Finally, the Bacon Condom Has Arrived

More than most other products, condoms seem to arouse people's creative ingenuity.

There are glow-in-the-dark condoms, Scotch whiskey-flavored McCondoms, dinosaur-shaped condoms and condoms printed with ruler measurements (presumably for men who feel they have something to prove).

And now, a bacon condom. It was only a matter of time.

J & D's Foods, whose corporate mission statement is, "Everything should taste like bacon," has announced its latest product, a condom that's patterned to look like a pinkish-red slab of bacon and is flavored with the company's Baconlube, according to the New York Daily News.

The company claims the condoms are "made in America of the highest-quality latex and rigorously tested to help ensure the utmost reliability and safety for when you're makin' bacon," Fox News reports.

Sexual health experts recommend condoms as a means of preventing unintended pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted infections. But a recent study revealed that many people don't use the prophylactics correctly, either removing them too early, storing them incorrectly or using no lubricant or the wrong kind of lubricant.

And though a 2011 study found that young, male college students with higher levels of testosterone were more likely to use condoms, the practice is not universally popular: Research from 2012 involving young, unmarried men and women revealed 25 percent considered using a condom every time during sex to be a "hassle."

Could the bacon condom change that? Perhaps.

The condoms join an already lip-smacking array of J & D's bacon-oriented products, including bacon-flavored envelopes, bacon lip balm, Baconnaise sandwich spread, bacon-scented sunscreen and ? for those who love bacon to death ? a bacon-themed coffin.

Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/finally-bacon-condom-arrived-133156663.html

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Texas district attorney, wife found dead after prosecutor killed

DALLAS (Reuters) - Authorities in Texas were investigating the deaths of a district attorney and his wife on Saturday, in the same county where an assistant district attorney was shot dead outside a courthouse in January.

The deaths of Kaufman County Criminal District Attorney Mike McLelland and his wife Cynthia were reported by the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office late on Saturday.

News reports said they were shot to death at their home.

"We are investigating the deaths of the Kaufman County district attorney and his wife," said Kaufman County Sheriff's Office spokesman Lieutenant Justin Lewis.

Lewis said the investigation was at a preliminary stage and he had no further information.

The deaths follow the January slaying of Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark Hasse, who was shot and killed as he walked from his car to a Dallas-area courthouse.

The Dallas Morning News, citing unnamed sources, said McLelland and his wife were found shot at their home.

McLelland, a U.S. Army veteran, had five children including a son who is an officer with the Dallas police department, according to a biography on the county website.

Authorities have made no arrests in the Hasse's killing. McLelland had vowed to bring his killer to justice.

He was shot to death the same day the U.S. Department of Justice released a statement saying the Kaufman County District Attorney's Office was involved in a racketeering case against the Aryan Brotherhood white supremacist group.

Earlier this month, the Hasse slaying case took a new turn when the Kaufman police chief said the FBI was looking for any possible link between Hasse's death and the March 19 shooting death of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements.

Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, a Colorado prison parolee suspected of killing Clements, died in a shootout with police in Decatur, Texas, on March 21. Ebel was a member of a white supremacist prison gang called the 211 Crew and had a swastika tattoo, prison records indicate.

Kaufman County is in the east of metropolitan Dallas-Fort Worth area.

(Reporting by Marice Richter in Dallas, additional reporting by Jon Nielsen in Waxahachie, Texas, Writing by Tim Gaynor, Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-county-district-attorney-wife-found-dead-032732367.html

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Facebook's new home on Android

Next Thursday our own Phil Nickinson will be heading over to Facebook's third event of 2013, and their first that promises to be focused on mobile. Perhaps even disruptive to mobile. Phil has questions about the Facebook Android event, important ones, and rightly so. I have no answers, but I do have this.

Come See Our New Home on Android

Facebook is one of the few companies not already in the mobile platform game that's talented and wealthy enough to do something really interesting. Apple, Microsoft, BlackBerry, Google, even Amazon have all already taken their shots. Each has tackled it according to their own unique corporate cultures and business needs. We've seen bits and pieces from Facebook before, from their mobile apps to their messengers to their social cameras. But what would really express their corporate culture and service their business needs?

Facebook's hired tremendous mobile talent over the last few years. Eric Tseng, who helped run Android at Google for years, and Mike Matas who helped create the modern era of textured design at Delicious Monster, are two of the most prominent. Mark Zuckerberg himself has reportedly taken prominent iOS designers and developers for "Steve Jobs walks", and claimed Facebook was now the best place for them to dent the mobile universe.

What's all that talent been up to for the last couple years? Not making new iterations of the News Feed, and certainly not knocking out Poke apps, that's for sure. Yet Zuckerberg has also said, resolutely and on several occasions, that Facebook's mobile future doesn't lie in their own mobile hardware.

Given that Facebook so prominently name dropped the mobile operating system of their biggest competitor, in arguably their biggest announcement of the year, might just indicate that Zuckerberg should be taken at his word. And perhaps the entire invitation should be.

Android has a concept of home screens, like iOS, but much more expansive and customizable than iOS. They can be skinned and they can be replaced. For good or for ill, Samsung with TouchWiz, HTC with Sense, and other device manufacturers often completely remake Android's stock interface with their own layers. It's not as extensive as Amazon's Kindle Fire fork, where Android is treated as little more than an embedded OS, but its enough to differentiate and provide some level of ownership.

Unlike Amazon, who wants to be in the hardware game and own their own content distribution platform -- who wants a shiny box that will act as a dedicated front-end to the Amazon store -- Facebook wants to be ubiquitous across all platforms. Facebook currently enjoys system level integration in iOS, which is probably as deep as they'll be allowed to go. They'll never take over the experience there, or on Windows Phone or BlackBerry.

Android, however, could let Facebook own the system experience without having to own the system. Home could let Facebook provide a deeper integration without turning partners into competitors. HTC could let Facebook show off an inspirational device other manufacturers and end users can immediately see and touch, while also letting them offer the same experience to other manufacturers and users down the road.

That's my best guess for what we'll see on Thursday. A Brilliantly engineered, gorgeously designed way to inject Facebook into the Android experience and remake it in the social giants image. If that's what Facebook's up to, it could be a brilliant strategy that gives them a lot of benefit for very little risk, and disproportionate ownership to investment. Just as they overwhelmed and walled the web to build their desktop platform, Facebook could have a way to face-hugger Android phones and remake them, Facebook-formed...

We'll find out for sure in less than a week. And hopefully we'll also find out what Apple's up to this year, since everything from CES to MWC, HTC to Samsung, BlackBerry to Facebook, were allowed to claim the spotlight unopposed throughout the entire first quarter of 2013...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/KBz84XEe2qo/story01.htm

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Phil Ramone, Grammy-winning producer, dead at 72

NEW YORK (AP) ? Phil Ramone, the Grammy Award-winning engineer and producer whose platinum touch included recordings with Ray Charles, Billy Joel and Paul Simon, has died at 72.

Ramone's son, Matt Ramone, confirmed the death. The family did not immediately release details of the death, but Matt Ramone says his father was "very loving and will be missed."

Few in the recording industry enjoyed a more spectacular and diverse career. Ramone won 14 competitive Grammy Awards and one for lifetime achievement. He was at ease with rock, jazz, swing and pop, working with Frank Sinatra and Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney, Elton John and Tony Bennett.

He produced three records that went on to win Grammys for album of the year ? Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years," Joel's "52nd Street" and Charles' "Genius Loves Company."

"I always thought of Phil Ramone as the most talented guy in my band," Joel said in a statement. "So much of my music was shaped by him and brought to fruition by him. I have lost a dear friend ? and my greatest mentor."

Ramone was a pioneer of digital recording who produced what is regarded as the first major commercial release on compact disc, "52nd Street," which came out on CD in 1982. He was also part of political history, advising presidential administrations on how to properly record a news conference and helping to arrange the storied 1962 party for John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden that featured Marilyn Monroe crooning "Happy Birthday."

He thrived on producing music for television, film and the stage. He won an Emmy for a TV special about Duke Ellington, a Grammy for the soundtrack to the Broadway musical "Promises, Promises" and a Grammy for the soundtrack to "Flashdance."

Ramone made an art out of the "Duets" concept, pairing Sinatra with Bono, Luther Vandross and other younger artists, Bennett with McCartney and Barbra Streisand, and Charles with Bonnie Raitt and Van Morrison. In Ramone's memoir, "Making Records," he recalled persuading a hesitant Sinatra to re-record some of his signature songs.

"I reminded Frank that while Laurence Olivier had performed Shakespeare in his 20s, the readings he did when he was in his 60s gave them new meaning," Ramone wrote. "I spoke with conviction. 'Don't my children ? and your grandchildren ? deserve to hear the way you're interpreting your classic songs now?'"

A native of South Africa, he seemed born to make music. He had learned violin by age 3 and was trained at The Juilliard School in New York. Before age 20, he had opened his own recording studio, A&R Recording, where he served as engineer for such visiting artists as Count Basie and Sarah Vaughan. He had known Quincy Jones since he was a teenager and in his 20s became close to Streisand. By the end of the 1960s, he had worked on "Midnight Cowboy" and other movie soundtracks and would credit composer John Barry with helping him become a producer.

His credits as a producer, engineer and arranger make it hard to believe they belong to just one person: Joel's "The Stranger," Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years," the Bob Dylan/The Band concert album "Before the Flood," such popular singles as Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant," Streisand's "Evergreen," Judy Collins' "Send in the Clowns" and Stan Getz's and Astrud Gilberto's "The Girl from Ipanema."

The bearded, self-effacing Ramone was among the most famous and welcome faces within the business, yet he could walk down virtually any street unnoticed. He was not a high-strung visionary in the tradition of Phil Spector, but rather a highly accomplished craftsman and diplomat who prided himself on his low-key style, on being an "objective filter" for the artist, on not being "a screamer."

"The record producer is the music world's equivalent of a film director," he wrote in his memoir. "But, unlike a director (who is visible, and often a celebrity in his own right), the record producer toils in anonymity. We ply our craft deep into the night, behind locked doors."

In a statement Saturday, Bennett said it was a joy to work with Ramone.

"Phil Ramone was a lovely person and a very gifted musician and producer," Bennett said. "He had a wonderful sense of humor and a deep love of music."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/phil-ramone-grammy-winning-producer-dead-72-171128987.html

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Jim Carrey Responds to Fox News: "A Media Colostomy Bag" (Little green footballs)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295517466?client_source=feed&format=rss

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The Earth-Shattering DDoS That Wasn't, Bill Gates' Condom Challenge, Photoshop Jedi, And More

While there may not have actually been a Internet-threatening DDoS this week, there's plenty more to catch up on. We've got soda-stealin' tips, two flavors of photoshop magic, the reason you'll wind up with a smart watch, Bill Gates' condom plans, and all the people who suddenly owe Google $1,500. Check it all out below. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/xBF6qpvOjJg/the-earth+shattering-ddos-that-wasnt-bill-gates-condom-challenge-photoshop-jedi-and-more

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AGF profit drops in first quarter, but outlook bright

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/agf-profit-drops-first-quarter-outlook-bright-130633271--sector.html

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Vacation Of The Month Club ? GraniteGrok

It?d not an illusion ? The Obamas are having a royally good time at our expense, and like most modern Democrats, they have a sense of entitlement about it.

If there?s a ?R? in the month, it must be vacation time?.. There again, if there isn?t?..

The Kennedys became ?America?s Royal Family? over half a century in the public eye ? they had fame and fortune before JFK ever set foot in the White House.

The Obama?s on the other hand milk their time on the public dole for all it?s worth, hobnobbing with celebrities (that most of us would stay away from), entertaining like it?s the Roaring Twenties, and taking Jet Set vacations our expense.

Real monarchs don?t flaunt it like the Obamas, and they don?t cost near as much to maintain, either.

According to the Weekly Standard, the Obamas are averaging a vacation a month, and they don?t necessarily go to the same place, either:

[January] The Obamas began the new year in Hawaii. ?President Obama departed Hawaii this morning for Washington, after spending NINE days vacationing with family and friends in his native state. Here?s a quick look at how he spent his vacation,? ABC reported on January 6, 2013.

?Obama played FIVE rounds of golf with SEVEN different partners, spending roughly THIRTY hours on TWO different courses on Oahu. The president made FIVE early morning trips to the gym at the nearby Marine Base at Kaneohe Bay. The First Family spent TWO afternoons enjoying the beach on the base and went for ONE hike to a local waterfall. The president spent ONE father-daughter afternoon with Malia and Sasha, bowling and going out for shave ice, an annual tradition.?

[February] Then the first lady and their daughters vacationed in Aspen over President?s Day weekend. ?First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in Aspen on Friday afternoon and is here with her daughters for a ski vacation,? Aspendailynews.com reported in February. ?Few details about her trip were available. Sources said she is staying at the home of Jim and Paula Crown, owners of the Aspen Skiing Co. She is reportedly skiing at Buttermilk today, where the Crowns, of Chicago, own a home on the Tiehack side.?

[Not to be outdone,] Obama went to Florida for a golf weekend. ?It was not his motivation, certainly, but President Obama is honoring his modern predecessors on this Presidents? Day weekend by doing what many of them liked to do on breaks: chill out in Florida with the guys ? including, in his case, one of golf?s most famous guys, Tiger Woods,? the New York Times reported.

[March] ?Sasha and Malia Obama are quietly vacationing at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, Breitbart News has learned??

Is it just me, or is there something crass and offensive about ?He who would be King? and his family living it up at our expense, while presiding over the most miserable economy since the most miserable Jimmy Carter?

The liberal media counted and resented every minute that Bush spent at his Crawford, TX, ranch, even though there were few costs outside of transportation, and he used it more as an extension of the White House, entertaining dignitaries, keeping on top of World events, and even having the press down from time to time. Oh, and it?s eco-friendly, too, unlike Gore?s palace in Tennessee.

Something else which I?ve noted ? The current and former Democrat Presidents have been crass acts, arrogant with people, poor executives, and enjoying ?Royal Command Performances? by the hottest stars, BECAUSE THEY CAN. (Jimmuh Carter was incompetent, but at least he was humble.)
Whereas the last three Republican Presidents have been humble with people and confident as executives, preferring to vacation at their family homes in quiet country locations. A pattern? We report, you decide.

H/T ConservativeByte.com

Steve and I covered the Princesses Excellent Atlantis Adventure here, and here.

Source: http://granitegrok.com/blog/2013/03/vacation-of-the-month-club

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'Gang of 8' senators see Border Patrol in action

Four of the U.S. senators leading the charge on immigration reform got more than they expected today when they came to Nogales, Ariz., to check on border security.

Just a few steps away from where they stood with Customs and Border Patrol officials, the problem facing the nation unfolded before their eyes: A young woman was sprinting her way out of Mexico, then climbing a security fence, only to be caught by the border patrol within seconds.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., soon tweeted about the event, saying: "Just witnessed a woman successfully climb an 18-ft bollard fence a few yards from us in Nogales. And Border Patrol successfully apprehended her, but incident is another reminder that threats to our border security are real."

Arizona's Senate delegation, McCain and Sen. Jeff Flake, both Republicans, hosted Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., for a tour along the border in Nogales, part of the Tucson sector. All four senators are members of the so-called "Gang of Eight" that is working on a solution to the nation's immigration issues.

ABC News was at the scene of the apprehension exclusively and later asked the senators from out of state what they thought of the experience.

"Well, I'd have to know all the details there to give you a judgment," Schumer said. "One of the things we learned is that a lot of people cross the border are doing it for drug purposes, too. But I don't know what happened in this situation."

The incident was "surprising" to Bennet.

"I just have never seen it before," he said.

For McCain, the incident was all-too-normal.

"One of the sad things about all of this is that most of those people who jump over the fence are doing that because they want a better life," he said at the news conference following the tour. "And I understand that. So we separate the drug cartels from individuals or somebody trying to cross over so they improve their lives."

The Border Patrol has more agents than ever, nearly 22,000, with 651 miles of fence along the 1,969-mile-long border.

Technology assists the boots on the ground, with 125 airplanes and six drones patrolling the Mexican frontier all working together to make crossing the border illegally more difficult than ever.

In fact, apprehensions like the ones the senators saw today are down 78 percent from their peak in 2000.

President Obama, in interviews with ABC News' partner, Univision, said today he thinks the border is secure enough to begin the reforms that would bring the 11 million undocumented immigrants out of the shadows.

"It's never going to be 110-percent perfect, but what we can do is to continue to improve it and, at the same time, provide a clear pathway for those who are already here and who've invested their lives here," the president said.

RELATED: President Obama Expects Immigration Bill in April

Counter to stereotype, six of the nation's 10 safest cities are on or near the border. El Paso, Texas, which sits just a few miles from Juarez, Mexico, has the lowest crime rate in the nation three years running.

El Paso Mayor John Cook said it's time to start immigration reform now "because [the] border is secure."

RELATED: 'Gang of Eight' to Tour Arizona-Mexico Border

"For the most part, people who come into the United States don't want to get in trouble. They don't want to commit crimes," he said. "They just want to make a living. I call them economic refugees [because] they just came to try to secure the American dream and a better life for their families, not to commit crimes."

Back in Arizona, McCain was in his home state to convince skeptics from his base that border security is improving. He gave this qualified endorsement.

"With the proper use of technology, with the proper coordination between different agencies, [I believe] that we will be able to say that we have a degree of border security that would allow people to move forward to a path of citizenship," McCain said.

The senators said they hope to have an agreement on an immigration reform bill soon.

"We hope to have a bill agreed to and done the day we come back," Schumer said.

Both McCain and Schumer recognized that compromise was key.

"With this legislation, no one will be totally happy because we are having to make compromises, and that's what makes for good legislation, is compromise that brings everybody together," McCain said.

They added that the reforms cannot be passed piecemeal and will need to be passed as a complete unit.

The four senators who did not make the tour hope to make one in the near future. They already had plans for the recess when it was organized.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gang-8-senators-tour-arizona-014808349.html

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Westboro Baptist Church Pickets Supreme Court, Protests Gay Marriage

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/westboro-baptist-church-pickets-supreme-court-protests-gay-marri/

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Spotify reportedly interested in expanding to streaming video service with orignal content

In his new cover story for New York magazine, Joe Hagan offers the most in-depth look at the Today?show ratings?disaster that has created Matt Lauer's weeks-long attempt at image rehabilitation, and it's now clear that the defining moment that brought the morning show crashing own to Earth ? the exit of Ann Curry ? was something of a cross between the fourth circle of Hell and?and running with the Heathers?in high school: Curry got pranked, she got her clothes made fun of, she was prevented from reaching out to Robin Roberts, and her legacy lives on as a ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spotify-reportedly-interested-expanding-streaming-video-orignal-content-014536974.html

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Lesbian couple wins $100,000 Dream Wedding

March 25, 2013 07:13 GMT

Today is Monday, March 25, the 84th day of 2013. There are 281 days left in the year. The Jewish holiday Passover begins at sunset.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 25, 1965, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led 25,000 marchers to the state capitol in Montgomery, Ala., to protest the denial of voting rights to blacks.

On this date:

In 1306, Robert the Bruce was crowned the King of Scots.

In 1634, English colonists sent by Lord Baltimore arrived in present-day Maryland.

In 1776, Gen. George Washington, commander of the Continental Army, was awarded the first Congressional Gold Medal by the Continental Congress.

In 1865, during the Civil War, Confederate forces attacked Fort Stedman in Virginia but were forced to withdraw because of counterattacking Union troops.

In 1894, Jacob S. Coxey began leading an "army" of unemployed from Massillon (MA'-sih-luhn), Ohio, to Washington D.C., to demand help from the federal government.

In 1911, 146 people, mostly young female immigrants, were killed when fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. in New York.

In 1947, a coal mine explosion in Centralia, Ill., claimed 111 lives.

In 1957, the Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community.

In 1963, private pilot Ralph Flores and his 21-year-old passenger, Helen Klaben, were rescued after being stranded for seven weeks in brutally cold conditions in the Yukon after their plane crashed.

In 1975, King Faisal (FY'-suhl) of Saudi Arabia was shot to death by a nephew with a history of mental illness. (The nephew was beheaded in June 1975.)

In 1988, in New York City's so-called "Preppie Killer" case, Robert Chambers Jr. pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the death of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin. (Chambers received a sentence of 5 to 15 years in prison; he was released in 2003.)

In 1990, 87 people, most of them Honduran and Dominican immigrants, were killed when fire raced through an illegal social club in New York City.

Ten years ago: The Senate voted to slash President George W. Bush's proposed $726 billion tax-cutting package in half, handing the president a defeat on the foundation of his plan to awaken the nation's slumbering economy. Former Waterbury, Conn., mayor Philip Giordano was convicted by a federal jury of violating the civil rights of two preteen girls by sexually abusing them. (Giordano was later sentenced to 37 years in federal prison.)

Five years ago: The Defense Department said it had mistakenly shipped electrical fuses for an intercontinental ballistic missile to Taiwan. (Once the error was discovered, the military quickly recovered the four fuses.) Herb Peterson, the inventor of McDonald's Egg McMuffin, died in Santa Barbara, Calif., at age 89.

One year ago: President Barack Obama arrived in South Korea, where he visited the Demilitarized Zone separating the South from the communist North, telling American troops stationed nearby they were protectors of "freedom's frontier." Pope Benedict XVI, on his first trip to Latin America, urged Mexicans to wield their faith against drug violence, poverty and other ills, celebrating Mass before a sea of worshippers in Silao.

Today's Birthdays: Modeling agency founder Eileen Ford is 91. Movie reviewer Gene Shalit is 87. Former astronaut James Lovell is 85. Feminist activist and author Gloria Steinem is 79. Singer Anita Bryant is 73. Singer Aretha Franklin is 71. Actor Paul Michael Glaser is 70. Singer Elton John is 66. Actress Bonnie Bedelia is 65. Actress-comedian Mary Gross is 60. Actor James McDaniel is 55. Former Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., is 55. Rock musician Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet) is 53. Actress Brenda Strong is 53. Actor Fred Goss is 52. Actor-writer-director John Stockwell is 52. Actress Marcia Cross is 51. Author Kate DiCamillo is 49. Actress Lisa Gay Hamilton is 49. Actress Sarah Jessica Parker is 48. Former MLB All-Star pitcher Tom Glavine is 47. Olympic bronze medal figure skater Debi Thomas, M.D., is 46. Singer Melanie Blatt (All Saints) is 38. Actor Lee Pace is 34. Actor Sean Faris is 31. Auto racer Danica Patrick is 31. Singer Katharine McPhee is 29. Singer Jason Castro ("American Idol") is 26. Actress-singer Aly (AKA Alyson) Michalka (mish-AL'-kah) is 24. Actor Kiowa Gordon is 23. Actress Seychelle Gabriel is 22.

Thought for Today: "In every person, even in such as appear most reckless, there is an inherent desire to attain balance." -- Jakob (YAH'-kawb) Wassermann, German author (1873-1934).

Source: http://www.wgme.com/news/top-stories/stories/wgme_lesbian-couple-wins-100000-dream-wedding-16038.shtml?wap=0

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Alien Skin now offering updated plugin for Photoshop ? Eye Candy 7

Alien Skin has come out with a new version of their unique and popular Eye Candy plugin for Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. Version 7 features a revamped interface that simplifies the process of applying these effects to your graphics. They have also added new effects, including a very realistic lightning generator. The melted version of [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/03/25/alien-skin-now-offering-updated-plugin-for-photoshop-eye-candy-7/

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AP Photos: Cities go dark for 'Earth Hour'

It's something of a voluntary rolling blackout: Communities around the globe are going dark for an hour on Saturday evening as part of an initiative called "Earth Hour," to raise awareness of climate change.

In more than 7,000 cities and towns across the planet, millions of residents are turning off their lights for an hour from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. local time to show their environmental concern.

Here are some photos of "Earth Hour" observances.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-photos-cities-dark-earth-hour-202919283.html

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Winning $338M Powerball jackpot ticket sold in NJ

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) ? A single ticket sold in New Jersey matched all six numbers in Saturday night's drawing for the $338.3 million Powerball jackpot, lottery officials said. It was the 13th drawing held in the days since a Virginia man won a $217 million jackpot Feb. 6.

Thirteen other tickets worth $1 million each matched all but the final Powerball number on Saturday night. Those tickets were sold in New Jersey and 10 other states. Lottery officials said there was also one Power Play Match 5 winner in Iowa.

The New Jersey Lottery said Sunday that details about the winning ticket would be released Monday, declining to reveal where it had been purchased and whether anyone had immediately come forward. It was the sixth largest jackpot in history.

The numbers drawn were 17, 29, 31, 52, 53 and Powerball 31. A lump sum payout would be $221 million.

Lottery officials said the 13 tickets worth $1 million apiece ? matching the first five numbers but missing the Powerball ? were sold in Arizona, Florida (2), Illinois, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina and Virginia.

Powerball said on its website that the grand prize jackpot has now been reset to an estimated $40 million or a lump sum cash amount estimated at $25 million for Wednesday's next drawing.

No one had won the Powerball jackpot since early February, when Dave Honeywell in Virginia bought the winning ticket and elected a cash lump sum for his $217 million jackpot.

The largest Powerball jackpot ever came in at $587.5 million in November. The winning numbers were picked on two different tickets ? one by a couple in Missouri and the other by an Arizona man ? and the jackpot was split.

Nebraska still holds the record for the largest Powerball jackpot won on a single ticket ? $365 million. That jackpot was won by eight workers at a Lincoln, Neb., meatpacking plant in February 2006.

Powerball is played in 42 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The chance of matching all five numbers and the Powerball number is about 1 in 175 million.

Powerball said on its website that the game is played every Wednesday and Saturday night when five white balls are drawn from a drum of 59 balls and one red ball is picked from a drum with 35 red balls. It added that winners of the Powerball jackpot can elect to be paid out over 29 years at a percentage set by the game's rules ? or in a lump sum cash payment.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-24-Powerball%20Jackpot/id-cc2c402ea0254ab1a2b71587e26cda10

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American Eagle Skinny Skinny Jeans: When Regular Skinny Jeans Aren't Skinny Enough!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/american-eagle-skinny-skinny-jeans-when-regular-skinny-jeans-are/

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Automotive Conspiracy Theories and Urban Legends | The Truth ...

Is there something about cars and car companies that make people tend to believe that there are all sorts of conspiracies keeping us from driving the car of all our dreams? I ask the question because I can think of at least a half dozen urban legends, conspiratorial glosses put on actual events, and outright conspiracy fantasies that are or have been popular among car enthusiasts and the general public.

I suppose the grandaddy of them all is the 200 mile per gallon carburetor but there are many others. The EV equivalent to the Fish carb would be Nikola Tesla?s radio wave powered experimental Pierce Arrow. The theorists tell us that were it not for the car companies buying up patents to keep those technologies away from their competitors, we?d have access to those technologies. Somehow the idea that the owners of that intellectual property would exploit it for commercial and competitive purposes seems to be lost on those that believe these tall tales. In some versions, of course, it?s the nefarious oil companies that are suppressing technologies that would threaten their profits.

A related conspiracy theory has to do with John D. Rockefeller and Prohibition. Rockefeller was in the petroleum business, first making a fortune selling kerosene, which was used for lighting. When Edison, Westinghouse, Steinmetz and Tesla made it possible for electricity to be used for power and lighting, Rockefeller, looking for a use for a toxic and almost explosive refinery byproduct he?d been throwing out, started to encourage its use as a fuel, converting the stationary powerplants in his refineries from steam to gasoline and, according to some historical sources, subsidizing the sale of gasoline engines to farmers, who were a primary market for stationary engines, to run farm equipment.

Now the above paragraph is historically reliable, at least to my own satisfaction. However, it took me a while to get the information. You see, when I started to enter [Rockefeller, gasoline engines] into a search engine, the first two pages of results were almost all about how John D. Rockefeller was the head of a conspiracy that led to the United States adopting Prohibition. It seems, according to the conspiracy theories, that Rockefeller put his money behind prohibiting drinking alcohol because he wanted to suppress ethanol as a fuel, which could, theoretically, compete with gasoline.

Another quasi conspiracy theory also involves gasoline and alcohol. It?s related to General Motors? and DuPont?s development of tetra-ethyl lead as a gasoline additive to prevent pre-ignition knocking and allow the use of more powerful higher compression engines. In the late teens and early 1920s, before the large oil deposits in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Mideast were discovered, there were concerns about running out of petroleum. ?Peak oil? is not a new concept. Casting about for alternative fuels GM?s Charles Kettering started looking into gasoline/ethanol blends, which can have reduced octane due to phase separation and the ethanol absorbing water, so they started looking into ways of boosting octane. GM and the DuPont chemical company were joined at the hip for much of the 20th century and a joint research project ended up with the development of leaded gasoline. In the meantime, new petroleum deposits were discovered and tetra-ethyl lead ended up as an octane booster for gasoline. Where the conspiracy theories start is at just how much GM and DuPont suppressed information about the dangers of leaded gas.

So there is some basis in fact for some of the conspiracies, but then the Talmud teaches that no lie can be believable without some grain of fact. Failed EV entrepreneur Ed Ramirez has claimed for decades that his Amectran EXAR-1 was foiled by a conspiracy at the Environmental Protection Agency. I happen to think that Ramirez started believing his own PR, but the idea that a bureaucrat or government agency might kill a promising technology is not that far fetched. When the then young EPA started a program to encourage new clean air technologies, hybrid car pioneer Victor Wouk?s hybrid 1973 Oldsmobile Cutless showed great promise and met all the test criteria that the EPA demanded, but the project was indeed killed by EPA administrator Eric Stork.

Getting back to General Motors, not only did they supposedly conspire to give us all lead poisoning, but the big automaker also allegedly conspired to eliminate environmentally sensitive electric streetcars, so they could make money selling polluting city buses.

Sometimes the conspiracies just percolate in the public mind. Other times they get a boost from Hollywood. Lots of car companies have failed. You don?t need a conspiracy to have the cards stacked against a startup car company. Literally thousands of car companies have gone belly up, and Preston Tucker?s business plan had some big holes in it, so the Tucker company?s failure was no surprise. According to some Tucker faithful, and amplified by Francis Ford Copolla?s film, though, Tucker didn?t fail because he bit off way more than he could chew, with a car that had to be developed on the fly, he failed because the Big 3 got Washington to go after him for securities fraud.

So what automotive conspiracy theories have you heard, and which of them do you believe? Being a Learned Elder of Zion I?m a bit allergic to conspiracy theories and conspiracy theorists in general, but you can try to convince me.

Ronnie Schreiber edits?Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can get a parallax view at?Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don?t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading ? RJS

?

Source: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2013/03/automotive-conspiracy-theories-and-urban-legends/

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BBC Kids TV comes to Lovefilm

If you need something to keep the shorties quiet while you're emptying the drinks cabinet, then Lovefilm is where you need to be. The Amazon-owned streaming service has nabbed a big chunk of the BBC's kids TV output, including The Sarah Jane Adventures, Tracey Beaker, Balamory and, yes, even Teletubbies. The episodes haven't found their way into the instant service just yet, but we can't imagine it'll keep you waiting too long. If, like Laa-Laa and Po, you prefer everything to be said twice, you can check out the press release below.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Portable Audio/Video, HD

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/22/bbc-kids-lovefilm/

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Road traffic pollution as serious as passive smoke in the development of childhood asthma

Mar. 21, 2013 ? New research conducted in 10 European cities has estimated that 14% of chronic childhood asthma is due to exposure to traffic pollution near busy roads.

The results are comparable to the burden associated with passive smoking: the World Health Organization estimates that between 4% and 18% of asthma cases in children are linked to passive smoking.

The findings, published online today (22 March 2013) ahead of print in the European Respiratory Journal, come as the European Commission has declared 2013 the 'Year of Air', which highlights the importance of clean air for all and focuses on actions to improve air quality across the EU.

Until now, traffic pollution was assumed to only trigger asthma symptoms and burden estimations did not account for chronic asthma caused by the specific range of toxicants that are found near heavily used roads along which many Europeans live.

The researchers used a method known as population-attributable fractions to assess the impact of near-road traffic pollution. This calculates the proportional reduction in disease or death that would occur if exposure to a risk factor were reduced to a lower level.

The new research used data from existing epidemiological studies which found that children exposed to higher levels of near-road traffic-related pollution also had higher rates of asthma, even when taking into account a range of other relevant factors such as passive smoking or socioeconomic factors.

The researchers aimed to take these findings further and estimate how many asthma cases could be avoided if exposure was removed.

The results found that 14% of asthma cases across the 10 cities could be attributed to near-road traffic pollution. The findings also take into account differences in the health of the overall population in different cities.

Lead author, Dr Laura Perez at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, said: "Air pollution has previously been seen to trigger symptoms but this is the first time we have estimated the percentage of cases that might not have occurred if Europeans had not been exposed to road traffic pollution. In light of all the existing epidemiological studies showing that road-traffic contributes to the onset of the disease in children, we must consider these results to improve policy making and urban planning."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by European Lung Foundation, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Authors: Laura Perez, Christophe Declercq, Carmen I?iguez, Inmaculada Aguilera, Chiara Badaloni, Ferran Ballester, Catherine Bouland, Olivier Chanel, FB Cirarda, Francesco Forastiere, Bertil Forsberg, Daniela Haluza, Britta Hedlund, Koldo Cambra, Marina Lacasa?a, Hanns Moshammer, Peter Otorepec, Miguel Rodr?guez-Barranco, Sylvia Medina, Nino K?nzli. Chronic burden of near-roadway traffic pollution in 10 European cities (APHEKOM network). European Respiratory Journal, 22 March 2013 DOI: 10.1183/09031936.00031112

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/Bq0MsIQBNvY/130321205530.htm

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Klout for Business translates social media influence into big brand ...

Your imaginary (and seemingly arbitrary) social media score just got that much more credible -- by the same company calculating it. Klout's launching an offshoot of its influencer index to target businesses, turning individual social media data into metrics companies can use to better their brands. The service, which will continue to rollout into April, will arm big business with info culled from its Perks program (brand feedback provided by Klout's user base), highlighting hot topics, relevant social networks and other intangible "buzz" data so highly sought after by marketers. The sign-up page is live now on Klout's site, so any companies eager to abuse benefit from willfully divulged social data should do so with haste.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/21/klout-for-business/

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Google exec urges Myanmar to embrace free speech

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt gestures during an interactive session with group of students at a technical university in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, March 22, 2013. Schmidt on Friday urged Myanmar's government to allow private businesses to develop the country's woeful telecommunications infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of competition and free speech. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt gestures during an interactive session with group of students at a technical university in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, March 22, 2013. Schmidt on Friday urged Myanmar's government to allow private businesses to develop the country's woeful telecommunications infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of competition and free speech. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, center, poses for photos with a group of Myanmar students and entrepreneurs after an interactive session at a technical university in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, March 22, 2013. Schmidt on Friday urged Myanmar's government to allow private businesses to develop the country's woeful telecommunications infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of competition and free speech. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, left, gestures during an interactive session with group of students at a technical university in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, March 22, 2013. Schmidt on Friday urged Myanmar's government to allow private businesses to develop the country's woeful telecommunications infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of competition and free speech. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, left, receives a souvenir marking an interactive session with group of Myanmar students and entrepreneurs at a technical university in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, March 22, 2013. Schmidt on Friday urged Myanmar's government to allow private businesses to develop the country's woeful telecommunications infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of competition and free speech. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt arrives to participate in an interactive session at a technical university in Yangon, Myanmar, Friday, March 22, 2013. Schmidt on Friday urged Myanmar's government to allow private businesses to develop the country's woeful telecommunications infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of competition and free speech. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) ? Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt on Friday urged Myanmar's government to allow private businesses to develop the country's woeful telecommunications infrastructure, emphasizing the importance of competition and free speech.

"Try to keep the government out of regulating the internet," he said to a round of applause from a group of students at a technical university in Yangon. "The answer to bad speech is more speech. More communication. More voices," he said. "If you are a political leader you get a much better idea of what your citizens are thinking about."

Schmidt said the Internet can help cement political and economic opening in Myanmar, which has undergone rapid changes since reformist president Thein Sein took office in 2010 after decades of direct military rule.

"The Internet will make it impossible to go back," he said. "The Internet once in place guarantees communication and empowerment becomes the law and practice of your country."

He said Google's first priority in Myanmar will be to improve access to information with its search engine and applications such as translation and maps.

"Right now the thing Google can do most is get information into the country," he said.

Google on Thursday launched a local homepage, www.google.com.mm, which will allow the tailoring of Myanmar content. On Wednesday it unblocked the Google Apps store to allow access from within Myanmar. The U.S. lifted most sanctions on doing business in Myanmar last year. The company says it's also working to develop local language content.

Today, inadequate infrastructure and high prices mean only about 1 percent of people in Myanmar have access to the internet, according to World Bank data, and less than ten percent have mobile phones, Schmidt said.

Data capable smartphones remain prohibitively expensive, averaging $563 in a nation where the average income is $60-70 per month, according to a February 2013 study by Radio Free Asia's Open Technology Fund.

Myanmar has just three internet service providers, two of which are wholly or partially owned by the government. All connections, landline and wireless, run through a single fiber optic cable, connections to which haven't been updated since 2008, according to the Open Technology Fund report. Speeds are so slow that sometimes it is impossible to use Gmail.

"The government has to make it possible for the private sector to build the telecommunications infrastructure," Schmidt said. "If we do that right, within a few years the most profitable businesses within Myanmar will be the telecommunications companies."

He said he is scheduled to meet with Myanmar's president, Thein Sein, on Friday afternoon.

"I'll say they've made a courageous step to open the country," he said. "Now they have to follow through with it."

Schmidt's visit to Myanmar comes after trips to Libya, Afghanistan, and North Korea, which he said was a "truly wacky place."

USAID recently sponsored a delegation of executives from Cisco Systems, Google, HP, Intel and Microsoft to Myanmar. Earlier this month Cisco said it plans to establish two state-of-the-art network training centers in Myanmar.

Myanmar's local tech community was elated by Schmidt's visit.

"Google has a lot of resources to help, not just in Yangon and Mandalay," said Minn Thein, who came back to Myanmar in January after 19 years in the United States to help found Frontiir, a local tech start up focused on affordable technology. "If you can build a digital center in a rural area with broadband access, you can use it for education, information and health."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-22-Myanmar-Google/id-78c393ff602f4eedba09dcc6e45d735e

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Florida campaign for medical marijuana gets financial backers (reuters)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Zynga relaunches gaming site, loosens Facebook ties

By Gerry Shih

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Online game publisher Zynga Inc relaunched its website on Thursday, allowing users to play its games without first signing on to Facebook, a significant step toward establishing its independence from Facebook Inc.

The relaunch of Zynga.com is the latest step in the slow dissolution of a special partnership that once bound two of the most influential players in the social Internet industry.

Tim Catlin, general manager of Zynga.com, told Reuters he believed Zynga's players wanted to create unique player names that were not tied to their Facebook accounts, which displays their real names.

"You had to use your Facebook account to play previously, but this is going to change going forward," said Catlin, who added that existing players will still be able to log in with their Facebook accounts.

New players, however, will be able to easily sign up without using Facebook credentials - long a hallmark of many Zynga games.

"We've been able to greatly streamline that process," Catlin said of the new Zynga.com website, which has been in the works for the past year.

Founded in 2007, Zynga achieved a searing growth rate in its early years by exclusively tapping Facebook's network to gain new users while offering games directly within Facebook.com web pages.

For several years the companies enjoyed a lucrative and symbiotic relationship, with Zynga deriving close to 90 percent of its revenues from Facebook games, while Facebook received roughly 15 percent of its income in the form of fees from Zynga.

But Zynga's competitive advantage on the world's largest social network gradually shrank as other publishers entered the market, and the company's leadership has been faulted for not diversifying away from Facebook's platform earlier.

Last year, Facebook and Zynga announced that they agreed to amend a longstanding deal that had given Zynga special privileges on the Facebook platform.

Rather than relying on Facebook's communications features, Zynga has focused on building out features of its own such as its "social stream," a bar that is displayed within games to connect players to each other.

Zynga shares were up less than 1 percent at $3.38 after hours.

(This story was fixed to correct name of Zynga general manager to Tim instead of Tom in third paragraph and to say Zynga and Facebook amended deal instead of that deal had expired in 10th paragraph )

(Reporting By Gerry Shih; Editing by David Gregorio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zynga-relaunches-gaming-loosens-facebook-ties-211543210--sector.html

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Plot Discussion

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India cuts key interest rate to 7.5 percent

MUMBAI, India (AP) ? India's central bank lowered its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point Tuesday as it tries to revive stalled growth in Asia's third-largest economy. The announcement was overshadowed by India's minority government losing a coalition partner.

In making its second rate cut in three months, the Reserve Bank of India cited the weakest economic growth in 15 quarters as outweighing inflation fears. High prices, especially for food, still remain a concern and could limit the bank's scope to reduce the rate much below its current 7.5 percent.

"Growth has decelerated significantly, even as inflation remains at a level (that) is not conducive for sustained economic growth," the central bank said in a statement.

The bank's move was eclipsed by the already shaky coalition government losing the support of a key ally. That could add to government instability and delay economic and financial reforms needed to boost growth. The Sensex stock index was down 1 percent.

The government earlier this month estimated the economy grew 4.5 percent in the October-December quarter, down sharply from growth rates near 10 percent earlier in the decade.

While wholesale inflation has been hovering near three-year lows in recent months, the retail consumer price index hit a high of 10.9 percent in February, mostly due to soaring prices for cereals and meat.

The two figures mean the bank is balancing conflicting goals of keeping price increases under control while lowering interest rates to encourage consumer spending and business investment.

Analysts say that even with the recent cuts, lending rates may still be too high to prompt businesses to borrow. The central bank also on Tuesday left the cash reserve ratio for banks untouched Tuesday, after lowering it by a quarter point to 4 percent in January. A lower cash reserve ratio frees up more money for commercial banks to lend.

Businesses applauded Tuesday's cut in the policy repo rate ? the interest rate at which commercial banks can borrow from the central bank ? but said more action may be needed before banks are encouraged to lower the rates at which they lend to industry.

"We believe this would certainly lend some support to the flagging industrial growth," said Naina Lal Kidwai, president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, based in Mumbai.

However, she said that commercial banks are unlikely to cut their own rates in a hurry, mostly because deposit growth of about 12.5 percent still lagged behind credit growth of 15-17 percent.

"The key for industry is for lending rates by banks to come down, but this would happen only when banks are comfortable with deposits," Kidwai said.

India's economy is expanding at its slowest pace in a decade, with gross domestic product predicted to grow as little 5 percent in the fiscal year ending March 31. That's down from 9 percent in early 2011, and it's paired with rising budget and current account deficits that have weakened India's currency.

The government estimates the country needs at least 8 percent growth to create enough new jobs for the 13 million Indians entering the workforce each year.

The finance minister last month unveiled a new budget aimed at trimming the budget deficit and attracting foreign investment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/india-cuts-key-interest-rate-7-5-percent-074814292--finance.html

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