Good news about the new year.

A new survey suggests that businesses expect to boost hiring and capital spending in the first half of the year. National Association for Business Economics says all of its members, from private sector and industry trade associations, say they’re making business decisions with an eye toward positive economic growth in 2010.

Sixty-one percent believe real GDP will expand by more than 2 percent in 2010 - up from 45 percent in October.

 3-D TV

ESPN is announcing that it will show World Cup soccer matches and NBA games in 3-D on a new network starting in June. Meantime, Discovery, Imax and Sony say they will jointly create a 3-D entertainment channel next year.

Big announcements coming today at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where every major television manufacturer is unveilling 3-D televisions and compatible Blu-ray DVD players.

The Three D TV sets start at 2 thousand dollars.

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A revolting development for people who’ve gone south to escape the cold Michigan winter A stubborn cold wave has locked freezing temperatures in place across the central and eastern U.S. today as far south as Florida, where farmers are working to salvage millions of dollars’ worth of strawberries and other crops.

Forecasters warn that snow and ice were possible tomorrow from South Carolina to Louisiana and wind chills in the region could get down to near zero at night.

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Horrible weather conditions in the United Kingdom.

Unusually heavy snowfall stranded hundreds of motorists, disrupted trains and shut down schools and airports across Britain today as the country suffered through its longest cold snap in nearly 30 years.

London’s Gatwick and Stansted were unable to operate and hundreds of flights were canceled. A dozen flights were also canceled at London’s Heathrow airport, Europe’s busiest, with long lines building at check-in desks.

The foul weather also badly hit Britain’s road network. Sections of the country’s most important highways were closed, and the military was called in overnight to help rescue motorists when up to 1,000 vehicles were caught in a snow-related traffic jam in Hampshire, in southern England.

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What’s the first first word most babies learn to say?

A new survey of English=speaking families finds the most popular first word for babies is “Dadda.” (And “cat,” is a close second.) The most common age for children to start to speak is between 10 and 11 months.

The fact that “Dadda” was the most popular first word , doctors say, shouldn’t make moms feel bad. Experts say it’s just the easiest word to say.

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What do your tattoos say about

 you?——–ogs could soon be getting up close and personal with the Colonel. 

A west Michigan teenager (Jason James Hughes) who has been arrested and arraigned on charges he raped a 13 year old at his apartment in Cedar springs– has devil horns tattooed on his forehead.

The 19-year-old also has a tattoo of a blood-splattered meat cleaver on his neck.

Hughes faces criminal sexual conduct charges in addition to a charge of possession and consumption of alcohol by a minor. He’s been released on $5,000 bail and will face trial in Grand Rapids.

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 A computer scientist claims to have computed the mathematical constant pi to nearly 2.7 trillion digits, some 123 billion more than the previous record.

Fabrice Bellard used a desktop computer to perform the calculation, taking a total of 131 days to complete and check the result.

How long would it take you to say that number.

Bellard says if you’re reciting one number a second, it would take more than 49,000 years.

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More trouble for Ryan O’Neal’s son, 24 year old Redmond O’Neal.

He was arrested on drug charges while on a 24-hour leave from rehab.

Police say O’Neal faces up to 6-years in prison for violating the terms of his probation.

The staff at his treatment facility noticed O’Neal’s condition when he returned from his leave.
The 24-year-old had been sent to rehab because of his previous drug arrests.

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Scientists say a talking, computerized weighing device that tracks how quickly food is gobbled off your dinner plate could be a solution to childhood obesity. The “Mandometer” keeps tabs during meal times and tells the user if they are wolfing down meals too fast - a habit experts have linked to weight gain.

The British Medical Journal says in a trial with 106 obese children the gadget showed promising results. After 12 months of use the children weighed less and ate smaller portions. Their speed of eating was reduced by 11% compared with a gain of 4% in a comparison group.

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Officials say a charging elephant has killed an American woman and the baby daughter she held in her arms while the family was on a nature hike in Kenya.

Sharon Brown was 39, her daughter was 1-year-old. The family was walking with a guide about 1 mile from their lodge when the elephant emerged from the bush at full speed.

D

KFC is giving two Indiana cities $7,500 to put Colonel Sanders on fire hydrants and fire extinguishers. The hydrant ads will promote KFC’s new “fiery” chicken wings. The promotion will be done in Indianapolis and nearby Brazil, Ind.

KFC plans to contact officials to find three more cities for their hot ad campaign.

Can Catfish Kill You?

A new study by the University of Michigan finds that 1300 species of catfish may be venomous—far more than previously believed.

The study says in North America, these “finned fatales” use their venom mainly to defend themselves against predatory fish, though they can inflict a painful sting that many fishermen have suffered.

In other parts of the world, some catfish do have extremely toxic venoms that can be deadly to humans.

A new survey finds many Americans are blending Christianity with New Age beliefs and attending religious services at more than one place, that involve faiths outside their own.

The report from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life also found that nearly half of all Americans — including many unaffiliated with any religion — claim to have had a religious or mystical experience.

Among Christians surveyed, 29 percent said they had been in touch with the dead, 14 percent had consulted psychics, and more than a fifth said they believe in reincarnation, astrology or spiritual yoga.

Three in 10 Protestants say they attend multiple types of religious services, including services at denominations different from their own.

About 1 in 5 Catholics say they also attend non-Catholic services.

An enormous white cross that’s being built for a church in Lake Worth, Florida, will double as a cell phone tower.

Epiphany Lutheran Church leaders says T-Mobile will hide equipment inside the 100-foot-high structure, which has a 30-foot cross beam.

It also will provide additional income for the church, since the cell phone company is leasing part of the church’s property.

Ever wish you could just “erase” a painful memory?

U.S. researchers have found a drug-free way to block fearful memories, opening up the possibility of new treatment approaches for problems such as post traumatic stress disorder.

The study appears in the journal Nature.

This could be a collector’s item.

The January issue of Golf Digest.

It started arriving in mailboxes this week.

The headline: Ten Tips Obama Can Take from Tiger.

And there’s a photoshop-style-picture showing Tiger Woods caddying for the President.

Observers say the timing couldn’t be worse.

That the headline now reads like a punchline.

It went to press before Woods crashed his car into that tree, and before the infidelity scandal borke.

Deer hunting season is over — so how about a moose hunt?

Senator Jason Allen of Traverse City is proposing a plan that would establish Michigan’s first moose hunting season in more than 100 years. he DNR estimate there are about 500 to 600 moose in Michigan today, all in the Upper Peninsula. Michigan’s moose population expanded in the mid-1980s, when 61 animals were airlifted from an Ontario park — and set free in the Upper Peninsula

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Risky Kidneys

If you really needed a kidney transplant,  would you take a donor-kidney riddled with cancer,  just to buy yourself some time?

Surgeons at the University of Maryland School of Medicine say they have had success with several of those controversial transplants that use risky donor-kidneys.

So far five patients have been treated.

No patients have yet developed cancer.

 The surgeons say the technique offers a vital lifeline to patients with end-stage renal failure who could die waiting for a healthy donor organ.

Washable Keyboards

This could be the perfect gift for people who don’t like germs and who have to share their computer keyboard with a slob . Unotron says it’s come up with a sealed keyboard that is washable. And they’be got a washable mouse to go with it.

40 bucks

Stained Glass Window :  Going Once, Going Twice…

A Vermont church that’s down to its last $8,000 is selling its grandest stained-glass window to boost finances and keep open a homeless shelter it runs.

The multicolored image of St. John the Divine is a Tiffany original that’s been in Brattleboro’s First Baptist Church for almost 100 years. It’s nine feet tall. Church leaders say they already have bids in the $70,000 range.

Proceeds they say will be used to pay bills the church and its wintertime homeless shelter.

Blood Clots & Surgery

The risk of a blood clot after surgery is higher and lasts longer than previously thought, according to researchers at the University of Oxford.

The scientists say after studying almost a million women, they’ve found that the risk of blood clots is 70 times greater in people who’ve had an operation.  And they say the risk lasts for about six weeks.

Clots are most likely with hip, knee and cancer surgery

Details in  the British Medical Journal.

Surgeons said guidelines on giving preventive treatment should be updated in light of the findings.

They say this is our chance to read about the most thrilling moments in science history.

One of the oldest scientific institutions in the world is marking the start of its 350th year by putting 60 of its most memorable research papers online.

The Royal Society in England is publishing Benjamin Franklin’s account of his scary kite-flying experiment .

There are research papers by Sir Isaac Newton on “white light,” and a paper written about 9 year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1770,  aimed at determining whether Mozart was truly a child prodigy, or a talented adult midget. (!)

http://royalsociety.org/

Are kangaroos the key to preventing skin cancer?

According to Australian and Austrian researchers, kangaroos have a DNA repair enzyme that is very effective in fixing a particular type of damage linked to many skin cancers.

They’re hoping to develop a so-called dream cream you could put on your skin after a day in the sun.

Famous Author Comes Home

The author of “Say You’re One of Them” (a best selling book of short stories) is coming to town on Friday. (12-4)

Uwem Akpan was born in southern Nigeria. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 2003 and received his Masters degre in creative writing from the University of Michigan in 2006.

He’s speaking at the U. of M. this Friday, 4pm. at the Harlan Hatcher Graducate Library.

Susan Boyle’s dream has come true.

When she auditioned for “Britain’s Got Talent,” she said she wanted to be a professional singer but had never been given the chance. Now her debut album, “I Dreamed A Dream,” has hit number one in Britain. It sold more than 410,000 copies its first week out, setting  a record for the largest first-week sales for a debut album in U.K. chart history.  Final sales numbers for the U.S. come out later this week.

Victoria’s Secret Rip-off

Police in Nebraska report they’re looking for two couples suspected of stealing 126 bras from the Victoria’s Secret store at Omaha’s Westroads Mall. The missing underthings are worth nearly 6,000 bucks.

Rainy conditions around the midwest this fall have ruined the pumpkin crop,

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Something new about Down Syndrome.

Doctors say increasing the levels of a message-carrying chemical in the brain may help prevent some of the memory deficits in Down syndrome that hinder learning and make it hard for the brain to develop normally.

They said mice with a rodent version of Down syndrome that were injected with drugs to increase levels of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine showed improvements in their thinking ability.

The finding points to a new way of trying to improve some of the deficits seen in Down syndrome, which affects 5,000 newborns in the United States each year.

The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

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A ladies’ man in love with himself is bringing his charms to “The Simpsons.”

“The Simpsons” held a contest to give fans the chance to dream up a new character, and Ricardo Bomba is the winning entry.

He’s the creation of Peggy Black of Orange, Conn.

Black said she decided that “The Simpsons” was lacking a narcissistic Casanova and came up with the character.

He’ll make his small-screen debut in the Jan. 31 episode of “The Simpsons.”

More than 25,000 entries were received in the contest for the show, which is marking its 20th year on TV.

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Do you think you sound like John Paul George or Ringo?

Not singing. Talking.

They’re holding open auditions for the 3D remake of

“Yellow Submarine,” due from Disney in 2012.

The auditions are the weekend of Nov. 28-29 at a Beatles Convention in Stamford Connecticut

No singing ability required but you have to have a good Liverpool style accent.

Real or Fake.

Details at fabfourcasting@blogspot.com.

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The Government Accountability Office says some of the money designed to help disabled military veterans who run small businesses isn’t getting where it needs to be due to fraud. The GAO says some companies grabbing parts of the $4 billion pie aren’t small businesses, or even run by veterans.

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A new study out of MSU says – the more prominent and financially successful a corporation becomes, the more likely it is to break the law.

MSU’s Yuri Mishina and colleagues say that unrealistically high pressure on thriving companies increases the likelihood of illegal behavior, as the firms are faced with continuously maintaining or improving their performance.

The MSU scientists found that high-performing companies tended not to be able to sustain that high level of performance over time. At the same time, high performing and highly prominent companies tend to be the ones that are punished most severely for not meeting performance expectations. And so, Mishina say it becomes a choice: Do I cut corners to try to meet these high performance goals and maybe get caught, or do I accept the results of not meeting my performance goals and be punished for sure.”

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Activision Blizzard’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2” took in a record $550 million worldwide during its first five days on sale, according to internal company figures.

That tops the previous record of just over $500 million set by “Grand Theft Auto IV” last year.

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Operators of a Catholic shrine in Maryland thought they had been blessed with a big donation this month when a worker found $40,000 worth of rare coins on the grounds.

But officials at Mount St. Mary’s University say that the bags of money had only been left at the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes for safekeeping.

(!)

Shrine Director William Tronolone says the owner returned to retrieve them about a week later.

He says she told him she wanted the Blessed Virgin Mary to watch over her treasure while she was out of town.

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J.C. Penney is pulling the plug on its “big book” catalogs. The company says consumer habits have changed. So, with more people browsing and buying online, J.C. Penney says there’s less of a demand for its twice-a-year mega catalogs. Elimination of the big books will save a lot of trees, too. J.C. Penney officials figure their paper use will be cut 25 percent to 30 percent next year.

How would you like to DRINK A LIVERWURST SANDWICH?  One company thinks liverwurst is a dish best served warm, liquified, and in a bottle.  “MeatWater,” which has marketed an entire line of quirky drinks,  has just released its 50th  flavor — “Liverwurst Sandwich.”  Yum.

Is your kid a little brainiac?

Mark Burnett, who produces the TV shows “Survivor,” “The Apprentice” and “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” hopes to  prove his genius again with reality TV.   He’s launching a new show called “Our Little Genius.” This  game show gives real life child geniuses ( ages 6 to 12,)  a chance to test their knowledge and win big money” for their families.  If you’d like to nominate your little Einstein, click on  OurLittleGenius@yahoo.com.

Microsoft wants to be more touchy-feely

Windows 7 operating system includies a lot of touch screen features.
It’s called Multitouch, and we’ll  be able to  finger paint, play music or rotate our phots with our fingers on the screen
Dell and Gateway and others planning to trot out their touch reader computers shortly.

Catholic churches in Italy are installing automatic holy water dispensers to help reduce the risk of spreading swine flu. The outbreak of the H1N1 virus has led many churches to suspend the tradition of having holy water in open fonts where people dip their hands.

The new machine  squirts out Holy Water automatically when someone passes their hand under the spout.

Former Alaska governor and GOP Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin has picked Michigan to kick off her book tour.  Palin will sign copies of her new book “Going Rogue” at the Barnes and Noble book store on 28th street in Grand Rapids from 6-9pm November 18th. 

Palin says last year, she made a promise to the  people of Michigan that she would be back, and now she’s keeping that promise. Her eldest son, Track, lived with a  host family in Michigan during his hockey days.

Police in Los Angeles are investigating conflicting accounts of an airport scuffle between former boxing champion Mike Tyson and a photographer. Both men ended up being booked and released on suspicion of misdemeanor battery following the incident at LAX.

Ghost hunters, go home.  A mid-Michigan cemetery has been ruled off-limits to ghost hunters looking into the unsolved murders of four people in 1883. The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports that officials in Spring Arbor Township denied their request to spend several hours at the Crouch Cemetery.

Doctors say this is a record breaker.

That at the age of 77, Navy veteran, Richard Ramsey is likely the oldest person in the U.S. to undergo a sex-change operation.

He now goes by the name of Renee. He is one of about 700,000 people in the U.S. who would describe themselves as transgendered.

During his life as a man, he married twice, and is the father of four children.

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Thousands of gamers may have been cut off from Microsoft’s online gaming service Xbox Live for modifying their consoles to play pirated games.

600,000 gamers may have been affected.

There are 20 million Xbox Live users worldwide.

Microsoft said that modifying an Xbox 360 console “violates” the service’s “terms of use” and would result in a player being disconnected.

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Something has happened to Celine Dion’s pregancy.

In August, her spokesman confirmed that Dion was expecting.

There were a number of reports claiming she was carrying an embryo that had been frozen in liquid nitrogen for several years.

A family source now says that while the singer and her husband are actively trying for another baby, she is not currently expecting.”

No other details about how exactly the pregnancy ended.
She is 41 years old.

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A wild scene down in Florida. A crash involving a pick up truck and the acquarium at Tampa International Airport. The 36 year old driver and the six year old child in her lap survived.

The tropical fish were not so lucky.

Police say the driver llost control of her truck and drove into the saltwater tank outside the American Airlines baggage claim in Tampa.

About 90 percent of the saltwater fish in the tank were killed.

The airport spent $200,000 on the exhibit.

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Butterflies in space?!

Students nationwide are getting a chance to see how butterflies develop in space, compared to here on earth.

A University of Colorado experiment will feature monarch and painted lady butterfly larvae aboard the space shuttle Atlantis. The shuttle lifts off for the International Space Station on Monday.

About 100 elementary and middle schools nationwide are getting kits with butterfly habitats so they can compare them to those in the space station’s weightless environment. Photos of the butterflies in space will be taken every 15 minutes and be sent to earth to be uploaded to a Web site.

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Documentary maker Ken Burns is helping Michigan State University inaugurate its new film studies major. Burns lectures Dec. 2 at the Wharton Center for Performing Arts. While on the East Lansing campus, he’ll meet with students about documentary film making.

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Do you believe in alien life in the universe?

Dozens of scientists from around the world have attended a five-day Vatican conference on the possibility of alien life in the universe and its theological implications.

Some Christian scholars have wondered whether alien species might have resisted temptation and remained sinless — or if they sinned, how God might have offered them salvation. (!)

The director of the Vatican Observatory has said the discovery of intelligent extra-terrestrials wouldn’t contradict Christian faith because they would still be God’s creatures.

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A federal judge has ruled that South Carolina cannot issue license plates showing the image of a cross in front of a stained glass window with the phrase “I Believe.”

Judge Cameron Currie said in her ruling that the license plate is unconstitutional because it “amounts to a state endorsement not only of religion in general, but of a specific sect in particular.”

Christian advocates tried to get the same license plate approved in Florida, but the bill did not pass its Legislature.

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Relatives of legendary Native American athlete Jim Thorpe are ready to go federal court to win the return of his body to Oklahoma. The Olympic gold-medal winner and football MVP has been buried out east in a town that changed its name to Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania, to give him a final resting place - although Thorpe never set foot there.

After his death, Thorpe’s wife said she didn’t have the money to give him the burial she thought he deserved. In their lawsuit, Thorpe’s family members are planning to cite a 1990 federal law requiring the return of American Indian remains to their peoples.

The first worm to infect the Apple iPhone has been discovered spreading “in the wild” in Australia.

The self-propagating program changes the phone’s wallpaper to a picture of 80s singer Rick Astley with the message “ikee is never going to give you up”.

The worm, known as ikee, only affects “jail-broken” phones, where a user has removed Apple’s protection mechanisms to allow the phone to run any software.

 
An Atlanta city bus driver has been suspended for five days after passengers complained that he insisted they hold hands as he led them in prayer. On the bus.

The prayer last four to five minutes.

The bus driver has worked for the Atlanta city bus system for six years.

No word what they were praying for.
A key U.S. Senator says he will begin an investigation into whether the  U.S. Army missed signs that the man accused of opening fire at Fort Hood had embraced an increasingly extremist view of Islamic ideology. Sen. Joe Lieberman’s call for the investigation came as word surfaced that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan apparently attended the same Virginia mosque as two Sept. 11 hijackers in 2001, at a time when a radical imam preached there.
Gamers are geeked about this.

“Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2″ comes out at midnight tonight, (Monday, November 9,)

It’s projected to be at least One of the biggest selling games of ALL time (including release day sales, and general sales).

Relatives of legendary Native American athlete Jim Thorpe are ready to go federal court to win the return of his body to Oklahoma. The Olympic gold-medal winner and football MVP has been buried out east in a town that changed its name to Jim Thorpe Pennsylvania, to give him a final resting place - although Thorpe never set foot there.

After his death, Thorpe’s wife said she didn’t have the money to give him the burial she thought he deserved. In their lawsuit, Thorpe’s family members are planning to cite a 1990 federal law requiring the return of American Indian remains to their peoples.
The first worm to infect the Apple iPhone has been discovered spreading “in the wild” in Australia.

The self-propagating program changes the phone’s wallpaper to a picture of 80s singer Rick Astley with the message “ikee is never going to give you up”.

The worm, known as ikee, only affects “jail-broken” phones, where a user has removed Apple’s protection mechanisms to allow the phone to run any software.

 
An Atlanta city bus driver has been suspended for five days after passengers complained that he insisted they hold hands as he led them in prayer. On the bus.

The prayer last four to five minutes.

The bus driver has worked for the Atlanta city bus system for six years.

No word what they were praying for.
A key U.S. Senator says he will begin an investigation into whether the  U.S. Army missed signs that the man accused of opening fire at Fort Hood had embraced an increasingly extremist view of Islamic ideology. Sen. Joe Lieberman’s call for the investigation came as word surfaced that Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan apparently attended the same Virginia mosque as two Sept. 11 hijackers in 2001, at a time when a radical imam preached there.
Gamers are geeked about this.

“Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2″ comes out at midnight tonight, (Monday, November 9,)

It’s projected to be at least One of the biggest selling games of ALL time (including release day sales, and general sales).