The MacLarens didn't watch as their cows were led one

The MacLaren brothers are third-generation dairy Christian Louboutin Shoes Sale farmers, but they will likely be the last in their family. After working all their lives on the hillside farm in Vermont that their grandfather bought in 1939, rising to milk cows at 3 a.m. even in blizzards and sub-zero temperatures, they decided to call it quits, auctioning off their roughly 200 cows and equipment ranging from stalls and hoof trimmers to tractors and steel pails. The sale marked the end of the last dairy farm in Plainfield, a small town that once had several dozen, and the loss of the 14th dairy farm to go out of business in Vermont this year. A few small dairies have opened, but overall, the number of farms continues to drop in a state long known for its milk and cheese. Farmers say they can't make ends meet when milk prices are low and feed and fuel costs keep going up. "The day of the small farms I think is gone," said Steve MacLaren, 54. "A lot of people are going to hold on as long as they can, but we decided not to. Why struggle on it any longer?" Economic issues aside, the MacLarens are tired of being tied to the farm seven days a week. They plan to keep the land and grow feed — corn and grass for hay and silage — on more than 500 acres. "No matter what, you've got a sick cow or a cow having a calf, you've gotta be around whether it's 1:00 in the morning, or it's whatever time you've got to take care of them," said Michael MacLaren, 48. "But if you've got a tractor break down, you can walk away from it. It's just a long hard grind, and I decided I'd like a change." While the number of dairy cows in the U.S. hasn't changed much, the number of dairy farms has been dropping as small farms either go out of business or consolidate to become more competitive and cost effective. The number of dairy farms nationally has dropped from nearly 92,000 in 2002 to less than 70,000 in 2007, according to the last agricultural census, which is being updated this year. That's not the whole picture though. The number of small farms, with 100 to 199 cows, fell from about 11,000 to about 9,000 during that time, while those with more than 1,000 cows grew from about 1,300 to almost 1,600. The shift has affected states like Vermont and Wisconsin, which have strong dairying histories, but tend to have smaller farms than other major Christian Louboutin Wedges milk-producing states like California and Texas. Wisconsin has lost nearly 200 herds so far this year and now has about 11,600. The farm closures are likely to continue with milk prices expected to keep falling this summer. "It's a dying business," said Ron Wright, owner of Wrights Auction Service in Derby. He expects to do twice as many auctions this spring as last — eight to 10 auctions in Vermont and one in New York. The U.S. had been gradually losing dairy farms for decades, but then milk prices plummeted during the recession and fuel costs soared in 2009. Vermont lost 52 dairies that year, while Wisconsin lost 519. Prices have rebounded since, although they are expected to sink again to as low as $16.50 per hundred pounds this summer, said Diane Bothfeld, Vermont's deputy agriculture secretary. "It will be a very difficult year," said Bothfeld, who expects the auctions to continue. The loss of small farms hurts local economies and the many businesses that rely on them, such as feed and tractor dealers and veterinarians, she said. It also could be a problem for Vermont tourism, which is closely tied to bucolic images of the state's mountains and dairies, although Bothfeld said she thinks much of the land will stay in farming. Vermont watched the number of its dairies drop in the past 20 years from 2,272 to 977 this May. At the same time, its milk output has stayed relatively the same as surviving farms grow. In the past five years, the average dairy size has grown from 125 to 135 cows in Vermont. "To succeed in farming it seems like you really have got to diversify or go big," said Jennifer Lambert, 26, of Washington, one of the few new dairy farmers in Vermont. She and her husband have leased his uncle's farm, where they produce organic milk, which commands a higher and more stable price than conventional. They also grow livestock feed and picked up a $7,500 seeder at the MacLaren's auction on May 16. "It's very difficult to get started in this," said Jesse Lambert, 30, of the investment. They can't afford to buy the farm — or borrow the more than a half million dollars to do it — so were lucky to lease it, he said. The MacLarens didn't watch as their cows were led one by one into the auction ring, where bidders sat on bales of hay. Michael MacLaren said he and Christian Louboutin Miss Fortune 120 Lace-Up Ankle Boots Tan his brother will miss the animals some. "But you make the decision and have the courage to go through with it and you do it," he said. "That's the way it's gotta be."

You have to be very strong with the ball

There had been a pattern in the first four games of the series, as Sixers coach Doug Collins saw it noted. The team that won the third quarter in each of the games went on to the victory. He mentioned that fact Monday afternoon, not long before the Celtics and Sixers took the Christian Louboutin Heels court for crucial Game 5. And, as it turned out, that pattern held. Though the Sixers mostly had control of the game through the first half, it was the Celtics who took over after the break. (Or, rather, Brandon Bass.) That was when the Sixers crumbled, when they stopped making the shots that had been falling so easily in the first half. That was when they lost the ball and lost the game. Just as Collins had predicted. Those were the first words out of the coach’s mouth in his postgame news conference, as he reiterated the truism of the series. “You can’t play like that,’’ Collins said. “You can’t play one-handed against this team. You can’t make careless, one-handed passes. They’re too good, they’re quick . . . We did not do a good job of that. I thought we did not meet the tenacity that they played with from the middle of the third quarter on.’’ There was a moment, even more specific than the third quarter, that turned the game in the Celtics’ favor. With the Sixers holding a 4-point lead, Paul Pierce was called for a clear-path foul four minutes into the quarter. That should have given Philadelphia 2 points on free throws and possession of the ball. But Andre Iguodala missed the free throws - he went 1 for 4 from the line in the game - and the Sixers turned the ball over. It set off a stretch in which the Sixers turned the ball over on five of their next six possessions. By the time the Sixers took their second timeout of the period with 4:48 left, the Celtics were up by 6 points, and wouldn’t trail again. “That was the deciding point in the game,’’ Collins said. “They were the aggressors, and it started really, I thought, after that clear-path foul.’’ Elton Brand, who led the Sixers with 19 points, said his team knew what might happen, knew the Celtics would turn it up, especially at home. But as Boston sped up the game, Philadelphia wasn’t able to recover. “We do have to recognize [the aggression] more,’’ said Brand. “We know what we have to do - we watched tape, we went through it in shootaround - but we didn’t do it. Hopefully it can be corrected.’’ Despite shooting 54.8 percent in the first half, the Sixers were up by just 3 points at the break. They had left the door wide open for the Celtics. And, as they turned the ball over, as they played too fast for their game, the Celtics took advantage. Part of it was that the Celtics became more aggressive. Part of it was that the Sixers became careless, gave in to that aggression. Asked which was more crucial, Evan Turner said, “It was 50-50. They played great defense. They amped up the defense. We had to get our connection back together, be on a string with one another, and we didn’t really do that.’’ “You have to be very strong with the ball,’’ Collins said. “I didn’t think we were strong with the ball tonight. They’re too good. Once they get into the passing lane, you can’t take that pass back.’’ And those passes, the bad ones, generally ended with a basket on the other end. “We just had a bad third,’’ Lou Williams said. “We had a bunch of turnovers, and they scored on all of them. It’s hard to compete like that, especially in that building with an experienced team like that. We didn’t help ourselves none in that third.’’ Said Spencer Hawes, “It started off time and time Christian Louboutin Wedges again with our turnovers. That got those guys rolling.’’ The Sixers didn’t respond well. They didn’t pick it up when they needed to. They committed the mistakes that allowed the Celtics to take the lead. They couldn’t stop the turnovers when they started, and a game that they were winning turned into the loss that put them on the brink of season’s end.

It's probably one of the first times there has been an IPO

Facebook priced its IPO at $38 per share on Thursday, at the top of expectations. Now, regular investors will have a chance to buy stock in Facebook for the first time. The stock will begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market sometime Friday morning. The ticker symbol will be FB. Facebook's offering is the culmination of a Cheap Christian Louboutin year's worth of Internet IPOs that began last May with LinkedIn Corp. Since then, a steady stream of startups focused on the social side of the Web has gone public, with varying degrees of success. It all led up to Facebook, the company that's come to define social networking by getting 900 million people around the world to share everything from photos of their pets to their deepest thoughts. It has done so while managing to become one of the few profitable Internet companies to go public recently. It had net income of $205 million in the first three months of 2012, on revenue of $1.06 billion. In all of 2011, it earned $1 billion, up from $606 million a year earlier. That's a far cry from 2007, when it posted a net loss of $138 million and revenue of $153 million. "They could have gone public in 2009 at a much lower price," said Nick Einhorn, research analyst at IPO investment advisory firm Renaissance Capital. "They waited as long as they could to go public, so it makes sense that it's a very large offering." Facebook Inc.'s valuation is the third-highest in an IPO, according to Dealogic, a provider of financial data. Only two Chinese banks, Agricultural Bank of China in 2010 and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in 2006, have been worth more. They were worth $133 billion and $132 billion, respectively. By another measure —the amount raised— Facebook ranks third among U.S. IPOs. The largest was Visa, which raised $17.9 billion in 2008. No. 2 was Enel, a power company, and No. 4 was General Motors, according to Renaissance Capital. The $38 share price is the price at which the investment banks arranging the offering will sell the stock to their clients. In an IPO, the banks buy the stock first from the company and the early investors and then sell to the public. If extra shares reserved to cover additional demand are sold as part of the transaction, Facebook and its early investors stand to reap as much as $18.4 billion. For a company that was born in a Harvard dormitory and went on to reimagine online communication, the stock sale means more money to build on the features and services it offers users. It means an infusion of money to hire the best engineers to work at its sprawling Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, or in New York City, where it opened an engineering office last year. And it means early investors, who took a chance seeding the young social network with start-up funds six, seven and eight years ago, can reap big rewards. Peter Thiel, the venture capitalist who sits on Facebook's board of directors, invested $500,000 in the company in 2004. He's selling nearly 17 million of his shares in the IPO, which means he'll get some $640 million. He will hold on to about 28 million shares, worth $1.06 billion. The offering values Facebook, whose 2011 revenue was $3.7 billion, at as much as $104 billion. The sky-high valuation has its skeptics, who worry about signs of a slowdown and Facebook's ability to grow in the mobile space when it was created with desktop computers in mind. Rival Google Inc., whose revenue stood at $38 billion last year, has a market capitalization of $207 billion. "There seems to be somewhat of a hype around the stock offering," says Gartner analyst Brian Blau. That may be an understatement. Facebook's IPO dominated media coverage in the weeks and days leading up to the event. CEO Mark Zuckerberg's hoodie made headlines when he wore it to a meeting with investors as did General Motors' decision this week to stop advertising on the site —and rival Ford's affirmation that its Facebook ads have been effective. There are more than a few reasons for the exuberance. First, there's Facebook's sheer size and high profile. The company grew from a college-only social network to an Internet phenomenon embraced by legions of people, from teenagers to grandmothers to pro-democracy activists in the Middle East. Secondly, it's personal. "It's probably one of the first times there has been an IPO where everyone sort of has a stake in the outcome," Blau says. While most Facebook users won't see a penny from the offering, they are all intimately familiar with the company. And then there's Zuckerberg, who turned 28 on Monday. He has emerged as the latest in a lineage of Silicon Valley prodigies who are alternately hailed for pushing the world in new directions and reviled for overstepping their bounds. He counted the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs among his mentors, and he became one of the world's youngest billionaires — at least on paper — well before Facebook went Christian Louboutin High Boots public. A dramatized and less-than-flattering version of Facebook's founding was the subject of a Hollywood movie that won three Academy Awards last year, propelling Zuckerberg even further into the public spotlight. Though Zuckerberg is selling about 30 million shares, he will remain Facebook's largest shareholder. Even after the IPO, he will own 503.6 million shares, or 32 percent of Facebook's total shares. At the $38 share price, his stake in the company is worth $19.1 billion. Zuckerberg will control the company with 56 percent of its voting stock as a result of agreements he has with other shareholders who promise to vote his way. The set-up helps to ensure that he and other executives keep control as the demands of Wall Street for short-term returns exert new pressures on the company. True to form, Zuckerberg and Facebook's engineers are ringing in the IPO on their own terms. The company is holding an overnight "hackathon" Thursday, where engineers stay up writing programming code to come up with new features for the site. On Friday morning, Zuckerberg will ring the Nasdaq opening bell from Facebook's headquarters a continent away.

Some analysts see evidence that Facebook is already successfully

With Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has created a seemingly perfect home on the Web, one where people feel comfortable chatting with friends, playing games, sharing photos and videos, listening to music and revealing the most intimate details of their lives. The $100 billion question is whether Facebook Cheap Christian Louboutin will be a perfect home for advertisers, as well. Facebook, the social networking giant, is on the cusp of an initial public offering that is shaping up to be a success. There has been such an investor frenzy that the company supersized its offering on Wednesday. It now plans to sell nearly 18 percent of the company to the public — up from around 14 percent — in an I.P.O. that could value the company at more than $100 billion. Despite the overwhelming level of interest, Facebook is facing fresh concerns over its ability to attract enough advertising revenue to justify that stratospheric valuation. On Tuesday, General Motors, the third-largest advertiser in the country, shut down its Facebook budget, about $10 million, saying that those ads were simply not doing enough to sell automobiles. For Facebook, the loss of $10 million is not a big deal. The company generated $3.7 billion of revenue last year, 85 percent from advertising. But the loss underlines the company’s need to convince a skeptical Madison Avenue that Facebook pages are the perfect vehicle for marketers and to convince eager investors that it can increase its advertising revenue, and quickly. “It’s one of the most powerful branding mechanisms in the world, but it’s not an advertising mechanism,” said Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, the giant advertising agency. G.M. aside, many companies remain committed to the social media platform as a way to engage and connect with consumers. Advertising executives, industry analysts and institutional investors just aren’t convinced that activity will translate into huge and growing profits for Facebook. It is a concern shared by some of the company’s bankers, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Companies like Home Depot,Wells Fargo and Merck have a presence on Facebook with their own pages. But they are mainly focused on fashioning content to build brand loyalty, rather than creating targeted advertising. Even G.M. has said it plans to keep dedicated Facebook pages, stressing that it is an important avenue for reaching car buyers. The automaker just doesn’t want to pay Facebook — a decision that analysts worry other companies could make. “My colleagues and I have spoken with several other advertisers who were already thinking of putting their dollars elsewhere,” said Melissa Parrish, an analyst at Forrester. “Now that G.M. has done so in such a large and public way, many of the fence-sitters will know that they’re not alone.” As with all advertising, companies want to know what they’re getting for their money, and with Facebook, the answer isn’t clear. While the social network collects large amounts of data on its users, Facebook is much more reluctant than Google and other online sites to share that information with advertisers. Facebook currently allows marketers to buy audiences, say women between the ages of 18 and 35 who live in a specific neighborhood. But Facebook is essentially a walledgarden, so what users may do on the Web beyond Facebook — where they shop, what they read — isn’t available for advertisers who want to home in on people’s behavior. Instead, Facebook provides basic information on just how many users “like,” or follow, a particular ad or page “Facebook’s a silo,” said Darren Herman, the chief digital media officer at the Media Kitchen, an agency that helps clients on Facebook. “It is very hard to understand the efficacy of what a Facebook like, or fan or follow is worth.” Already, investors are putting a price on those Facebook users. At a market value of $100 billion, investors are estimating that each person with a Facebook page is worth roughly $110. But that’s based on the potential profits — not what Facebook is making off them now. Last year, each Facebook user generated $4 worth of sales for the company. If the company doesn’t live up to those promises, the stock may suffer. While new investors are betting that Facebook will be the next Google, current owners of the social network are taking some of their money off the table, including DST Global, Accel Partners and Goldman Sachs. “Over time, Facebook will be able to increase its revenue,” said Mr. Sorrell of WPP. “But whether it will be able to justify its valuation, well, time will tell.” Facebook has spent years trying to court Madison Avenue. In 2005, the advertising group was largely run out of the company’s satellite New York “office,” the modest Upper East Side apartment of Kevin Colleran, one of Facebook’s first sales employees. “We told advertisers it was $5,000 minimum,” Mr. Colleran said in an interview earlier this year. “But, really, we would take what we could get.” As Facebook expanded beyond the college network, finding advertisers became easier. Companies were wowed by the growing number of users and the minutes people spent on the site. But Facebook’s young chief was hesitant to clutter the site with ads. Its biggest competitor, Myspace, was clogging users’ profiles with loud advertisements, creating a jarring aesthetic. Mr. Zuckerberg, who has often said that Facebook was not designed to be a business, firmly told his team he would not sacrifice product for the sake of revenue. “Mark made it clear: he said get me ads that make the experience better,” Mr. Colleran, who has left the company, said. That philosophy has helped shape its current pitch. Rather than simply providing traditional ads, the social network encourages companies to engage with users by telling them stories. Facebook believes that such interaction is less intrusive than other online ads that take over a user’s screen or push down content. Some companies are aggressively jumping onto the platform. Last year,Wal-Mart started a Facebook app that customized offers for more than 3,800 of its American stores. “A national message is often not as relevant as being able to say, we’ve got sunscreen in the South and we’ve got rubber boots in the North,” Stephen Quinn, chief marketing officer for the Wal-Mart U.S. division, said at the time of the October introduction. But not all companies are persuaded. For one, Facebook has been relatively protective of its user data, citing privacy concerns. But data is critical to creating tailored ads. Facebook also doesn’t have the full palette of advertising options. For example, companies can buy space only directly through Facebook, rather than through a network, where advertisers have more control. And Facebook limits the types of ads. While it allows companies to use video or social features, Facebook doesn’t let advertisers take over its home page or dress up their ads with a lot of bells and whistles. “Facebook doesn’t have a clear enough story to tell marketers,” said Ms. Parrish of Forrester. Investors piling into Facebook will be doing so on faith. To buy the shares, they have to believe that the company will be able to milk an ever-increasing amount of revenue from all the Web site’s social interactions, without alienating users with intrusive advertising or breaches of privacy. Some analysts see evidence that Facebook is already successfully weaving ads into users’ interactions, without excessive intrusion. If this approach works, the returns on such Facebook ads could be five times higher for advertisers than regular ads, said Ken Sena, an analyst at Evercore Partners. Mr. Sena said he thought that Facebook’s advertising revenue could reach $14.9 billion in 2017, up from $3.2 billion last year. Still, there are warning signs. Facebook’s advertising revenue actually fell in the first quarter of this year, from the fourth quarter. And some analysts think ad revenue will grow quite a bit more slowly this year than last. This is where comparisons with Google, which went public in 2004, become apt. On its first day of trading, Google closed at $100.34 a share, which was 69 times the Christian Louboutin Bags company’s earnings. Back then, Google’s revenue and earnings were growing faster than Facebook’s today. If Facebook goes public with a $100 billion market value, it would trade at 103 times the profits it made in the 12 months through the end of March. In that case, investors aren’t just saying Facebook is the next Google, they are betting it is better than the I.P.O. of Google — a lofty goal by any measure.

Growth has to feed through to the people

Leaders of Germany and France Tuesday held talks on boosting economic growth amid the ongoing European debt crisis and keeping Greece within the eurozone. "We share the responsibility for a good Cheap Christian Louboutin development in Europe and I think we will find solutions for individual problems in this spirit," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a joint press conference with French President Francois Hollande, who just took office hours before his first diplomatic trip. The newly sworn-in French president said he is willing to build a "balanced" and "respectful" relationship with Germany. "Carried by this spirit, I believe we will of course find solutions for the different problems," Merkel said. For his part, Hollande said, "Everything should be put on the table" at the forthcoming informal summit of EU leaders in Brussels on May 23. "It will be very important that Germany and France present their ideas together at this summit and work closely together to prepare it," Merkel said. In addition, Hollande affirmed his wish for a renegotiation of the EU fiscal pact, saying that "I said it during my election campaign and I say it again now as president that I want to renegotiate what has been agreed to include a growth dimension." Referring to this, Merkel said, "Growth has to feed through to the people. And that's why I'm happy that we'll discuss different ideas on how to achieve growth." Despite their policy differences, both Hollande and Merkel have joined forces to build a workable relationship in order to continue the Franco-German cooperation to fight the eurozone debt crisis. At the conference, the leaders of the eurozone's two largest economies also expressed their wish for Greece to stay in the single currency bloc. "We want Greece to stay in the euro," Merkel said. She also said Germany and France were prepared "to study the possibility of additional growth measures in Greece" if Athens said they needed them. Hollande agreed with Merkel, saying promoting a growth-driven strategy was at the core of his presidential campaign. "I hope that we can say to the Greeks that Europe is ready to add measures to help growth and support economic activity so that there is a return to growth in Greece," Hollande said. Earlier in the day, the final critical talks among Greek party leaders failed to form a coalition government after the May 6 parliamentary elections, with the debt-ridden country heading to fresh polls in June. "Efforts to form a coalition administration ended Christian Louboutin Peep Toe with no result. On Wednesday a new party leaders meeting will discuss the appointment of a caretaker government to lead the country to repeat elections," the presidency said in a statement. Greece is suffering from political instability and a financial crisis, fueling fears that the country could face the risk of a chaotic default and an exit from the eurozone. Greece's leaving the single-currency club could send shockwaves across Europe and the international financial system.

Brown said he would negotiate with unions to make the changes

Gov. Jerry Brown proposed significant cuts to state courts and state worker pay - including reducing state employees' work week to four days - to help close a $15.7 billion gap between revenues and expenses for California's fiscal year that begins July 1. In announcing his revised budget proposal, which he called both "difficult" and "real, increased austerity," the governor also pressed his case for voters to approve Cheap Christian Louboutin a tax initiative that he is pushing in the November election. The governor's plan already counts the revenue the tax initiative would bring in - and if voters reject the taxes, then even deeper cuts would be required, Brown said. Those would include mid-year cuts to public schools, community colleges and the University of California and California State University systems. Brown spoke at the Capitol and immediately flew to Los Angeles, where he also made his case for his $91 billion general fund spending plan. The general fund pays for most state services."I said at the beginning when I ran for this job that it's taken a long time, more than a decade, to get into this mess. We're not going to get out of it in a year, or even two years. But we're getting there. We're making progress," Brown said. Overall, the budget plan relies on $8.3 billion in spending reductions and other cuts, nearly $6 billion from the taxes that would be collected if the November ballot measure passes, and $2.5 billion in "other" solutions including putting off the repayment of some loans. But even while counting on the increase in taxes, which are far from certain to pass, the governor projects the state will have a $7.7 billion deficit in two years. Still, Brown said the state's chronic deficits will remain a top issue for him. "I think you can be confident that before I leave here we will be in solid fiscal balance and we can look forward to a very stable future," he said. The bulk of the cuts, nearly $2.5 billion, come from health services and welfare, which Democrats in the Legislature have opposed. The federal government and courts also have already blocked similar reductions in services, but it appears the governor is going to try again to get approval on those, including In-Home Supportive Services and co-payments for Medi-Cal. The proposal seeks to make reductions in what the state pays to hospitals and nursing homes for treating the poor, along with adding limits on who qualifies for welfare. The $879 million proposed cut to CalWORKS, the state's welfare to work program, is actually smaller than what the governor first proposed in January, but Democrats have said the reduction would lead to homelessness and that they oppose it. "There is of course a balance between making necessary cuts, which we will do, and maintaining and preserving essential servicers for people, especially people most in need," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. Brown said he expects the budget negotiations, which must conclude by the June 15 deadline, will be "difficult," and Steinberg agreed. The largest and newest pieces of the revised plan include taking $1.4 billion that was left from the dismantling of the state's redevelopment agencies and using it for the general fund. Steinberg and others had initially wanted that money to help create affordable housing. Brown also has proposed a $544 million cut to the courts, which have been reduced significantly in recent years. That money would come from the reserves of local courts, along with delaying construction of new courthouses. Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye criticized the plan, Christian Louboutin Peep Toe saying, "The proposed cuts to the judicial branch are both devastating and disheartening. They will seriously compromise the public's access to their courts and our ability to provide equal access to justice throughout the state." She said she would hold an emergency meeting with leaders in the court system this week to address the plan. Another new element of the budget would take $292 million in proceeds from the state's mortgage settlement - funds that were slated to pay for existing programs that assist homeowners. Attorney General Kamala Harris objected to that proposal. Brown would use that money to plug the deficit. "While the state is undeniably facing a difficult budget gap, these funds should be used to help Californians stay in their homes," Harris said. The final major new piece is a $400 million reduction in state worker pay, which Brown proposed achieving by shortening the work week for state workers from five to four days. He said state employees would work longer hours on those four days for a total of 38 hours per week. State offices would stay open longer on those days as well. Union officials representing state workers actually proposed the plan to the governor and said it is the best of the bad options. "Nobody is OK with less pay, but what they're also not OK with is the constant uncertainty of 'Do I have a job or not? Is this going to mean layoffs or not?'" said Yvonne Walker, president of SEIU Local 1000, the California's largest state employee union. Brown said he would negotiate with unions to make the changes, which he said would apply to all state workers including those in public safety agencies such as Cal Fire and the California Highway Patrol. Looming in the budget negotiations are so-called "trigger cuts," or automatic spending reductions that would take place if the governor's tax measure is rejected by voters. His measure would raise the income tax on the state's top earners and the sales tax for everyone. Brown has called for just over $6 billion in those type of cuts, with nearly all of it - $5.5 billion - coming from K-12 education and community colleges. The UC and CSU systems would each take a mid-year cut of $250 million cut. California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott www.cheapclsneakers.com said the impact, roughly $300 million, on the schools he oversees would be a "breaking point" for some community colleges.

That you suddenly they are not suitable for dating

Always wanted to write something for you to write something for us, but it has not pen to paper. At this point, a person sitting on the wooden bench in front of Christian Louboutin Heels a lot of white butterflies fluttering in a pair, and listening to music, read about our story. Remember to write the article about our class, you told me to write an article about us, in fact, before I write the idea, but every time I lift the pen will know how to write, how to to express our feelings, it seems that no amount of words can not express the heart of the kind of feelings, so they did not write. More often, I would like to write a poem for you, because of the talent and less learning, and indeed could not write a decent, but dear please believe that one day I will write a beautiful poem to you. We first met when he first entered a time, in the class who do not know, then I think you look particularly like Huang Yi, now it looks nothing like, I do not understand when eyes. Just know, only occasionally see the lay a greeting, even acquaintances are out of the question, we later learned that our original junior high school in a school, speech and more gradually up, so did not take long on the familiar, every day at noon class together eating, after going to night classes to go back with the rock in front of the school holidays, eating, shopping boutiques, has been so until the high end. High near the end, we are faced with the Division of Arts, you say they do not like the stuff of science, science grades were not good, is not suitable for reading science, so I chose the text, but I chose the reason, because I really do not want to face do not want to back political history, despite the physical, but still suffer pain selected, then it told me that physics is all my source of pain. In the exam, I always worry about the physical drag my hind legs, let me pass the test one, however, the results of the test 98. Then think if I chose the liberal arts, then we can be together for two years, may want to separate, we still do not care. Placement, my classroom is on the fifth floor, in the second floor, we rarely meet, and sometimes even meet only lay a greeting. Living in different environments, the people around us naturally replaced, there is another dinner with the home, this change is inevitable, so even a trace Christian Louboutin Shoes Sale of bitterness nor regret or regret. Because I have always believed that the distance between people will not change because of the changes in the space, if you want to change but also because heart. Middle School when you buy a book with this communication, we said after we wrote a lot of text, speaking each other's feelings, encourage each other with fast college entrance examination, this book gave me, I have been treasure it. I you send a book to the middle of a paper folding heart, had you sent and asked me to do not lost heart, in fact, you silly, even if you do not say, I do not will it knocked off. Now book on my chest, and sometimes I come up with a look at the mirror I use now is also when you send, the last in bed are not careful, it trampled all sad for a long time, although bad , but I'm still in use. Last night we received the video chat, you are still over there is so cute, smile so bright, like a carefree child, do not know why every time I see your smile, I will be very happy, this is others can not give the feeling. Juaner her dad saying AA system life is the excitement is low, a little happy excited about a long time, but I like you. Have always felt that you are the most innocent girl I've ever seen, cute and simple, frank and sincere. You said Flanagan red rope in your hand, the interface is growing, but not out, I would like fixed as how will not be out with us with a long time, do not know to the day We will take down, it is extremely common, but loaded with our friendship. That you suddenly they are not suitable for dating, blind date after Well, my dear, you really stupid, only experienced know, perhaps now you only freshman, do not understand it, but to be experienced naturally know . In any case, my dear If you encounter your favorite, then I will definitely support you. Must be a good boy to deserve better, one day you get married, looking to find happiness, I will feel very happy, very happy. I have two years, you three years, we face the problem of graduation, after graduation, perhaps we even more difficult to meet, then after the baptism of the community, our friendship will become? I believe not. You said that their future living in Guangzhou, and I want to go to Kunming, but if you can, I hope we can work together in Guangzhou have time to go travel around town to look at, so do a lifetime of friends. At this point, the front of the butterfly flying everywhere, how beautiful all this and more would like to share with you, you were not around, so let me instead of you Cheap Christian Louboutin enjoy it. Sincere friendship does not lie in the Zhaozhaoxixi of companions, but rather a tacit understanding of the heart and the heart, dear, if you well is sunny.

The bacteria that infected Copeland

Whether she was hiking in the woods, growing organic vegetables or working on her master's degree in psychology, Aimee Copeland embraced her passions with Cheap Christian Louboutin determination and a constant smile that made friends wonder if she ever had bad days. Now the 24-year-old Georgia graduate student is fighting to survive a flesh-eating bacterial infection that forced doctors to amputate most of her left leg. They warned she would likely lose her other foot and both hands. Copeland contracted the rare infection, called necrotizing fasciitis, within a few days after suffering a deep cut May 1 when she fell from a broken zip line during an outdoor excursion. Her parents and sister remain at her side after a week at an Augusta hospital, while friends 200 miles away at the University of West Georgia in Carrollton are holding vigils and organizing blood drives while praying for Copeland to recover. "When she put her mind to a project, there was no letting go. She was relentless until it was completed," said Richard LaFleur, a fellow graduate student who enlisted Copeland to help recruit for the psychology department. "I don't expect anything less at this point because she's fighting for her life. If anyone will pull through this, it will be Aimee." Copeland had just finished her second year of graduate school and was planning to soon begin work on her thesis when she was injured. It happened on a kayaking trip with friends when she tried to cross the Little Tallapoosa River on a homemade zip line. The line broke and Copeland Christian Louboutin Shoes Sale fell onto the rocks below, suffering a nasty gash in her leg. Doctors at the local emergency room closed the wound with nearly two dozen staples, but it became infected within a few days. On May 4 she was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis and flown to Augusta for treatment by specialists. Infections by so-called flesh-eating bacteria are rare but sometimes can run rampant after even minor cuts or scratches. The bacteria enter the body, quickly reproduce and give off toxins that cut off blood flow to parts of the body. The affliction can destroy muscle, fat and skin tissue. Affected areas sometimes have to be surgically removed to save a patient's life. The bacteria that infected Copeland, a bug called Aeromonas hydrophila, is found in warm and brackish waters. Many people exposed to these bacteria don't get sick and when illnesses do occur, it's often diarrhea from swallowing bacteria in the water. Flesh-eating Aeromonas cases are considered extremely rare. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not keep statistics, and only a handful of infections have been reported in medical journals over the past few decades. Group A streptococcus is the type of bacteria usually blamed in flesh-eating cases, and most doctors often aren't looking for Aeromonas, said Amy Horneman, a microbiologist at the Baltimore VA Medical Center. "It's the Rodney Dangerfield of pathogens," said Horneman, referring to the late comedian who declared he couldn't get respect." But "when a traumatic water infection Christian Louboutin Heels occurs, that's the first organism you should think of."

The researchers also varied the time between the initial reminder

The team is calling for more measures to reduce christian louboutin the impact of shift working following the results of its study.

Researchers controlled the lives of 21 people, including meal and bedtimes.

The results, published in Science Translational Medicine, showed changes to normal sleep meant the body struggled to control sugar levels.

Some participants even developed early symptoms of diabetes within weeks.

Shift work has been associated with a host of health problems.

Doctors at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in the US, were trying to study its effects in a controlled environment.
Lower insulin levels

The 21 health-trial participants started with 10 hours' sleep at night. This was followed by three weeks of disruption to their sleep and body clocks.

The 21 health-trial participants started with 10 hours' sleep at night. This was followed by three weeks of disruption to their sleep and body clocks.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote

The evidence is clear that getting enough sleep is important for health, and that sleep should be at night for best effect”

Dr Orfeu Buxton Brigham and Women's Hospital

The length of the day was extended to 28 hours, Christian Louboutin Sandals creating an effect similar to a full-time flyer constantly getting jet lag.

Participants were allowed only 6.5 hours' sleep in the new 28-hour day, equivalent to 5.6 hours in a normal day. They also lived in dim light to prevent normal light resetting the body clock.

During this part of the study, sugar levels in the blood were "significantly increased" immediately after a meal and during "fasting" parts of the day.

The researchers showed that lower levels of insulin - the hormone that normally controls blood sugar - were produced.

Three of the participants had sugar levels which stayed so high after their meals they were classified as "pre-diabetic".

They also highlighted a risk of putting on weight as the body slowed down.

"The 8% drop in resting metabolic rate that we measured in our participants... translates into a 12.5-pound increase in weight over a single year," they wrote.

Lead researcher Dr Orfeu Buxton said: "We think these results support the findings from studies showing that, in people with a pre-diabetic condition, shift workers who stay awake at night are much more likely to progress to full-on diabetes than day workers.

"Since night workers often have a hard time Christian Louboutin Marpop Red Patent Leather Wedges sleeping during the day, they can face both circadian [body clock] disruption working at night and insufficient sleep during the day.

"The evidence is clear that getting enough sleep is important for health, and that sleep should be at night for best effect."

The research group called for more efforts to reduce the health impact of shift working.
Artificial world

Dr Matthew Hobbs, head of research at Diabetes UK, said: "This is an interesting study which shows that under extreme conditions involving sleep deprivation and 'tricking' the body clock, participants produced less insulin and therefore had higher blood glucose levels then when they were able to sleep normally and live according to normal daily rhythms."

He cautioned that the laboratory conditions were not the same as working nights.

"Clearly, this does not equate to the normal experience of shift workers who are able, for example, to use bright lights when not sleeping.

"The study also involved only 21 people. For these reasons, it is not possible to conclude that the findings would translate to real conditions in the wider public."

Tweaking memories related to drug abuse may keep addicts from relapsing, a new study published Friday in Science journal reported.

A group of Chinese scientists found that memories that connect drug-related "cues" such as needles or cigarettes to the pleasurable effects of drugs play a large role in Dooney Bourke Handbag former drug users' relapses, BBC News reported.

Lin Lu of the National Institute of Drug Dependence at Peking University in Beijing and his team combined traditional memory "extinction" procedures with a process called memory reconsolidation, Medical Daily reported.

More from GlobalPost: Study suggests some brains are wired for addiction

The scientists worked with 66 former heroin addicts, 22 of which had not taken the drug for an average of 11 years. Half the group was initially shown a short video of drug use to "open" their memory window, followed by "extinction sessions" where they interacted with more cues of heroin use, including handling fake heroin, Science News reported.

The other half of the group were initially shown a video of the countryside, which would not open the window, and then the drug-related visuals, BBC reported.

The researchers also varied the time between the initial reminder and the "extinction" sessions: Some people waited just 10 minutes, and others waited six hours.

During tests done one, 30, and 180 days later, the researchers found that levels of drug cravings were lower in those who had their memory window "opened" by a visual trigger and then experienced the drug-related cues 10 minutes later. Those participants also showed less of a blood android homme pressure rise in response to seeing drug paraphernalia compared with people who hadn’t received the reminder, Science News reported. Furthermore, those who waited six hours before undergoing the extinction didn’t get the same effect.

More northerly colonies are thought to be particularly at risk

Using high-resolution images taken using christian louboutin satellites, researchers analysed 44 colonies of emperor penguins around the coastline of Antarctica.

They found the total emperor penguin population could be put at 595,000, roughly double previous estimates of 270,000 to 350,000.

The discovery has been welcomed amid concerns that changes to levels of ice on the world's coldest continent could pose a threat to the species.

Peter Fretwell, who led the Christian Louboutin Pumps researchers at the British Antarctic Survey, said: “We are delighted to be able to locate and identify such a large number of emperor penguins. This is the first comprehensive census of a species taken from space.

"It gives us a bit more confidence not only that there are lots of emperor penguins out there but that we can actually keep track of them as well."

The technique used by the scientists allowed them to spot the black and white birds amongst the ice, rock and guano that litter the Antarctic landscape.

Emperor penguins breed in some of the most inhospitable and inaccessible conditions in the world, where temperatures can reach as low as -50C, making them difficult to study.

The satellite images, however, allowed the researchers to conduct the first detailed survey of the species. The study, which is published in the journal PLoS ONE, even identified seven colonies that had never been seen before.

A special technique known as pan-sharpening to increase the resolution of the satellite images allowed the researchers to differentiate between birds, shadows and penguin excrement, or guano.

The study marks the first time that researchers have counted the entire population of any species by satellite in a single season.

Dr Fretwell believes the same technique could also be use to tot Christian Louboutin Metallic Cork Platform Wedges Gold up numbers of other wild animals that stand out clearly against their natural habitat, such as flamingos or reindeer.

Counting other types of penguins from space, however, may not be so easy. While emperors are large and contrast sharply against the white snow and ice on which they stand, other species are smaller and tend to breed on dark-coloured rock.

Michelle LaRue, from the University of Minnesota, said: “The implications of this study are far-reaching: we now have a cost-effective way to apply our methods to other poorly-understood species in the Antarctic, to strengthen ongoing field research, and to provide accurate information for international conservation efforts."

Conservation groups fear emperor penguins will be badly affected by climate change in the Antarctic as the colonies rely upon sea ice. Some research has suggested volumes of sea ice has been decreasing due to global warming.

More northerly colonies are thought to be particularly at risk. The new technique should allow scientists to monitor the impacts on the penguins in real time.

Dr Phil Trathan, a biologist at the British DG Handbag Antarctic Survey, said: “Current research suggests that emperor penguin colonies will be seriously affected by climate change.

"An accurate continent-wide census that can be easily repeated on a regular basis will help us monitor more accurately the impacts of future change on this iconic species.

"The effects of warming around Antarctica are regional and uneven. In the future we anticipate that the more southerly colonies should remain, making these important gucci shoes sites for further research and protection.”

We need to learn more about the relationship between macrophages

Surgeons from the University of Maryland Medical Center yesterday detailed what they said was the world’s most-comprehensive face transplant — allowing christian louboutin a 37-year-old man to emerge from behind a mask 15 years after a gun accident almost killed him.

Richard Norris, of Hillsville, Va., was shot in the face in 1997 and lost his nose and lips and most movement in his mouth. Since then, he has had lifesaving and reconstructive surgeries, but none could repair him to the extent where he felt he could return to society. He wore a prosthetic nose and a mask even when entering the hospital for the transplant.

But last week, during a 36-hour operation, University of Maryland doctors gave him a new face from an anonymous donor whose organs saved five other patients’ lives on the same day.

Six days after the surgery, he could already move his tongue and open and close his eyes and was recovering much faster than doctors expected.

“He’s actually looking in the mirror shaving and brushing his teeth, which we never even expected,” said Dr. Eduardo Rodriguez, associate professor of surgery at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and head of the transplant team.

When Norris opened his eyes on the third day after the surgery with his family around him, he wanted to see a mirror.

“He put the mirror down and thanked me and hugged me,” Rodriguez said.

The operation follows successful face transplants in Fort Worth, Texas, and Boston last year.

Norris, who still is recovering in the hospital and did not appear at the media event, is the first full face-transplant recipient in the United States to retain his eyesight.

About 100 doctors, scientists and other university medical-staff members teamed up for the operation.

A single antibody caused tumors from seven different human cancers transplanted into mice to shrink or disappear, according to a new study led by Stanford University School of Medicine in the US. The researchers hope to repeat this dramatic finding with tests in humans within the next two years.

Senior author Dr Irving Weissman, professor of pathology at Stanford, and colleagues, write about their success in treating bladder, brain, breast, colon, liver, ovarian, and prostate cancer tumors in this week's online ahead of print issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

They say the antibody blocks a protein known as CD47, that sends "don't eat me" signals that cancer cells use to stop macrophages and other cells of the immune system from gobbling them up.

Anti-CD47 is the first antibody treatment to work against a variety of human solid tumors. The investigators said they are now eager to get started with phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials in humans within the next two years.

The treatment also significantly reduced the ability of the tumors to spread (metastasize) to other parts of the mice's bodies, and in some cases, the animals appeared to be "cured".

Weissman, who directs the Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine, both at Stanford, told the press their findings show "conclusively" that CD47 is a "a legitimate and promising target for human cancer therapy":

"Blocking this 'don't eat me' signal inhibits the growth in mice of nearly every human cancer we tested, with minimal toxicity," said Weissman.

Dr Robert Weinberg is a professor of biology at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research in Massachusetts and was not involved in the research. He describes the findings as "exciting work" that is bound to cause a worldwide rush to translate these findings into useful therapies.

"Mobilizing the immune system to attack solid tumors has been a longstanding goal of many cancer researchers for decades," said Weinberg.

Weissman's lab had already discovered that CD47 is Christian Louboutin Slingback normally expressed on the surfaces of circulating blood stem cells as a way to stop them being attacked by macrophages, clean-up cells of the immune system that go around looking for rogue cells to eliminate, but sometimes get it wrong.

A CD47 signal prompts the macrophage to release a snared cell.

Weissman and colleagues had also previously discovered that some types of cancer cells, such as those of leukemia and lymphoma, have also found a way to express CD47 on their surfaces to send the "don't eat me" signal and avoid being eaten by macrophages.

They found that by giving mice with human non-Hodgkin's lymphoma an antibody that blocks CD47, together with an agent that boosts the macrophages' killing instinct, cured some of them.

But what they didn't know then was this tactic was also used by many other human cancers, and thus how clinically important this potential treatment might be.

This latest study involved experts from many fields including, oncology, urology, obstetrics and gynecology, radiation oncology, neurosurgery, hematology, pathology, otolaryngology and hepatology. This was to collect samples from a range of human cancers.

The researchers found that nearly every human cancer cell they investigated expressed CD47, on average, about three times as strongly as non-cancerous cells.

They also found that people whose cancer cells express a lot of CD47 tend not to live as long as those with similar cancers but whose cancer cells express less CD47. This feature could be a very useful tool in cancer prognosis.

Once they obtained the human tumor samples, the researchers implanted them in the matching parts of the bodies of prepared lab mice: for instance breast tumors into mammary fat pads, and ovarian tumors into the abdomen.

Two weeks later, once the tumors were well established, they began treating the mice with the antibody that blocks CD47.

The researchers observed that within weeks, most of the tumors began to shrink, and in some cases even disappear.

In the case of five mice transplanted with cells from the same human breast cancer tumor, when the tumors disappeared, the researchers stopped the treatment.

The mice were still cancer-free four months later.

The researchers conclude:

"These results indicate that anti-CD47 antibodies can dramatically inhibit the growth of human solid tumors by blocking the ability of CD47 to transmit the 'don't eat me' signal to macrophages."

Weissman said that if the tumor was highly aggressive, the CD47 antibody also blocked metastasis.

"It's becoming very clear that, in order for a cancer to survive in the body, it has to find some way to evade the cells of the innate immune system," he explained.

The innate immune system is the first line of defence against invading pathogens like viruses and bacteria. Its response is more generalized that the fine-tuned responses of the adaptive immune system that has antibodies and T cells able to recognize and attack specific molecules.

However, in some cases, the CD47 antibody treatment did not work. A group of mice transplanted with human breast cancer cells from one specific patient showed no response at all.

Weissman said there was still a lot to learn.

"We need to learn more about the relationship between macrophages and tumor cells, and how to draw more macrophages to the tumors," he explained.

Perhaps reducing tumor size with surgery or radiotherapy before the antibody treatment could help, or even use it with another antibody to stimulate the immune cells Christian Louboutin Petal Sandals Violet Blue to kill the cancer cells, he said.

In the meantime, the researchers believe their findings are sufficient to show this single antibody holds promise, and sets the stage for advancing research.

Ratterman stressed that all companies have technical glitches

The pending home sales index slipped by 0.5 christian louboutin percent to 96.5 in February from 97.0 the previous month, but it was up 9.2 percent from the year-earlier period.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected signed contracts, which lead existing home sales by a month or two, to advance 1 percent, after a previously reported 2.0 percent rise.

“The spring homebuying season looks bright because of an elevated level of contract offers so far this year,” said Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said we’re seeing the continuation of an uneven but higher sales pattern. “If activity is sustained near present levels, existing-home sales will see their best performance in five years.”

Pending sales were strongest in the Midwest, where they jumped 6.5 percent — a 19 percent increase from February 2011.

The weakest region for sales was in the South, where they fell 3 percent. In the West, pending sales dropped 2.6 percent in February to 99.3, while in the Northeast they were down 0.6 percent.

After botching its debut as a public company last week, BATS Global Markets issued a heartfelt apology Sunday night in a letter to customers.

"Let me get right to the point," said Joe Ratterman, chief executive of BATS, in the letter. "BATS experienced a serious technical failure Friday morning and I want to apologize for not measuring up to the level of excellence that you have come to expect from us."

The technical failure came on the day BATS had hoped to sell its own stock to the public for the first time. BATS, which operates stock exchanges, intended to list the stock Christian Louboutin High Boots on its own trading platform.

But trading in the newly issued BATS stock was halted when the price suddenly plunged almost immediately after it hit the market, triggering a so-called circuit breaker.
The Wall Street multibillion scandal no one is talking about

"On Friday we were under the brightest spotlight imaginable ... opening our own stock on our own exchange for the first time ever," said Ratterman. "It doesn't get much more public than that."

Despite months of preparation and "rigorous" testing, BATS said it experienced a "system problem" that prevented the stock from trading properly.

Ratterman stressed that all companies have technical glitches and that BATS exchanges have run smoothly 99.9% of the time over the last three years.

"It shouldn't have failed, but it did, and the timing couldn't have been worse," said Ratterman.

Ratterman suggested the offering could have been salvaged if the problem had been resolved quickly. But it took over two hours to reopen the market and by then the damage had been done.

"We determined that this was a material Christian Louboutin Jean Paul 120 Wedges Sandals Jade event that had eroded investor confidence and made the timely resumption of fair and orderly trading unlikely," he wrote. "As a result, we pulled the IPO and unwound all auction executions."

BATS is the third-largest exchange operator in the United States after NYSE Euronext (NYX, Fortune 500) and the NASDAQ OMX Group (NDAQ), according to the company's investment prospectus.

Police say five children have been shot

Urging Americans to "do some soul-searching," President Barack Obama injected himself into the emotional debate over the fatal shooting of a teenager in Florida,christian louboutin turning the racially charged case into a personal matter for the nation's first black president.

"If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," Obama said Friday at the White House. "I can only imagine what these parents are going through, and when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids."

Obama said the parents of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., a suburb of Orlando, have a right to expect "that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened."

Trayvon was shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, who said he was acting in self-defense. Zimmerman's father is white, and his mother is Hispanic. The shooting has stoked debate over race as well as other issues. Obama did not mention Zimmerman in his comments.

Zimmerman's defense attorney, Craig Sonner, said on CNN on Friday that Zimmerman is not racist and the facts will show he acted in self-defense as he told police.

"I really think there are other issues in this case and that it's not an issue of racism," Sonner said.

Trayvon was returning to a friend's home from a convenience store when Zimmerman started following him, telling police dispatchers he looked suspicious. At some point, the two got into a fight and Zimmerman pulled out his gun.

Zimmerman told police Martin attacked him after he had given up chasing the teenager and was returning to his SUV.

Also Friday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said the Stand Your Ground law he signed in 2005 shouldn't protect Zimmerman.

"Stand your ground means stand your ground. It doesn't mean chase after somebody who's turned their back," Bush told reporters at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Civil rights groups have held rallies in Florida, New York and Pennsylvania, saying the shooting was unjustified. Of Sanford's 53,000 residents, 57% are white and 30% are black.

The White House had said earlier in the week Christian Louboutin 2011 that it was "not going to wade into a local law enforcement matter" though offering sympathies to Trayvon's family. But that changed Friday when Obama answered a shouted question following a ceremony on another issue.

Obama cautioned before speaking that he must "be careful so we're not impairing any investigation." But he said he was glad the Justice Department was investigating and that Florida officials had formed a task force.

Trayvon's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, said in a statement that Obama's words "touched us deeply and made us wonder: If his son looked like Trayvon and wore a hoodie, would he be suspicious, too?"

The Justice Department and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation into Trayvon's death, and a grand jury is considering whether to charge Zimmerman.

More Details:

GOP presidential contenders spoke Friday about the death of Trayvon Martin:

Mitt Romney said there should be a "thorough investigation" and called Trayvon's death "a tragedy." He said an investigation would reassure the public that "justice is carried out with impartiality and integrity."

Rick Santorum said the shooting was "horrible" and that the case is a "chilling example of the horrible decisions made by people in this process." Santorum said any investigation should be left to local and state authorities.

Newt Gingrich called the death "a tragedy" and described the shooter as "a guy who'd found a hobby that's very dangerous." Gingrich said local prosecutors were right to bring the case to a grand jury.

More Details: Detroit rally

A rally in Detroit's Hart Plaza is planned for 6 p.m. Monday to urge justice in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and draw attention to the increase in violent deaths of children in the city.

Police say five children have been shot, two fatally, in Detroit since the end of January.

A coalition of civil rights groups, labor Christian Louboutin Petal Sandals Black unions and ministers are behind the rally, said Kevin Tolbert of the UAW International.

Tolbert, 38, of Detroit said the coalition started organizing the rally Wednesday and is spreading the word through social media.

The visit will highlight the fundamental importance

After a day of basketball, President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron will get down to business Wednesday, the second day of his trip to the United States.
During their meetings, the two leaders are expected to discuss the upcoming NATO and G8 summits, as well as Afghanistan, christian louboutin the Middle East, Iran and the global economy, according to the White House.
They will also have a joint news conference, and lunch and dinner at the White House.
Cameron's trip to the United States is intended to demonstrate that ties between the countries remain as close as ever. On Tuesday, Obama gave a nod to America's heartland in a halftime interview conducted during an NCAA basketball game in Ohio.
He said he wanted to show the British leader a part of America rarely seen by foreign visitors.
"I thought it was going to be wonderful for the prime minister to have a chance not only to see a basketball game for first time, but also to come to the great state of Ohio, because sometimes when we have foreign visitors, they only see the coasts, they go to New York, they go to Washington, they go to Los Angeles, but you know the heartland is what it's all about," Obama said.
Obama's hat tip to Ohio, and his choice of venue, may not be pure coincidence -- Ohio is historically a key swing state in presidential elections.
Cameron and Obama flew together on Air Force One to Dayton, Ohio, to take in an opening game of the NCAA basketball tournament.
Obama, well-known as a basketball fan, was treating Cameron to a little March Madness, and the pair conducted the joint television interview at halftime of the game between Western Kentucky and Mississippi Valley State.
Asked how he thought the teams were playing, Obama replied candidly.
"Both teams are shooting terribly," Obama said. "It may be nerves. These are not teams that normally end up coming to the tournament."
Cameron said he enjoyed watching the basketball game, adding that Obama was explaining the ins-and-outs of the American sport.
"He was giving me some tips," Cameron said. "He's going to help me fill out my bracket."
Cameron's trip to the United States is intended to demonstrate that ties between the countries remain as close as ever.
The White House labeled Cameron's visit an official one, not a state one.
That's because the label of Christian Louboutin High Boots state visit is reserved for heads of state, and Cameron is the head of government. Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state.
However, the White House statement said Cameron would attend a state dinner Wednesday night, the sixth of the Obama administration so far.
"The fact that we are hosting the prime minister in the manner that we are demonstrates the nature of the relationship between our two countries; the fact that it is a special relationship," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Tuesday.
Cameron and his wife, Samantha, will leave Washington on Thursday.
"The visit will highlight the fundamental importance of the U.S.-U.K. special relationship and the depth of the friendship between the American people and the people of the United Kingdom, as well as the strong personal bond that has developed between the two leaders and their families," a White House statement said.
In a joint op-ed published Tuesday in The Washington Post, Obama and Cameron emphasized the global benefits of the strong alliance between their nations.
"The alliance between the United States and Great Britain is a partnership of the heart, bound by the history, traditions and values we share," the two leaders wrote. "But what makes our relationship special -- a unique and essential asset -- is that we join hands across so many endeavors. Put simply, we count on each other and the world counts on our alliance."
Troops and citizens of the Christian Louboutin Stretch Platform OTK Boot two countries "have long shown what can be achieved when British and Americans work together, heart and hand, and why this remains an essential relationship -- to our nations and the world," the commentary by Obama and Cameron said.

The soldier was never in the custody of Afghan forces

In a village in the district of Panjwai, in Kandahar province, a young man sits against a tree with his knees to his chest and his head christian louboutin hanging down. When he lifts his head, his eyes are full of tears.

The reason for his sorrow is lying in the back of pickup trucks a few yards away.

In the back of the trucks, a dead toddler with a bloodstained face lies between two dead men. In another truck, a blanket is pulled back to reveal the charred legs and feet of two more bodies. All of them are villagers killed in an attack while they slept in their homes before dawn Sunday.

They are some of the 16 victims of what Afghan officials have said was a rampage by a U.S. soldier from a base in western Kandahar.

Confusion, outrage follow massacre

"One guy came in and pulled a boy from his sleep and he shot him in this doorway. Then they came back inside the room and put a gun in the mouth of one child and stomped on another child," a mother said as she sat in her home.

Another mother was filled with rage and sorrow as she sat in one of the vehicles transporting the dead.

"Four girls and four boys. They are 2-year-olds. Are these Talibs?" she barked.

The Taliban have vowed revenge for the incident, but so far, no violent protests have erupted. Meanwhile, the families in the two villages where the shooting occurred spent the day burying their loved ones.

The western district has been known to be a hotbed of Taliban activity, even considered the birthplace of the Taliban. But the woman said she swears she hadn't seen Taliban fighters in five months.

She said she was one of many who had moved back to the village because people on the nearby military base had said it was safe to return home, and that nobody would bother them.

"This base told us to come back to our villages ... we will not bother you. This is your land, and this is your own village," she said. "But these dogs came and grabbed us."

President Barack Obama and other top U.S. officials have expressed their sorrow and condolences to the families. But that had little meaning in the village, where a local minister said one family lost 11 members Sunday.

"Look at these bodies. They all Christian Louboutin Flats belong to one family," one of the villagers said through tears.

Old and young men alike wept openly, while investigators sifted through the grisly scene picking up shell casings and picking through at least one home where the floors and walls were stained with blood.

Sorrow was soon replaced by anger at American forces. Some of the villagers said there was more than one soldier on the ground when the killings occurred.

But the International Security Assistance Force, the U.S.-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, said that was not the case -- that the killings appear to be the result of a single soldier, who walked away from his outpost and acted alone.

How will slaughter affect the NATO military mission?

There was new information Monday about the soldier accused of the killings. A Department of Defense official told CNN the man, a staff sergeant, was a qualified infantry sniper, trained to hit to kill at about 800 meters. He had spent three tours of duty in Iraq, where he suffered a traumatic brain injury in a 2010 vehicle accident.

After treatment, he was cleared to return to duty and was serving his first tour in Afghanistan.

The massacre has further inflamed tensions between U.S. and Afghan leaders and the people of Afghanistan. Afghan lawmakers have asked for a public trial to be held on Afghan soil, but Pentagon spokesman George Little said the case would be handled by the American military.

"The soldier was never in the custody of Afghan forces and will not face punishment under the Afghan justice system," Little said. "The U.S. military has strong means to address wrongdoing. There is an agreement in place with the government of Afghanistan, so that the investigation -- and when appropriate, prosecution -- will be done through U.S. military channels."

But village tribal leaders said Christian Louboutin Toundra Trimmed Suede Ankle Boots Chestnut their people can't comprehend how a trained professional soldier could have acted alone and done such a thing.

Israel is not keen to see an escalation

The latest violence has followed a familiar pattern in which militants launch numerous rocket attacks and Israel carries out air christian louboutin strikes in the Hamas-controlled enclave but the bloodshed has usually ended after a few days with an informal truce.

Gaza's Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said late on Sunday that neighboring Egypt was working to stop the violence and was consulting with militant factions but added that Israel would have to first stop its air strikes.

The Islamic Jihad militant group, which has been responsible for much of the rocket firing, claimed Monday's dead as its own.

One man was hit while launching a rocket at Israel from a location in southern Gaza. Another was killed and three others wounded when their motorized rickshaw was hit, the group said.

Gaza hospital sources said 25 civilians were hurt when an Israeli rocket hit a house in northern Gaza.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said aircraft had carried out six strikes on Monday. She added that at least two Palestinian rockets had landed in Israel since midnight.

Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, armed groups largely independent of Hamas, have said they fired most of the Christian Louboutin Pumps rockets launched at Israel since Friday.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak predicted in a statement on Sunday that it would take several more days until the violence ended and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would hit hard at militants who launched rockets at its towns.

The attacks have disrupted normal life in southern Israel, forcing many schools to close on Sunday and Monday. Israeli aircraft have continued to overfly Gaza since Friday, killing at least 20 people, including two civilians.

Though serious, few in Israel expect the bloodshed to lead to a major ground assault reminiscent of the 2008-2009 Gaza war in 2009 which left some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.

"Israel is not keen to see an escalation, Israel is not keen to hurt innocents - Israel is absolutely opposed to this," said Interior Minister Eli Yishai, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's eight-member inner council.

"For now, it (fighting) is on this kind of scale. But if it will prove protracted, then without a doubt there will be a powerful, painful blow will be so that this will not continue," he told Israel's Army Radio.

The latest round of violence flared on Friday when an air strike killed two Palestinian militant leaders in Gaza accused by Christian Louboutin Vicky Botta 120mm Boots Red Israel of planning a cross-border attack via Egypt. A salvo of rockets followed, leaving six people wounded in Israel.

Over 40 of some 160 militant rockets estimated to have been fired since Friday have been intercepted and destroyed by Israel's new Iron Dome anti-missile system, the military said.

A number of existing notebooks and tablets

When reports of Apple’s third iPad first started emerging, the prospect of the tablet including a 9.7-inch Retina Display christian louboutin seemed slim to none. Industry analysts said suppliers couldn’t manufacturer super-high-resolution displays at such large dimensions en masse — at least not in time for an early spring iPad launch.

Fast forward six months. On the eve of Wednesday’s iPad announcement, reporters, industry analysts, and supply chain snoops all opined with complete confidence that Apple would be unveiling a new tablet featuring a super-high-resolution, 2048 x 1536 display.

And of course, they were right. So what gives?

“I think mainly the big question marks were around the fact that it hadn’t been done before,” NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim told Wired. “There hasn’t been a demand for it, or an OS that could utilize all those pixels. It’s new territory.”

A number of existing notebooks and tablets already feature high-resolution displays. Take Acer’s HD resolution Iconia Tab A200. But the A200′s resolution is only 1280 x 800 — more than the iPad 2′s 1024 x 768, but a far cry from the new iPad’s Quad XGA resolution.

Most of the early Retina Display skepticism centered around how these super-high-resolution screens were going to be developed. Many analysts were originally under the impression that Apple would be using an entirely new fabrication technique called IGZO, which stands for indium gallium zinc oxide, the material to be used in the display’s transistors. But it turns out, says Paul Semenza, senior vice president of DisplaySearch, of Apple’s three display suppliers — LG, Samsung and Sharp — only Sharp is going the IGZO route. LG and Samsung are sticking with tried-and-true materials (amorphous silicon) for now.

“To Apple it doesnt matter [which is used] as long as the specs are met,” IHS analyst Vinita Jakhanwal told Wired. But IGZO does have some perks. “IGZO has higher electron mobility, which means higher resolution than amorphous silicon without comprising on the brightness,” Jakhanwal said.

In case you’re wondering, there’s Christian Louboutin Slingback no need to worry that one display would look different, or better, than the other. Semenza says it’s very hard to tell the difference between the two types of displays. What’s more, we may never get to the point of ever needing to look. As Jakhanwal told us, “Sharp may actually have to turn back, and use regular amorphous silicon.”

Transistor materials aside, when rumors of a new Retina Display iPad first started surfacing, the biggest question marks concerned production volumes. As Rhoda Alexander, director of tablet and monitor research for the research firm iSuppli, told Wired in November 2011, “We know there are yield issues. This is certainly a huge step up as far as pixel format, and every time you do that, there will be yield issues.”

Today, yield issues would seem to persist — though Apple appears to be undaunted. And how’s this for an ominous report: IHS’ Jakhanwal told Wired that only one of Apple’s three suppliers — Samsung — is currently making display panels for the iPad. “Meeting pre-order demand is still a concern. A single display supplier doing this will be challenging,” she said.

So where are the other suppliers? DisplayMate CEO Raymond Soneira told Wired in an e-mail, “Sharp has stated (in its end-of-2011 financial statements on the Japan website) that it is experiencing ‘significant delays’ with IGZO.” Semenza of DisplaySearch also noted that Sharp’s use of a new factory could be adding complications to its production process.

Prior to the new iPad’s unveiling, industry analysts also questioned whether any 9.7-inch, super-high-resolution display could satisfy Apple’s stringent quality requirements. “The fact that they have to manage the tradeoffs of getting to such a high resolution without compromising brightness and power consumption is the main challenge here,” Jakhanwal said.

To accommodate the Retina Display, Semenza said Apple had to make the backlight bigger — using more LED chips to support the higher resolution — and perhaps went with a slightly larger battery to maintain satisfactory battery life. This would explain why the new iPad is a little bit thicker and heavier than the iPad 2.

Processor power also comes into play with the new display. With a chip like Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor, “there’s more capability to handle higher resolution panels,” Shim said. Of course, we now know the new iPad has a dual-core A5X processor, but relies on a quad-core graphics chip to support the vast array of 3.1 million pixels in its display.

The analysts we interviewed expressed concern that Apple will be able to meet all production demands, especially for pre-orders. Jakhanwal said Apple’s other two suppliers — Sharp and LG — are expected to ramp up Christian Louboutin Vicky Botta 120mm Boots Red production in April, and this should satisfy demand in the long-term. Nonetheless, on the whole it looks like Apple has managed to pull off the nearly impossible once again.

Senators are seeking to attach their pet issues to the bill

With gas prices becoming a high-octane campaign issue, the Democratic-led Senate defeated a Republican effort Thursday to advance christian louboutin the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

The vote to attach the project to a must-pass transportation bill required 60 votes to advance. It received 56, with 11 Democrats joining Republicans in support; 42 senators voted no.

President Obama had called senators to urge a no vote.

"We hope that the Congress will ... not waste its time with ineffectual, sham legislation," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.

But the effort — along with a vote on a measure to expand offshore drilling that was also rejected — was designed to highlight differences between the two parties and provide fodder in this year's battle for control of the White House and the Senate.

"The president simply can't claim to have a comprehensive approach to energy, because he doesn't. And any time he says he does, the American people should remember one word: Keystone," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. No Republicans opposed the Keystone measure, but two did not vote.

The pipeline would carry oil from Canada's tar sands in Alberta south to Texas refineries. Obama rejected it in January, saying Congress had imposed too tight a deadline for adequate review. The pipeline's original route would have passed through the Nebraska Sandhills region atop the massive Ogallala aquifer.

Republicans are eager to showcase Obama's decision as proof that the administration is not doing enough to generate jobs and increase energy supplies. Opponents of the project accuse supporters of exaggerating the number of jobs it would create and dispute that it would reduce gas prices.

Pump prices have moved center stage on Capitol Hill, with hearings and an almost daily barrage of GOP criticisms of the administration's approach to energy policy.

The pipeline issue has divided core Democratic constituencies, with some labor unions backing the project as an opportunity to create jobs. But environmentalists warn that the pipeline would expand the nation's carbon footprint and create more pollution.

An alternative Democratic measure also failed. It would have prohibited the export of oil transported in the Keystone XL pipeline and, according to its sponsor, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), put "teeth behind all of the debate that this energy is going to be for the American consumer."

Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), who led the floor debate on the Keystone amendment, argued that the Democratic alternative would have added "additional impediments" to the project.

The Keystone votes come as the Senate is on track to pass a $109-billion, two-year transportation bill next week. The legislation sets road, highway and transit priorities.

But the bill's fate is uncertain because House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) has been unable to corral a majority for passage in the Republican-controlled House. Republicans are in disagreement over how big the bill should be and what it should include.

Boehner said Thursday that he planned to bring up the Senate bill "or something like it" after the House returns from a weeklong recess next week.

A Republican-led effort in the Senate to open more coastal areas to energy exploration was defeated, with 44 in favor and 54 Christian Louboutin Pumps against. The initial tally was 46 to 52, but two senators later changed their votes.

"We don't need any more giveaways to Big Oil," Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said in opposition, warning that opening the Atlantic and Pacific to new drilling would put tourism-dependent coastal economies at risk.

"You can't drill your way out of this," Boxer added.

Boxer, who as chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee helped write the transportation bill, has warned that attaching controversial provisions could jeopardize the legislation, which supporters say would fund job-creating highway and mass transit projects.

Senators are seeking to attach their pet issues to the bill, which could be one of the few measures to make it through Congress in this election year.

One measure that did pass Thursday would steer 80% of the penalties paid by BP for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill to restoring coastal ecosystems and rebuilding Gulf Coast economies. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) called the Christian Louboutin Stretch Platform OTK Boot action "a huge step toward making sure any fines against BP end up in the local communities harmed by the company's oil spill."

Modern commanders in chief have routinely asked for military

The Pentagon’s top two officials acknowledged Wednesday that President Obama had asked for preliminary military options that christian louboutin could help end the increasingly violent Syria conflict, but they emphasized the risks and said the administration still believes diplomatic and economic pressure is the best way to protect Syrians from the Assad regime’s vindictive repression.

The appraisal by Army General Martin E. Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta in Senate testimony reflected increased concern about the year-old uprising in Syria, the most violent of the Arab Spring conflicts. The UN estimates more than 7,500 people have been killed in clashes in Syria thus far.

Their comments also reflected Syria’s politicization in the United States during a presidential election year, with Obama’s adversaries accusing him of weakness in the face of foreign crises.


They spoke two days after Senator John McCain, a Republican of Arizona, who lost to Obama in 2008, became the first senator to call for US airstrikes on Syria as “the only realistic way’’ to stop what he called a slaughter there. Both Dempsey and Panetta spent much of their testimony fending off McCain’s questions about why the administration was so reluctant.

Their exchanges at the Senate Armed Services Committee came as the conflict in Syria took some dramatic new turns.

The United Nations’ top relief official, Valerie Amos, visited the ravaged Syrian city of Homs - the first inspection there by an independent outside observer since President Bashar Assad ordered a ferocious military assault of the city’s armed resistance more than a month ago. Ominous signs emerged that Assad’s forces Christian Louboutin Evening would now direct their campaign northward to Idlib Province, where the Free Syrian Army, a group composed mostly of army defectors, are challenging his authority.

Dempsey told the committee that the options included humanitarian airlifts, naval monitoring, aerial surveillance of the Syrian military, and the establishment of a no-fly zone. Specifically, he said that “the president of the United States, through the national security staff, has asked us to begin the commander’s estimate’’ - a term for an initial assessment of a situation and potential courses of military action.

Panetta, who spoke alongside Dempsey, told the committee that military options were in the earliest stages. “We have not done the detailed planning because we are waiting for the direction of the president to do that,’’ he said.

Modern commanders in chief have routinely asked for military options during foreign crises, and the Pentagon as part of its daily business draws up contingency plans for a wide range of potential conflicts.

Panetta and Dempsey spent much time explaining the difficulties of military action. Panetta said intervention could expedite a civil war in the country and make an explosive situation worse. He said bluntly that the Obama administration recognized “that there are limitations of military force, especially with Christian Louboutin Toundra Trimmed Suede Ankle Boots Chestnut US boots on the ground.’’

He added “it doesn’t make sense’’ for the United States to act without a coalition of allies.

A video of Chandler's highlights from last season

Nowitzki scored nine of his 28 points in a game-clinching run after the Mavericks had lost the lead by going scoreless the first christian louboutin 7½ minutes of the fourth quarter, and Dallas beat the Knicks 95-85 on Tuesday night.

"This was a much-needed win. It was a big character win," Mavericks guard Jason Kidd said. "We responded with some stops and Dirk made some big shots."

Nowitzki made a 14-foot fadeaway jumper with 4:34 left, starting a 14-0 run when the 11-time All-Star forward scored nine points.

That was right after the Knicks, who had trailed by as many as 19, scored the first 15 points of the fourth quarter and went ahead 78-77 when Amare Stoudemire penetrated to make a shot with about 5 minutes left. It was their first lead since scoring the game's first four points, and didn't last long.

"The rhythm I had there in the second half, I was definitely looking for the ball," said Nowitzki, who scored 24 after halftime. "I was chasing the ball sometimes, I was looking at Kidd and basically telling him, just bring it over here and let me try and take it home."

Jeremy Lin had 14 points and seven assists, solid numbers but only half of what he had nearly 2½ weeks ago when the Knicks won at home against Dallas. He had 28 points and 14 assists in that game before the All-Star break that ended a six-game winning streak for the Mavericks, and started a stretch of six losses in eight games before Tuesday night.

The Knicks are 2-4 since then, and have consecutive losses for the first time since Lin became a starter a month ago.

Stoudemire had 26 points. Tyson Chandler, who got his NBA championship ring from the Mavericks before the game, had six points, eight rebounds and a technical foul.

When Nowitzki made a short baseline shot with 2:27 left to stretch the lead to 88-78, Chandler was standing at the scorer's table waiting to get back into the game. He was motioning for a travel call against his former teammate, and even tapped an official running by before Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni called timeout.

"First half we did a great job containing him," Stoudemire said of Nowitzki. "Second half, he was able to get it going a little bit, a couple of open shots, a couple of tough shots, a couple of travel shots. But he played well."

Chandler got called for the technical during the stoppage in play, and Nowitzki made the free throw.

Rodrigue Beaubois added 18 points for Christian Louboutin Sneakers
the Mavericks, while Kidd had 15 points and six assists.

Dallas, which lost at Oklahoma City on Monday night, wraps up a stretch of nine games in 12 days with three road games in three nights, starting Thursday in Phoenix.

Mavericks fans were cheering loudly with 13 seconds left in the third quarter when Nowitzki, with JR Smith pushing against him, finally moved around and drew the foul while driving toward the basket. Nowitzki made both free throws to make it 77-63, but the Mavericks didn't score again until he dominated in the game-turning spurt.

Lin wasn't even on the court the first 8 minutes of the fourth quarter when the Knicks briefly took the lead.

"We made a run with our second team," Lin said. "We couldn't close this game out and they obviously did a great job of getting defensive stops. Those stops led to quick easy buckets and Dirk is a clutch player who scores a lot in the fourth quarter."

The Mavericks played without starting center Brendan Haywood and post player Brandan Wright, who missed his third consecutive game after a concussion.

Coach Rick Carlisle said Haywood still had some swelling after rolling his ankle on the opening possession in the loss at Oklahoma City, but would travel with the team. Wright will not make the upcoming three-game trip.

Haywood became the Mavs starter after Chandler got a $56 million, four-year contract with the Knicks in a sign-and-trade that was part of a three-team deal at the start of training camp.

In a short ceremony before the game, Chandler became the last player from the Mavericks' 2010-11 team to get his NBA championship ring.

A video of Chandler's highlights from last season was shown before the 7-foot-1 center got a nice ovation from Mavericks fans.

"To us, he was that missing piece last year that took us over the top," Nowitzki said. "I was happy to see him get a great ovation by the crowd. That was a special moment for him and for us. I'm glad everything got their ring now and we can focus on getting to the playoffs."

Notes: The Knicks played the second of Christian Louboutin Tina Boots Fringed Suede Purple four consecutive road games, and four of six away from Madison Square Garden. They are at San Antonio on Wednesday night. … Mavericks guard Vince Carter went 1-for-8 shooting for three points. He made a 3-pointer for the first Dallas basket, and didn't make another shot.