Thursday, April 23, 2009

The deadly Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis virus is missing !

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Missing vials of a potentially dangerous virus have prompted an Army investigation into the disappearance from a lab in Maryland.

The Army's Criminal Investigation Command agents have been visiting Fort Detrick in Frederick, Maryland, to investigate the disappearance of the vials. Christopher Grey, spokesman for the command, said this latest investigation has found "no evidence of criminal activity."

The vials contained samples of Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, a virus that sickens horses and can be spread to humans by mosquitoes. In 97 percent of cases, humans with the virus suffer flu-like symptoms, but it can be deadly in about 1 out of 100 cases, according to Caree Vander Linden, a spokeswoman for the Army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. There is an effective vaccine for the disease and there hasn't been an outbreak in the United States since 1971.

The vials had been at the research institute's facility at Fort Detrick, home of the Army's top biological research facility, for more than a decade. The three missing vials were among thousands of vials that were under the control of a senior scientist who retired in 2004. When another Fort Detrick scientist recently inventoried the retired scientist's biological samples, he discovered that the three vials of the virus were missing. The original scientist's records about his vials dated back to the days of paper-and-pen inventories.

During the investigation, the retired scientist and another former Fort Detrick researcher cooperated with investigating agents and, according to Vander Linden, they came back to the facility to help look for the vials.

Vander Linden said the investigators know that several years ago an entire freezer full of biological samples broke down and all the samples had to be safely destroyed. But a complete inventory of what was in the freezer was not done before the samples were destroyed. Vander Linden said there's a "strong possibility" the vials were in that freezer and destroyed, but that isn't known for sure.

This investigation comes two months after all research at the research institute facility at Fort Detrick was halted for a complete computer-based inventory of all disease samples at the fort. That inventory is expected to be complete before summer and may help solve the mystery of the three missing vials, officials said.

The Army investigation is in its final stages and is expected to be closed soon.

From Larry Shaughnessy
CNN Pentagon Producer

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

David Kellermann found dead, Broderick say is under "active investigation."

NEW YORK(Dow Jones)--

The acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac (FRE), David Kellermann, was found dead at his home early Wednesday, according to Fairfax County police.

There were "no signs of foul play," said Officer Shelley Broderick of the Fairfax County Police Department. She said police found Kellermann's body after responding to a call made at 4:48 a.m.

Kellermann's wife told local police he committed suicide, Washington, D.C., television station WUSA reported, citing sheriff's deputies in Fairfax County, Va.

Broderick would only say the case is under "active investigation."

Kellermann, who was 41, became acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac in September, replacing Anthony S. Piszel amid a broader overhaul of top management. He had previously been the company's controller and principal accounting officer.

Kellermann's job made him responsible for financial controls and reporting at Freddie Mac, a housing finance company backed by the federal government. He had been with the company for more than 16 years, starting as a financial analyst and auditor in 1992, according to the company's Web site.

Investigators from the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department have been questioning officials of Freddie Mac about possible accounting violations and other matters in recent months, the company disclosed in March.

Freddie disclosed in the recent SEC filing that in September it received a federal grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York seeking documents related to accounting, disclosure and corporate governance matters. That subpoena was later withdrawn, Freddie has disclosed, and the investigation was taken over by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Freddie said the SEC also is investigating and has told the company to preserve documents. Freddie has said it is "cooperating fully in these matters."

Freddie Mac Interim CEO John Koskinen released a statement expressing condolences to Kellermann's family and praising his work ethic and integrity.

"But he will be most remembered for his affability, his personal warmth, his sense of humor and his quick wit," Koskinen said.

Freddie Mac, along with its sibling Fannie Mae, were taken over by the government in September in what would become a string of state interventions in financial services firms. The housing finance giants have been hobbled by falling home prices and the subsequent deterioration in their investment portfolios. Freddie has received $30.8 billion in support from the government while Fannie has taken $15.2 billion.

Freddie Mac's shares were recently down about 4%.

 
-By Anusha Shrivastava and James R. Hagerty

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"Eartlink" Conference Call, live webcast "2009"

European stocks higher after Citigroup earnings

"Eartlink" Conference Call, live webcast "2009"

EarthLink to Announce First Quarter 2009 Earnings

ATLANTA, April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EarthLink (Nasdaq: ELNK) today announced it will host a conference call on Tuesday, April 28, 2009, at 8:30 a.m. EDT to discuss its first quarter 2009 financial results. The earnings press release will be issued at 7:00 a.m. EDT. EarthLink's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rolla P. Huff and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Dotts will lead the call.

Conference Call Details

    U.S. and Canada Dial-in Number      800-706-0730
International Dial-in Number 706-634-5173
Participants should reference "EarthLink's first quarter 2009 conference
call" and dial in 10 minutes prior to scheduled start time.

Webcast

A live Webcast of the conference call will be available at: http://ir.earthlink.net/index.cfm

Replay

Replay available from at 9:30 a.m. EDT on April 28 through midnight on May 5.

Dial 800-642-1687 from US and Canada, International callers dial 706-645-9291.

The replay confirmation code is 93310805.

The Webcast will be archived on the company's website at: http://ir.earthlink.net/events.cfm

About EarthLink

"EarthLink. We revolve around you(TM)." As the nation's Internet expert, Atlanta-based EarthLink has earned an award-winning reputation for outstanding customer service and its suite of online products and services. Serving over three million subscribers, EarthLink offers what every user should expect from their ISP: high-quality connectivity, minimal online intrusions and customizable features. Whether it's dial up, high-speed Internet services like DSL and cable Internet, home phone service, Web hosting, or "EarthLink Extras" like home networking or security, EarthLink connects people to the power and possibilities of the Internet. Learn more about EarthLink by calling (800) EARTHLINK or visiting EarthLink's Web site at www.EarthLink.net.

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Sunday, April 19, 2009

MASH' fans keep looking for the Chicago restaurant Hawkeye called from Korea, and guess what they find?



Legendary radio, television, stage and screenwriter Larry Gelbart knows what's funny and what's not funny. The recipient of three Emmys and three Tonys, among other awards, the Chicago native has demonstrably proven over the years that he knows how to tickle someone's funny bone.

Perhaps best known as one of the creators of "MASH," Gelbart had a hand in either producing, directing or writing 134 episodes of the iconic series during its 1972-83 run on CBS. "To have the life span that it has enjoyed is amazing," a proud Gelbart recently said from California.

Of those episodes, one is arguably the most rib-tickling of them all.

"There's a place in Chicago near the Dearborn Street Station, I don't know the name of it, they served ribs, the best in the world. ... The gods on Olympus, when they got tired of pizza, they sent out for these ribs." -- Hawkeye, in the "Adam's Ribs" episode of "MASH"

"Adam's Ribs," first aired on Nov. 26, 1974, revolved around the complications that ensue when Hawkeye (Alan Alda), who's fed up by the "river of liver and an ocean of fish" he's been served in the mess tent for 11 straight days, suddenly has a craving for barbecue spareribs. According to Hawkeye, while attending medical school in Chicago, he used to go to this phenomenal rib joint near the Dearborn Street rail station. The only problem is, he doesn't remember its name.

Informed that the number of the station is Dearborn 5-7500, Hawkeye telephones the station from Korea intent on placing the ultimate takeout order. While on the phone with the stationmaster, who thinks he is a war correspondent, Hawkeye learns the restaurant is called Adam's Ribs. He then convinces the stationmaster to look up its phone number: Dearborn 5-2750.

The screwball surgeon gets the stationmaster to transfer him to the local operator, who then patches him through to the restaurant. He proceeds to order 40 pounds of spareribs and a gallon of barbecue sauce.

To a legion of "MASH" fans, Adam's Ribs is a hallowed shrine. Among the pantheon of famous film and TV locations in and around Chicago, Adam's Ribs is right up there with the Billy Goat Tavern and the "Home Alone" house in Winnetka.

People of a certain age have long assumed that Gelbart and the late Laurence Marks, the episode's writer, modeled the rib joint after a real-life eatery -- just like the producers of "Cheers" modeled their fictitious restaurant after the Bull & Finch Pub in Boston. Indeed, entire threads in the blogosphere have been dedicated to trying to figure out what restaurant served as the inspiration for Adam's Ribs.

But when asked about it recently, the 81-year-old Gelbart acknowledged for the first time what so many have long suspected: namely, that Adam's Ribs never existed.

His acknowledgment also included the surprising revelation that, not only wasn't Adam's Ribs a real place, but it wasn't inspired by any restaurant, either. Instead, both he and Marks concocted it out of their own fertile, comic imaginations.

"Part of it had to do with the city's 'hog butcher for the world' reputation," Gelbart explained, "but it principally was just a conceit, a loving homage, to a place that I can never forget."

Among "MASH" fans, the episode has taken on a cult-like status. "I think it's an extremely funny show," Gelbart said. "I guess the lunacy that your taste buds could be driven so crazy that you'd go to such extremes just clicks with people."

Gelbart's explanation is echoed by Joseph Stern, who guest starred in the episode as Master Sgt. Tarola. At an air base, he resists giving Hawkeye and Trapper John (Wayne Rogers) their package -- until he figures out it contains Adam's Ribs. Turns out Tarola is from Joliet. "I'd walk to Chicago on my knees in a snowstorm for a takeout order," he admits.

Now the producer of the Matrix Theatre Company in Los Angeles, the 68-year-old Stern went on to be the executive producer of all 138 episodes of "Judging Amy" and produce some 65 episodes of "Law & Order."

"I've developed a lot of scripts over the years," says Stern, "and I think one of the most compelling scenarios in either drama or comedy is obsession. And this episode was all about Hawkeye's obsession."

"Across the street from the station, down the block, there's a five-and-10, and right next to that there's a dry cleaning and dyeing place, and right next to that there's this place that sells ribs ..." -- Hawkeye, later in "Adam's Ribs"

" 'MASH' was a show so grounded in reality that tiny little things like the location of a restaurant could get instantly legitimized," said Robert Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. "It seemed so real to the audience because of all the detail. The episode was so specific. We were given a real place and two seemingly real phone numbers. Whenever you get that level of specificity, it's like the producers were issuing a challenge, an invitation to the audience to check it out for themselves. The episode practically begged viewers to try to find the place."

Rob Manderson thought he was up to the challenge. Three summers ago, on a family vacation to Chicago, the 54-year-old software engineer from Scottsdale, Ariz., slipped away from his wife and stepson at a museum exhibition and headed off to find Adam's Ribs.

"I figured I could find it because Hawkeye gave such incredibly precise instructions, I took it as gospel that the restaurant really existed," Manderson recalled. "I wouldn't have had any other interest in it if it was just another restaurant and not the famous Adam's Ribs."

Of course, no such restaurant turned up, but Manderson wasn't disappointed. "I pretty much set off with no expectation of finding it," he said.

According to Tim Samuelson, cultural historian for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, there were enough incongruities in the episode for someone from the city to know that Adam's Ribs couldn't have been a real place.

"In the time frame of the 'MASH' storyline, the area immediately surrounding the Dearborn Station was mostly industrial, but the principal nearby residential areas were mostly hotels and rooming houses of dubious reputation," Samuelson noted. He added that, even in the 1950s with a local telephone book in hand, "it would be hard to find the telephone number for the fare collector's booth in a subway station, since the stations really didn't have a full-time manager to deal with telephone calls."

Besides, Samuelson continued, though "there actually was a telephone exchange that started with 'Dearborn,' it would have been 'Dearborn 2,' not 'Dearborn 5.'"

Actually, the Dearborn Station closed in 1971 -- a full three years before the episode even aired. While its landmarked "head house" still survives, the station itself, at 47 W. Polk, was converted to retail and office space in the mid-1980s.

Inconsistencies notwithstanding, Thompson believes that there's a more profound explanation for the episode's popularity.

"Hawkeye spoke about the ribs in a reverential way that went way beyond food and the need to satisfy one's gastronomical self," said Thompson, who was born in Hinsdale. "There's a purity to that episode that I believe has gone largely overlooked, and that is a remembrance of things past. Clearly, Gelbart understood the notion of longing for a piece of home."

Gelbart wondered how many contemporary restaurants call themselves Adam's Ribs, or some variant of that name, because of the episode. One need not look farther than Buffalo Grove for an answer.

When the owners of the former Cy's Crabhouse, on Milwaukee Avenue, were thinking of names for their restaurant's reopening last year, they wanted "something catchy that would help business," according to Frank Nodahar, the eatery's director of operations.

The result? Cy's Crabhouse was rechristened as Adam's Rib and Ale House.

Though posters from the 1949 Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn movie "Adam's Rib" adorn the restaurant's walls, Nodahar is quick to concede that "we're always getting customers coming in and talking about the 'MASH' episode, and all of us will always have a good laugh about it."

The episode, he says with a grin, is that good a conversation piece.

Douglas J. Gladstone is a free-lance writer based in New York.


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Friday, April 17, 2009

Donna Feldman Says Brazilian Babes Have Stiff Competition From Israel


Model Donna Feldman Says Brazilian Babes Have Stiff Competition From Israel | Britney Spears: Erotically Charged but Energetically Flat | Leona Lewis Teaming Up With Michael Jackson?

Model Donna Feldman Says Brazilian Babes Have Stiff Competition From Israel

Sure, everyone knows that Brazilian supermodels dominate the swimsuit model industry, but Israeli model Donna Feldman thinks her native country is ready to give the South American hotspot a run for its money.

"Every time I visit my family in Israel I am blown away by how beautiful the women are. The beach in Tel Aviv is filled with tan, curvy, all-natural exotic women," Feldman quipped. "Instead of a single man vacationing on the beach in Brazil, Israel is definitely another option to consider."

By Hollie McKay read more



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European stocks higher after Citigroup earnings

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LONDON (AP) — European stock markets rose Friday, with Wall Street expected to open higher, following better than expected earnings from U.S. banking giant Citigroup Inc. and General Electric Corp.

Citigroup, widely considered the most troubled U.S. bank, said its loss per share in the first three months of 2009 was 18 cents, narrower than the 34 cents analysts were predicting. Meanwhile, General Electric reported earnings per share of 26 cents for the same period, again ahead of analysts' expectations of 21 cents per share.

The news helped Wall Street futures reverse earlier losses and stoked some buying in Europe's markets.

Dow futures were up 6 points, or 0.1 percent, at 8,065 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 futures rose 0.2 point to 861.70.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 36.78 points, or 0.9 percent, at 4,089.76 while Germany's DAX rose 46.20 points, or 1 percent, to 4,655.66. The CAC-40 in France was 42.68 points, or 1.4 percent, at 3,080.86.

The results, though clearly affected by the recession, reinforced hopes in the markets that the worst of the economic downturn may be over. Such views had enticed some investors back into stock markets in recent weeks. The rise in risk appetite has gained momentum over the last month or so as global equities have rallied from multiyear lows to post their biggest gains in such a short space of time since 1933.

Citigroup's results followed similarly upbeat reports in recent days by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Keith Bowman, an equities analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers in London, said the earnings from Citigroup were greeted with some relief but said investors need more convincing before they can say the banks have recovered.

"Investors will be wanting to see follow-through into the second quarter to be convinced," he said.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average added 152.32, or 1.7 percent, to 8,907.58 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng pared gains to close up 18.28 points, or 0.1 percent, at 15,601.27. India's main index advanced 0.7 percent while Australia's benchmark shed its gains to close slightly higher.


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Stock market going down

Britney Spears joining actor Ashton Kutcher on twitter.

Britney Spears has decided to throw her hat into the ring, joining actor Ashton Kutcher and the TV network CNN in the battle to be the most popular of the Twitterati.

On Wednesday, Spears' manager, Adam Leber, tweeted on her account, "Let's get Brit across the million mark! Tweet about following @britneyspears for a chance to win 2 tix to Brit's concert."

Earlier this week, actor Ashton Kutcher announced that he will try to beat CNN to reach 1 million followers on the popular social networking site.


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