Murder case against tennis umpire is dropped

From the beginning, the death of professional tennis umpire Lois Goodman's husband was beset by contradictions.When Alan Goodman,...

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Geek Culture's 26 Most Awesome Female Ass-Kickers

Angelina Jolie extends her reputation as filmdom’s most compelling ass-kicker, Female Division, when Salt opens Friday. Midway through a summer freighted with testosterone, Jolie’s lithe Agent Salt is a potent reminder of the power of feminine fighters. A minority presence in sci-fi and action realms even in 2010, women warriors remain the exception to the guy-centric rule in film, TV, videogames...

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JLo tones down concert in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Jennifer Lopez wowed thousands of fans in Indonesia, but they didn’t see as much of her as concertgoers in other countries — the American pop star toned down both her sexy outfits and her dance moves during her show in the world’s most populous Muslim country, promoters said Saturday.Lopez’s “Dance Again World Tour” was performed in the country’s capital, Jakarta, on Friday...

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Small union is causing big problems for ports

The small band of strikers that has effectively shut down the nation's busiest shipping complex forced two huge cargo ships...

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How an Obscure Comic Artist Became John McAfee's Lifeline to the World

Two years ago, Portland animator Chad Essley never could have imagined he would become the webmaster and primary public liaison for John McAfee, the reclusive millionaire and former antivirus software mogul now sought for questioning in a Belizean murder case. But that’s exactly what happened to the aspiring graphic novelist, who is currently at work on an illustrated account of his adventures...

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France’s Depardieu detained for drunken driving

PARIS (Reuters) – French actor Gerard Depardieu was detained for driving his scooter while drunk on Thursday after he had a minor accident in Paris, prosecutors said.The 63-year-old star of films such as “Jean de Florette” and “Green Card” was held for questioning after he fell from his scooter mid-afternoon, slightly injuring his elbow.No-one else was hurt in the accident.One of France’s best-known...

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The New Old Age Blog: Forced to Choose: Nursing Home vs. Hospice

An older person, someone who will die within six months, leaves a hospital. Where does she go?Almost a third of the time, according to a recent study from the University of California, San Francisco, records show she takes advantage of Medicare’s skilled-nursing facility benefit and enters a nursing home. But is that the best place for end-of-life care?In terms of monitoring her vital signs and handling...

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As downtown L.A. grows trendier, Spring Street Arcade is left behind

The salesmen at the Spring Street Arcade spend their day gazing out at a city that's passing them by.All around, a trendy downtown...

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Scanadu Scout Wants to Be Your Personal Health Tricorder

You know in Star Trek when Bones runs a mobile scanning device over some poor red-shirted schlub and comes back seconds later with a diagnosis? Well, that futuristic Star Trek tricorder is a step closer to reality today thanks to the Scanadu Scout, a handheld medical scanning device that works in conjunction with a smartphone to take all five vital signs in just 10 seconds. It will cost $150...

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R&B star Mary J. Blige sued for defaulting on $2.2 million loan

(Reuters) – R&B star Mary J. Blige was hit with a lawsuit on Wednesday alleging the Grammy winner and her husband defaulted on a $ 2.2 million bank loan.According to court documents filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Signature Bank is seeking to recoup the original loan plus $ 58,000 in interest.Blige, 41, who has sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, and her husband Martin...

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Cost of Brand-Name Prescription Medicines Soaring

The price of brand-name prescription medicines is rising far faster than the inflation rate, while the price of generic drugs has plummeted, creating the largest gap so far between the two, according to a report published Wednesday by the pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts. The report tracked an index of commonly used drugs and found that the price of brand-name medicines increased...

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The Next War: In Federal Budget Cutting, F-35 Fighter Jet Is at Risk

Luke Sharrett for The New York TimesVice Adm. David Venlet was named to lead the Joint Strike Fighter program in 2010 after problems had left it behind schedule and over budget. LEXINGTON PARK, Md. — The Marine version of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, already more than a decade in the making, was facing a crucial question: Could the jet, which can soar well past the speed of sound, land at sea like...

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Twin car bombs in Damascus kill at least 34 people

AMMAN, Jordan— ...

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Geek Researcher Spends Three Years Living With Hackers

When you’re starting off as an anthropologist, you aim is to explore a subculture your peers have yet to uncover, spending years living with the locals and learning their ways.That’s what Gabriella Coleman did. She went to San Francisco and lived with the hackers.Coleman, an anthropologist who teaches at McGill University, spent three years living in the Bay Area, studying the community that...

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Leads, director of Motown musical visit Hitsville

DETROIT (AP) — The stars of the upcoming Broadway musical about Motown Records have read pretty much every book about and listened to every song from that golden era of American music.The research only took them so far, so they decided to come and see Hitsville, U.S.A., for themselves.Brandon Victor Dixon, who portrays the label’s founder, Berry Gordy, and Valisia LeKae, who plays its signature songstress,...

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The New Old Age Blog: Doctor's Orders? Another Test

It is no longer news that Americans, and older Americans in particular, get more routine screening tests than they need, more than are useful. Prostate tests for men over 75, annual Pap smears for women over 65 and colonoscopies for anyone over 75 — all are overused, large-scale studies have shown.Now it appears that many older patients are also subjected to too-frequent use of the other kind of testing,...

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Facebook Gift Store Urges Users to Shop While They Share

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook is already privy to its users’ e-mail addresses, wedding pictures and political beliefs. Now the company is nudging them to share a bit more: credit card numbers and offline addresses. James Best Jr./The New York TimesFacebook Gifts is a service that prompts users to buy things for friends on the social network. Sharing Even MoreWhat...

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Program opens door to citizenship for immigrants

Ricardo Sepida gets emotional when he sees his son-in-law in a Navy uniform. Even aircraft carriers make him misty-eyed. There...

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Munich Subway Photos Resemble Abandoned Kubrickian Spacecraft

Nick Frank likes to summarize his approach to photography with one phrase: “Reduce to the max.”Get to the point. Remove all distractions. It’s a framework that lends itself well to Frank’s series on subway stations in Munich, Germany, where he lives.“Pictures are often overloaded with information so what I’m doing is trying to flatten the image until you see the essence of the main subject,”...

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New Zealand becomes Middle Earth as Hobbit mania takes hold

WELLINGTON (Reuters) – New Zealand‘s capital city was rushing to complete its transformation into a haven for hairy feet and pointed ears on Tuesday as stars jetted in for the long-awaited world premiere of the first movie of the Hobbit trilogy.Wellington, where director Peter Jackson and much of the post production is based, has renamed itself “the Middle of Middle Earth“, as fans held costume parties...

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Clearing the Fog Around Personality Disorders

For years they have lived as orphans and outliers, a colony of misfit characters on their own island: the bizarre one and the needy one, the untrusting and the crooked, the grandiose and the cowardly. Their customs and rituals are as captivating as any tribe’s, and at least as mystifying. Every mental anthropologist who has visited their world seems to walk away with a different story, a...

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