This afterschool initiative seeks to improve middle and high school students' basic study, test preparation, and critical thinking skills; literacy; and understanding of basic math concepts. The program will provide tutoring and mentoring for students and tutoring for parents to enable them to assist their children with homework assignments.?
Recently I did a radio interview with longtime friend Al Korelin and blurted out that anyone who actively followed the gold/silver markets and did not appreciate how manipulated they are, was a moron. Not sure how that went over with Al?s listening audience, but I would like to parlay that comment here to deal with its significance.
You truly have to be mentally challenged if you follow the gold/silver market action and cannot appreciate something is very amiss, as per the confused Mitsui gold people, as brought to your attention the other day. There is NOTHING to be confused about. The more bullish the news for gold, the more reasons for the price to soar and the more The Gold Cartel deviants go into action to suppress both the gold and silver prices. How many times does the GATA camp have to point this out before the dingbats at Mitsui, and the rest of the mainstream gold world, will go there? The answer is infinity. These mainstream establishment gold pundits will NEVER tell their people the truth about what the gold market is all about. Hara-kiri would be their first choice before telling the truth.
Most people naturally think the Mayans got it wrong about the world ending on December 21. Of course it is that way at first glance, but if what takes place in the economic/financial market arenas in the years ahead that I see coming, it might prove them correct in a way not commonly thought of (just a few years off and in a different articulation). Whatever is done with our fiscal cliff issue, it represents how incapable our politicians are of dealing with our mounting fiscal deficits and debt in America. It will not signify the end of the world, but could very well come to represent a moment when it becomes CLEAR our standard of living is going to significantly deteriorate ? and an end to a standard of living as we Americans have known it ... the end of that world. If the Mayans are correct in that regard, which I believe to be the case, the standard of living of most Americans, and others around the world, is going to change dramatically for the worse.
As this all kicks in, the realization of how broke the US is, along with many other nations, will take center stage. The understanding of the US money printing game will command the same attention on that stage. The dollar will begin its tapioca swan dive. Gold and silver will begin launches to doubling their prices for starters. The Gold Cartel will have to go into a retreat mode like we have not seen yet.
The Gold Cartel knows what is coming as presented above, which is why they have bombed gold and silver the past month+ when the fundamentals registered the most bullish factoids imaginable. PRICE ACTION MAKES MARKET COMMENTARY. The clueless (or disingenuous) out there in the mainstream gold world refuse to explain why the price of gold has behaved so counterintuitively ?, but the GATA camp will, and does, all the time.
Now, this is what I really want to get to ? in what I truly believe could be of meaningful support during this time of the investing public RUNNING AWAY FROM THE GOLD/SILVER/SHARE MARKETS, just when the focus should be on them the most! The bullish sentiment is really that bad.
To get right to the point, and to try and be of assistance, this is what I have done well at in the past ? getting into a major market move when few investors are paying attention to incredibly bullish fundamentals. That said, I am among THE WORLD?S WORST at dealing with market tops and taking profits. But, since we are dealing with major corrections in gold and silver, accompanied by dreadful bullish sentiment, that should not be of most concern at the moment.
SO, it is my opinion the prices of gold and silver are going to go into an EPIC move up stage, especially silver, next year. Silver will make all-time highs and be streaking for $100 an ounce. If there ever was a time to skew your investment portfolio towards silver, and pay extra attention, it is right now!
It is just human nature to NOT get it at market bottoms, or after significant corrections like we have just had, and to think out of the box. I was fortunate to have learned about all of this from three truly legendary financial market figures, and now there is a fourth. All of them understood true supply/demand numbers which were not appreciated by the investment world at the time. Each could spot a big picture trade and act on their knowledge way ahead of the pack. They were the smart ones, not me. I knew they knew what they were talking about with successful investment backgrounds to prove it. I listened to everything they had to say and learned from them what to spot and why, and then go with them.
I realize many veteran Caf? members know some of this and of those whom I am referring to, but it is worth repeating, right now, and focusing on just where we are after the recent Gold Cartel waterfall attacks. Each of these big picture thinkers could spot markets out of sync and knew how to take advantage of them and play for big money. They have been my mentors and are extraordinary individuals (what I cumulatively learned from them all those years I am hoping is indirectly passed on your way) ?.
*Daniel L. Ritchie
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Daniel L. Ritchie became chairman and CEO of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, one of the nation?s largest cultural complexes, in January 2007. He is the immediate past chairman of the Daniels Fund board, and is president of the Temple Hoyne Buell Foundation, which focuses on early childhood education and development.
Dan was chairman of the board of the University of Denver from 2005 to 2007, where he served as the university's sixteenth chancellor from 1989 until 2005. During his tenure, the DU pioneered the teaching of ethics at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Chancellor Ritchie collaborated with Bill Daniels to incorporate ethics, values, and social responsibility throughout the business school curriculum. The business school was renamed Daniels College of Business in 1994 in honor of Bill Daniels.
In June 1994, Dan announced a personal gift to the university of $15 million, achieved through sale of some 19,600 acres of his Colorado ranch. Since then, he has given the university the remainder of the ranch, and its sale has netted more than $50 million for various projects?
I met Dan at the New York Athletic Club in the mid 1970?s. We were in the gym lifting weights and he asked me about a pork belly quote, like in the Daily News, which was not there. What a nice man, I thought, and after taking a futures market class at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, I thought why not go after what this seemingly bright man told me. I called my Merrill Lynch broker and bought a pork belly contract with a $500 margin requirement at the time. The first day after my broker put on my trade, I lost half my money. What a mistake I thought. Pork bellies went LIMIT UP the next nine out of ten days! I was hooked to go into the commodity futures industry. I asked Dan what I should do after a $4500 gain on a $500 investment in two weeks. I will never forget what he said, "Bill, you have done pretty well for your first trade, take those profits," which I did in a nanosecond. If I only had done that for the rest of my investment career!
Dan was very tied into the astute Refco operation out of Memphis, and made a fortune trading the cattle, hog and pork belly markets, with some great soybean trades thrown in there too.
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I will never forget talking to Dan over a dinner when he was pondering whether to resign from Westinghouse Broadcasting, after being the number two guy under Lew Wasserman at MCA pictures, to run D.K. Ludvig?s empire. Ludvig was the richest man in the world at the time. And I will never forget that we flipped a coin to determine who would pay for dinner that night.
Education: Master of Business Administration, Harvard University; Bachelor of Arts / Science, Long Island University
Marital Status: Married
Children: 4
***
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Ray is obviously a genius. Now famed CEO Sandy Weill didn?t think so when he fired Ray from his hedging director position at Shearson Hayden Stone in the mid 1970?s. Mr. Weill did not appreciate that, to make a hedging point, Ray brought in a girl with a fur coat on during a presentation of his in San Francisco. Her naked body was all that was left when Ray asked her to take off the coat.
So Ray started Bridgewater Associates. I had just joined Shearson and he needed someone to do a lot of grunt work for him. Many a night I took the subway from downtown Manhattan to midtown around 11:00. Ray got me going financially back then with his buy corn and feeder cattle futures and sell cattle futures when their margins were too fat. We did the reverse when they were too unprofitable. Made 100% on my money in days to weeks every time.
I know a number of you have seen this picture of Ray and me in Rio way back when, but it is too much fun to pass up here.
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*Frank Veneroso
I was recruited to join the ill-fated Drexel Burnham on Park Avenue in 1980. That is where I met Frank as he was interested in buying bond futures when the interest rates were running up to 20%. He was early and took some hits, but then sold THE HIGH TICK after their first mega rally. I know, I did the trade. He made a killing.
Frank was known as a Wall Street Whiz Kid back then who was making money every year during the DOW dog days. He was then a consultant to a number of governments. One of my favorite financial stories ever is this one:
The Stock Market
Recollections of the Greatest Market Bubble Ever?
Memories of the Souk al Manakh
How large can a bubble grow before it bursts? Farther than you think. And there need not be a fatal pinprick that makes it burst. And when it bursts, the crash that ensues can be deeper and more discontinuous than you could ever imagine?
Frank was commissioned by the World Bank to do a study on the copper market in 1986. Copper was nowhere back then, the price depressed to around 46 cents a pound. Frank was stunned to learn how bullish the fundamentals were because of the obvious demand which would be surfacing from Asia. FEW realized what was about to transpire, preferring to concentrate on the increasing importance of fiber optics. We muddled with the copper futures trade for a year. Then in May of 1987 there were no deliveries on the May contract. That was it I thought, the KEY to getting the trade right. I bought thousands of out of the money copper options. Copper went to $1.46 per pound by the end of the year, surviving the 1987 stock market crash in October of that year. I made $27 million on the trade and then found a way to blow a good deal of it. But, being Jackie Onassis? neighbor in Bernardsville, N.J. for a couple of years is still a fond memory.
***
All of that brings me to where we are today and the reason I would like to make a commotion out of this commentary?
*Eric Sprott
Eric, who is one of GATA?s most ardent supporters, is one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and a true genius. As my good friend John Embry (brilliant in his own right) has told me for years, Eric is the best student of supply/demand dynamics he has ever come across. His presentation at the Dos Passos Table is just one example of what John is referring to.
Eric has been jumping up and down about the price of silver?s potential for many years now and was very visible at certain conferences not that long ago when the price was $14/16 an ounce. He has been all over the place this year talking to investors about what he thinks the price of silver is going to do and why. Eric has publicly stated silver is going to $100 per ounce and higher. He is my anchor when I pound the table about silver ? that same anchor of formidable insight I learned so long ago from the likes of Dan Ritchie, Ray Dalio, and Frank Veneroso. It is not me you need to pay attention to, but Eric!
I don?t need to be able to break down the supply/demand numbers like Eric has done; and like Dan, Ray and Frank have done for so many years. I know they know what they are talking about. What I can bring to the table is an appreciation of just how much gold and silver have been manipulated, and orchestrated down to artificially low prices, which will not stand in the years ahead. JP Morgan, and others suppressing the price, has to be close to being forced into backing off. Their use of derivatives to suppress the price in the face of an extremely tight physical market ought to be very close to having run its course. Knowing what we know in the GATA camp about what JP Morgan has done will prove to be invaluable in the months and years ahead. No one knows that more than Eric.
The investment opportunity of a lifetime is staring us in the face and not that many investors out there get it. Eric does and he has backed it up publicly with his investments: his ETF (PHYS) is an example. Fortunes will be made in silver over the years ahead for those willing to do their homework and take a plunge ? and that will be most true in the silver shares whose firms have the goods in the ground.
Investing in many of the junior/exploration stocks in the gold/silver sector has been a horror show these last years. While I have been so right about gold and silver for the past 12 years, my second biggest investment mistake ever was not to take profits around 2008 with my share selections when the legendary Bob Bishop told the attendees at GATA Goes To Washington conference in April of 2008 that the move up in the gold/silver shares was over for the time being. As you may know, Bob is going to let his latest thoughts known at GATA?s fundraiser in Vancouver on January 21 at the Pan Pacific Hotel following the Cambridge House conference.
BUT, as bad as the junior/exploration sector has been in recent years, it will be that good by double or triple, or much more, in the years ahead. Think NEWTON?S LAW!
Silver is on its way next year to $100 per ounce. You want to bet against Eric Sprott? And that is the reason for this special commentary. Ritchie, Dalio, and Veneroso are true legends in the futures trading arena, and in the making big money in the markets arena. So is Eric. Keep that in mind and spread the word.
While the standard of living in America and other places is likely to deteriorate significantly in the years ahead, those who have stayed with various gold/silver investments ought to be happy campers. Should that Mayan prediction be all about a drastic change in our standard of living as we have known it (the end of that world), owning silver and the silver shares in the years ahead will be a counter to some darker times on the horizon.
?Teleportation is the extraordinary ability to transfer objects from one location to another without travelling through the intervening space.
The idea is not that the physical object is teleported but the information that describes it. This can then be applied to a similar object in a new location which effectively takes on the new identity.?
And it is by no means science fiction. Physicists have been teleporting photons since 1997 and the technique is now standard in optics laboratories all over the world.?
The phenomenon that makes this possible is known as quantum entanglement, ?the deep and mysterious link that occurs when two quantum objects share the same existence and yet are separated in space.?
Teleportation turns out to be extremely useful. Because teleported information does not travel through the intervening space, it cannot be secretly accessed by an eavesdropper.?
For that reason, teleportation is the enabling technology behind quantum cryptography, a way of sending information with close-to-perfect secrecy.?
Unfortunately, entangled photons are fragile objects. They cannot travel further than a kilometre or so down optical fibres because the photons end up interacting with the glass breaking the entanglement. That severely limits quantum cryptography?s usefulness.?
However, physicists have had more success teleporting photons through the atmosphere. In 2010, a Chinese team announced that it had teleported single photons over a distance of 16 kilometres. Handy but not exactly Earth-shattering.
Now the same team says it has smashed this record.?Juan Yin at the?University of Science and Technology of China in Shanghai, and a bunch of mates say they have teleported entangled photons over a distance of 97 kilometres across a lake in China. ?
? PR Web Minneapolis, Minnesota (PRWEB) December 29, 2012 The PulteGroup Home Index (PGHI) findings show that homebuyers prioritize family relationships. PGHI 2012 quarterly surveys comprised of home renters, homeowners, and potential homebuyers across the United States determine intentions, motivators and deterrents involved in the home buying process, sentiment toward the housing market, and housing trends and preferences. Destiny Homes owner Butch Sprenger says, ?We are seeing homeowners placing a greater priority on family relationships and quality time at home as they make home renovation choices. Where to build a home, what type of home to build, and trends in homeowners layout choices point to a feeling that building a home is all about family. Economic pressures have only heightened a family focus on home?. In 2012 PGHI were carried out four homebuyer surveys and focused on current hot topics from retirement to first?time homebuyers. 2012 survey results revealed several homebuyer trends, showing an increase in consumer confidence in the economy and the housing market: ????? 61 percent of Baby Boomers still in the work force plan to retire in less than 10 years and are on schedule with retirement plans. 73 percent report being financially prepared to retire in 10 years or less. ????? 61 percent of today?s home renters hope to buy a home within the next two years. ????? Top reasons why renter interest in buying a home is up: They want the American dream of homeownership, calling themselves homeowners (49 percent,) and they plan to ?..
Read the full article: http://www.equities.com/news/headline-story?dt=2012-12-29&val=875253&cat=business (only 1/3 of the full article is shown)
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FILE -- Undated file photo of Italian neurologist and senator for life Rita Levi Montalcini, Nobel Prize winner for Medicine in 1986. Rome's mayor says biologist Rita Levi-Montalcini, who conducted underground research in defiance of Fascist persecution, and went on to win a Nobel Prize for helping unlock the mysteries of the cell, has died at her home in the city. She was 103. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
FILE -- Undated file photo of Italian neurologist and senator for life Rita Levi Montalcini, Nobel Prize winner for Medicine in 1986. Rome's mayor says biologist Rita Levi-Montalcini, who conducted underground research in defiance of Fascist persecution, and went on to win a Nobel Prize for helping unlock the mysteries of the cell, has died at her home in the city. She was 103. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
FILE -- In this photo from files, taken on April 18, 2009, Italian neurologist and senator for life Rita Levi Montalcini, Nobel Prize winner for Medicine in 1986, is seen at a press conference for her one hundredth birthday, in Rome. Rome's mayor says biologist Rita Levi-Montalcini, who conducted underground research in defiance of Fascist persecution, and went on to win a Nobel Prize for helping unlock the mysteries of the cell, has died at her home in the city. She was 103. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)
FILE -- In this photo from files, taken on April 18, 2009, Italian neurologist and senator for life Rita Levi Montalcini, Nobel Prize winner for Medicine in 1986, is seen at a press conference for her one hundredth birthday, in Rome. Rome's mayor says biologist Rita Levi-Montalcini, who conducted underground research in defiance of Fascist persecution, and went on to win a Nobel Prize for helping unlock the mysteries of the cell, has died at her home in the city. She was 103. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)
FILE -- In this photo from files, taken on April 18, 2009, Italian neurologist and senator for life Rita Levi Montalcini, Nobel Prize winner for Medicine in 1986, is seen at a press conference for her one hundredth birthday, in Rome. Rome's mayor says biologist Rita Levi-Montalcini, who conducted underground research in defiance of Fascist persecution, and went on to win a Nobel Prize for helping unlock the mysteries of the cell, has died at her home in the city. She was 103. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)
ROME (AP) ? Rita Levi-Montalcini, a biologist who conducted underground research in defiance of Fascist persecution and went on to win a Nobel Prize for helping unlock the mysteries of the cell, died at her home in Rome on Sunday. She was 103 and had worked well into her final years.
Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno, announcing her death in a statement, called it a great loss "for all of humanity." He praised her as someone who represented "civic conscience, culture and the spirit of research of our time."
Italy's so-called "Lady of the Cells," a Jew who lived through anti-Semitic discrimination and the Nazi invasion, became one of her country's leading scientists and shared the Nobel medicine prize in 1986 with American biochemist Stanley Cohen for their groundbreaking research carried out in the United States. Her research increased the understanding of many conditions, including tumors, developmental malformations, and senile dementia.
Italy honored Levi-Montalcini in 2001 by making her a senator-for-life.
A petite woman with upswept white hair, she kept an intensive work schedule well into old age. "At 100, I have a mind that is superior ? thanks to experience ? than when I was 20," she said in 2009.
"A beacon of life is extinguished" with her death, said a niece, Piera Levi-Montalcini, who is a city councilwoman in Turin. She told the Turin daily newspaper La Stampa that her aunt passed away peacefully "as if sleeping" after lunch and that the scientist had kept up her research studies several hours a day "right up until the end."
Levi-Montalcini was born April 22, 1909, to a Jewish family in the northern city of Turin. At age 20 she overcame her father's objections that women should not study and obtained a degree in medicine and surgery from Turin University in 1936.
She studied under top anatomist Giuseppe Levi, whom she often credited for her own success and for that of two fellow students and close friends, Salvador Luria and Renato Dulbecco, who also became separate Nobel Prize winners. Levi and Levi-Montalcini were not related.
After graduating, Levi-Montalcini began working as a research assistant in neurobiology but lost her job in 1938 when Italy's Fascist regime passed laws barring Jews from universities and major professions.
Her family decided to stay in Italy and, as World War II neared, Levi-Montalcini created a makeshift lab in her bedroom where she began studying the development of chicken embryos, which would later lead to her major discovery of mechanisms that regulate growth of cells and organs.
With eggs becoming a rarity due to the war, the young scientist biked around the countryside to buy them from farmers. She was soon joined in her secret research by Levi, her university mentor, who was also Jewish and who became her assistant.
"She worked in primitive conditions," Italian astrophysicist Margherita Hack told Sky TG24 TV in a tribute to her fellow scientist. "She is really someone to be admired."
Italy's premier, Mario Monti, paid tribute to Levi-Montalcini's "charismatic and tenacious" character and for her lifelong battle to "defend the battles in which she believed."
Only a few months ago, she helped sponsor an appeal to the government for more attention of fund-strapped young scientists in Italy.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi praised Levi-Montalcini's civil and moral efforts, saying she was an "inspiring" example for Italy and the world, the ANSA news agency said.
An Italian scientist, who worked for some 40 years with Levi-Montalcini, including in the United States, said the work the Nobel laureate did on nerve growth factor was continuing. The protein assists portions of the central nervous system that have been damaged by disease or injury.
"Over the years, this field of investigation has become ever more important in the world of neuroscience," Pietro Calissano was quoted by ANSA as saying. Calissano began studying under Levi-Montalcini in 1965 and recalled her ability to relate to students on a very human level, with none of the elite airs that often characterize Italian professors.
"I remember we were in a closet with cell cultures when she offered me a fellowship," Calissano said. He added that research building on Levi-Montalcini's pioneering achievements continues. "We are working on a possible application in the treatment of Alzheimer's," he added.
The 1943 German invasion of Italy forced the Levi-Montalcini family to flee to Florence and live underground. After the Allies liberated the city, she worked as a doctor at a center for refugees.
In 1947 Levi-Montalcini was invited to the United States, where she remained for more than 20 years, which she called "the happiest and most productive" of her life. She held dual Italian-U.S. citizenship.
During her research at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, she discovered nerve growth factor, the first substance known to regulate the growth of cells. She showed that when tumors from mice were transplanted to chicken embryos they induced rapid growth of the embryonic nervous system. She concluded that the tumor released a nerve growth-promoting factor that affected certain types of cells.
The research increased the understanding of many conditions, including tumors, developmental malformations, and senile dementia. It also led to the discovery by Stanley Cohen of another substance, epidermal growth factor, which stimulates the proliferation of epithelial cells. The two shared the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1986.
Levi-Montalcini returned to Italy to become the director of the laboratory of cell biology of the National Council of Scientific Research in Rome in 1969.
After retiring in the late 1970s, she continued to work as a guest professor and wrote several books to popularize science. She created the Levi-Montalcini Foundation to grant scholarships and promote educational programs worldwide, particularly for women in Africa.
In 2001 Levi-Montalcini was made a senator for life, one of the country's highest honors.
She then became active in Parliament, especially between 2006 and 2008, when she and other life senators would cast their votes to back the thin majority of center-left Premier Romano Prodi.
Levi-Montalcini had no children and never married, fearing such ties would undercut her independence.
"I never had any hesitation or regrets in this sense," she said in a 2006 interview. "My life has been enriched by excellent human relations, work and interests. I have never felt lonely."
Italian mathematician Piergiorgio Odifreddi said he was always struck by the contrast of this "petite, frail woman and the power of her mind." He recalled comments that Levi-Montalcini made when she turned 100. She mentioned that she would sleep no more than two or three hours a night because "I have no time to lose," Odifreddi told Sky TG24.
There was no immediate announcement of funeral or memorial services.
Brooklyn Nets principal owner Mikhail Prokhorov speaks to the media concerning the firing of head coach Avery Johnson. Prokhorov spoke at half time of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday, Dec., 28, 2012 at Barclays Center in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
Brooklyn Nets principal owner Mikhail Prokhorov speaks to the media concerning the firing of head coach Avery Johnson. Prokhorov spoke at half time of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday, Dec., 28, 2012 at Barclays Center in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
FILE- In this Dec. 17, 2011, file photo, New Jersey Nets head coach Avery Johnson, right, talks with assistant coach P.J. Carlesimo during the first half of an NBA preseason basketball game against the New York Knicks in Newark, N.J. The Nets fired Johnson on Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012, and Carlesimo will coach the team on an interim basis, starting Friday night with a home game against Charlotte. (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)
Brooklyn Nets principal owner Mikhail Prokhorov smiles as he speaks to the media concerning the firing of head coach Avery Johnson. Prokhorov spoke at half time of an NBA basketball game against the Charlotte Bobcats on Friday, Dec., 28, 2012 at Barclays Center in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Skiing in Canada is postponed. Mikhail Prokhorov's new agenda calls for lunch with his basketball coach.
Prokhorov can always reschedule his vacation. Fixing his team couldn't wait.
So the Brooklyn Nets owner fired Avery Johnson, made P.J. Carlesimo the team's interim coach, and put aside pleasure for business.
Prokhorov flew to New York and watched the Nets hand the Charlotte Bobcats their 17th straight loss, 97-81 on Friday. He and Carlesimo will meet Saturday for lunch, where the Russian billionaire will likely remind Carlesimo of his high ? perhaps unrealistic ? goals for the Nets.
Carlesimo, uncomfortable with how he got the job, isn't worried about what it will take to keep it.
"Honestly, am I anxious to hear what he's got to say? Of course I do. But we've just got to go out and do the best job we can and see whatever happens," Carlesimo said. "I certainly don't want to lobby for it or anything like that."
He won't need to if the Nets keep performing like they did Friday.
The Nets played as they did last month, when they were 11-4 and Johnson was Eastern Conference coach of the month. They are just 4-10 in December, a slump that cost Johnson his job, but got back over .500 against the hapless Bobcats.
Brook Lopez had 26 points and 11 rebounds, Deron Williams added 17 of his 19 points in the first half, and Joe Johnson had 16 for the Nets, who led by 29 points and won for just the second time in seven games.
"I felt we're a good team all year and we just hit a rough patch," said Williams, who struggled under Johnson. "We've got to fight our way out of it, so we made a step in the right direction tonight and we just keep going."
Prokhorov cut short heli-skiing in British Columbia to travel to New York. He said he decided to fire Johnson last week but will be patient with Carlesimo. Even with big names such as Phil Jackson potentially available and Prokhorov vowing to spend whatever it takes to build a championship team, he said repeatedly that Carlesimo was the head coach.
Prokhorov did say that if the Nets do look for a new coach, he would be personally involved. He wouldn't discuss anyone by name, even joking he had never heard of Jackson, the 11-time champion coach whom ESPN.com reported was the Nets' top target.
"Now P.J. is the head coach and if it becomes necessary, you know who the usual suspects are," Prokhorov told reporters at halftime.
The Nets had been blown out of their previous two games and Prokhorov said the Nets were lacking team spirit.
Still, deciding Johnson would be fired last week means Prokhorov had made up his mind even before the lackluster Christmas performance at home against Boston that preceded a rout Wednesday in Milwaukee.
"I think we have very talented players, but they are capable of much more than what we have seen in the recent weeks," Prokhorov said. "I respect Avery and really I wish him well, but sometimes chemistry just isn't right. It happens.
"I think the main question is why we were unable to bounce back and to play like champions," he added.
Prokhorov added around $300 million in payroll this summer and has set the expectations high, saying he believes the Nets can reach the Eastern Conference finals. Though it's believed he wouldn't back away from paying top dollar for a coach, he left open the possibility that he may already have the guy he wants.
"P.J. is the head coach and just I think we have a lot of trust in him and really I want him to lead the team," Prokhorov said.
The Nets played with energy under Carlesimo after forward Gerald Wallace had criticized the team following Wednesday's 108-93 loss in Milwaukee in Johnson's last game.
"To me, it's kind of frustrating and sad because that's the first time in my career that a coach's been let go in the middle of the season like that," Wallace said. "But I understand the business part of it. We move on and obviously regardless of who's sitting at the head of the chair, we know what we got to do as players."
Carlesimo, who had stints coaching Portland and Golden State, is perhaps best known for his infamous run-in with Latrell Sprewell when he was leading the Warriors. A terse exchange at a December 1997 practice resulted in Sprewell choking Carlesimo. It took several players and team officials to break up the attack, which an angry Sprewell renewed 15 minutes later.
Carlesimo last coached his own team when he was fired by the Oklahoma City Thunder after a 1-12 start to the 2008-09 season and said before the game he was a little more apprehensive than normal for his return to running his own club.
"Your head's spinning a little bit, you're trying to think of all the things that were second nature," Carlesimo said. "Hopefully, I haven't forgotten. I'm old, but hopefully I haven't forgotten."
It was quickly obvious he had nothing to worry about.
The Bobcats missed 13 of their first 16 shots, making it easy for the Nets. Brooklyn scored nine straight in the middle of the first quarter to open a 12-point lead, extended it to 18 later in the period, and were ahead 33-15 headed to the second.
"It's tough. We can't put ourselves in that kind of position," Bobcats guard Kemba Walker said. "We don't have a lot of depth on our team to come back against great teams, but we do every once in a while, but we can't do that all the time. We dig ourselves in holes we can't get out of."
Williams, who missed Wednesday's game with a bruised right wrist and came into the game shooting under 40 percent for the season, was 7 of 14 from the field. Williams, who said recently that he preferred his old offense in Utah to Johnson's, acknowledged his confidence was down as he struggled to play the style that best suited the Nets.
"We came out with a lot more energy," Williams said. "I think we had to. I think our backs are against the wall right now."
Lopez, the starting center whose seven-game absence with a foot injury started the Nets' downward spiral, was 9 of 12 and made all eight free throws. He said it's easy for the Nets to offer Carlesimo the support Prokhorov wants.
"He helped us focus tonight," Lopez said. "He was there for us and you know we support him and he supports us."
___
AP freelance writer Adriano Torres in East Rutherford, N.J., contributed to this report.
By Jim Wolf WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission has cleared the way for wider adoption of in-flight Internet services, aiming to cut by as much as 50 percent the time needed for regulatory approval. Newly adopted rules should boost competition in this part of the U.S. mobile telecommunications market and promote "the widespread availability of Internet access to aircraft passengers," the FCC said in a statement Friday. Since 2001, the commission has cleared companies on an ad hoc basis to market in-flight broadband services via a satellite antenna fixed to an aircraft's exterior. Under a newly adopted framework, the licensing procedures will be simpler, the commission said. Airlines will be able to test systems that meet the commission's standards, establish that they do not interfere with aircraft systems and then get approval of the Federal Aviation Administration, the FCC statement said. The FAA, a Labor Department arm responsible for operating the nation's air traffic control system, said in response that the FCC's effort to establish standards "will help to streamline the process" for airlines to install Internet hookups on planes. The goal is to speed the processing of applications by up to 50 percent, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a separate statement. The FCC drive to promote broadband aboard planes does not change a ban on the in-flight use of cell phones, which is tied to concerns about interference with ground stations. Genachowski earlier this month urged the Federal Aviation Administration to allow more electronics on aircraft. The FAA announced in August that it was forming a government-industry group to study aircraft operators' policies to determine when portable electronic devices may be used safely during flight. (Reporting By Jim Wolf; Editing by Claudia Parsons)
Have you ever wondered why some people look young for their age? What if you could get your skin to look and act as though it was young again?
Article by Health-and-Fitness:Anti-Aging Articles from EzineArticles.com (c) Health-and-Fitness:Anti-Aging Articles from EzineArticles.com
- Read full story here.
Apple's patent claim against Samsung's Galaxy S III mini is no more, with Cupertino citing the phone's lacking availability in the US for the amendment to its original November filing. In the ongoing litigation between the two electronics giants, Samsung argued that it's Galaxy S III mini didn't warrant inclusion in the latest volley of Samsung devices Apple wants added to its patent lawsuit; Apple apparently agreed, and is thusly withdrawing its claim against that particular device. The argument also highlights the sad news that the S III mini won't join Samsung's Galaxy lineup in the US.
An agreement filing spotted by Reuters from a San Jose, CA. US District Court revealed today's news, coming just days after Judge Lucy Koh dismissed a request to permanently ban sales on several Samsung devices. It's unclear if the other Samsung devices Apple asked to be added to the ongoing case are approved yet by the court, but we can certainly count the S III mini out for the time being.
She has freckles, a normal-sized head, wears t-shirts and jeans. She is also "awkwardly dressed" and "pretty cute." She is the average female Mac user, according to an infographic complied and released by software start-up BlueStacks.
The company, which makes software that allows Android apps to run on computers, just released a new version of its Mac app. Install the program and you can access Android apps right from Apple's OS X operating system - Angry Birds, Instagram, all your favorites.
But the company didn't want to just release the software. In honor of the announcement, it created an infographic based on data from its Facebook users about what Ms. Mac looks like.
According to the graphic, which you can view below, 27 percent of female Mac users have long hair, 48 percent wear glasses and 52 percent are under 20. Forty percent use Mac OS X Lion, 14 percent OS X Mountain Lion, 20 percent OS X Leopard, and 8 percent Snow Leopard.
However, you should take these findings with a grain of salt; they are based primarily on responses from BlueStacks' 1.1 million Facebook fans. Some of it is based on data from Nielsen, but BlueStacks confirmed that the majority of the information was pulled from its own users and its social media fans.
"We have a lot of early adopter fans who were into helping," BlueStacks VP of marketing, John Gargiulo, told ABC News. "We also hired a data scientist who has been parsing through the data and talking with people who use BlueStacks. We like to do things that are a bit fun and different."
BlueStacks created a similar infographic about Android users last year. Not surprisingly, 70 percent of male Android users wear t-shits and 62 percent wear jeans. (It's like that line from that '90s movie "Can't Hardly Wait": "He is sort of tall, with hair and wears t-shirts sometimes.")
Regardless, if you're looking for a fun infographic / full body image of the alleged Ms. Mac 2012, you can click the image below.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Confused about the federal budget struggle? So are doctors, hospital administrators and other medical professionals who serve the 100 million Americans covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
Rarely has the government sent so many conflicting signals in so short a time about the bottom line for the health care industry.
Cuts are coming, says Washington, and some could be really big. Yet more government spending is also being promised as President Barack Obama's health care overhaul advances and millions of uninsured people move closer to getting government-subsidized coverage.
"Imagine a person being told they are going to get a raise, but their taxes are also going to go up and they are going to be paying more for gas," said Thornton Kirby, president of the South Carolina Hospital Association. "They don't know if they are going to be taking home more or less. That's the uncertainty when there are so many variables in play."
Real money is at stake for big hospitals and small medical practices alike. Government at all levels pays nearly half the nation's health care tab, with federal funds accounting for most of that.
It's widely assumed that a budget deal will mean cuts for Medicare service providers. But which ones? How much? And will Medicaid and subsidies to help people get coverage under the health care law also be cut?
As House Speaker John Boehner famously said: "God only knows." The Ohio Republican was referring to the overall chances of getting a budget deal, but the same can be said of how health care ? one-sixth of the economy ? will fare.
"There is no political consensus to do anything significant," said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, a market analysis firm. "There is a collective walking away from things that matter. All the stuff on the lists of options becomes impossible, because there is no give-and-take."
As if things weren't complicated enough, doctors keep facing their own recurring fiscal cliff, separate from the bigger budget battle but embroiled in it nonetheless.
Come Jan. 1, doctors and certain other medical professionals face a 26.5 percent cut in their Medicare payments, the consequence of a 1990s deficit-reduction law gone awry. Lawmakers failed to repeal or replace that law even after it became obvious that it wasn't working. Instead, Congress usually passes a "doc fix" each year to waive the cuts.
This year, the fix got hung up in larger budget politics. Although a reprieve is expected sooner or later, doctors don't like being told to sit in the congressional waiting room.
"It seems like there is a presumption that physicians and patients can basically tolerate this kind of uncertainty while the Congress goes through whatever political machinations they are going through," said Dr. Jeremy Lazarus, president of the American Medical Association. "Our concern is that physician uncertainty and anxiety about being able to pay the bills will have an impact on taking care of patients."
A recent government survey indicates that Medicare beneficiaries are having more problems when trying to find a new primary care doctor, and Lazarus said that will only get worse.
Adding to their unease, doctors also face an additional reduction if automatic spending cuts go through. Those would be triggered if Obama and congressional leaders are unable to bridge partisan differences and strike a deal. They are part of the combination of tax increases and spending cuts dubbed the "fiscal cliff."
Medicare service providers would get hit with a 2 percent across-the-board cut, but Medicaid and subsidies for the uninsured under Obama's health care overhaul would be spared. The Medicare cut adds up to about $120 billion over ten years, with 40 percent falling on hospitals, according to Avalare's analysis. Nursing homes, Medicare Advantage plans and home health agencies also get hit.
The American Hospital Association says that would lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of hospital jobs in a labor intensive industry that also generates employment for other businesses in local communities.
"It's very difficult to believe hospitals can absorb the kinds of numbers they are talking about without reducing service or workforce," said Kirby, the hospital association head. "You may decide that a service a hospital provides is not affordable ? for example, obstetrics in a rural community ? if you're making a little bit of money or losing a little bit of money by continuing to deliver babies in a rural community."
Independent analysts like Mendelson doubt that a 2 percent Medicare cut to hospitals would be catastrophic, but say it will cost jobs somewhere.
Even if there is a budget deal, the squeeze will be on.
The administration has proposed $400 billion in health care cuts so far in the budget talks, coming mainly from Medicare spending. That's only a starting point as far as Republicans are concerned. They also want to pare back Medicaid and Obama's health care law, and have also sought an increase in the eligibility age for Medicare.
The UFC's end-of-the-year cards are usually stacked. Despite injuries, UFC 155 is no different. It features intriguing bouts that will answer some burning questions.
Did a knee injury hold back Cain Velasquez the first time he fought Junior dos Santos? When the two first met up last November, Velasquez reportedly had a badly injured knee. He was knocked out in 64 seconds. This time a (seemingly) healthy Velasquez will get to show if he deserves the heavyweight belt.
Has Chris Leben returned to form, for really real this time? Since Leben was on the original "Ultimate Fighter," he has been a man who wrestled with his demons. Most recently, those demons took the form of a banned pain killer which resulted in a one-year suspension from the UFC. Against Derek Brunson, Leben can show he's again the man who knocked out Wanderlei Silva.
Can Tim Boetsch be the next guy to challenge Anderson Silva? Though his original bout with Chris Weidman was called off because of an injury to Weidman, Boetsch still has another opportunity to show he can beat up opponents. He wants a chance to beat up Silva,* and this bout with Costa Phillippou is an opportunity for Boetsch's fighting to shine.
Or should Alan Belcher be the man to take on Silva? It's been more than three years since Belcher lost a fight. His last four fights have been stoppage wins. An impressive win over Yushin Okami could put him in line to fight for the middleweight belt.*
Is Todd Duffee still the knockout artist who once graced the octagon? Back in 2009, Duffee knocked out Tim Hague in a mere seven seconds. After that, the hype train was running behind him full steam. It was derailed when Mike Russow came back to knock Duffee out in the third round of their bout. Duffee was cut from the UFC, and is getting another shot at the octagon on Saturday. He'll fight Philip De Fries on the Facebook preliminaries, and get a chance to show if he can still knock people out very quickly.
*Assuming the next middleweight belt is based on competitiveness and earning a title shot by fighting, not by calling opponents out. Considering what has happened recently in the UFC welterweight and light heavyweight divisions, there are no guarantees. Related MMA video from Yahoo! Sports
ROME (Reuters) - Outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Friday that he would lead a coalition of centrist parties who support his European and reform-minded agenda in the parliamentary election in just two months time.
The announcement clarifies Monti's involvement in the upcoming vote, after he said on Sunday that he may be willing to seek a second term if a credible political force backed his reform agenda.
"The traditional left-right split has historic and symbolic value" for the country, but "it does not highlight the real alliance that Italy needs - one that focuses on Europe and reforms," Monti said after a meeting with centrist politicians.
He said he was willing to accept "being named as leader of the coalition".
Monti, whose status as Senator for life means he does not have to stand for election to parliament himself, said that the formation could win a "significant result" in the election, scheduled for February 24-25.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Confused about the federal budget struggle? So are doctors, hospital administrators and other medical professionals who serve the 100 million Americans covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
Rarely has the government sent so many conflicting signals in so short a time about the bottom line for the health care industry.
Cuts are coming, says Washington, and some could be really big. Yet more government spending is also being promised as President Barack Obama's health care overhaul advances and millions of uninsured people move closer to getting government-subsidized coverage.
"Imagine a person being told they are going to get a raise, but their taxes are also going to go up and they are going to be paying more for gas," said Thornton Kirby, president of the South Carolina Hospital Association. "They don't know if they are going to be taking home more or less. That's the uncertainty when there are so many variables in play."
Real money is at stake for big hospitals and small medical practices alike. Government at all levels pays nearly half the nation's health care tab, with federal funds accounting for most of that.
It's widely assumed that a budget deal will mean cuts for Medicare service providers. But which ones? How much? And will Medicaid and subsidies to help people get coverage under the health care law also be cut?
As House Speaker John Boehner famously said: "God only knows." The Ohio Republican was referring to the overall chances of getting a budget deal, but the same can be said of how health care ? one-sixth of the economy ? will fare.
"There is no political consensus to do anything significant," said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, a market analysis firm. "There is a collective walking away from things that matter. All the stuff on the lists of options becomes impossible, because there is no give-and-take."
As if things weren't complicated enough, doctors keep facing their own recurring fiscal cliff, separate from the bigger budget battle but embroiled in it nonetheless.
Come Jan. 1, doctors and certain other medical professionals face a 26.5 percent cut in their Medicare payments, the consequence of a 1990s deficit-reduction law gone awry. Lawmakers failed to repeal or replace that law even after it became obvious that it wasn't working. Instead, Congress usually passes a "doc fix" each year to waive the cuts.
This year, the fix got hung up in larger budget politics. Although a reprieve is expected sooner or later, doctors don't like being told to sit in the congressional waiting room.
"It seems like there is a presumption that physicians and patients can basically tolerate this kind of uncertainty while the Congress goes through whatever political machinations they are going through," said Dr. Jeremy Lazarus, president of the American Medical Association. "Our concern is that physician uncertainty and anxiety about being able to pay the bills will have an impact on taking care of patients."
A recent government survey indicates that Medicare beneficiaries are having more problems when trying to find a new primary care doctor, and Lazarus said that will only get worse.
Adding to their unease, doctors also face an additional reduction if automatic spending cuts go through. Those would be triggered if Obama and congressional leaders are unable to bridge partisan differences and strike a deal. They are part of the combination of tax increases and spending cuts dubbed the "fiscal cliff."
Medicare service providers would get hit with a 2 percent across-the-board cut, but Medicaid and subsidies for the uninsured under Obama's health care overhaul would be spared. The Medicare cut adds up to about $120 billion over ten years, with 40 percent falling on hospitals, according to Avalare's analysis. Nursing homes, Medicare Advantage plans and home health agencies also get hit.
The American Hospital Association says that would lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of hospital jobs in a labor intensive industry that also generates employment for other businesses in local communities.
"It's very difficult to believe hospitals can absorb the kinds of numbers they are talking about without reducing service or workforce," said Kirby, the hospital association head. "You may decide that a service a hospital provides is not affordable ? for example, obstetrics in a rural community ? if you're making a little bit of money or losing a little bit of money by continuing to deliver babies in a rural community."
Independent analysts like Mendelson doubt that a 2 percent Medicare cut to hospitals would be catastrophic, but say it will cost jobs somewhere.
Even if there is a budget deal, the squeeze will be on.
The administration has proposed $400 billion in health care cuts so far in the budget talks, coming mainly from Medicare spending. That's only a starting point as far as Republicans are concerned. They also want to pare back Medicaid and Obama's health care law, and have also sought an increase in the eligibility age for Medicare.
Patents ? Utah company says it has aided, not hindered, research, care.
Tory Galloway thought her negative result on a widely-used test sold by Utah-based Myriad Genetics Inc. cleared her DNA as a cause for her fallopian tube cancer.
She happily advised her four sisters that the disease didn?t result from a family trait. The relief from the December 2010 test, though, was short lived. In October, after getting results from a broader scan at the University of Washington that included dozens of genes, she learned the truth: Her cancer was caused by a mutation that wasn?t included in the Myriad product.
"It makes me nuts to even think about it," said Galloway, a landscape designer in Indianola, Wash.
The broader test, created by University of Washington researchers, uses technology to identify as many cancer risks as possible. There?s one problem: Such a test can?t include the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that are the most common inherited causes for breast and ovarian cancer because Myriad owns the patents on them. This prevents other U.S. laboratories from using them in a commercial test.
In the mid-1990s, Myriad helped kick-start the gene-testing revolution by pinpointing the two BRCA genes. Now, the world?s biggest genetic testing company for breast cancer, with a market value of $2.2 billion, is under attack by researchers, genetic counselors, doctors, and their patients.
Besides stifling competitors from offering combination tests, including the BRCA genes, critics also said the company won?t share data from decades of testing that could aid research into how best to interpret screening. They said Myriad doesn?t adequately respond when other researchers find added BRCA mutations that address risks their current tests don?t cover.
"What is at stake is the way we want our health-care system to work," said Robert Cook-Deegan, a professor of public policy, biology, and medicine at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who supports limits on gene patents. "The testing has been set up by Myriad to optimize this business model. It is not set up to optimize public health outcomes."
The dispute, which has grown in intensity as more and more cancer-causing mutations are found, has spilled out of the laboratories and clinics into the U.S. Supreme Court. A ruling next year in a case challenging Myriad?s hold on the BRCA patents could either support the company?s profit-driven motives or redefine a nascent industry in a way that affects millions of dollars in revenue.
Myriad officials reject the criticisms, saying they offer faster, more accurate testing for harmful mutations in breast cancer genes than any other laboratory in the world, and that its patents haven?t hindered research or patient care.
"Myriad has never done anything to harm patients," CEO Peter Meldrum said during an interview at his company?s headquarters in Salt Lake City. "We have the most accurate results, we give the fastest results." There has never been a reported case in which Myriad wrongly told that a woman she had a cancer-causing mutation, he said.
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Carol Mackoff, 70, a Chicago-based managing director for Rice Financial Products Co., says Myriad "saved my life."
Mackoff tested positive on a Myriad test for a BRCA1 mutation in 2002 after visiting an ovarian cancer prevention program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, she said in a telephone interview. Within weeks, she had her ovaries removed to prevent ovarian cancer, and later in 2009 had a prophylactic double mastectomy.
Without the Myriad test, "I would have had cancer," she said. "The fact that they developed these tests and gave me a tool to work with to allow me to prevent getting cancer, I owe them everything."
Faster, cheaper DNA testing is revolutionizing medical care. Nowhere has the impact been felt more strongly than in breast cancer. A woman who tests positive using Myriad?s tests carries as much as an 80 percent chance that she will get breast cancer in her lifetime. Testing helps women take charge of their medical future, providing options that can include preventative surgery and more extensive monitoring.
Widespread use of the tests has made Myriad an unabashed financial success. The company?s testing business, led by its flagship $3,340 BRCA product, carries an 87 percent gross profit margin that in fiscal 2012 generated $496 million in sales, according to Myriad.
That?s helped boost the company?s shares 30 percent this year.
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A controversial plan from Arizona's Sheriff Arpaio will send armed members of his volunteer posse to some Phoenix schools to provide security. Oralia Ortega, of KPNX, reports.
By Miranda Leitsinger, NBC News
Arizona sheriffs and the state?s attorney general are pushing controversial programs to allow school officials and volunteers to carry guns in the wake of the shootings at a Connecticut school that left 20 children dead.
The latest proposal comes from Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the self-described toughest sheriff in America, who wants to station his ?posse? of volunteers outside of about 50 schools in Maricopa County within a week, according to KPNX, a local NBC station.
?
?Everybody else is talking about what their ideas are. They want new laws. This is immediate. I don't need a new law to send out my posse,? he told NBC affiliate, KPNX, on Thursday. ?I feel like we should do whatever we can outside of the schools.?
Arpaio?s volunteers number about 3,000, with 300 to 400 carrying weapons. They log about 100 hours of training and undergo background checks, just like deputies, according to KPNX.
He first sent out his posse in 1993 to guard malls over the holiday season because of violence at those venues in the past. He believed that program worked, saying there have been zero violent re-occurrences, azfamily.com reported.
Arpaio?s plan follows similar ones released earlier this week: Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu has proposed arming willing principals,?according to?ABC15.com, while Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said he wanted to arm a designated employee in every school,?KPNX reported.
?Why not use these people we trust if they are willing to protect themselves and our children?? Babeu said.
Horne said a few counties have indicated they?d like to sign up for his program, though state law currently prohibits having firearms on public school campuses. Horne said he already has a sponsor for the necessary state legislation to implement his plan.
Anti-gun advocates and former educators denounced the idea of arming school staffers. Geraldine Hills, of Arizonans for Gun Safety, called it ?outrageous.?
?Cops aren?t teachers, teachers aren?t cops,? she told KPNX. ?It?s a very nice what-if scenario, this fantasy of the armed civilian hero. It doesn?t play out in real life.?
?I don?t feel that I would want to be in a position of being responsible for either a concealed weapon or securing a weapon on campus,? Gregg Baumgarten, a former principle outside of Phoenix, told the station. ?I just think it?s a recipe for disaster.?
The Arizona officials? stance echoed that of the National Rifle Association chief Wayne LaPierre, who said he supported putting armed guards and police in schools in response to the Newtown shootings in which the gunman, Adam Lanza, also shot six administrators dead. Police say Lanza shot his mother to death earlier at their home.
?If it?s crazy to call for putting police in and securing our schools to protect our children, then call me crazy,? LaPierre told NBC?s David Gregory. ?I think the American people think it?s crazy not to do it. It?s the one thing that would keep people safe and the NRA is going try to do that.?
Some districts said they were preparing to take LaPierre?s recommended action, while other educators cautioned that doing so would send the wrong message about education.
After a controversial press conference last week, NRA head Wayne LaPierre made an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" saying the American people would be "crazy" to not put armed guards in schools. Meanwhile, Newtown, Conn., continues coping with the death of 26 people during the tragic shooting. NBC's Ron Mott report.
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The UFC's end-of-the-year cards are usually stacked. Despite injuries, UFC 155 is no different. It features intriguing bouts that will answer some burning questions.