras, 22, of the 100 block of Grove Lane, Barrington, and Timothy A. Mirando, 28, of the 0-100 block of Kensington Drive, North Barrington, were each charged with intent to deliver heroin, possession of heroin and possession of a controlled substance, according to Carpentersville Police Cmdr. Tim Bosshart.

Petras faces an additional charge of possession of hypodermic needles.

Police said that at 10 p.m., an officer saw the car the pair were riding in braked abruptly as it headed east on Miller Road, then turned into a nearby parking lot, without using a turn signal.

The officer pulled the car over on the traffic offense, but both men appeared to be nervous, Bosshart said.

Police later discovered that Mirando was wanted in McHenry County on a $10,000 felony warrant.

The officer searched the car and turned up 2.44 grams of a substance containing heroin inside eight individually wrapped packages and seven syringes.

Police also discovered suboxone, a prescription drug for heroin addicts – neither man had a prescription for the drug, Bosshart said.

On Thursday morning, Kane County Judge Bruce W. Lester set Mirando’s bond at $100,000 and Petras’ at $90,000.

Neither was able to post bond and remains at the Kane County lockup to await their Feb. 24 court date at the Kane County Judicial Center.

If found guilty of intending to deliver heroin – the most serious charge – they could spend between four and 15 years behind bars.

Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services

A Lake County sheriff’s deputy suffered minor injuries after an 89-year-old driver crashed into his squad car while he responded to a traffic accident call Thursday in Green Oaks.

Deputy Mike Trudeau had his squad car’s lights and siren activated and stopped twice before entering the intersection at St. Mary’s Road and Route 176 about 9 a.m., according to police reports.

Trudeau was heading to the nearby accident scene, traveling north on St. Mary’s.

He had just cleared Route 176’s eastbound lanes when his squad was struck by John Anastos of the 100 block of Pembridge Drive in Lake Forest.

Police said the 89-year-old man was traveling west on Route 176 when he collided with the deputy. Reports state Anastos was ticketed for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

Trudeau and Anastos were taken by ambulance to Lake Forest Hospital for treatment and later released.

Libertyville police were called to assist sheriff’s deputies for traffic control at St. Mary’s and Route 176.

Read the original article on DailyHerald.com.

Distributed via Chicago Press Release Services