SAG Award Winners 2012 & Red Carpet Photos!
The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards took place last night in Hollywood at the Shrine Auditorium. As most of you know, the SAG Awards [...]
SAG Award Winners 2012 & Red Carpet Photos! Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News
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The cast of The Help had much reason to celebrate at the 2012 SAG Awards. The Civil Rights drama swept in all of its categories, winning outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role, outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role and the night's highest honor, outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.
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GAINESVILLE, Fla. ? Steven R. Camps and some friends were driving home hours before dawn Sunday when they were suddenly drawn into a massive pileup on Florida's Interstate 75.
"You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy," the Gainesville man said hours later. "If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of the world."
Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the horrific pileup south of Gainesville, where a long line of cars and trucks collided one after another on a dark highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were blinded. At least 10 people were killed and another 18 were taken to a nearby hospital, Shands at the University of Florida. As of Sunday night, six patients remained in the trauma center and three others admitted through the emergency room remained.
The interstate had been closed for a time before the accidents because of a mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. The decision to reopen it early Sunday will certainly be a focus of investigators, as will the question of how the fire may have started.
Authorities also must figure out when to reopen the southbound lanes of I-75, the north-south highway that runs virtually the entire length of Florida. Complicating matters is that some of the road's asphalt melted. The northbound lanes were reopened late Sunday afternoon.
"Our standard operating procedure is to get the road open as quickly as possible but let's not forget we have 10 people who are not with us today," Lt. Patrick Riordan, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman, said Sunday evening. "So we are going to take our time assessing the situation."
The pileups happened around 3:45 a.m. Sunday on both sides of I-75. When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile.
At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames.
Hours later, twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage.
Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks.
Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw bodies still inside a burned-out Grand Prix. One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.
Before Camps hit the fog bank, a friend who was driving ahead of him in a separate vehicle called to warn of the road conditions. The friend said he had just seen an accident and urged Camps to be careful as he approached the Paynes Prairie area, just south of Gainesville.
A short time later, Camps said, traffic stopped along the northbound lanes.
"You couldn't see anything. People were pulling off the road," he said.
Camps said he began talking about the road conditions to a man in the car stopped next to him when another vehicle hit that man's car.
The man's vehicle was crushed under a semi-truck stopped in front of them. Camps said his car was hit twice, but he and another friend were able to jump out. They took cover in the grass on the shoulder of the road.
All around them, cars and trucks were on fire, and they could hear explosions as the vehicles burned.
"It was happening on both sides of the road, so there was nowhere to go. It blew my mind," he said, explaining that the scene "looked like someone was picking up cars and throwing them."
Authorities had not released the names of victims Sunday evening, but said one passenger car had four fatalities. A "tour bus-like" vehicle also was involved in the pileup, police said.
All six lanes of the interstate were closed most of Sunday as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters put out the last of the flames. Some traffic was being diverted onto U.S. 301 and State Road 27, Riordan said. The northbound lanes were reopened at about 5:30 p.m.
At some point before the pileup, police briefly closed the highway because of fog and smoke. The road was reopened when visibility improved, police said. Riordan said he was not sure how much time passed between the reopening of the highway and the first crash.
A spokeswoman for the Florida Forest Service, Ludie Bond, said the fire began Saturday, and investigators were trying to determine whether the blaze had been intentionally set. She said there were no controlled burns in the area and no lightning.
Bond also said the fire had burned 62 acres and was contained but still burning Sunday. A similar fire nearby has been burning since mid-November because the dried vegetation is so thick and deep. No homes are threatened.
Four years ago, heavy fog and smoke were blamed for another serious crash.
In January 2008, four people were killed and 38 injured in a series of similar crashes on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa, about 125 miles south of Sunday's crash. More than 70 vehicles were involved in those crashes, including one pileup that involved 40 vehicles.
___
Associated Press writer Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.
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NEW YORK ? A former "American Idol" contestant is heading to Broadway with a character who, it's safe to say, is truly two-faced.
Constantine Maroulis will play the title dual role in a revival of the musical "Jekyll & Hyde" that's slated to come to New York in spring 2013 after a 25-week national tour that starts in San Diego on Oct. 2, Nederlander Presentations Inc. announced Sunday.
Maroulis, who was a finalist on the fourth season of "American Idol," had a three-year run in Broadway's "Rock of Ages" and received a best actor Tony nomination and a Drama League nomination for his performance. He also played the role of Roger Davis in a recent national tour of "Rent."
Maroulis made his Broadway debut in "The Wedding Singer" and is currently in the title role of "Toxic Avenger" at the Alley Theatre in Houston. His debut album, "Constantine," was released on his own label, Sixth Place Records.
"Jekyll & Hyde" features a story and lyrics by two-time Oscar winner Leslie Bricusse and music by Frank Wildhorn, who co-conceived the musical. It will be directed and choreographed by Jeff Calhoun.
Additional cast and creative team, as well as tour cities, will be announced later.
Wildhorn has had a tough time on Broadway recently, with back-to-back shows that have failed. His show this spring called "Wonderland," an updated telling of "Alice in Wonderland," was poorly reviewed and his "Bonnie & Clyde" recently closed early this season.
"Jekyll & Hyde" made its Broadway debut in 1997 with such songs as "This is the Moment," "A New Life" and "Someone Like You," earning four Tony nominations. It tells the story of a London doctor who accidentally unleashes his evil alternate personality in his quest to cure his father's mental illness.
Robert Cuccioli played the lead, and Sebastian Bach and David Hasselhoff later took over. After 1,543 performances, the production played its final performance on Jan. 7, 2001.
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"TIP OF THE ICEBERG": NeuroSky, Inc.'s brain-computer interface shown here just scratches the surface of what is possible thanks to advances in mobile electroencephalographic brain-wave detection technology, says University of California, San Diego's Scott Makeig.
Image: Courtesy of Neurosky, Inc.
A fighter pilot heads back to base after a long mission, feeling spent. A warning light flashes on the control panel. Has she noticed? If so, is she focused enough to fix the problem?
Thanks to current advances in electroencephalographic (EEG) brain-wave detection technology, military commanders may not have to guess the answers to these questions much longer. They could soon be monitoring her mental state via helmet sensors, looking for signs she is concentrating on her flying and reacting to the warning light.
This is possible because of two key advances made EEG technology wireless and mobile, says Scott Makeig, director of the University of California, San Diego's Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience (SCCN) in La Jolla, Calif. EEG used to require users to sit motionless, weighted down by heavy wires. Movement interfered with the signals, so that even an eyebrow twitch could garble the brain impulses.
Modern technology lightened the load and wirelessly linked the sensors and the computers that collect the data. In addition, Makeig and others developed better algorithms?in particular, independent component analysis. By reading signals from several electrodes, they can infer where, within the skull, a particular impulse originated. This is akin to listening to a single speaker's voice in a crowded room. In so doing, they are also able to filter out movements?not just eyebrow twitches, but also the muscle flexing needed to walk, talk or fly a plane.
EEG's most public face may be two Star Wars?inspired toys, Mattel's Mindflex and Uncle Milton's Force Trainer. Introduced in 2009, they let wannabe Jedi knights practice telekinesis while wearing an EEG headset. But these toys are just the "tip of the iceberg," says Makeig, whose work includes mental concentration monitoring. "Did you push the red button and then say, 'Oops!' to yourself? It would be useful in many situations?including military?for the system to be aware of that."
That kind of "mental gas gauge" is just one of many projects Makeig is running at the SCCN, which is part of U.C. San Diego's Institute for Neural Computation (INC). He also combines mobile EEG with motion-capture technology, suiting volunteers in EEG caps and LED-speckled spandex suits so he can follow their movements with cameras in a converted basement classroom. For the first time, researchers like Makeig can examine the thoughts that lead to movement, in both healthy people and participants with conditions such as autism. Makeig calls the system Mobile Brain/Body Imaging, or MoBI. It allows him to study actions "at the speed of thought itself," he says.
EEG does not directly read thoughts. Instead, it picks up on the electrical fields generated by nerves, which communicate via electricity. The EEG sensors?from the one on the Star Wars games to the 256 in Makeig's MoBI?are like microphones listening to those microvolt-strength neural signals, says Tansy Brook, head of communications for NeuroSky Brain?Computer Interface Technology in San Jose, Calif., makers of the chip in the Star Wars toys and many other research, educational and entertainment products.
For one project, Makeig is collaborating with neuroscientists Marissa Westerfield and Jean Thompson, U.C. San Diego researchers studying movement behavior in teenagers with autism. They put the teens, wearing the EEG sensors and LEDs, in Makeig's special classroom. Then, they project a spaceship on the walls. The kids have to chase the spaceship as it darts from one point to another. Although the results are not yet in, Westerfield suspects that people with autism, compared with those who are non-autistic, will take longer to process where the spaceship has gone and readjust their movements toward it. "If we had a better idea of the underlying deficits?then we could possibly design better interventions," such as targeted physical therapy for the movement problems autistic people have, Westerfield says.
Neuroscientists and psychologists have been using EEG to eavesdrop on brain waves since 1926, and doctors employ it to study sleep patterns and observe epileptic seizures. During most of that time, subjects had to sit in an electrically shielded booth, "like a big refrigerator," says John Foxe, a neuroscientist at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. He calls Makeig's MoBI "technical wizardry" that will enable scientists "to watch the brain and how it works in much more realistic settings."
Wireless EEG has already had an impact on gaming. San Francisco?based Emotiv has since 2009 sold its EPOC EEG headset, which uses electrical signals to determine a player's emotional state?excitement, frustration and boredom each create a different pattern. Gamers using Emotiv's technology can also create mental "spells" to lift or push virtual objects, says Geoff Mackellar, CEO of Emotiv?s research unit based in Sydney, Australia. The EPOC is also regularly used in research labs and may have medical applications in the future, Mackellar adds.
Wireless EEG technology provides signals as clear as the wired version, Makeig says, and at about 3.5 kilograms his machinery is "luggable." (Emotiv's and NeuroSky's headsets, which use fewer electrodes, are lighter.) "Of course, we're not starting with ballet dancers doing The Rite of Spring," he admits, but the team has succeeded with joggers on a treadmill. One challenge they would still like to overcome is to remove the sticky, conductive gel that goes under each electrode. It can certainly be done?Emotiv's electrodes use only saltwater and NeuroSky's are dry.
Tzyy-Ping Jung, associate director of the SCCN, predicts the group will make a dry, 64-electrode system within a couple of years. He and Makeig envision the headset will help paralyzed people interact with the world, warn migraine sufferers of an impending headache, and adjust computerized learning to match a student's personal pace, among other potential applications.
"It's certainly something that everyone can have at home," Emotiv's Mackellar says.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=60da3ae60f492ca5c90e0ebaa19105e9
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POTTSTOWN, Pa.?? A suburban Philadelphia middle school's ban on a popular type of fur-lined boots isn't about fashion, it's about cellphones.
Only on msnbc.com
AFP - Getty Images
Updated 74 minutes ago
1/27/2012 6:03:19 PM +00:00
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Pottstown Middle School parents were informed of a prohibition on the boots on Wednesday.
District community relations director John Armato told the Pottstown Mercury that students are using the boots to hide cellphones and bring them into class. Current school policy allows students to bring their phones to school but requires them to be kept in their locker during the day.
In effect next week
Armato says the ban targets the boots with fur or faux fur lining made by footwear companies including Ugg. It goes into effect Monday.
Principal Gail Cooper says students can still wear the boots to school, but must remove them before going to class.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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LONDON ? Rihanna has found a unique way of getting some new stage outfits.
The musical superstar from Barbados will be hunting for undiscovered design talent in Britain on a new TV show ? as yet unnamed ? in which she will be the executive producer and the star.
Sky Living HD announced Thursday it has commissioned media company Twenty Twenty to make the series and say Rihanna will be working mainly behind the scenes.
Hosting duties will go to another pop name, Nicola Roberts from the U.K. group Girls Aloud.
Together they will challenge fashion newcomers to create stage gear for musicians and celebrities ? with the final task to dress Rihanna for her July 8 performance at the Wireless music festival in London's Hyde Park.
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PARK CITY, Utah ? Paul Simon recalls his return to South Africa like a family reunion ? musical brothers getting back together after decades apart.
The trip last summer to commemorate the 25th anniversary of his "Graceland" album was a far more joyous occasion than some of his earlier travels on behalf of the record.
The Sundance Film Festival documentary "Under African Skies" chronicles the creation of "Graceland," its overnight success and the furor it caused as critics accused Simon of impeding progress to abolish South Africa's system of racial segregation known as apartheid.
Simon said he was surprised by protests that sprang up on his "Graceland" tour in the 1980s. But looking back, he said the album and tour with South African musicians raised awareness that helped end apartheid in the 1990s.
"Once I saw it had an immediate acceptance and that people loved it and had great affection for the music, I thought that the tour and the album were going to be a very effective way of showing just how evil apartheid was," Simon said in an interview alongside "Under African Skies" director Joe Berlinger.
The film shows Simon's South African musical colleagues enjoying their first taste of success outside their oppressed nation on the "Graceland" tour. But critics charged that the tour violated a United Nations cultural ban meant to pressure South Africa's white minority into doing away with government policies of segregation against blacks.
There were protests and even bomb threats, resulting in tight security as the tour progressed around the world.
Even today, there is lingering bitterness against Simon. "Under African Skies" includes a sometimes-uneasy exchange last summer between him and Dali Tambo, the son of African National Congress leader Oliver Tambo and the founder of Artists Against Apartheid. Dali Tambo had remained a harsh critic of Simon.
The joint interview arranged by filmmaker Berlinger helped clear the air between Simon and Tambo, who ended their meeting with a warm hug on camera.
That meeting was part of Berlinger's aim to examine both the musical origins of "Graceland" but also its unpleasant political fallout.
"I made it clear I didn't want a puff piece, a Paul Simon puff piece, and he didn't want a Paul Simon puff piece," Berlinger said. "We established that we're going to do an honest exploration of these issues and also go deeply into how this music was made, which, to me, is actually the more interesting part of the film.
"The political story is relevant and has resonance in today's world as well, but how this album was made, the dissection of that music and that achievement to me was as interesting, or more so, than the political story."
The film traces the creation of the album, from early recording sessions Simon did in South Africa to capture the raw material for many of the songs, to a London studio session with vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, to an early performance on "Saturday Night Live" that enchanted the audience months before "Graceland" was released.
"Under African Skies" also follows Simon on his return to South Africa last summer, when he and musicians from the album reunited for a performance.
Simon had a gracious welcome there, reminiscent of a trip back to South Africa he took a few years after the "Graceland" tour, when apartheid had ended and South Africa's new president, Nelson Mandela, invited him to come and perform.
Mandela's invitation amounted to the "official announcement that was nothing about `Graceland' that the ANC saw as harming the cause. In fact, the opposite," Simon said. "We all felt particularly honored to even meet Nelson Mandela. I think of him as one of the great, great leaders of the 20th century. One of the great teachers. To be in his presence actually was extraordinary. We felt great about it."
___
Online:
http://www.sundance.org
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JUNEAU, Alaska ? Federal regulators have rescheduled a meeting in Anchorage on TransCanada Corp.'s proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline project.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, had canceled a Jan. 18 scoping meeting while it waited for TransCanada to file draft environmental reports. TransCanada has since filed those.
The Anchorage meeting is reset to Feb. 13.
The focus is on TransCanada's proposed project from the North Slope into Canada. FERC has announced plans to do an environmental review of the Alaska portion. Through its meetings, it is trying to determine what potential environmental impacts to consider in the report.
The first scoping meeting is scheduled for Monday in Fairbanks. Additional meetings are planned in Delta Junction, Tok, Barrow, Nuiqsut and Kaktovik.
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This article originally appeared in Equally Wed Magazine. Equally Wed is the nation's premier online same-sex wedding and honeymoon magazine, providing articles, inspiration and ideas on everything from popping the question to saying "I do" to the glorious honeymoon, as well as the latest news headlines on the fight for marriage equality. The preeminent source for all things gay wedding, Equally Wed also offers the most comprehensive directory of gay-friendly wedding vendors in the United States, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean.
With the cost of weddings skyrocketing, and with many same-sex couples footing the entire bill for their big day, an intimate affair in your own backyard might start to look more appealing than the three-day destination gala you'd originally planned. Opting to tie the knot in your private outdoor sanctuary saves you the hassle of touring venue after venue and allows you and your betrothed to focus your time, energy and hard-earned cash on the things that matter to you most, be it fabulous photography from your city's top artists or a killer open bar, complete with signature cocktails and the very best bubbly.
Still, just because you'll be using your backyard doesn't mean planning your wedding will be a walk in the park. The work that goes into an event so close to home can far exceed hiring people to handle everything for you. Luckily, when it comes to planning backyard weddings, you are limited only by your creativity. From including your favorite furry friends to renting a photo booth to hiring a slew of outrageous circus performers, your backyard wedding can and should be a reflection of your and your beloved's unique style and personality. Here's how you do it:
FIRST THINGS FIRST
Before you begin to plan your backyard soiree, you'll need to consider the basics: primarily, determining if your yard is suitable for a wedding. Will your space accommodate your guest list? Where will your attendees park? Will your event require any permits from the city? Does your homeowner's insurance cover third-party liability? What about noise ordinances? Once you've got all these bases covered, it's time to dive into the details.
BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR
We can think of nothing worse than having your neighbor crank his riding lawn mower just as you exchange vows, except perhaps walking down the aisle to the squeals of 20 delighted 8-year-olds enjoying a pool party just over the fence. To prevent a catastrophe, let your neighbors know of your nuptials and what you've got planned at least six weeks in advance. Better yet, invite them! If you're lucky, they might even volunteer their driveway for overflow parking.
GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS
No matter how meticulous a planner you are, it's next to impossible to host a backyard wedding without the help of family and close friends. Unless you've hired an assistant, every detail of your ceremony and reception rests on your shoulders. Your nearest and dearest are usually happy to help ensure your special day goes off without a hitch. Just make sure you don't rely on the same person for everything. It's poor form to request your maid-of-honor to arrange bouquets, transport your cake, set up the bar and usher guests all on top of her day-of duties. And please don't forget your manners. Whether you're asking Aunt Rita for the use of her punchbowl or soliciting able-bodied friends to string lights from tree to tree, thank everyone, and do it often.
SOMETHING BORROWED
Costs can quickly spiral out of control if you rent everything from the cutlery to the candleholders instead of inquiring as to what you can borrow from pals. Based on the vision you have for your wedding, figure out what you'll need to rent and what you have or can borrow. Plenty of companies offer glasses, plates and utensils for one night at a hefty price, but mismatched items collected from thrift stores, discount outlets and friends can lend charming sentimentality to your already special day.
When it comes to sound systems, tables, chairs and linens, get creative! Talk up your friends, co-workers and acquaintances. Local churches, businesses, recreation centers, even funeral homes often have these items on hand and may let you borrow or rent them at a reduced cost. It never hurts to ask, and it could save you a bundle of money.
WEATHER THE STORM
Neither rain, sleet nor threat of snow should keep you from taking your love's hand in marriage, but they can put a huge damper on the day. Likewise, gale force winds can wreck havoc on the delicate chiffon bridesmaids' dresses you've selected. When deciding on the date for your backyard wedding, consult the Farmer's Almanac for historic weather records for the weekend you've selected. Once you've picked that perfect day, with nary a cloud in sight, know that the weather still may not cooperate and that, in a pinch, it's best to have a backup plan. If you cannot accommodate your guests indoors, consider renting a tent for your reception that can double as your ceremony space if necessary. Tent rental companies will handle set-up and break-down of the tent before and after the event.
Don't forget to take the extra steps necessary to make your guests as comfortable, prepared and protected from the elements as possible. Ladies will likely forego the stilettos if you add a printed insert to your invitations advising them that your ceremony and reception will take place on soft terrain. Providing sunscreen, bottled water, bug spray and blankets are all nice touches depending on the season.
TIDY UP
It's best to get your yard in tip-top shape as soon as possible. Go ahead and fertilize that lawn, plant additional flowers or shrubs, fill any holes in the ground, and make all necessary repairs to patios and fixtures. Just before the big day, mow the lawn, trim any overgrowth and, of course, pick up behind your pooches.
LET YOUR LOVE FLOW
Since you'll have the benefit of unlimited access to your venue before you say "I do," you can spend ample time designing the layout and flow of traffic during your ceremony and reception. Take measurements of your space and create a scale drawing to determine where to place your tent, tables and chairs. Keep in mind; people gravitate toward food and beverage, so place these stations away from high-traffic entry and exit points.
SET THE STAGE
One of the biggest advantages to any outdoor wedding is the splendid backdrop that Mother Nature provides. Vibrant fall color and spring blossoms will eliminate the need for elaborate preparations. Potted plants, garden hooks with hanging baskets and strategically placed fabric, ribbon or tulle can fill in any gaps or cover imperfections. Use flowers and tree branches from your backyard to create centerpieces, and let your natural landscape do the rest!
LET THERE BE LIGHT
If your reception will extend into the nighttime hours, proper lighting is essential. Candles and paper lanterns lend an air of dramatic elegance, while tiki torches or strands of clear twinkle lights laced above your guests create a warm and simple, yet beautiful effect. Determine how many outlets you'll need for any lighting that requires a power source, and keep a fire extinguisher on hand if you plan to have any open flames.
CHANGE OF SCENERY
Unless your backyard is beyond spacious, your aisle may quickly need to become your dance floor. There are a few ways to handle the transition from ceremony to reception. If you plan on keeping your vows short and sweet, asking your guests to stand shouldn't be a problem (but please, by all means, set up a chair for your sweet 75-year-old nana). Skipping the seats during your ceremony allows you to set up the reception seating in advance.
If you prefer the formality of seating your guests during the ceremony, usher your guests to an unused location -- perhaps your front yard -- for a champagne toast or passed hors d'oeuvres while family or caterers convert your space.
MUSIC TO YOUR EARS
Got a talented friend? Recruit her to play guitar or violin for your stroll down the aisle. Get your guests dancing at the reception with a play list full of you and your love's favorite songs. A tech-savvy family member can easily cue up the tunes you've selected for your first dance and other special moments. Test your sound system the day before your wedding to ensure that your guests will be able to hear the music as well as carry on a conversation without shouting, and avoid placing seats directly in front of a speaker.
EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY
What you serve at your backyard wedding can range from champagne and caviar to barbecue and beer and just about anything in between. If you plan to use caterers, find out what they will need from you and whether your kitchen will accommodate them. If you forego caterers, you'll likely need to rely on those trusty friends and family members (again) to help prepare and present the meal. If your Uncle Jimmy has offered to whip up low-country boil for all 75 of your guests, you might have it made. But if firing up the grill isn't part of your vision, buffet lines lend themselves particularly well to backyard affairs. Just make sure you skip mayonnaise-laden dishes that can take a turn for the worse if not cooled properly. Likewise, advise your cake baker that your wedding will take place outdoors so that he can avoid frostings that will melt in mild heat.
When it comes to libations, consider hiring a bartender. Many guests aren't accustomed to mixing their own cocktails, which can lead to a serious waste of expensive liquor or embarrassing over-consumption. If you prefer to keep things simple, mix up batches of a signature cocktail or stick with bottles of wine and beer chilled in galvanized steel tubs.
WHEN NATURE CALLS
Decide upfront whether or not your indoor facilities will be available to guests during the event. If so, make sure they are well stocked with toilet paper, soap and hand towels. If not, you'll have to rent port-a-potties (at least two per 100 guests and one per 50 guests after that). If images of smelly outhouses with sprinkled-on seats have you concerned, never fear. The portable loo has gone luxe. Many rental companies offer top-of-the-line restrooms complete with flushable toilets, functioning sinks, full length mirrors and lighting.
PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW
Lastly, backyard weddings do not have the time constraints that most venues impose and, as a result, some of your guests may decide to linger. If an all-nighter is what you had in mind, by all means, keep the party going. But if you prefer to spend the wee morning hours in the arms of your new husband or wife, consider a staged exit. Nothing says "it's time to go" like having the guests of honor hit the road.
Photos of Dani and Kelly's backyard wedding by Tinywater Photography.
MORE SLIDESHOWS
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-dean/backyard-bliss-a-diy-guid_b_1211906.html
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A soap that responds to magnetic fields could be used to clean up oil spills without leaving behind detergents that can harm surrounding wildlife.
Researchers at the University of Bristol, UK dissolved iron particles in water that contained chlorine and bromine ions, materials which are commonly found in household products such as mouthwash or fabric cleaner. This created a metallic centre within the soap particles that could be influenced by a nearby magnetic field.
The team tried out their new soap by placing it in a test tube beneath layers of water and an oil-like substance. Using a magnet, they were able to overcome both gravity and surface tension to lift the soap through the layers and out of the tube.
This test shows that it is much easier to remove magnetic soaps from mixtures of other liquids, suggesting they could be used in response to environmental disasters such as oil spills, where concerns have been raised about the cleaning substances in use. A magnetic soap could easily be collected after cleaning, reducing the environmental impact.
Magnetic soaps could also have a range of industrial applications thanks to their ability to change properties such as electrical conductivity or melting point at will with a magnetic on/off switch. These properties are normally altered by adding an electric charge or changing the pH, temperature or pressure of the substance, meaning they can not be reversed.
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FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Research in Motion Ltd's could have chosen a fiery, inspirational new CEO but they chose a stoic engineer instead, dashing investor hopes for a quick turnaround for the struggling BlackBerry maker.
The softspoken and bespectacled Thorsten Heins, who had worked at Germany's Siemens AG for more than 20 years before RIM, failed to inspire Wall Street on Monday as he pledged to continue on the same path as his predecessors.
RIM shares closed down 8.5 percent at $15.56 on Nasdaq as the promotion of the largely unknown former chief operating officer was a disconcerting surprise for investors who were skeptical about his ability to turn around the Canadian group's fortunes, particularly after Heins suggested RIM didn't need new a strategic overhaul in his first TV appearances.
"I am a little concerned about some of the statements that the new CEO made around not needing drastic changes, focusing on marketing and having had issues with being too innovative," Carolina Milanesi, analyst at research firm Gartner said.
For his part, Heins tried mightily to rally RIM employees, analysts and investors around the sudden executive suite change.
"We will take this to new heights," he promised after taking over from co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, who finally bowed to investor pressure and resigned. "Innovation is endless, we will have a lot of fun."
But taking a look at his past at former employer, German engineering group Siemens, Heins is not one for transformation.
The Munich-born Heins, 54, started working at Siemens straight out of university in 1984, where he also met his wife Petra, a mathematician and physicist, and where he stayed until his move to RIM in December 2007.
Described as easy to deal and work with, Heins steadily moved up the ranks and eventually was CTO of Siemens' communications unit.
However, while colleagues attest to his calm and collected manner, Heins did not fit Siemens' efforts to build a more dynamic image and an emotional brand.
The criticism back then was that his style and rhetoric would rather reinforce this to-be-shed engineering image rather than selling handsets as life-style products which was one of the strategic guidelines.
Someone who is deemed to be too boring even for Siemens may not be what activist investors had in mind when they called for a new, "transformational" leader to help RIM compete with Apple's hugely popular iPhone and iPad and the slew of large-screen and powerful devices from Samsung and others using Google's Android operating system.
NOT REALLY CEO MATERIAL?
Heins' former boss at Siemens, Thomas Ganswindt, expressed his faith in Heins's abilities and said that Heins was a "very strong" leader and someone "able to recognize what is needed by an ailing business".
But Heins will have a lot of convincing to do.
One analyst who has met Heins but asked not to be named said RIM's new CEO is "definitely competent" but not necessarily charismatic enough to lead a company.
"He doesn't strike me or a lot of people as being CEO material," said the analyst. "You don't see him leading a group of people through the desert for 40 years."
According to CCS Insight's Ben Wood, "Thorsten is highly respected in terms of his knowledge of the industry and given that this appears to be a rather sudden turn of events, they needed someone who can quickly takeover the helm."
Others questioned whether Heins brings the right set of skills to the job.
"In our view, a CEO with a strong consumer electronics and supply chain background would have been ideal," Shaw Wu, senior technology analyst at Sterne Agee, said, arguing that whether RIM likes it or not around 70 percent of its business is consumer driven.
By the end of a mid-2011 restructuring, Heins was one of two chief operating officers at RIM, responsible for sales and for both hardware and software product engineering.
RIM marked Heins's ascent to the top role with a seven-minute YouTube video in which the 6-foot, 6-inch CEO gave his vision for success with a noticeable German accent.
"He is not very well known outside of the company. He has been working in both Balsillie's and Lazaridis' shadow," said Alexandre Peterc, analyst at Exane BNP Paribas.
"He does strike me as someone who knows the industry very well given his background at Siemens. On the plus side he is a veteran of the industry and he knows his stuff, but that said, his background is very much tech and process orientated as opposed to strategic vision orientated."
RIM has been at pains to underline the orderly nature of the handover.
However, another analyst who requested anonymity because of his relationship with the group, said it was astounding that the COO at a company of this size should have been so invisible to the market and investor community.
He said he had heard previously from executives within RIM that Heins was very highly regarded and that he was very much on top of his brief. "His name came up repeatedly, with regards to people at RIM who really rate him."
Nevertheless, the move was reminiscent of Hewlett-Packard's rush to find a replacement after it ousted CEO Mark Hurd. It decided on former SAP AG CEO Leo Apotheker but reversed the much-criticized step four months ago by hiring former eBay Inc CEO Meg Whitman to replace Apotheker.
As takeover talk swirled and the financial world pondered whether Heins had been appointed to lead a turnaround or prepare RIM for sale, he clearly now is going to have to communicate quickly, get to know investors and raise his public profile.
That will likely leave Heins little time to follow the games of his favorite basketball team the Miami Heat or ride his motorcycle, which true to his German roots is a BMW model.
(Reporting by Maria Sheahan; Additional reporting by Marilyn Gerlach, Sinead Carew, Kate Holton, Georgina Prodhan and Paul Sandle)
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Students in State College are expressing concern for seriously ill former Penn State coach Joe Paterno.
Doctors say the 85-year-old legendary coach recently experienced complications from lung cancer. He has been hospitalized since Jan. 13.
Sophomore Max Spangler says he's concerned that the stress of the Penn State sex abuse scandal has compounded Paterno's condition. Paterno was fired in November amid accusations that he didn't do more to alert authorities about child sex abuse allegations against retired assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
Spangler says, "I don't know how bad his situation is, but I hope it gets better. It's a lot of complications at his age."
Recent alum Ben Woodward says, "It has to be pretty heartbreaking to end on the note that it did, and not on his own terms."
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KABUL, Afghanistan ? More Afghans fled the country and sought asylum abroad in 2011 than in any other year since the start of the decade-long war, suggesting that many are looking for their own exit strategy as international troops prepare to withdraw.
From January to November, more than 30,000 Afghans applied for political asylum worldwide, a 25 percent increase over the same period the previous year and more than triple the level of just four years ago, according to U.N. statistics obtained by The Associated Press ahead of their scheduled publication later this year.
Many Afghans are turning to a thriving and increasingly sophisticated human smuggling industry to get themselves ? or in most cases, their sons ? out of the country. They pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars to cross into Iran or Pakistan to more $25,000 for fake papers and flights to places like London or Stockholm.
Thousands of refugees also return each year, but their numbers have been dwindling as the asylum applications rise. Both trends highlight worries among Afghans about what may happen after 2014, when American and other NATO troops turn security over to the Afghan army and police.
The true numbers of people leaving is likely even higher ? since those who are successfully smuggled abroad often melt into an underground economy. Still, the jump in a rough indicator like asylum seekers suggests the total numbers are also on the rise.
Smuggling people out of Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan is a $1 billion-per-year criminal enterprise, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimates. Those who pay to leave often face a risky journey and detention abroad because many developed countries now see many Afghans who flee as illegal economic migrants, not political refugees.
Still, the business finds an eager clientele in Afghans such as Ahmad, an unemployed 20-year-old in Kabul. He has agreed to pay a smuggler $400 to take him over the Iranian border, where he hopes to find work and save up to move on to Europe in a few years. He has no money, but his smuggler is giving him credit ? he'll have a month to pay up once he's in Iran.
"I don't think anything will improve in three or five years, so it's better to leave now," said Ahmad, who expects to leave for Iran within a few weeks. He asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of being arrested.
Ahmad's family fled to Iran during the Taliban's late 1990s rule and returned full of hope after the regime fell. But now, he sees no future in his homeland.
"If foreign troops leave, the situation will only get worse, not better," he said.
That's a view shared by many. Tajma Kurt, who manages an International Organization for Migration program helping Afghans who have returned home, says she's noticed a marked change in ordinary Afghans' outlook since roughly 2007, when the Taliban insurgency began to gain strength and violent attacks increased.
"Before, they were looking for a job, discussing buying a house or whatever," Kurt said. "Now, they are all thinking of leaving because the situation has deteriorated dramatically and they don't see that it's going to get much better."
Devastated by decades of war, Afghanistan is already the world's biggest source of refugees, with more than 3 million of its total population of 30 million still outside the country, most in Iran and Pakistan, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner of Refugees and the Afghan government.
After the 2001 U.S.-led military intervention that toppled the Taliban, some 5.7 million Afghan refugees returned. The vast majority of those came back in the first five years. The numbers have since dwindled, with about 60,000 refugees returning last year, about half the number as the previous year.
As the pace of returns slowed, the number of Afghans seeking asylum abroad rebounded. In 2011, 30,407 sought asylum through November, the latest available figures.
Driving both trends is not only economic ambition but deep uncertainties about the country's future, says Abdul Samad Hami, deputy minister of Afghanistan's Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.
"Who knows what happens when foreign troops leave Afghanistan? Is it going to get better or worse? Who knows what happens with the foreign aid to Afghanistan ? going down or increasing?" he said.
Some Afghans fear that once most foreign troops leave, the Taliban will take over more territory and civil war could erupt along ethnic lines, as it did in the 1990s. Others worry the Afghan economy will collapse if foreign aid dries up.
The real number of Afghans leaving is unknown, but undoubtedly higher than the asylum figures. The country's foreign ministry recently said 50,000 Afghans illegally entered Greece in the past two years alone, many of them now stranded without passports or money to move farther into Europe. Most of those arranged their journey with smugglers.
For their money, many endure a perilous journey.
Esmat Adine nearly drowned after the overcrowded boat he was on sank off Indonesia late last year, killing at least 200 fellow asylum-seekers headed for Australia. He says he left his wife and infant son at home in Afghanistan and paid $5,000 to travel to Australia after the Taliban threatened to kill him for working with American aid workers. He flew from Kabul to Dubai, then boarded a plane to Jakarta, Indonesia. From there, he was taken to eastern Java and was packed onto the doomed boat.
When the vessel capsized, Adine managed to survive by swimming to a nearby island.
"I swam and swam until I reached the shore," Adine, 24, told The Associated Press in an Indonesian detention center, where he is awaiting a ruling on his legal status. "I thought of how my wife and children are counting on me, of how I must earn a good life in Australia, free from intimidation."
He says he still hopes to be able to enter Australia and send for his family.
Australia has vowed to crack down on asylum-seekers but has been forced to relax a policy of mandatory detention because its detention camps are dangerously overcrowded.
Hami, the Afghan refugee official, says the country has come a long way and if the transition goes smoothly, fewer people will want to leave. But he conceded that depends on whether the government can provide security and jobs.
"If the situation gets worse, people will go out. If the situation gets better, people will return."
___
Associated Press reporters Massieh Neshat in Kabul and Ali Kotarumalos in Indonesia contributed to this report.
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The Legal Theory Bookworm?recommends?Configuring the Networked Self: Law, Code, and the Play of Everyday Practice by Julie E. Cohen. Here is a description:
Source: http://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/2012/01/legal-theory-bookworm-2.html
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The Yankees and Mariners agreed last Friday to a trade sending catcher Jesus Montero and right-hander Hector Noesi to Seattle for right-handers Michael Pineda and Jose Campos. But that deal has not been completely finalized, and might not be made officially?official?for another couple days.
According to FOX Sports? Jon Paul Morosi, Montero is waiting for a visa issue to be resolved in his native Venezuela and hasn?t be able to travel to the United States to take his required physical with the Mariners. On top of that, an ice storm blew threw Seattle on Thursday, cancelling most flights.
Both teams will have to remain patient as Montero?s travel issues are cleared up and the airport conditions in the Great Northwest improve. We?d expect a resolution and official announcement by early next week.
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COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Republicans Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are not ceding one inch of South Carolina as the unpredictable campaign for the South's first presidential primary concludes ? and certainly not Tommy's Ham House.
Romney is fighting a suddenly surging Gingrich, while rivals Rick Santorum and Ron Paul look to surprise in a four-man race that has spun wildly in its last 48 hours.
Seen as Romney's to lose just days ago, South Carolina's primary has become a close contest between Romney, the former Massachusetts governor portraying himself as the best able to beat President Barack Obama, and Gingrich, the confrontational former House speaker and former Georgia congressman.
Both were scheduled to hold dueling campaign events at Tommy's, in Republican-rich Greenville, late Saturday morning. And neither campaign was stepping back from a primary day showdown.
It's "neck and neck," Romney declared Friday, moving to lower expectations for a race he led by double digits as of midweek.
Even as Romney was touting his electability in November, he continued to try to stoke doubt about Gingrich's ethics.
Gingrich, buoyed by the endorsement of Texas Gov. Rick Perry as he left the race Thursday, called Romney's suggestion that his chief rival release documents relating to an ethics investigation from the 1990s a "panic attack" brought on by sinking poll numbers.
Romney's demand was turnabout from Gingrich's that Romney release his income tax returns before the weekend primary. Gingrich argues that GOP voters need to know whether the wealthy former venture capital executive's records contain anything that could hurt the party's chances against Obama.
The stakes were high for Saturday's vote. The primary winner has gone on to win the Republican nomination in every election since 1980. And voters were faced with stamping Romney, who has led in national polls since December, as the party's front-runner, or reshuffle the contest.
Romney won the New Hampshire primary by a wide marign on Jan. 10, and was thought to have edged Santorum in a photo-finish in Iowa's leadoff caucuses. However, the certified count from Iowa on Thursday showed Santorum had received more votes, although a handful of precincts remained uncertain and no winner was declared.
Romney, Gingrich and Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator vying to be the preferred conservative, all planned to campaign in South Carolina's conservative upstate as the voting got under way. Paul, the Texas congressman who has campaigned lightly here, had no campaign appearances scheduled but was expected to visit campaign volunteers.
Behind the flurry of public events around the state Friday, telephones and televisions crackled with attack messages. Some of South Carolina's notorious 11th-hour devilry ? fake reports in the form of emails targeting Gingrich and his ex-wife Marianne ? emerged in a race known as much for its nastiness as for its late-game twists.
"Unfortunately, we are now living up to our reputation," said South Carolina GOP strategist Chip Felkel.
State Attorney Gen. Alan Wilson ordered a preliminary review of the phony messages to see if any laws had been broken.
Gingrich's ex-wife burst into the campaign this week when she alleged in an ABC News interview that her former husband had asked her for an "open marriage," a potentially damaging claim in a state where the Republican primary electorate includes a potent segment of Christian conservatives. The thrice-married Gingrich, who has admitted to marital infidelities, angrily denied her accusation.
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Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
Share ] Contact: Divya Menon
dmenon@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science
You're driving from work to pick up your kids at school. The drive is familiar; you've done it almost every day for years. But how do you know in which direction the school is from your home? Landmarks? The sun? Animal instinct? Now, a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science, yields an alternative answer that surprised even its authors, Julia Frankenstein, Betty J. Mohler, Heinrich H. Blthoff, and Tobias Meilinger, who collaborated at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, in Tbingen, Germany. "Our memory for our city of residence shows a map-like character," says Meilinger, a research scientist at the institute. "And that map seems to be oriented towards the north." Frankenstein adds: "At least in western societies, where maps are north-oriented, and people usually use maps and are able to read them, they can -and will- rely on their memory of city maps for certain spatial tasks."
Some theories of how we locate ourselves in place and space posit that each of us creates a personal "global reference frame," constructed of environmental factors (a city's grid, a cathedral visible everywhere in town) and individual experience, such as where we live in town. Others say we orient ourselves depending on where we areparallel to the street we're on. According to either of these theories, the further away an invisible location is, the longer it takes us to point in its direction and the more likely we are to make a mistake.
The Tbingen study does not support these theories. In it, 26 residents of Tbingen (who had lived in Tbingen for at least two years) were put into a virtual-reality headset and seated in a chair that didn't allow them to swivel. Participants found themselves in the virtual three-dimensional photorealistic model of their hometown, at locations familiar to them, surrounded by fog masking all but the near distance. Then they had to point to an invisible locationsay, the main gate of the university or the fire station. The scenes changed, and so did the participant's spatial orientation. After 60 three-location trials, participants were asked to draw a map of the town including all the locations they'd pointed to.
The results: Although participants drew differently oriented maps, everyone performed most accurately when facing north and got worse the further they deviated from north. The only explanation the researchers could figure was that they'd all seen, and internalized, a map of Tbingen at some point, and Western maps are all oriented the same waynorth on top.
Meilinger conjectures that we rely on this mental map out of cognitive laziness. "If you acquire your knowledge from navigation only, the task [of pointing to an invisible target] requires you to coordinate a lot of things into the same reference frame" walked trajectories, experienced views, and so on. "A map gives all that information within one frame." Frankenstein refines: "The memory of a map does not need to be updated by further experience, as it depicts all spatial relations undistorted within one reference frame. It therefore provides a very reliable source of spatial information." She emphasizes, that "remembering a map is not the only strategy to solve spatial tasks. We do not necessarily get lost in environments where we have never seen a map of- e.g., buildings or our flat." And while participants used the map for pointing, the replication of the map (i.e., drawing a map) did not result necessarily in north-oriented maps. "Our brain seems to choose the easiest and best strategy to solve spatial tasks, but relying on a mental city-map is one of them," concludes Frankenstein.
Meilinger says it's possible that the increasing reliance on GPS devices will eventually erase these memorized maps. "If somebody doesn't care to learn the environment, that's totally fine with me," he comments. "But they shouldn't complain if their mobile is not working and they are completely lost." How to avoid this? "Look at maps before you start your trip, keep them at hand, but navigate yourself, and try to rely on your memory- it will work better than you expect! Give your brain the chance to train its spatial abilities use them or lose them," adds Frankenstein.
###
For more information about this study, please contact: Julia Frankenstein or Tobias Meilinger at julia.frankenstein@cognition.uni-freiburg.de; tobias.meilinger@tuebingen.mpg.de.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Is the Map in Our Head Oriented North?" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Divya Menon at 202-293-9300 or dmenon@psychologicalscience.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 18-Jan-2012 Share ] Contact: Divya Menon
dmenon@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science
You're driving from work to pick up your kids at school. The drive is familiar; you've done it almost every day for years. But how do you know in which direction the school is from your home? Landmarks? The sun? Animal instinct? Now, a new study published in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science, yields an alternative answer that surprised even its authors, Julia Frankenstein, Betty J. Mohler, Heinrich H. Blthoff, and Tobias Meilinger, who collaborated at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, in Tbingen, Germany. "Our memory for our city of residence shows a map-like character," says Meilinger, a research scientist at the institute. "And that map seems to be oriented towards the north." Frankenstein adds: "At least in western societies, where maps are north-oriented, and people usually use maps and are able to read them, they can -and will- rely on their memory of city maps for certain spatial tasks."
Some theories of how we locate ourselves in place and space posit that each of us creates a personal "global reference frame," constructed of environmental factors (a city's grid, a cathedral visible everywhere in town) and individual experience, such as where we live in town. Others say we orient ourselves depending on where we areparallel to the street we're on. According to either of these theories, the further away an invisible location is, the longer it takes us to point in its direction and the more likely we are to make a mistake.
The Tbingen study does not support these theories. In it, 26 residents of Tbingen (who had lived in Tbingen for at least two years) were put into a virtual-reality headset and seated in a chair that didn't allow them to swivel. Participants found themselves in the virtual three-dimensional photorealistic model of their hometown, at locations familiar to them, surrounded by fog masking all but the near distance. Then they had to point to an invisible locationsay, the main gate of the university or the fire station. The scenes changed, and so did the participant's spatial orientation. After 60 three-location trials, participants were asked to draw a map of the town including all the locations they'd pointed to.
The results: Although participants drew differently oriented maps, everyone performed most accurately when facing north and got worse the further they deviated from north. The only explanation the researchers could figure was that they'd all seen, and internalized, a map of Tbingen at some point, and Western maps are all oriented the same waynorth on top.
Meilinger conjectures that we rely on this mental map out of cognitive laziness. "If you acquire your knowledge from navigation only, the task [of pointing to an invisible target] requires you to coordinate a lot of things into the same reference frame" walked trajectories, experienced views, and so on. "A map gives all that information within one frame." Frankenstein refines: "The memory of a map does not need to be updated by further experience, as it depicts all spatial relations undistorted within one reference frame. It therefore provides a very reliable source of spatial information." She emphasizes, that "remembering a map is not the only strategy to solve spatial tasks. We do not necessarily get lost in environments where we have never seen a map of- e.g., buildings or our flat." And while participants used the map for pointing, the replication of the map (i.e., drawing a map) did not result necessarily in north-oriented maps. "Our brain seems to choose the easiest and best strategy to solve spatial tasks, but relying on a mental city-map is one of them," concludes Frankenstein.
Meilinger says it's possible that the increasing reliance on GPS devices will eventually erase these memorized maps. "If somebody doesn't care to learn the environment, that's totally fine with me," he comments. "But they shouldn't complain if their mobile is not working and they are completely lost." How to avoid this? "Look at maps before you start your trip, keep them at hand, but navigate yourself, and try to rely on your memory- it will work better than you expect! Give your brain the chance to train its spatial abilities use them or lose them," adds Frankenstein.
###
For more information about this study, please contact: Julia Frankenstein or Tobias Meilinger at julia.frankenstein@cognition.uni-freiburg.de; tobias.meilinger@tuebingen.mpg.de.
The APS journal Psychological Science is the highest ranked empirical journal in psychology. For a copy of the article "Is the Map in Our Head Oriented North?" and access to other Psychological Science research findings, please contact Divya Menon at 202-293-9300 or dmenon@psychologicalscience.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/afps-wdn011812.php
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The House of Representatives will resume work next month on a controversial bill aimed at stopping online piracy of movies, music and other content, a leading lawmaker said on Tuesday.
The anti-piracy legislation has been a top priority for entertainment companies, publishers, pharmaceutical firms and others, who say it is critical to curbing online piracy.
Internet companies vigorously oppose the bills, arguing they would undermine innovation and free speech rights and compromise the functioning of the Internet.
The debate escalated over the weekend when White House officials raised concerns that the legislation could make businesses on the Internet vulnerable to litigation and harm legal activity and free speech.
Representative Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was needed to protect American businesses from intellectual property theft, and that legislation would move forward.
"Due to the Republican and Democratic retreats taking place over the next two weeks, markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act is expected to resume in February," added Smith, a Texas Republican. "I am committed to continuing to work with my colleagues in the House and Senate to send a bipartisan bill to the White House."
The Senate is expected to begin voting on January 24 on how to proceed in considering its own version of the bill.
Both Smith and Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy have said that they plan to jettison a controversial portion of their bills which would block access for Internet users who seek stolen movies or music.
White House officials, including cyber-security czar Howard Schmidt, said in a blog posting on Saturday that they opposed the bills as currently written. But they said the Obama administration would work with lawmakers on a narrower, more targeted approach to online piracy to ensure that legitimate businesses - including start-up firms - would not be harmed.
Wikipedia, the popular community-edited online encyclopedia, will black out its English-language site for 24 hours Wednesday to oppose the legislation. Other smaller sites leading the campaign include Reddit.com.
(Reporting By Diane Bartz; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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