Video: Hasbro reveals new Monopoly token: The cat

>>> now to some big changes coming to monopoly. hasbro let you pick a new token to replace one of its classic pieces.

>> the vote ended overnight. this morning we have the exclusive results, starting with the piece that's being eliminated. it is the iron. i love the iron. iron is no more.

>> so the new token five options, diamond ring , helicopter, guitar, cat and robot. the winner, please? in a drum roll ? it's the cat. and we have it right here on the set.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50715892/

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Church bomb plot suspect charged in federal court

TULSA, Okla. (AP) ? An Illinois man charged with plotting to firebomb dozens of churches in northeastern Oklahoma with Molotov cocktails will be tried in federal ? not state ? court, authorities announced Wednesday.

A federal grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday charges 24-year-old Gregory Arthur Weiler II of Elk Grove Village, Ill., with one count of possessing an unregistered, destructive device ? a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine, said Joseph F. Wilson, the criminal chief for the U.S. attorney's office in the northern district of Oklahoma.

State charges against Weiler were dropped Wednesday after he was taken into federal custody, Ottawa County District Attorney Eddie Wyant said.

Weiler had been jailed in Miami, Okla., since October, when authorities arrested and charged him with threatening to use an explosive or incendiary device and violating Oklahoma's anti-terrorism law. Investigators say Weiler had instructions for making Molotov cocktails, a list of 48 churches and a written outline of a plan to bomb churches.

Authorities were tipped to the alleged plot after a maintenance man at the motel where Weiler was staying noticed a green duffel bag in a trash bin outside the building and found bottles with cloth wicks attached with duct tape inside. He also noticed an empty gas can in the bin.

Wilson said Weiler appeared in federal court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty through a federal public defender. Wilson said the court will issue an order scheduling future hearings.

A message left with the federal public defender assigned to represent Weiler was not returned late Wednesday.

Family members of Weiler have said he has struggled with mental illness and may have stopped taking his medication before his arrest.

Joanne Meyers, Weiler's aunt, said Wednesday she feared for her nephew's mental state while he awaited his next court appearance. Tulsa County Jail records indicate Weiler is being detained there.

"He's very sick," she said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We're very concerned he even understands what's happening to him."

Weiler was found mentally competent to stand trial on the state charges last month.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/church-bomb-plot-suspect-charged-federal-court-021149348.html

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Video: Visa Earnings Out

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50722745/

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US service firms grew more slowly in January

In this Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, photo, a waitress brings a cart of dim sum to a table of customers at Chatham Square Restaurant in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York. Growth at U.S. service companies slowed slightly in January behind weaker new orders and business activity. But hiring improved, a bright sign for the economy. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

In this Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, photo, a waitress brings a cart of dim sum to a table of customers at Chatham Square Restaurant in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York. Growth at U.S. service companies slowed slightly in January behind weaker new orders and business activity. But hiring improved, a bright sign for the economy. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Growth at U.S. service companies slowed slightly in January behind weaker new orders and business activity. But hiring improved, a bright sign for the economy.

The Institute for Supply Management said Tuesday that its index of non-manufacturing activity dipped to 55.2 in January. That's down from 55.7 in December, which was the highest level in nearly a year. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

The modest decline from December's strong reading suggests the industry was not greatly hampered by an increase in Social Security taxes that reduced take-home pay for most Americans.

Companies didn't single out the rise in payroll taxes in the survey, Anthony Nieves, chair of the ISM's survey committee, said during a conference call with reporters.

The report measures growth in industries that cover 90 percent of the work force, including retail, construction, health care and financial services.

Overall, economists were encouraged by the steady reading in the services index, as well as a sharp jump in the Institute's January manufacturing index released last week. The reports suggest economic growth is rebounding the January-March quarter after shrinking in the October-December quarter.

A gauge of hiring in the services report rose to its highest level in nearly seven years. That's consistent with the solid job gains reported by retailers, construction companies and other service firms in the government's January employment report, released last week.

Service firms and construction companies have added an average of nearly 195,000 jobs per month in the past three months. The increase in the employment gauge suggests the solid hiring will continue.

Paul Dales, an economist at Capital Economics, blamed the dip in the overall index on the Social Security tax increase.

"But this blow has been small and cushioned by stronger demand in other sectors, namely construction," he said.

Last month Congress and the White House reached a deal to prevent income taxes from rising on most Americans.

The agreement did not extend a temporary cut in Social Security taxes, which expired on Jan. 1. The two percentage point increase means a person earning $50,000 a year will have about $1,000 less to spend in 2013. A household with two high-paid workers will have up to $4,500 less.

Most economists expect the tax increase could trim the economy's growth by about one-half a percentage point this year.

Consumers spent more in December, according to a government report last week, though the increase was slower than in November. Consumer spending drives about 70 percent of the economy.

There have been other signs that Americans have been willing to open their wallets. Consumer spending rose 2.2 percent in the October-December quarter, up from 1.6 percent in the previous quarter.

That wasn't enough to bolster the economy, which contracted in the fourth quarter for the first time in 3 ? years. But the weakness resulted from one-time factors, such as a sharp drop in company stockpiles and a steep fall in defense spending.

The ISM reported last week that its separate index for manufacturing surged on faster growth in new orders and hiring. The index rose to its highest level since April.

Service companies have been a key source of job growth this year. They have created about 90 percent of the net jobs added since January. Still, many of the new service jobs have been low-paying retail and restaurant positions.

__

Follow Chris Rugaber on Twitter at https://Twitter.com/ChrisRugaber

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-05-Economy-Services/id-c4bd73e60e2143d8b30fa048d444a686

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Eerie rock towers provide clues about past earthquakes

Strange rock formations in the California desert provide clues to the strength of past earthquakes, a new study suggests.

In Red Rock Canyon, about 120 miles (190 kilometers) north of Los Angeles, tall, rusty spires of rock called hoodoos dot the landscape. The otherworldly spindles form in sedimentary rock, where harder layers protect softer layers below. Erosion wears away the less-resistant rock, leaving thin caps or even large boulders of harder rock perched on soft towers. This being California, Red Rock Canyon has served as a backdrop for more than 100 movies, from classic westerns to the opening scenes of "Jurassic Park."

California's second largest strike-slip fault, the Garlock Fault, passes just 3 miles (5 km) north of Red Rock Canyon's fragile hoodoos. (A strike-slip fault is a fracture where the earth on either side slides mostly parallel to the fault.) About 500 years ago, a strong earthquake, estimated at about magnitude 7.5, struck on a segment of the Garlock Fault nearest Red Rock Canyon.

The canyon's hoodoos are evidence the region near Red Rock Canyon did not undergo strong shaking during the earthquake, according to a study published today (Feb. 4) in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. That's good news for nearby cities such as Palmdale, home to Edwards Air Force Base.

"The fact that they didn't break indicates the ground motion was lower than you might expect," said Abdolrasool Anooshehpoor, a geophysicist with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The research was conducted while Anooshehpoor was a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.

A caveat

The researchers relied on one big assumption in determining how the past quake affected the weird rocks: that the hoodoos look pretty much the same as they did 500 years ago.

"This is a big uncertainty," Anooshehpoor said. They have no estimates of how fast the hoodoos form, or of how long the rock has been exposed at the surface. "Basically, we assume in the past 500 years, in time since this earthquake happened, the shape has not changed much."

Anooshehpoor and his colleagues at the University of Nevada, Reno, have a long-standing interest in precariously balanced rocks, or PBRs ? massive granite boulders poised like a child's top. In Southern California, the presence of PBRs is thought to be evidence an area has not experienced strong, earthquake-induced shaking since the rocks formed.

But the desert near the Garlock Fault lacks the granite outcrops that form PBRs, so the researchers looked for another way to gauge shaking. "I don't want to say hoodoos are a last resort, but because of their nature, you have to be very careful when you use them. They are very fast-eroding," Anooshehpoor told OurAmazingPlanet.

Small shaking

They picked two of the the most fragile-looking hoodoos in Red Rock Canyon and scanned their shapes. A rock sample brought back to the lab and crushed with a piston provided data on the tower's strength. Computer modeling revealed the ground acceleration, or shaking, required to break the hoodoos. [Video: Scary Scenario: Devastating Earthquake Visualized]

The upper limit on shaking offered by the most fragile hoodoo matches the 2008 U.S Geological Survey seismic hazard maps for the region, Anooshehpoor said. Seismic hazard maps predict the peak ground acceleration, or shaking, expected from future earthquakes. They are based on earthquake history and how fast a fault moves, or slips.

Geologist David Haddad of Arizona State University, who was not involved in the study, said hoodoos and other precariously balanced rock features can provide important constraints on ground motion from earthquakes. "I think they did a good study," he said. "They're basically validating the 2008 seismic hazard map for California."

Reach Becky Oskin at boskin@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @beckyoskin. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter?@OAPlanet. We're also on?Facebook?and Google+.

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

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eerie-rock-towers-earthquake-sensors-200948300.html

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Hostage standoff ends: Child safe, gunman dead

(Reuters) - A gunman holding a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker in rural Alabama was killed on Monday and the child was plucked to safety without injury, a local law enforcement official said.

"It's all over," said the official, who asked not to be identified by name because he had not been authorized to discuss the operation that led to the successful rescue of the child.

"The boy is OK," he said.

The rescue of boy came on the seventh day of a standoff in a rural corner of southeast Alabama involving a suspect identified as 65-year-old Jimmy Lee Dykes, a retired trucker and Vietnam veteran.

Dykes seized the boy last Tuesday after boarding a school bus near his home and killing its driver with four shots from a 9 mm handgun, local sheriff's department officials said.

The law enforcement source said a stun or flash grenade was detonated as part of the operation to free the boy, but further details were not immediately available.

The drama in Midland City, Alabama, came amid heightened concerns about gun violence and school safety across the United States after the December shooting deaths of 20 children and six adults at a Connecticut elementary school.

(Reporting by Tom Brown; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/alabama-town-gathers-bury-bus-driver-slain-hostage-011349756.html

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Le Boucan | Montreal Food Divas

?Here you are ladies ? or should I call you Divas?? This is what the bartender told us as he brought us our appetizers. Our mouths wide open in shock, we realized that the Divas were outed and our anonymity was forsaken. But let?s rewind?

Le Boucan was recommended to us by Bellatrix, and after asking our followers on Twitter and Facebook if we should go to Blackstrap BBQ, Fumoir Rubs or Le Boucan, well the consensus led us to making reservations at Le Boucan. We did not realize that the place was tiny; made up of a few red banquettes and bar stools.? We were told there was only place at the bar and we did not mind. There is something to be said for sitting at the bar, you interact with the customers surrounding you, chit chat with the bartender and have a totally different experience than when you sit at a table.

Looking around we saw their menu written in an original way on the wall, a velvet curtain at the front door keeping the cold from getting in every time somebody opened the door, a large window overlooking Notre Dame street, and a fun bar-like atmosphere. They had their own homemade Worcestershire sauce waiting for us at the bar as well as their BBQ sauce. We were already impressed. We started with a mojito pitcher and later moved on to Pimm?s Lemonade.

?Mojito 11$ / pichet 35$: Rhum blanc, lime, menthe fraiche, sirop de canne, club soda?
&
?Limonade Pimm?s 12$ : Pimm?s No.1, Gin (Hendricks), jus de citron frais, 7up, sirop de canne, concombre?

?We had a hard time choosing a cocktail due to their extensive menu, but the mojito was a good choice; it was not too strong and very delicious. They even have a bourbon mojito option!?After we finished our pitcher, we ordered the Pimm?s lemonade which was refreshing and wonderful, a great accompaniment to spicy Southern food. I guess we were drinking a lot because the bartender later asked us if we were okay to drive home, and we had actually had a light night.

We wanted to try all the appetizers but we settled for the nachos, mac n? cheese and we threw in the smoked tomato soup since it sounded wonderful. The smoked tomato soup was exquisite, the smokey taste came through and we were really surprised with how flavourful and chunky the soup was. We agreed that it would be lovely on pasta, and it was deliciously topped with some grated cheese and served with a piece of bread topped with melted cheddar cheese that we devoured in minutes. The Divas are not soup people, we don?t often start our meals with soup but we would not return to Le Boucan and not order this amazing smoked tomato soup.

?Smoked Tomato Soup? 6$

Since Le Boucan is a sort of upscale rustic dive, we decided to order the nachos with smoked chicken. The nachos portion was massive and the generous portions of chicken were flamb?ed with bourbon. Finely chopped green onions, finely diced tomatoes and black olives topped this appetizer with a side of source cream and homemade smoked salsa. The salsa was amazing, refreshing, chunky and smokey, and it was not filled with canned tomatoes like the usual variety that comes with nachos. That being said, our only complaint about this dish was that there was not enough cheese on the nachos.

?Le Boucan?s Nachos? 15$

?Our last appetizer was the mac n? cheese, which they have only in appetizer format, and helped?satisfy our gluttony. Served in a French onion soup bowl, the elbow macaroni was smothered in cheddar cheese with a crispy breadcrumb topping. If you follow our blog you know that we love mac n? cheese and we?ve had it at French bistros, Italian restaurants, burger dives and southern restaurants, with tons of different cheeses. We?ve had it with lardons, wild mushrooms, panko crumbs, gravy and curds, potato chips, truffles shavings,?pulled pork, you name it. We loved that at Le Boucan it was just mac n? cheese with no bells and whistles and it was f*cking amazing.

?Mac N Cheese? 8$

The manager/bartender, who was also our waiter, explained to us that he receives the Twitter updates for Le Boucan, so when the Divas checked in, he found the only two girls sitting alone. I suppose it did not help that we were taking pictures of everything. Remi was one good looking bartender, the stubble making him extra appealing. I suppose if we are going to be outed, it should at least be from a sexy bartender who promised to not distribute pictures of us on the internet.

Already full after the appetizers, we asked Remi for the perfect main meal. We had heard about their 5 napkin hamburger and were eager to try it but he recommended a plate with a little bit of everything so that we can try what Le Boucan is known for.

BBQ Ribs, BBQ Chicken, Pulled Pork with French Fries & Coleslaw

Our plate arrived with delicious pulled pork, a BBQ chicken leg and their famous pork ribs. We were not afraid to get our hands dirty and we were soon marveling over their amazing BBQ sauce. The pulled pork was very tender and not too saucy so you could really taste the pork. The ribs were our favourite part, tons of meat on the bone that simply fell off the bone. These were the best ribs that we?ve ever had, and we cannot wait to return and enjoy a plate of them. The chicken was also delicious and the skin was blackened.? We were so full but we couldn?t stop eating. If this was not enough, all of this meat was heaped on top of their delicious fries and served with a side of coleslaw. The coleslaw was vinegary and thankfully not drowned in creamy dressing; it was light and perfect with the heavy meat. In the end, we were so full we were just eating the skin off of the chicken like five year olds because it was too delicious to waste.

At this point we were chatting it up with Remi who told us that it has been a few years since Le Boucan was on the show ?The Opener? and they have been busy ever since.? We can understand why Le Boucan is popular, the atmosphere is casual, the bar is fun, the music was old school and the sort you wanted to sing-along to and the service was great.

?Buttermilk Pie? $7

For dessert we were set on ordering the bacon brownie,?well it is a brownie with bacon, how could you go wrong? Remi said that the buttermilk pie was so much better and he had not steered us wrong so far so we trusted him and ordered the pie. It was served warm with whipped cream and salted caramel sauce. The Divas love salty desserts!?We did not know what to expect but we were not disappointed, it was a great dessert that was warm, sweet and salty, and the Divas were soon deciding that Le Boucan was one of our favourite all-American restaurants in Montreal.

We left satisfied and laughing that we were outed, we told ourselves that we would return for the 5 napkin burger and that elusive bacon brownie. We were also curious to try their other side dishes like their creamed corn and potato salad. Anyone going to Le Boucan would be crazy not to try the ribs and sit at the bar; you will be in for a good time with good company and some eye candy.

Our Rating: Always on Thursdays

http://www.leboucan.com/

Tagged: 5 Napkin Burger, Always on Thursdays, American, Bacon Brownie, Bar, BBQ, BBQ chicken, Buttermilk Pie, Cajun Shrimp, Cocktails, drinks, Le Boucan, Little Burgundy, Mac n' Cheese, Nachos, Notre-Dame, Pork Ribs, Pulled Pork, Reservations Needed, Smoked Tomato Soup, Smokehouse, Southern, terrace, The Opener

Source: http://www.montrealfooddivas.com/le-boucan/

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