Personal Development Forum: Self Improvement Tips That ...

Learning about yourself is a team sport. There are great teachers, friends and professionals who can help you analyze your thoughts and explain your feelings. Be nice to your body to better your self improvement. If your body feels you need to eat or drink, you should do it. Meeting your body's needs this way will keep it dependable for years to come. Leading an unhealthy lifestyle will lead to premature aging and illness. You should not shop out of comfort. If you do a hobby versus raising your credit card bill, you won't have to stress over those bills and will have less clutter at home to clean. Exercise even if you are at your ideal weight. There are many different reasons to exercise. When you exercise, your body makes a variety of chemicals that assist in relaxing you. Seek out new challenges. This can create new possibilities in your life. You will see, do and explore more things than you ever thought possible. You may even start a new model by doing something that has never been done before. Rather than following in other people's footsteps, try doing your own thing and forging your own path. Do you drink a lot? Are nicotine or other destructive habits something that harms you? The body is a source of great wonder and is vital to our life, as such respect is what it deserves. You can improve your life by replacing bad habits with good ones. Look at your life, what you are doing that may be harmful, and work on omitting things that need to be removed from your life. Getting healthier is a self improvement step that can have far-reaching positive repercussions. When you are healthy, you feel better and have more energy. Your mind is less cloudy, and you can even gain more free time and cut down on expenses because you won't need to visit the doctor as frequently. Make adopting healthier habits a goal.

Create a personal development plan by determining what your personal values are. If you go against your values, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Instead of this, you should focus your energy on the things that you want to develop that also go along with your own values. This allows you to implement personal and professional changes that will last forever. Are you having a hard time meeting that special someone? Perhaps you should try the Internet. Up to 40% of couples meet over the Internet nowadays. It is possible that certain someone is looking for you. Both sites have their strengths and weaknesses. Try to read encouraging books. Some people may look to a religious text, while others might look for inspiring quotes. You may need help staying on top of life and keeping your mind clear, and a trusted book whose words have meaning to you is a great resource to fall back on. Do you frequently consume alcohol? Do you do other harmful things like smoke cigarettes? Your body should be treated with the utmost respect. Eradicating negative behaviors is key to leading a better lifestyle. Take a hard look at your daily life and find things that could benefit from a positive restructuring.

Personal development starts with leadership. Leadership has many definitions, but many people think of it as "influence." Consider your leadership background. What are the specific incidences that made the biggest influence in your life? How did the events that took place have an effect on you? Evaluate attributes that you possess which contribute to your role as a team player. It is through these questions that you can best determine your role in a team environment. Usually what brings your happy mood down is stress. When stress happens in our minds, it also has detrimental affects on our physical health. To retain clarity of mind and the motivation to work towards our goals, it is critical to banish unnecessary stress from our minds. Each day, take time to quiet your mind and relax. Taking the time to renew your center will help you to find peace within yourself. Understand that there is a divide between where you are and where you wish to go. You need to acknowledge this so you can take your very first step. If you can't figure out what the difference is, chances are you won't find success in reaching your goals. Begin your self improvement with a look at your leadership qualities. When thinking about leadership, think about it in terms of your level of influence on the world around you. Reflect back on your leadership experiences. Are there events that have had major impacts on your life? How have those events changed you? What is the key element that makes you behave as a team player? By carefully evaluating these questions, you can increase your awareness of your ability to function well in a team setting.

Are you an alcohol abuser? Do you make a habit of smoking or engaging in other harmful vices? Our bodies are important to maintain, and should be treated with care. If you want to start improving your life, you have to stop engaging in harmful activities. Consider all of your habits and opt to omit habits from your life that can be described as harmful.

Choose one aspect that you want to improve and put your effort into that. Perhaps there are several areas you want to improve, but focus on just one at a time. Since new habits are most effective when introduced slowly, you are also more likely to having your changes stick around for the long term. Always aim to keep self-discipline a priority as you work on bettering yourself. Make sure that you develop self control skills. Conquer desires of the flesh, such as, overeating, lust, greed and drunkenness. If you can cut out the negative aspects of your personality you'll find your entire being becomes healthier and happier. Anytime and anywhere, be ready for when your ideas strike. Carry paper with you everywhere. Making quick notes about the inspiration as it strikes you will jog your memory and add to the potential that you will later incorporate into a thoughtful creative process.

Find texts and phrases that sooth and encourage you. Some people see it spiritually, whereas others just find it inspirationally. Keeping something on hand that you can revisit when necessary is a great way to improve your mindset, and navigate such situations more effectively.

Be the best you can be at what you are doing! Use your passions to fuel your journey of personal fulfillment. Now, you cannot be the complete best at everything you do, but it does not hurt to try. Trying for greatness helps inspire others to adapt to the same mindset, giving them a boost of self-worth. Do work you enjoy, complete it the best you can, and your self-esteem will grow stronger. Find a variety of ways to keep yourself motivated to improve your life. The work is hard, but the advice to get started can make the work fun.

Source: http://personal-development-forum.blogspot.com/2012/12/self-improvement-tips-that-everyone.html

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Weekend Roundup: Apple iPad 5, Google X Phone, Windows 8 adoption rate & an unlimited data plan with a kick

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Followup of iPad 4 lined up for Q1 2013 launch

Not a week goes by without the mention of a rumour about a new Apple iPad. This week brought about rumours of an iPad 5 which would be the successor of the current iPad (fourth generation). It is said to be ?inspired? by the iPad Mini, which itself is based on the iPad 2 (yes we know, it starts to get confusing). A Japanese website even mentions that the tablet will be introduced in March 2013. Should that be true, it would mean that three 9.7in iPad models (plus the iPad mini) would have been released in less than one year, an upgrade cycle that will test the nerves (and the pockets) of even the staunchest Apple aficionados. This reminds me of a cartoon by the Oatmeal about?what it?s like to own an Apple product. As for improvements, one has to wonder what a new tablet will offer other than a thinner chassis, a processor swap and a camera upgrade. But Apple doesn?t have the choice. The Samsung-built Nexus 10 massively upped the ante by combining some exceptional hardware with a more than decent price tag.

Google preparing a Nexus 4 successor called X Phone?

Guess what? Motorola Mobility may finally bring out its first major smartphone following its acquisition by Google in August 2011. All the recent flagship Motorola smartphones, the Razr i or the Razr Maxx, were mere evolutions of the original Razr but a brand new handset shrouded in secrecy and rumoured to be called the X Phone may well put Motorola back in the high-end smartphone race, one dominated by Samsung and its Galaxy series. The phone is said to be launched next year and it will be interesting to see how it will be positioned vis-?-vis the existing LG Nexus 4 and how strategic partners like Samsung, Sony and LG will stomach such a launch especially after the triple whammy that was the Nexus 7, the Nexus 4 and the Nexus 10. My hunch is that the X Phone will be the Nexus 5, one which will take the iPhone 5S head on (as well as the Samsung Galaxy S4). The Nexus 4 provides with a formidable platform on which to build; possible improvements include a higher resolution, much better camera features, premium materials, bigger internal storage and a brand new version of Android, v5.0 AKA Key Lime Pie.

Windows 8 adoption rate slower than Vista?

?Lies, damned lies and statistics?, an expression popularized by celebrated American author Mark Twain comes to mind when reading an article by one of our peers from Computerworld who found out that Windows 8 accounts for only 1.6 per cent of online usage share by 22 December while Vista accounted for 2.2 per cent of online usage share by the same period of time when it launched back in 2007. There are two points worth noting; firstly, since the launch of Vista, the number of computers running Windows has almost doubled to around 1.5 billion, which means that in absolute terms, Windows 8 installations surpass Windows Vista. Then there?s the fact that NetMarketshare gathers its data ?from the browsers of site visitors? to its ?exclusive on-demand network of live stats customers?. Which means that results can sometimes be skewed; for example NetMarketshare reports that Apple iOS? marketshare of mobiles and tablets is more than twice that of Android when in reality, both platforms are likely to be much closer.

AYCE data plan + tethering + great price = stellar offer

I rarely list a deal in the weekend roundup but this one is too good not enough to be mentioned again. Virgin Mobile with Three are the only two mobile phone operators to offer unlimited data allowance and tethering at any price (although technically T-Mobile offers tethering as an add-on for its full Monty for the same rate as its PAYG mobile broadband which is ?15 per month). But Virgin Mobile?s SIM-only AYCE+T plan costs ?12 per month on a 30-day contract, less than half Three?s cheapest all-you-can-eat data plan that includes tethering. What this means is that in theory, you could pair that that SIM with a low cost Android smartphone (like the ?49.95 Motorola Motosmart) and get a versatile hotspot that can do much more than a bog-standard Mi-fi device for the same price. Oh and you get unlimited texts and 150 minutes. Virgin Mobile piggybacks on EE?s network, which should ensure optimum mobile coverage nationwide.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/itproportal/rss/~3/DkyRK3dVC3c/

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Cliff Limbo (WSJ)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/273659941?client_source=feed&format=rss

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All eyes on them, Senate leaders seek fiscal deal

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Senate leaders rushed to assemble a last-ditch agreement to avoid middle-class tax increases and possibly delay steep spending cuts in an urgent attempt to find common ground after weeks of postelection gridlock.

An impatient President Barack Obama pressed top lawmakers to cut a deal, even one that falls short of the ambitions he and congressional leaders may once have harbored for a bigger deficit reduction package. Without a resolution, he warned, "every American's paycheck will get a lot smaller."

"Congress can prevent it from happening, if they act now," he said in his weekly Saturday radio and internet address.

Following a White House meeting Friday among Obama and congressional leaders, aides to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., began racing against the clock for a bipartisan bargain. The leaders could present legislation to senators as early as Sunday, with a vote possible on Sunday or Monday.

The guest list for the White House meeting included Reid, McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. But the key players were clearly Reid and McConnell, both of whom stayed behind briefly at the White House and huddled with their staffs and Obama's top legislative aide, Rob Nabors, in the West Wing Cabinet Room just outside the Oval Office.

Neither side expected compromise to be easy. However, McConnell and Reid voiced unexpected optimism that they could work toward a deal that could win support in both their camps.

Warned Reid: "Whatever we come up with is going to be imperfect."

Looking to add pressure on negotiators, Obama said that absent a compromise he expects Reid to put legislation on the floor to prevent tax increases on the middle class and extend unemployment benefits ? an implicit challenge to Republicans to dare to vote against what polls show is popular.

Speaking for Republicans in a Saturday radio address, Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri sought to put the burden of a deal on Obama and Reid.

"We still can avoid going over the fiscal cliff if the president and the Democrat-controlled Senate step forward this week and work with Republicans to solve this problem and solve it now," he said.

Whatever manages to pass in the Senate, with its Democratic majority, would then face a second test in the Republican-controlled House.

Boehner, a Republican speaker who has struggled recently with anti-tax rebels inside his own party, said through an aide that he would await the results of the talks between the Senate and White House. A House vote could come as late as Wednesday, the final full day before a new Congress takes office.

Officials said there was a general understanding that any agreement would block scheduled income tax increases for middle-class earners while letting rates rise at upper-income levels.

Obama was sticking to his campaign call for increases above $250,000 in annual income, even though in recent negotiations he said he could accept $400,000.

The two sides also confronted a divide over estate taxes. Obama favors a higher tax than is currently in effect, but one senior Republican, Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, said he's "totally dead set" against it. Speaking of fellow GOP lawmakers, he said they harbor more opposition to an increase in the estate tax than to letting taxes on income and investments rise at upper levels.

But the estate tax was more likely to be used as a possible bargaining chip that Democrats could give away in exchange for higher rates for top earners and other Obama priorities.

Obama and Democrats want to prevent the expiration of unemployment benefits for about 2 million long-term jobless men and women, and there is widespread sentiment in both parties to shelter doctors from a 27 percent cut in Medicare fees.

Also likely to be included in the negotiations are taxes on dividends and capital gains, both of which are scheduled to rise with the new year. Also the alternative minimum tax, which, if left unchanged, could hit an estimated 28 million households for the first time and mean an average increase of more than $3,000.

The White House has shown increased concern about a possible doubling of milk prices if a farm bill is not passed in the next few days, although it is not clear whether that issue too might be included in the talks.

One Republican who was briefed on the White House meeting said Boehner made it clear he would leave in place spending cuts scheduled to take effect unless alternative savings were included in any compromise to offset them. In previous White House proposals, Obama has suggested finding enough cuts in government spending to put off the steeper cuts for up to six months.

Obama, speaking to reporters following his meeting with the congressional leaders, faulted a system that left crucial decisions to the last minute, a way of governing that he said the public finds "mindboggling."

"Outside of Washington nobody understands how it is that this seems to be a repeat pattern, over and over again," he said.

Still, Obama himself is part of the negotiating process, and his meeting with all four top leaders Friday was the first since Nov. 16. A phone call he placed Wednesday night to McConnell was the first the Republican leader had received from a Democrat on the fiscal talks since Thanksgiving.

Looking to add pressure on negotiators, Obama said he expects Reid to put legislation on the floor to prevent tax increases on the middle class and extend unemployment benefits ? an implicit challenge to Republicans to dare to vote against what polls show is popular.

The start of negotiations in the Senate marked a new endgame for discussions that have moved in fits and starts since the November election.

Boehner refused for weeks to accept any rate increases, and simultaneously accused Obama of skimping on the spending cuts he would support as part of a balanced deal to reduce deficits, remove the threat of spending cuts and prevent the across-the-board tax cuts.

Last week, the Ohio Republican presented a Plan B measure that would have let rates rise on million-dollar earners, well above Obama's latest offer for a $400,000 threshold.

Facing defeat, Boehner scrapped plans for a vote, leaving the economy on track for the cliff that political leaders in both parties had said they could avoid.

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Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eyes-them-senate-leaders-seek-fiscal-deal-082435547--politics.html

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Moog Music tacks on Grateful Dead expansion pack to Animoog 2.0 for $4.99 (video)

Late last week, Moog Music rolled out version 2.0 of its Animoog synthesizer app for Apple's slate. Now, the Asheville, North Carolina outfit is adding a truckload of new sounds less than a week after the initial release. The Grateful Dead Expansion Pack is now available for the iPad software, touting 82 presets and 45 timbres broken down into ensemble, percussion and vocal groupings. Each piece of the add-on was taken from a February 1968 performance at the Carousel Ballroom and optimized for the Animoog platform. "We're not simply providing samples from the Grateful Dead's body of work, rather we've distilled the essence of notes and phrases in a different way to transform these performances into new instruments -- new voices," says Cyril Lance, Moog's Chief Engineer. The $4.99 in-app purchase is available now, but while you're mulling it over, jump down past the break to catch a glimpse of Mickey Hart taking it for a spin.

Continue reading Moog Music tacks on Grateful Dead expansion pack to Animoog 2.0 for $4.99 (video)

Comments

Source: Moog

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/27/animoog-grateful-dead-expansion-pack/

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Russia investigates protest leader for theft of party funds

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian authorities have opened a third criminal investigation into opposition leader Alexei Navalny, saying on Monday that the critic of President Vladimir Putin is suspected of stealing millions of dollars from a political party in 2007.

Navalny, 36, the most prominent leader of large street protests that erupted last December against Putin's nearly 13-year rule, already faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted on existing charges of theft from a state timber company.

Earlier this month, investigators also charged Navalny and his brother of cheating a mail-transport company out of $1.79 million. That move followed a December15 opposition rally at a memorial to victims of Soviet-era repressions outside the headquarters of the FSB security service, formerly the KGB.

Navalny, a lawyer and anti-corruption blogger, denies any wrongdoing and says the accusations aired by the Investigative Committee, a federal agency that answers to Putin, are intended to persuade him to stop his opposition activities.

"Aie, aie, aie, yet another case against me. Investigative Committee, what are you doing? ... That's enough," Navalny tweeted minutes after the new investigation was announced.

The Interfax news agency quoted him as saying the charge was "absolutely absurd".

On its website, the Investigative Committee said it suspects an advertising company headed by Navalny stole up to 100 million roubles ($3.24 million) paid it by the liberal, pro-business Union of Right Forces Party (SPS) for campaign advertising.

It said there was evidence Navalny's company, Allekt, siphoned the money off into bank accounts of shell companies.

A former SPS party leader, Leonid Gozman, dismissed the charges as nonsense and said the party had no accusations or complaints against Navalny, Interfax reported.

Navalny said the fact that investigators had initiated the case without a complaint from the party showed that it was politically motivated, and he vowed not to give up his activism, Interfax reported.

The Investigative Committee said it had encountered the evidence related to SPS while investigating its case against Navalny on the timber theft charge.

Navalny is a key leader of an opposition council, elected in an online vote in October, that is trying maintain the momentum of a protest movement that drew crowds of up to 100,000 people onto Moscow's streets at its peak last winter, but failed to prevent Putin winning a six-year third term as president.

Since then, pro-Kremlin lawmakers have passed a series of laws that the opposition say are intended to stifle dissent. Several opposition leaders and dozens of activists are facing criminal charges or investigation.

(Reporting By Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Steve Gutterman and Jon Boyle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-investigates-protest-leader-theft-party-funds-085922279.html

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NOPD seeking missing 11-year-old Algiers girl | NOLA.com

The NOPD is seeking a missing 11-year-old girl from Algiers. Emyri Smith was last seen about 5 p.m. Friday at her mother's house in the 2000 block of Lebouf Street, police said.

Smith's mother said she assumed her daughter had gone with her younger sister to a store and later to a neighborhood friend's house. When the mother's younger daughter returned home Saturday about 6 p.m., the mother learned Emyri Smith had never been with the neighborhood friend and was missing.

Police urge anyone seeing or knowing the whereabouts of Emyri Smith to contact the New Orleans Police Department at 504.821.2222.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/12/nopd_seeking_missing_11-year-o.html

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Wall St clings to hopes for budget deal, but market risks rising

NEW YORK (Reuters) - If the United States sails over the fiscal cliff in less than two weeks, it probably will not mean disaster for the stock market, investors said on Friday, but the margin for error is getting dangerously thin.

At heart are fears over how long the U.S. economy, the world's largest, can hold up under the brunt of higher taxes and big spending cuts that would be triggered by the fiscal cliff.

If Washington's inability to reach a deficit-reduction deal persists into late January or provokes a second credit ratings agency to strip the United States of its top triple-A rating, all bets may be off.

"Clearly, if this thing drags on with no deal, eventually markets are going to start to take it on the chin," said Sandy Lincoln, chief market strategist at BMO Asset Management in Chicago, which oversees $38 billion.

Stock markets fell on Friday after a Republican proposal that would have prevented tax increases on all but those earning more than $1 million unraveled amid a conservative backlash.

Though President Barack Obama had vowed to veto the bill, opposition from Republicans stoked doubt about the ability of House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner to win support within his party. That suggested the two sides were too far apart to reach a deal to forestall the $600 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts before they are set to begin to take effect in January.

"The fact they couldn't even get the Republicans in Congress to sign on for that is disturbing. If we get into late January, early February and we are still in the soup, then the odds of going into a recession go up, and I just can't believe anybody wants that," said Jeffrey Saut, chief investment strategist at Raymond Jones Financial.

HEATING UP

If the new year dawns without a deal, Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank, said he would view "any incremental market sell-off as a buying opportunity."

But if things remain in limbo in February, "that is going to leave a mark on the economy," he said. "The way I'd characterize it is that we're sitting in this pot of water and on January 1, Congress turns on the flame underneath. It's comfortable at first, but eventually it's going to start to hurt."

Americans would start to feel the effects in their wallets. As of 2013, payroll taxes would revert to 6.2 percent of Americans' paychecks, up from the 4.2 percent level put in place during the economic downturn.

Higher income tax rates would also start to hit, though that could be delayed by officials in Washington. Still, Americans would start to feel a pinch on their paychecks, which could hurt spending next year. Some investors believe holiday sales are already being affected.

Another risk, said BNY Mellon currency strategist Michael Woolfolk, would be if a second ratings agency cuts the United States' AAA rating, a move that Standard & Poor's made after a similar budget standoff in 2011.

Fitch Ratings said this week it would be more likely to downgrade the United States if the economy goes over the cliff.

"Markets would take that very badly," Woolfolk said. "Stocks sold off by 10 percent after the S&P downgrade in 2011, and I'd expect something at least as severe" if Fitch were to act.

LAST-MINUTE DEAL STILL POSSIBLE

Of course, lawmakers still have 10 days left in 2012 to strike a deal, and some are confident they will return to Capitol Hill after Christmas and do just that.

"So far, the market has been handling setbacks in talks very well, and with a bit of time left on the clock, this time will be no different," said Jim Barnes, senior fixed income manager at National Penn Investors Trust Co.

For some, the political disarray among Congressional Republicans that sent Boehner's "Plan B" to defeat late on Thursday only increased those hopes.

"Given that Reid called Plan B 'dead on arrival' and Obama said he would veto it, the non-passage of this bill due to lack of Republican support makes it more likely, not less likely, that compromise will be reached," said Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of DoubleLine Capital, which oversees more than $50 billion.

Harry Reid is the Democratic Senate leader.

The "continued positioning and posturing" isn't a huge concern to investors, Woolfolk said. "Neither side has incentive to compromise too much, too soon. They can extract concessions by delaying. So I would not be surprised if it takes until minutes before midnight on December 31."

All the back-and-forth, however, may keep the stock market a bit more volatile than it would normally be so late in the year.

The benchmark S&P 500 <.spx> has gained or lost more than 1 percent in three of the past five trading sessions, while the CBOE Volatility Index <.vix> has climbed more than 20 percent over the past three days.

In a sign of the type of volatility investors may be confronted with, S&P 500 E-Mini futures fell as much as 3.6 percent in after-hours trading Thursday evening, with a 15-point drop in less than one second that resulted in a brief halt in futures trading.

"While last night's mini-crash is a rare event, I do expect bigger moves than we've seen in the past year," said Enis Taner, global macro editor at RiskReversal.com, an options trading firm based in New York.

(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, David Gaffen, Richard Leong and Jennifer Ablan; editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-st-clings-hopes-budget-deal-market-risks-202052010--sector.html

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Year in Space: Hello, Mars ... farewell, Neil

8

hours

ago

Retrace the highlights of space exploration in 2012 ? including a landing on Mars, a farewell to the first moonwalker, and a beautiful "Black Marble."

By Alan Boyle

Every year marks beginnings and endings, but when it comes to space exploration, 2012 ranks as a big year for both starts and stops. SpaceX opened what could be a new era for commercial spaceflight. NASA's Curiosity rover began what could turn out to be a decade-long mission on Mars. First moonwalker Neil Armstrong, arguably the world's best-known (and most private) astronaut, passed away. So did Sally Ride, America's first woman astronaut. And after 30 years of service, the space shuttle fleet finally settled into museum retirement.

We've put together a slideshow that hits the off-world highlights of the past year. We've also put together an unscientific poll that lets you choose the top story for 2012 and the top trend for 2013. Without further ado, here's our 16th annual "Year in Space" roundup:

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Top stories of 2012
It's always tough to limit the list to five, so I'm including an "other" category in this bunch. Please tell me in?your comments why you think I'm underplaying or missing your favorite outer-space story.

??Curiosity goes to work on Mars: After a long cruise and seven minutes of terror, NASA's nuclear-powered Curiosity rover was?dropped onto the Red Planet's surface?in August to determine whether Mars ever had the chemical requirements for life. Curiosity soon figured out that it?landed in the midst of an ancient riverbed, and started sniffing out evidence of complex chemicals. This whole rover thing is working so well that NASA wants to do it again in 2020.

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??Godspeed, Neil Armstrong: Just as Curiosity was settling in for the long haul, Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong died of complications from heart surgery in August, at the age of 82. A nation mourned, and Apollo 13's Jim Lovell said Armstrong's passing "closed the book on the Camelot of manned spaceflight." The farewell to Armstrong came just a month after Sally Ride died at the age of 61, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. After her death, revelations about her complicated personal life stirred up controversy.

??SpaceX delivers the goods: The company founded by dot-com billionaire Elon Musk a decade ago finally sent a Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station during a demonstration flight in May, marking the space station's first commercial delivery. SpaceX did it again in October, turning what once seemed like science fiction into the new routine. SpaceX is also among three ventures getting a total of $1.1 billion to develop new spaceships capable of carrying astronauts to and from the space station.

??Farewell tour for shuttles: After months of decommissioning, all three of the retired space shuttles completed their final journeys to their new museum homes. Discovery went to the National Air and Space Museum's annex, near Washington. Endeavour made a cross-country flight and cross-town trek to the California Science Center in Los Angeles. Atlantis was towed to Kennedy Space Center's visitor complex. And the prototype shuttle Enterprise was shifted from the Smithsonian to New York's Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. In October, the Enterprise got a buffeting from Superstorm Sandy.

??Asia's space efforts rise: China reached new milestones in June by putting its first woman in space, on a mission that marked the Chinese space program's first crewed docking. The test marked a significant step toward setting up an orbital space station, which China wants to do by 2020. In December, North Korea put a satellite in orbit, stirring new concerns about the isolated country's intentions. (The satellite went into a tumble, and all the signs suggest that whatever orbital mission it had ... has failed.)

??Other stories: June's transit of Venus marked the last event of its kind until 2117.?NASA's Messenger probe detected water ice on Mercury. NASA's twin Grail probes arrived in lunar orbit, did their job and crash-landed on the moon, all in the course of a year. In November, a total solar eclipse wowed skywatchers, including yours truly.

Top trends of 2013
For some reason, my crystal ball is showing a fuzzy picture when it comes to the next year's trends. Maybe that's because we're in the midst of a hiatus for U.S. human spaceflight, or maybe I'm just missing the big picture. It's up to you to tell me in the comment section what I'm forgetting.?

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??Commercial astronauts take off: Virgin Galactic is closing in on the first powered flight of its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane, and commercial test pilots could soon break the space barrier for the first time in more than eight years. Under the most favorable circumstances, it's even conceivable that paying passengers could be going on Virgin Galactic's suborbital space tours by the end of 2013. But we've heard all this before ...?

??Space gets a business case: In November, Uwingu announced that it would launch a planet-naming project to raise money for researchers (and investors). Meanwhile, two dozen teams are jockeying for position to send rovers to the moon and win a piece of the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize. Crowdsourcing is powering space elevator ideas and DIY satellite projects. Planetary Resources has a plan to make enough money building space telescopes to fund an asteroid-mining venture. Will spacey ideas like these actually pay off in 2013? Stay tuned.

??Earth's twin detected at last: Astronomers are already detecting planets in cosmic environments that just might support life as we know it. But they're aiming for an even more ambitious goal: to find Earthlike worlds, in Earthlike orbits, around sunlike stars. As NASA's Kepler mission builds up its database, will the data point to such planets? Or is it still too soon??

??Will NASA change direction? NASA is working on a next-generation heavy-lift rocket and a heavy-duty spaceship, with the aim of launching test flights as early as 2014, crewed flights in 2021, and a human mission to a near-Earth asteroid in the mid-2020s. But some experts are questioning whether NASA is on the right path. Tight budgets for planetary science add to the uncertainty, particularly with a fiscal cliff looming.?Will there be more shifts (or downsizings) in America's space vision??

??Comets in the spotlight: Two comets have the potential to wow Northern Hemisphere observers in 2013: Comet PANSTARRS in March, and Comet ISON in November. It's too early to tell whether these alien visitors will live up to high expectations, but if the cosmos plays its cards right, the brightest highlights of the coming year may well turn out to be these "stars of wonder."

? Other trends:?The sun is due to reach the height of its 11-year solar activity cycle in 2013, although so far this solar max is looking relatively wimpy. NASA's MAVEN mission to Mars is set for launch in November. Meanwhile, China is planning to launch another set of astronauts into orbit, as well as a?robotic moon rover.

Cast your votes using the unscientific Live Poll ballots above, and feel free to register a write-in vote by leaving a comment below.

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Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/19/16026235-the-year-in-space-hello-to-mars-farewell-to-neil-armstrong?lite

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Piers Morgan to Larry Pratt: You're an Idiot

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/12/piers-morgan-to-larry-pratt-youre-an-idiot/

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