Southern California's rare squid invasion a bizarre nighttime spectacle

The rare invasion of perhaps millions of large and ravenous squid off Southern California has been more like a blitz, with the slithery cephalopods showing first off San Diego (last week) and advancing at least as far north as Santa Barbara (this week).

This has sent anglers clambering onto fishing boats for a truly wet and wild experience, but for one resident catching the mysterious denizens wasn't enough. Jon Schwartz dove in with his camera to document the experience from beneath the surface (his self-portrait is pictured at right).

It was not the safest swim the grade-school teacher from Oceanside has enjoyed, and this is not something others should attempt. These Humboldt or jumbo squid boast razor-sharp tentacle claws and a parrot-like beak. These squid are notorious for their frenzied behavior -- they're even cannibalistic -- and have attacked divers off Mexico. They've also adversely impacted native fisheries.

But Schwartz, who is an expert marine photographer, captured some incredible images and even brought a few squid to class for first-grade study.

"I asked a bunch of experts if they thought it was safe and they said it might be," Schwartz, who specializes in photographing large game fish from underwater, said of his weekend plunge.

Humboldt squid have made headlines for good reason.

The deep-water critters, which can measure 7 feet and weigh up to 100 pounds, are visitors from far to the the south and only show off California every 4-5 years.


These northbound forays -- perceived by some scientists as an attempt at permanent colonization -- are believed to be spurred by a warm current or some other anomaly.

A weak El Nino in 2009-10 might have spurred the recent invasion. In past episodes, the squid have shown as far north as British Columbia. They are believed to have an adverse impact on many native fisheries.

The presence of squid, however, is a boon for sportfishing landings that offer special daytime and nighttime expeditions, with night generally best because the squid -- which typically inhabit depths from 650 to 3,000 feet -- are closer to the surface and can be attracted by floodlights.

Schwartz hired a yacht to deliver him to the site of one of the bites off Newport Beach. Armed with just a camera and strobe, he dove in, adjusted his gear and began to shoot away.

As someone who has been scuba diving with Humboldt squid in the Sea of Cortez off Mexico, this reporter can attest that it's an unsettling but surreal experience. I encountered a small group of squid, pulsating in the blue water, at 60 feet. Several of them charged toward me looking like alien beings, with their tentacles clasped to an arrow-like point. They traveled through the water at a remarkable speed but veered off as they reached me, and vanished.

I had heard about attacks by squid on humans in the Sea of Cortez, off Mexico. In one well-documented incident a scuba diver was dragged downward and had some of his gear ripped away in what became a life-threatening frenzy. His companions managed to pull him aboard, but he had suffered numerous cuts and his wetsuit had been torn.

Schwartz was interested in photographing them because they are such rare visitors to Southern California and possess an amazing ability to change color and pulsate with iridescent light, carried out via millions of chromatophores as perhaps a means of communication.

"There were some that were flashing below me that fell in love with my strobe and they were really wild," Schwartz said. "They sit there and stare at you with tentacles pitched forward in a kind of arrow."

The teacher-photographer added that he was less afraid of the squid than he was of much larger predators that patrol the ocean at night.

"I was worried about mako sharks and great white sharks, too," he said.

-- Images are courtesy of Jon Schwartz

Saudi Women Get the Vote, but Real Power Is Elusive

Saudi women wait for their drivers outside a shopping mall in Riyadh on September 26, 2011 a day after King Abdullah granted women the right to vote and run in municipal elections. (Photo: Fayez Nureldine / AFP / Getty Images)

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah granted women the right to vote and run in the next set of municipal elections, scheduled for 2015. That's good news. But not as good as you might think.
Saudi Arabia is perhaps the most sex-segregated place on earth, a country where women can do little without a male chaperon and are not allowed to drive.  The roots of this rigid social system can be traced to the traditions of the area's Bedouin tribes, who took pride in keeping women from public view. The practice has since been codified by conservative Muslim clerics on the grounds that women should follow the strict set of 7th century rules that once applied to the Prophet Muhammad's wives. Many Saudis, male and female, have challenged the social order (most recently, by publicly flouting the country's driving ban). And yet, there have been few formal changes, making King Abdullah's decree a welcome surprise. It's a small victory for the country's activists and shows the Kingdom might be willing to change—at least a little.
The problem is that under the current system of government, voting won't give Saudi women, or any ordinary citizen, much power. The country is still an absolute monarchy and municipal councils, introduced in 2005, hold little sway. The King's promise to allow women to sit on Majlis Al-Shura, a council that advises the royals on public policy, feels hollow. For years, Saudi activists have campaigned to have the members of the 150-member body elected, not appointed. By announcing, suddenly, that women will get a seat, the King seems to have sidestepped, or sidelined, that debate. Plus, there's no guarantee the rule will be implemented: A recent decree that lingerie shops should be staffed by women, not men, has yet to be enacted.
Giving women the vote may also sideline debate over the driving ban. Inspired by female revolutionaries in Egypt and elsewhere and fed up with being kept off the road, a small but vocal group of Saudi women have been actively fighting for their right to drive. Despite their best efforts, the ban persists. If a women is in fact appointed to the Shura council, she won't be able to drive to work. It is a stark reminder that, despite this small, symbolic step, spring has yet to bloom in Saudi Arabia.
(Video: TIME's Aryn Baker rides along with a Saudi woman driver)

Life after death

When he was 12, he flatlined. Twenty years later, his heart failed. Singer-songwriter Simone Felice tells how he came back from the dead. Twice

Simone Felice: 'Love. That's what's saved me, time and again.' Photograph: Jesse Marlow for the Guardian

I would not be just a nothin',
My head all full of stuffin',
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and be merry,
Life would be a ding-a-derry,
If I only had a brain...
Lyric by EY Harburg
When snow lay heavy on the land, and January winds sang in the trees and beat at the plastic we'd hung in the cold door to keep the oil bill down, when Christmas trees shed their needles: that's when I died.
Stuck with other needles. Morphine and glucose. Twelve years old in a white room. Shapes and movement, the sound of machines, the coloured lights. Kingston, New York. 1989.
Apparently, when you die, they call for a priest. My mother, Patti, wouldn't let him in, kept him at the door with a look, a red palm held out: "You can't have him."
The beat of his black sneakers fading down the hall. No last rites that winter day, no good book. Just a cold line on the computer screen by the bed, flat, then back alive, God's own Atari game.
Chance? Fate? Medical science? Love? I pick the last. Call me a romantic. It was love that kept me here. It must have been. And stubbornness, to be fair. My family. My Pop and Nan, sister Clare, brother Ian and many others. Patti most of all. They wouldn't let me leave. Love. That's what's saved me, time and again.
Much later, after I'd learned what had happened, I found myself piecing together the story in my mind's eye, trying to make it fit – smudged pictures conjured through cracked memory and hearsay: I'd gone to school, collapsed in the hallway, been wheeled off to the nurse's office, where she took my temperature, found it high, and called my mum to come fetch me.
Once home, they drew a cool bath and put me in, hoping to cut the fever. It was there the hallucinations began. I thought my stepdad was trying to drown me. I beat the water and screamed. Frightened now, Patti got in the car and sped the half-hour down the mountain to the closest medical centre, Benedictine hospital. With a squeal of brakes, she pulled up in front of the emergency room doors, left the engine running and "ran in carrying you in my arms like you were on fire".
Inside, they told her it might be spinal meningitis, a swelling of the membranes that surround the brain and spinal cord. All the signs were there: crippling pain, fever, hallucination. They called for a spinal tap, but the room where they did the procedure was in use. The neurologist on the scene, Dr Frontera, wouldn't wait for the room to be free. He wanted a closer look at the brain. So he had them wheel me to another floor and send me through the bright sci-fi tunnel of the then newly developed Cat scan to find the early diagnosis of spinal meningitis was off the mark. I had suffered a massive brain haemorrhage.
They called it a cerebral aneurism, a weakness in a blood vessel that had ruptured, bled out and filled the space between my skull and brain with fluid and blood. The pressure was causing the brain to swell and the swelling was killing me.
It was in a new room on a new floor in a different wing where I suffered the seizure. They had begun to prep me for emergency brain surgery when it happened. The smell of laundered sheets and sterilisation. The omnipotent hum of base technologies.
This is the first time I've written any of this down. Yesterday I sat with my mum, sunlight falling through the screened door on her kitchen table, our hands, my notebook, and asked her to tell what she remembers. Tears, mine and Patti's, mingled on the tablecloth for the child she'd clung to. Here was the part of the story we never talked about. The missing piece.
My mother tells it like this: the seizure made you arch your spine. You bit your tongue. Your eyes rolled back in your head. When the seizure was over, I held your hand and you looked at me and said: Mum, I'm gonna die. I told you: No, you're not going to die. But then you did. Just like that. You knew. Somehow you knew. The screen flatlined and all the bells started ringing. When the doctors came running, I thought they were going to ask me out of the room, but instead they told me to climb up on your bed and talk to you, tell you you can't die. They shocked your chest. They shot you full of adrenaline. And I held your face and told you you couldn't die.
There was an ice storm that night. The worst in a century. The roads were closed, so they had to send a police four-by-four to gather the neurosurgeon and nurses, and bring them all to Benedictine. The surgery lasted hours. Afterwards, the doctors came and said you were alive. But not to get our hopes too high. If you survived the first 24 hours, you'd have a 50/50 chance of living. If you lived, you would likely have some degree of brain damage. If you lived, there was a good chance you'd be blind.
"Does he play the piano?" someone asked.
"No. Why?"
"The area of his brain that's been affected, some of which we've removed, is the area associated with music, art, creativity. If he played piano before, he may not play again."
After I made it past the initial 24 hours, touch and go, the neurosurgeon, Dr Gabriel Aguilar, told my mother the physical pain I'd been through was a close second to what it might feel like to burn alive.
The nurses took to calling me the Miracle Boy, and did not hide the nickname from Patti. I don't think I had any clue what the word miracle really meant until I watched my own daughter come into the world. But Pearl was still a universe away.
That summer, after they brought me back from the dead, I got my first guitar. A cheap affair, hardly ever in tune, same as the years that followed. But I spent them nonetheless, all 20-odd, in pursuit of the great rock'n'roll delusion. And still climbing its greasy ladder. Did Lazarus have a green room? Was there scotch on his rider? Was he met with fevered applause when he rose for his greatest show?
When I was a kid, I swore I'd be a marine like my Pop. Rattlesnake dreams. Black sands of Iwo Jima. The Frozen Chosin. The Perfume river. That's when Patti took me aside and told me: "The pen is mightier than the sword."
I was in Italy. Last show of a month's tour. Creepy hotel. Broken elevator. I climbed seven flights of stairs to my room, lost my breath, went pale and collapsed on the floor in the hall. When I came to, I touched the key-card to the door, went to the bedside and called Patti. Thirty-three years old.
"Hello."
"Mum?"
"Hi honey? Are you OK?"
"Mum, there's something wrong with my heart."
I did the gig that night and flew home the next morning. My wife, Jessie, eight months pregnant with our child, drove me up to a cardiologist in Albany. I have no health insurance, but my cousin Kelly is a nurse there and pulled in a favour.
They looked at my heart on a big screen and told us I had developed aortic stenosis, a calcification of the main artery, an anomaly brought on by some childhood trauma, and that there was no medical explanation why I was still alive. I might've died on the plane. Might've died on stage.
So there I was back in the white room. I kissed Jessie's belly. They wheeled me away and ran a tube down my throat. Emergency open-heart surgery. Aortic valve replacement.
When I woke in the recovery room, I could hear the faint, steady tick, tick of the mechanical valve they sewed inside me. Then I heard the glad, hushed whispers of my family in the hallway, just outside the door. I was drugged and thirsty. I asked the nurse for a drink of water and to please tell everybody they could come in from the hall.
"Mister Felice?"
"Yeah."
"It's three in the morning. There's nobody here."
Tick. Tick. Tick.
A month later, our daughter was born at home in a summer thunderstorm. Pearl Simone. Her father has an eight-inch scar on the backside of his skull that runs from the crown to behind his left ear. If my hair is shorn close, you can see it a block away. You might even think me a soldier. Made it home by the skin of his teeth. Luck of the Irish.
And if you see me on a summer's day, down by the river's edge, no big plans, no shirt, you'll see the long, pink seam that runs down the length of my chest like an angry zipper. Put your ear there and you'll hear me tick out the time.
I am the tin woodsman, hunting a heart. I'm the scarecrow, please deliver my brain. I'm the crocodile who swallowed the pocket watch. I haven't learned as much as I imagined I would by now. But I do believe we pass in and out of this world like a song on the wind. And that most of what we see and do in this life is grossly out of tune, behind or ahead of the beat.
But there are moments. You've known them. A kiss in a parked car. A melody in the dark. A meeting of eyes. A babe come in a thunderstorm.
She's got her father's swagger. And her mother's goodness. And Patti's strength of spirit. Go on, boy, write her a song. Read a story by lamplight. Sleep near and greet the pale sun together. Dance in the wet grass, round and round. When she's old enough to understand, tell her how her Grammy loved you back to life long ago. Love her like it's your last morning on earth. Love her more than yourself.
• Simone Felice's first novel, Black Jesus, is published by Allen & Unwin.

Faster than light particles found, claim scientists

 
Neutrinos, like the ones above, have been detected travelling faster than light, say particle physicists. Photograph: Dan Mccoy /CorbisIt is a concept that forms a cornerstone of our understanding of the universe and the concept of time – nothing can travel faster than the speed of light.
But now it seems that researchers working in one of the world's largest physics laboratories, under a mountain in central Italy, have recorded particles travelling at a speed that is supposedly forbidden by Einstein's theory of special relativity.
Scientists at the Gran Sasso facility will unveil evidence on Friday that raises the troubling possibility of a way to send information back in time, blurring the line between past and present and wreaking havoc with the fundamental principle of cause and effect.
They will announce the result at a special seminar at Cern – the European particle physics laboratory – timed to coincide with the publication of a research paper (pdf) describing the experiment.
Researchers on the Opera (Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus) experiment recorded the arrival times of ghostly subatomic particles called neutrinos sent from Cern on a 730km journey through the Earth to the Gran Sasso lab.
The trip would take a beam of light 2.4 milliseconds to complete, but after running the experiment for three years and timing the arrival of 15,000 neutrinos, the scientists discovered that the particles arrived at Gran Sasso sixty billionths of a second earlier, with an error margin of plus or minus 10 billionths of a second.
The measurement amounts to the neutrinos travelling faster than the speed of light by a fraction of 20 parts per million. Since the speed of light is 299,792,458 metres per second, the neutrinos were evidently travelling at 299,798,454 metres per second.
The result is so unlikely that even the research team is being cautious with its interpretation. Physicists said they would be sceptical of the finding until other laboratories confirmed the result.
Antonio Ereditato, coordinator of the Opera collaboration, told the Guardian: "We are very much astonished by this result, but a result is never a discovery until other people confirm it.
"When you get such a result you want to make sure you made no mistakes, that there are no nasty things going on you didn't think of. We spent months and months doing checks and we have not been able to find any errors.
"If there is a problem, it must be a tough, nasty effect, because trivial things we are clever enough to rule out."
The Opera group said it hoped the physics community would scrutinise the result and help uncover any flaws in the measurement, or verify it with their own experiments.
Subir Sarkar, head of particle theory at Oxford University, said: "If this is proved to be true it would be a massive, massive event. It is something nobody was expecting.
"The constancy of the speed of light essentially underpins our understanding of space and time and causality, which is the fact that cause comes before effect."
The key point underlying causality is that the laws of physics as we know them dictate that information cannot be communicated faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, added Sarkar.
"Cause cannot come after effect and that is absolutely fundamental to our construction of the physical universe. If we do not have causality, we are buggered."
The Opera experiment detects neutrinos as they strike 150,000 "bricks" of photographic emulsion films interleaved with lead plates. The detector weighs a total of 1300 tonnes.
Despite the marginal increase on the speed of light observed by Ereditato's team, the result is intriguing because its statistical significance, the measure by which particle physics discoveries stand and fall, is so strong.
Physicists can claim a discovery if the chances of their result being a fluke of statistics are greater than five standard deviations, or less than one in a few million. The Gran Sasso team's result is six standard deviations.
Ereditato said the team would not claim a discovery because the result was so radical. "Whenever you touch something so fundamental, you have to be much more prudent," he said.
Alan Kostelecky, an expert in the possibility of faster-than-light processes at Indiana University, said that while physicists would await confirmation of the result, it was none the less exciting.
"It's such a dramatic result it would be difficult to accept without others replicating it, but there will be enormous interest in this," he told the Guardian.
One theory Kostelecky and his colleagues put forward in 1985 predicted that neutrinos could travel faster than the speed of light by interacting with an unknown field that lurks in the vacuum.
"With this kind of background, it is not necessarily the case that the limiting speed in nature is the speed of light," he said. "It might actually be the speed of neutrinos and light goes more slowly."
Neutrinos are mysterious particles. They have a minuscule mass, no electric charge, and pass through almost any material as though it was not there.
Kostelecky said that if the result was verified – a big if – it might pave the way to a grand theory that marries gravity with quantum mechanics, a puzzle that has defied physicists for nearly a century.
"If this is confirmed, this is the first evidence for a crack in the structure of physics as we know it that could provide a clue to constructing such a unified theory," Kostelecky said.
Heinrich Paes, a physicist at Dortmund University, has developed another theory that could explain the result. The neutrinos may be taking a shortcut through space-time, by travelling from Cern to Gran Sasso through extra dimensions. "That can make it look like a particle has gone faster than the speed of light when it hasn't," he said.
But Susan Cartwright, senior lecturer in particle astrophysics at Sheffield University, said: "Neutrino experimental results are not historically all that reliable, so the words 'don't hold your breath' do spring to mind when you hear very counter-intuitive results like this."
Teams at two experiments known as T2K in Japan and MINOS near Chicago in the US will now attempt to replicate the finding. The MINOS experiment saw hints of neutrinos moving at faster than the speed of light in 2007 but has yet to confirm them.
• This article was amended on 23 September 2011 to clarify the relevance of the speed of light to causality.

Nasa's UARS satellite plunges over Pacific

The BBC's Andy Moore says where debris has landed is "a bit of a mystery"

Nasa says its six-tonne UARS satellite entered the earth's atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean early on Saturday.

The spacecraft was expected to fall to Earth by about 0500 GMT - officials say it is not possible yet to give a precise time.
The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is the largest American space agency satellite to return uncontrolled into the atmosphere in about 30 years.
Officials said the risk to public safety was remote.
A statement on the Nasa UARS website read: "The Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California said the satellite penetrated the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean. The precise re-entry time and location are not yet known with certainty."
There have been some unconfirmed reports on Twitter that suggested debris might have fallen in western Canada.
Most of the decommissioned spacecraft should simply have burnt up, but modelling work indicated perhaps 500kg could have survived to the surface.
Any pieces of debris should have been scattered over a 800km path; but with more than 70% of the Earth's surface covered by water, many experts said the pieces were most likely to end up in the ocean.
Stephen Cole, a Nasa spokesman in Washington DC, told BBC News: "You have to remember that they're very, very small pieces, even though the original satellite was large - as large as a bus. Most of that burns up in the atmosphere and just a few dozen pieces survive. They're highly damaged, and if they're in the ocean - they're gone."
UARS was deployed in 1991 from the space shuttle Discovery on a mission to study the Earth's upper atmosphere.
It contributed important new understanding on subjects such as the chemistry of the protective ozone layer and the cooling effect volcanoes can exert on the global climate.

Astrophotographer Thierry Legault's video of the falling UARS

In the past few days, Nasa warned members of the public not to touch any pieces of the spacecraft that might survive the fall to land, urging them to contact local law enforcement authorities instead.
"I've seen some things that have re-entered and they tend to have sharp edges, so there's a little concern that they might hurt themselves if they try to pick them up," said Mark Matney, an orbital debris scientist from Nasa's Johnson Space Center.
Under the terms of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, the US government retains ownership of the debris and could, if it so wished, seek to take possession of any items found on the ground.
With those ownership rights also comes absolute liability if a piece of UARS is found to have damage property or injured someone.
"There is something called international responsibility; they're internationally liable," explained Joanne Wheeler of law firm CMS Cameron McKenna, and an expert representative for the UK on the UN Subcommittee for the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
"The Americans have to retain jurisdiction and control, and that pretty much can be interpreted as ownership. So they own it up there, they own it if it comes down to Earth and they're liable if it crashes into something."
Tracking stations will typically witness the uncontrolled return of at least one piece of space debris every day; and on average, one intact defunct spacecraft or old rocket body will come back into the atmosphere every week.
Something the size of UARS is seen perhaps once a year. Much larger objects such as space station cargo ships return from orbit several times a year, but they are equipped with thrusters capable of guiding their dive into a remote part of the Southern Ocean.

Ten Ways to Marry the Wrong Person

With the divorce rate over 50 percent, too many are apparently making a serious mistake in deciding who to spend the rest of their life with. To avoid becoming a "statistic," try to internalize these 10 insights.

#1. You pick the wrong person because you expect him/her to change after you're married.

The classic mistake. Never marry potential. The golden rule is, if you can't be happy with the person the way he or she is now, don't get married. As a colleague of mine so wisely put it, "You actually can expect people to change after they're married... for the worst!"

So when it comes to the other person's spirituality, character, personal hygiene, communication skills, and personal habits, make sure you can live with these as they are now.

#2. You pick the wrong person because you focus more on chemistry than on character.

Chemistry ignites the fire, but good character keeps it burning. Beware of the "I'm in love" syndrome. "I'm in love" often means, "I'm in lust." Attraction is there, but have you carefully checked out this person's character?

Here are four character traits to definitely check for:

Humility: Does this person believe that "doing the right thing" is more important than personal comfort?

Do I want to be more like this person? Would I like my child to turn out like him or her?

Kindness: Does this person enjoy giving pleasure to other people? How does s/he treat people s/he doesn't have to be nice to? Does s/he do volunteer work? Give charity?

Responsibility: Can I depend on this person to do what s/he says s/he's going to do?

Happiness: Does this person like himself? Does s/he enjoy life? Is s/he emotionally stable?

Ask yourself: Do I want to be more like this person? Do I want to have a child with this person? Would I like my child to turn out like him or her?

#3. You pick the wrong person because the man doesn't understand what a woman needs most.

Men and women have unique emotional needs, and more often than not, it is the man who just doesn't "get it." Jewish tradition places the onus on the man to understand the emotional needs of a woman and to satisfy them.

The unique need of a woman is to be loved -- to feel that she is the most important person in her husband's life. The husband needs to give her consistent, quality attention.

This is most apparent in Judaism's approach to intimacy. The Torah obligates the husband to meet the intimate needs of his wife. Intimacy is always on the woman's terms. Men are goal-oriented, especially when it comes this area. As a wise woman once pointed out, "Men have two speeds: on and off." Women are experience-oriented. When a man is able to switch gears and become more experience-oriented, he will discover what makes his wife very happy. When the man forgets about his own needs and focuses on giving his wife pleasure, amazing things happen.

#4. You choose the wrong person because you do not share a common life goals and priorities.

There are three basic ways we connect with another person:

1. chemistry and compatibility
2. share common interests
3. share common life goal

Make sure you share the deeper level of connection that sharing life goals provide. After marriage, the two of you will either grow together or grow apart. To avoid growing apart, you must figure out what you're "living for," while you're single -- and then find someone who has come to the same conclusion as you.

This is the true definition of a "soul mate." A soul mate is a goal mate -- two people who ultimately share the same understanding of life's purpose and therefore share the same priorities, values and goals.

#5. You choose the wrong person because you get intimately involved too quickly.

Intimacy before the commitment of marriage can be a big problem because it often precludes a fully honest exploration of important issues. Physical involvement tends to cloud one's mind. And a clouded mind is not inclined to make good decisions.

It is not necessary to take a "test drive" in order to find out if a couple is physically compatible. If you do your homework and make sure you are intellectually and emotionally compatible, you don't have to worry about it. Of all the studies done on divorce, incompatibility in the intimate arena is almost never cited as a main reason why people divorce.

#6. You pick the wrong person because you do not have a deeper emotional connection with this person.

To evaluate whether you have a deeper emotional connection or not, ask: "Do I respect and admire this person?"

This does not mean, "Am I impressed by this person?" We are impressed by a Mercedes. We do not respect someone because they own a Mercedes. You should be impressed by qualities of creativity, loyalty, determination, etc.

Also ask: "Do I trust this person?" This also means, "Is he/she emotionally stable? Do I feel I can rely on him/her?

#7. You pick the wrong person because you choose someone with whom you don't feel emotionally safe.

Ask yourself the following questions: Do I feel calm, peaceful and relaxed with this person? Can I fully be myself and express myself with this person? Does this person make me feel good about myself? Do you have a really close friend who does make you feel this way? Make sure the person you marry makes you feel the same way!

Are you afraid of this person in any way? You should not feel you need to monitor what you say because you are afraid of how the other person will view it. If you're afraid to express your feelings and opinions openly, there's a problem with the relationship.

Be on the look out for someone who is always trying to change you.

Another aspect of feeling safe is that you don't feel the other person is trying to control you. Controlling behaviors are a sign of an abusive person. Be on the look out for someone who is always trying to change you. There's a big difference between "controlling" and "making suggestions." A suggestion is made for your benefit; a control statement is made for their benefit.

#8. You pick the wrong person because you don't put everything on the table.

Anything that bothers you about the relationship must be brought up for discussion. Bringing up the uncomfortable stuff is the only way to evaluate how well the two of you communicate, negotiate, and work together. Over the course of a lifetime, difficulties will inevitably arise. You need to know now, before making a commitment: Can you resolve your differences and find compromises that work for both of you?

Never be afraid to let the person know what bothers you. This is also a way for you to test how vulnerable you can be with this person. If you can't be vulnerable, then you can't be intimate. The two go hand in hand.

#9. You pick the wrong person because you use the relationship to escape from personal problems and unhappiness.

If you are unhappy and single, you'll probably be unhappy and married, too.

If you are unhappy and single, you'll probably be unhappy and married, too. Marriage does not fix personal, psychological and emotional problems. If anything, marriage will exacerbate them.

If you are not happy with yourself and your life, take responsibility to fix it now while you are single. You'll feel better, and your future spouse will thank you.

#10. You pick the wrong person because he/she is involved in a triangle.

To be "triangulated" means a person is emotionally dependent on someone or something else while trying to develop another relationship. A person who hasn't separated from his or her parents is the classic example of triangulation. People can also be triangulated with things as well, such as work, drugs, Internet, hobbies, sports or money.

Be careful that you and your partner are free of triangles. The person caught in the triangle cannot be fully emotionally available to you. You will not be their number one priority. And that's no basis for a marriage.

Are you a woman who is unhappy in her marriage? If your answer is yes, then there are a couple of wrong choices that you  made in your life by allowing yourself to marry that man!!
My reason: What most women (and this is from as young as 20) are afraid of is being single. They equate being single with being alone, unhappy and missing on the “fun couples scene” hence as they grow older they crave being with a man, even if it’s the wrong man.
Once you are married to this wrong man, you are bound to be one very sad person. Problem is that this wrong man’s main focus is to take all his sad life memories on you! And he is bad and he knows it! The sad thing is that this man exudes all the signs from the word go, from the time you meet him but you are the one who chooses “to see them, yes, but be the ignoramus.”
Mr. wrong could have had a bad childhood, maybe his folks kept putting him down, maybe he was always told that he wasn’t  good enough, maybe he grew up dirt poor while his friends had it all, or maybe he was just a loner… and his life continues to stink because he does nothing to change things. He is bitter with life and he just wants to take steam out on someone, someone he claims to love with all his heart hence the need to do what he does to that person (read girlfriend or future bitter-than-gall wife).
I have always believed that since we live in the 21^st century and things have changed, a woman should always seek to empower herself first. Being self sufficient is the in thing if you didn’t know. Can you imagine a life where you have all the necessary resources to make you happy and you provide them for yourself?
Spot Mr. Wrong from a mile away. He is:

*That man who has decided that you don’t have a brain of your own so he makes every decision for you. He wants to dictate everything…like what you’ll eat, what you’ll wear, when you’ll answer your phone, when you’ll go to work, when you’ll come back from work, how many children you’ll have … everything that has to do with you but sadly you don’t have a say in. There you are thinking that he loves you so much and that he’s doing all this because he only wants the best for you.
*That man who is overly dependent on you and doesn’t make any effort to better his financial situation.  So you will support this man’s everything… from his transport to his lunch money to money for drinks with friends. He always promises to give it back. Sometimes even with interest and you’ve never seen a coin from him and the problem is he never has any money to even buy you a gift. Sometimes when need be he steals from you and when you ask…hell breaks loose.
* That man with anger issues! He gets annoyed at everything. Even with others, just a small misunderstanding and he is already clenching his fists. And if you are not careful those fists will gladly land on you. You the woman in his life. And he knows you can’t tell anyone so you suffer in silence. When you notice that he gets angry fast it means he has no self control hence he will tend to be abusive!! You are how he releases anger.
* That man who is anti-responsibility. So he wants you to do everything! Pay all the bills and he never lifts a finger to help around. He is Mr. Arrogant himself and he has the nerve to ask why there’s no cooking gas, why dinner is late, why the electricity bill hasn’t been paid…while he can help you pay bills because after all he is the number one consumer of everything in your house! The house that you pay rent for!
*That man who puts you down. No compliments from him ever Instead he will ask you why you are wearing your hair like that…even go on about how he hates women who wear weaves when it’s very obvious that you have a weave on. He is the real self esteem destroyer.
Once you become the guy’s official girlfriend, your social life becomes non-existent. Woe unto you should you be found  having a coffee with even just a colleague and worse still if it is a male colleague…he will pounce on him, then pounce on you…and then on you again when you are behind closed doors.
Most of us girls get excited by small things. So a guy treats you like trash throughout the relationship and he always makes you miserable but then one day he fishes for something in his pocket, unleashes the bling  and pops the question and every wrong is forgiven and forgotten and you can’t wait to announce to the whole world that you are engaged!…(To the biggest loser who will forever drag you down!)
Unless you want to live in bondage for the rest of your life, then by all means go ahead and marry Mr. Wrong and especially for a silly reason like your Biological clock ticking and all your friends getting married. Just because you got pregnant, doesn’t mean you should marry a guy who sees you as nothing. Because you will  have bound yourself to the equivalent of the devil.
Ladies, love yourself for no one will love you as much. It is ok to be single rather than be somebody’s doormat… Look at the bright side of everything…Instead of  considering yourself single, think of it as being in a long standing relationship with fun and freedom.
The good news is that if you haven’t married Mr. Wrong, you still have a chance to avoid him. You can avoid all that heartache and end up being the happiest married woman… on your own terms when the time comes.
When you know what a happy life is like and how it can be shared by a partner who wants to build you and help make you a better person everyday…even if you will be 50 or 90. You will simply get to choose when to be happy-and I’m assuming you’ll definitely choose happiness always).

PS: Nobody has ever died of being single but unhappiness can kill you slowly.

Related Video: Four Ways to Marry the Wrong Person

Facebook Timeline tells 'story of your life'

Facebook / Livestream

By Wilson Rothman

Today at the Facebook F8 developer summit, Mark Zuckerberg introduced a new kind of profile view called "Timeline." Instead of a profile and wall, it's a more controlled view of your world. As the name suggests, it gives you an easier way to view past events, older photos, trips around the world, using chronological, and in some cases geographical, navigation.
Related: See the Zuckerberg keynote and read all the news here
Instead of anchoring your page with a profile pic, you keep your profile pic but add a cover photo, something more panoramic, that doesn't have to represent you so much as look cool. You can jump around in time, all the way back to your first posts, and you can enter a Places map and browse different places you've been. You "star" the most momentous experiences of your life, making them widescreen, and you can remove stuff you'd rather not remember.
There's a private activity log now, too, so that you can go through everything you've ever posted, and select the stuff that you want your friends to see.
And it's not just about photos and posts. You can put the apps you want where you want, for easier access to the stuff you'd like to do. Facebook is clearly no longer just about creating a profile for others to see; it's more about creating a home that you use for communicating but also for consuming media. Timeline, with the anticipated apps coming for music, movies and media — along with the already insanely popular games — makes it possible.
Facebook CTO Bret Taylor says that they will roll out Timeline progressively "over the next couple of months."
When it goes live, you can publish it right away, or you can look it over and play with it, then make it live, explains product manager Samuel Lessin, in a helpful blog post.
I put a MASSIVE Timeline example shot below, so scroll down and have a gander. Also, there's also a great Timeline info page on Facebook. Meanwhile, here's an brief explanatory video:
More from Technolog:

• How Facebook is about to change even more
• Facebook: Design thrown 'into a blender'?
• Facebook commands: Read, Listened, Watched and Want?
• Fake Facebook features that should be real

Catch up with Wilson on Twitter at @wjrothman, or on Google+. And join our conversation on Facebook.

Blame it on the alcohol?

We're going to guess many poor decisions were made that night.

By Andrew Winner

It’s a trap that most of us have fallen into: making a rash or regrettable decision after a few cold Coors Lights. Blame it on the booze, right? A new study out of the University of Missouri College of Arts and Sciences sheds light on how the brain processes mistakes in the presence of alcohol.
In a finding that runs contrary to previous thinking, it turns out we still know we are making mistakes when intoxicated. We just don’t care as much.
“I suppose the main implication is that people shouldn’t assume ‘I was drunk’ is a good excuse for doing things one knows he or she shouldn’t be doing,” wrote the study’s author, Dr. Bruce Bartholow of the University of Missouri, in an e-mail.  The study will be published in the Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
“It’s not as though people do drunken things because they’re not aware of their behavior, but rather they seem to be less bothered by the implications or consequences of their behavior than they normally would be,” Bartholow added.
Bartholow set out to bring clarity to an area of ambiguity in brain research: Does the strength of the ERN – the error-related negativity “alarm signal” set off in the brain by mistakes – change with the presence of alcohol? Research out of the Netherlands in 2002 had concluded that intoxication reduced the brain’s capacity to detect errors.
However, Bartholow’s study challenged that assumption by asking if it’s possible that the ability to detect errors actually remained the same – but alcohol changed the brain’s reaction to those errors.
“I wondered whether alcohol's effects on error processing were less about reducing awareness of errors and more about reducing the distress that normally accompanies errors,” Bartholow said.
In the study, a group of 67 people aged 21-35 were split into three groups. While two of the three groups received a placebo alcohol (10-proof vodka-tonics), or just plain tonic, the third (lucky?) group received alcoholic beverages -- 100-proof vodka-tonics. The participants in the alcohol group got to a blood-alcohol level of about .09 percent -- just over the legal driving limit. The other two groups remained at a .00 percent blood-alcohol level throughout the study. All participants were then tasked with completing a challenging computer task.
Bartholow’s team noted that while all the groups made mistakes, those which had consumed alcohol were less likely to notice their errors. The alcohol drinkers were also less likely to slow down after an error.
However, in addition to monitoring their performance on the computer, participants also measured the subjects’ mood.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the alcohol group reported feeling less negative. (Hilariously, the group which received the placebo had a more negative mood.) Using these measurements, Bartholow’s team was able to demonstrate a correlation between the mood of the participants and the strength of the ERN. A less negative mood equaled a less severe ERN.
For the study author, the findings represent an important step in understanding how alcohol affects the brain – and the mistakes made by people who have had a couple brew-dogs. Further avenues of research could include testing whether drunk people can be sufficiently motivated to care about their mistakes (and if so, would their brain responses be similar to those of sober individuals).
Another possible avenue Bartholow is pursuing is testing whether the error-related brain activity differences observed in the study will produce changes in other parts of the brain as people attempt to correct their mistakes. In what promises to be endless entertainment for the research assistants, Bartholow is pursuing the use of an fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging – or scans that measure brain activity) machine to take measurements of the study participants.

India police investigate Bangalore 'Facebook suicide'

Malini Murmu was reported to be upset by 'derogatory' Facebook comments

Police in India are looking for the former boyfriend of a student who allegedly committed suicide after he ended their relationship on Facebook.

Malini Murmu is reported to have hanged herself on Sunday in Bangalore. Her father has demanded that her former boyfriend, Abhishek Dhan, be arrested.
Police say they are investigating whether the comments on Facebook amount to aiding and abetting suicide.
The whereabouts of Mr Dhan - also a student - are currently unknown.
Malini Murmu was a first year MBA student in the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Bangalore.
Ms Murmu's family say that Mr Dhan's Facebook account contained derogatory references to her - now deleted - which "forced her to take such a drastic step".
In the comments on Sunday he wrote about being "relieved" and "feeling cool" after "dumping his girlfriend". The pair had reportedly had a row earlier on.
Ms Murmu's father told the BBC that her death had left the family devastated.

Single-Sex Schools Have Negative Impact on Kids, Says Study

Three girls write on a blackboard in this file photo. (Getty Images)

Boys and girls may be opposites, but new research shows that in the classroom, separating the two sexes may not be the best way for either gender to learn and grow.
A new study from Penn State researchers states that students who attend single-sex schools are no better educated than those who attend co-ed schools. Plus, children are more likely to accept gender stereotypes when they go to an all-boys or all-girls school.
"There's really no good evidence that single-sex schools are in any way academically superior, but there is evidence of a negative impact," said Lynn Liben, professor of psychology and education at Penn State and lead author of the study. "Kids' own occupational aspirations are going to be limited, and there could be long-term consequences where, for example, girls are used to being in roles only among other girls, then they have to face the real world where that's not the case."

 

Getty Images

Three girls write on a blackboard in this file photo.

Remembering the Days of Single-Sex Schools Watch Video

Supporters of single-sex schools argue that boys' and girls' brains are wired differently, and therefore require different teaching styles to maximize education, but study authors note that neuroscientists have not found hard evidence that show differences in girls' and boys' different learning styles.
The report, published in the journal Science, compared two preschool classes. In one class, the teacher used gender-specific language to address the children. The other teacher did not. After just two weeks, the researchers reported that children who had the teacher using sex-specific language played less with children of the other sex. The kids also showed an increase in gender-specific stereotypes (i.e. boys played with trucks, girls with dolls).
The study also noted that a review commissioned by the U.S. Department of Education found little overall difference in academic outcomes between children in single-sex schools versus those in coed schools.
Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments outlawed discrimination on the basis of gender in educational programs that receive federal funds, meaning students were no longer allowed to be rejected from gender seemingly-specific classes, like home economics or metal shop. But Liben said several people still argue for gender separation in the classroom.
"We know from the history of our country that separate is not equal," said Liben. "There's no reason to divide along the lines of biological sex."

Health Watch: Beating Heart Transplant

ATLANTA - Heart transplants save thousands of patients every year, but hundreds die waiting for a donor heart. Now a new technology that keeps a donor heart alive outside the body could give many heart patients a second chance at life.
Since the first U.S. heart transplant in 1967, donor hearts have been flown from point A to point B packed on ice, in a cooler.
Now doctors at UCLA Medical Center are embarking on a new procedure that could revolutionize transplants.
It's known as the Beat Box, which keeps a heart beating outside the human body while it's transported from the donor to the recipient, ultimately keeping the organ healthier.
On ice, a heart is only good for up to eight hours. With the new method, it's viable for up to 24, so it can travel much greater distances, making more organs available to patients.

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Chinese Star Yao Ming Retires From The NBA

Chairman Yao, The Great Wall of Yao or the NBA version of the Ming Dynasty has officially hang up his boots and announced his retirement from the NBA.
The 7-foot-6 Houston Rockets centre - the tallest in the NBA, Yao made it official today during a packed news conference in his hometown, Shanghai explaining that prolonged injuries forced him to end his playing career at the age of 30.
Yao Ming boosted the popularity of the NBA and basketball in China and Asia and his retirement will have an immediate effect since there is no Chinese player to take up after him.
The eight-time NBA all-star whose personal brand is valued at $1 billion, is a constant feature on Forbes' list of China's most valuable celebrities.
"I will formally end my career," said Yao who joined the NBA in 2002 but missed a staggering 250 regular-season games over the past six years because of his injuries.
"Today is an important day for me and holds a special meaning for both my basketball career and my future, I had to leave the court since I suffered a stress fracture in my left foot for the third time at the end of last year. My past six months were an agonising wait. I had been thinking about my future over and over. Today I am announcing a personal decision, ending my career as a basketball player and officially retire. But one door is closing and another one is opening."
Yao said he will return to work with his former Chinese team, the Shanghai Sharks, with the possibility of becoming general manager. He plans to continue his philanthropic work with his Yao Foundation.

Todd Palin 'will file for divorce and advisers tell Sarah White House dream is over' after release of explosive biography

Sarah Palin could be set to lose both her marriage and her political career after the release of the  explosive biography on the Tea Party darling.
The National Enquirer claims that friends close to the politician and her husband Todd say he is 'fed up' with the constant scandals that have plagued their marriage ever since she ran for vice president and is ready to file for a divorce.
As well as kissing goodbye to her marriage, it has also been alleged that her advisers have told her to kiss goodbye to the White House fearing a bid would be 'political suicide'.
In The Rogue: Searching for the Real Sarah Palin, the 47-year-old is accused of having a night of passion with a basketball star, snorting cocaine and having an affair with her husband's business partner - all allegations which are thought to have shattered Palin's White House dream.

Scroll down for video

Moving on: Todd Palin is allegedly fed up with the scandals surrounding his wife Sarah Palin and is said to be filing for divorce

Anchor: Sarah Palin in 1987, when she presented a sports show on local TV and met basketball star Glen Rice, who she is alleged to have spent the night with

A source close to the former vice presidential candidate said: 'Sarah Palin has been destroyed by Joe McGinniss' no-holds-barred biography. It exposed all her lies, cover-ups and secrets.
'As a result she has been told by her advisers that it would be political suicide to announce a White House candidacy. The press and her opponents would have a field day digging into the dirty details of her background.'

Brother: Chuck 'Chuckie' Heath Jr told friends that Todd and Sarah 'didn't have a marriage'

The bombshell book is said to have put the final nail in the coffin of her marriage, after Sarah's brother Chuckie was quoted saying his sister and Todd's marriage was over.

A friend told the National Enquirer: 'The final straw was McGinniss quoting Sarah's brother Chuckie telling a friend they don't have a marriage.
'Todd felt as if he was stabbed in the back by his own brother-in-law after 23 years of being married to the guy's sister, and having five kids together.'
It was revealed last week that former basketball player Glen Rice had a one-time fling with the Alaska governor when she was a news anchor for her local station and he was a junior at the University of Michigan.

The source told the Enquirer that Todd feels like he's been made a laughing stock as the hook up had become a joke on late night TV and was all over the internet.
He was also said to be 'fuming' over the biography's confirmation that his wife had an affair with his business partner Brad Hanson and that Todd dissolved their snowmobile dealership after learning of it.
Though both parties denied it at the time it came to light in October 2008, Palin's ex brother-in-law Mike Wooten allegedly confirmed it saying: 'Todd and Sarah were headed for divorce, but Sarah got pregnant soon after, so they decided to stay together.'

The new book also claims that Palin snortedcocaine off a 55-gallon oil drum and separately smoked marijuana in secret liaisons with one of her college professors.
The book's author Joe McGinniss moved in next door to the Palins in Alaska to dig dirt for his salacious biography. 

 

More...

• Meat and greet! Bachmann has a Palin moment as she tours meat plant, wields a knife and has a jab at Obama
• 'Ninety per cent of what I learned is not in the book': Incredible claims by author of new Palin book
• Look behind you, Obama: Even Sarah Palin gains ground on beleaguered President in polls

In response, Todd Palin slammed the author as a 'stalker' who has a 'creepy obsession' with his wife after details of what was in the book were first leaked.
He said: 'This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us to satisfy his creepy obsession with my wife.
His book is full of disgusting lies, innuendo, and smears. Even The New York Times called this book "dated, petty," and that it "chases caustic, unsubstantiated gossip".
Mrs Palin, meanwhile, has been careful to avoid commenting.

Styled: Palin in her more familiar look. A new book alleges she has taken cocaine in the past and had a six-month affair with a former business partner of her husband Todd

Separation?: Todd Palin, seen here with his wife outside their house in Wasilla, Alaska, is said to be filing for a divorce

Explosive: The book, written by Joe McGinness, right, is said to have put an end to her White House bid

The author writes that after college Mrs Palin developed a 'fetish' for black men.
She allegedly had a tryst with basketball star Glen Rice in her younger sister Molly's University of Alaska dorm room, while she was dating Todd and just nine months before the couple were married.
Mrs Palin got pregnant with Todd and they eloped in August 1988.
Their son Track, the oldest of five, was born eight months later in April 1989.
A friend said Mrs Palin spent the night with the basketball star but could not confirm whether they had sex, according to the National Enquirer.
'I remember Sarah feeling pretty good that she'd been with a black basketball star,' a source told the magazine.
The athlete is said to have confirmed the night of passion in Mr McGinniss's book.
Mr Rice went on to have a huge career playing basketball in the NBA and was a three-timer All-Star.

Heat: The book alleges that Palin had a one night stand with basketball star Glen Rice

The explosive book goes on to quote those who knew the family growing up, claiming Mrs Palin was a 'bad mum' who would lock herself in her room for hours on end asking not to be disturbed while her children cooked themselves dinner.
Sarah Palin was plucked from obscurity to be the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008.
The 'pitbull in lipstick' sparked a media storm after accepting the nomination, despite questions over her experience.
But she wowed the U.S. after a barn-storming speech in September 2008 in which she attacked critics for calling her 'small town'.

Six months: Palin is said to have had an affair with Brad Hanson, one of her husband's colleagues

A former mayor of Wasilla before she became governor of Alaska, Palin stepped down after the Republican defeat in the presidential election.
The mother-of-five has remained tight-lipped on whether she would stand next year, but said she would likely make an announcement at the end of this month.
She has been overshadowed in recent months by Tea Party candidates including Michelle Bachmann.
The Republican, who has now associated herself with the Tea Party movement in the U.S., has been dogged by scandal since being selected as Senator John McCain's running mate in 2007.
There have also been frequent rumours that she is set to divorce her husband Todd, which have always been denied.
And she has faced accusations by the father of her daughter's child, Levi Johnston, that she wanted to keep Bristol's pregnancy a secret and adopt the child herself.
Palin has yet to declare whether she intends to run for election in next year's presidential race.
Joe McGinniss, 68, has written several political books including works on former president Richard Nixon and on Alaska.

Headlines: The book, written by Joe McGinniss and released this week, claims Todd (right) dissolved the snowmobile business he ran with Brad Hanson after discovering the affair

Next door: A fence in between the Palins' home, right, and neighbour, author Joe McGinness's home, left

Facebook looks to extend online reach, sharing

SAN FRANCISCO – Facebook is trying to evolve from an Internet hangout where people swing by to share tidbits, links and photos to a homestead decorated with the memories, dreams and diversions of its 800 million users.
In what may be the boldest step yet in the company's seven-year history, Facebook is redesigning its users' profile pages to create what CEO Mark Zuckerberg says is a "new way to express who you are."
It is betting that despite early grumblings, its vast audience will become even more attached to a website that keeps pushing the envelope. To that effect, it is introducing new ways for people to connect with friends, brands and games while also sharing details about their lives from the mundane to the intimate.
"If you look at Facebook's history, obviously they are not afraid of making change," said Sean Corcoran, an analyst with Forrester Research. "They have done a lot of big changes in the past and people have gotten upset. But most of the time Facebook has been right."
Zuckerberg introduced the Facebook "timeline" along with new entertainment and media company partnerships on Thursday in San Francisco, at the annual "f8" conference attended by about 2,000 entrepreneurs, developers and journalists. The event was also being broadcast to, at one point, more than 100,000 online viewers.
The changes seek to transform how and how much people share things online, just as Facebook has been doing since its scrappy start as a college-only network. The overhaul also presents a new challenge for Google Inc., which has been scrambling to catch up with the launch of its own a social network, Google Plus, three months ago.
The timeline, which will eventually replace users' current profile pages, is reminiscent of an online scrapbook filled with the most important photos and text that they have shared on Facebook over the years. It's where people express their real selves and merge their online and offline lives even more than they are doing now.
The timeline can go back to include years before Facebook even existed, so users can add photos and events from, say 1995 when they got married or 1970 when they were born. Users can also add also music, maps and other content next to their memories.
"This radical redesign shows Facebook isn't done becoming what it wants to become," said eMarketer analyst Debra Aho Williamson. "In some respects, Google Plus almost looks dated now."
Williamson expects there to be a big generational divide in how the broader sharing tools are perceived, with younger users embracing them more quickly. She also thinks Facebook should become even more attractive advertisers because it should be able to pick up even more data on what appeals to each user.
"They want you to share your authentic self online," she said.
Zuckerberg took the stage Thursday afternoon after a humorous skit, in which Saturday Night Live actor Andy Samberg impersonated him — as he sometimes does on SNL — and poked fun at Facebook. He introduced a "slow poke" button that takes 24 hours to reach its recipient and a new Facebook friend category for "I'm not really friends with these people."
The real Mark Zuckerberg looked considerably more playful and at ease than he has at past events, suggesting he is growing into his role as the public face of a company that is expected to go public in the stock market at some point next year.
But he quickly got down to business as he introduced the timeline as "the story of your life — all your stories, all your apps and a new way to express who you are."
The timeline feature will be rolling out to users in the coming months.
Expanding on its ubiquitous "like" buttons, Zuckerberg said Facebook will now let users connect to things even if they don't want to "like" them.
"We are making it so you can connect to anything you want. Now you don't have to like a book, you can just read a book," he said. "You don't have to like a movie; you can just watch a movie."
To this end, Facebook unveiled a slew of new partnerships with a slew of older and younger companies, ranging from The Washington Post to Netflix Inc. and from the struggling Yahoo Inc. to the hot music service Spotify.
Through a "ticker" feature partly unveiled earlier this week, Facebook users will be able to see the songs their friends have listened to, the shows they watched or the games they played in a live feed of activity on the right side of their pages.
Clicking through takes observers to the services. The diversions include Hulu videos, Zynga games, Spotify and another music subscription service, Rhapsody.
Axel Dauchez, the chief executive of music subscription service Deezer, which has 1.4 million paying customers in Europe, said the integration with Facebook was key to its plan to roll out in more than 130 countries over the next several weeks.
Instead of actively sharing each song they listen to, users who consent to sharing through Spotify, for instance, will now have all their activity on that app beamed to their Facebook friends. They can also to listen to songs together with their friends.
Marc Rotenberg, executive director of Washington DC-based Electronic Privacy Information Center, had some concerns.
"I guess our life is now packaged and streamed in real time," he said, adding that there's a sense that every time Facebook makes changes, more of its users' data gets pushed out into the public. Users than have to go back to their profile settings and reclaim this information.
To this end, Zuckerberg said Facebook users will have "complete control" on how they turn on an application.
"We are working out the rough edges now," he said.

Are you 'Shocked by the Bible'?

In an age when Christianity is openly under attack, one book that champions the Bible as absolute truth is surprising even longtime Christians with amazing facts many people simply don't know are included in the pages of Holy Scripture.
"If you think you really know the Bible, better think again," warns Fox News' Bill O'Reilly. "Your parents never told you this stuff was in the Bible," adds radio talker and author Melanie Morgan. WND founder Joseph Farah simply says, "'Shocked by the Bible' is nothing short of genius."
They're talking about "Shocked by the Bible: The Most Astonishing Facts You've Never Been Told" by WND Executive News Editor Joe Kovacs. And today only, WND readers can get an autographed, hardcover copy of "Shocked by the Bible" for only $4.95! That's a radical $18 discount off the regular $22.99 price!
"Shocked by the Bible" is a fresh, amazing look at what's actually found in the pages of the greatest book of all time, as well as what's not there. For instance, did you know:

• The ultimate destiny of human beings is much more glorious than just gaining eternal life and floating around on clouds all day
  
  
• "Three Wise Men" appear nowhere in the Bible, and none are ever mentioned visiting baby Jesus in a Bethlehem manger
  
  
• The Bible doesn't say Jesus died on a Friday, or rose from the grave Sunday morning. (Jesus Himself said He'd be in the grave for three days and three nights, not one day and two nights. Remember, Jesus' followers found an empty tomb Sunday morning. He was already gone!)
  
  
• There were not just two of every kind of animal aboard Noah's Ark, and the vessel is not said to have landed on "Mount Ararat." It was the "mountains of Ararat."
  
  
• Jesus made appearances on Earth in the Old Testament
  
  
• Jesus said no one has gone to heaven except Himself

"Yes, I'm a Bible-believing Christian and am among the biggest fans of the Bible of all time," says Kovacs. "My goal is to educate people about the solid truth of Scripture and to stop the spread of erroneous information. I want people to crack open their Bibles and see with their own eyes what's actually printed on the pages, and what's not. It's shocking!"
Those who have read the entire book are jumping for joy over "Shocked by the Bible." Just look at these glowing reviews:

• "I'm drawn to this book. It is so well put together. I started reading it and didn't put it down for two days to finish it. ... This guy is incredible." - Peter Boyles, KHOW radio host, Denver

• "Kovacs has done his homework. In 'Shocked by the Bible,' he explodes certain common concepts, brings shocking stories and revelations to light and gives the reader motivation to dig deeper into the very Word of God. A valuable resource for today's jaded but biblically illiterate audience." - Carolyn R. Scheidies, Author's Choice Reviews

• "Since the professing church is unwilling to look intently at the Scriptures, embrace it all in context, [God] is using a believing investigative journalist to apply his gift and experience to be a witness to the Truth of what He said and established in His Word. Joe Kovacs is that man. ... I recommend 'Shocked by The Bible' by Joe Kovacs because of his journalistic approach to the Bible. He is not trying to proselytize anyone to his particular brand of religion. His agenda appears to not go beyond just a journalistic look at Scripture in order to get straight facts into peoples' hands that they might make an informed decision." - Banner Kidd, Torah Perspective

The book soared to No. 1 in three Bible-related categories on Amazon.com even before its official release, with readers giving it the maximum five-star rating. It also rocketed to No. 1 on the WND Best-Seller list.
Kovacs holds nothing back as he quotes directly from the Holy Bible to address incredible issues.
For instance:

• The word "Easter" has vanished from modern Bible translations. And you won't find a single mention of Easter eggs, but you will find God warning His people not to have anything to do with a pagan fertility goddess, whose name is synonymous with "Easter"
  
  
• The practice of decking a tree with silver and gold is actually condemned by God
  
  
• God wanted to kill Moses
  
  
• Animals had meaningful discussions with people
  
  
• The Bible calls the devil "god"

"Shocked by the Bible" will even make you laugh as it dares to look at the issues you'll rarely, if ever, hear in church or on TV or radio shows:

• There's a character in the Bible called a "dumb ass"
  
  
• Underwear didn't disintegrate despite 40 years of heavy use
  
  
• The worst case of hemorrhoids in history is recorded

"It's not about religion," says Kovacs, "it's about the Bible. What's in it, and what's not. You'll truly be stunned when you see for yourself what Scripture has to say, without anyone telling you it doesn't mean what it says."
"Shocked by the Bible" answers questions regardless of anyone's faith or personal outlook.
"It's for those who have never read the Bible, those who don't understand the Word, as well as those who have been reading it for years and know it well, or at least thought they knew it," says Kovacs.
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To interview Joe Kovacs, author of "Shocked by the Bible," please contact him.

Read more: Are you 'Shocked by the Bible'? http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=78202#ixzz1Yge02UFU