Days left to Stop Canada's Deadly Oil (Click here)

"Canada mines deadly oil that creates toxic sludge lakes and destroys forests in Alberta -- and Harper needs Obama's help to sell it. Our own government is captured by powerful oil interests, but Obama is wavering on building a new cross-border pipeline. If enough Canadians ask him to protect the world from our deadly oil, we could tip the balance away from pollution. 

Within days, President Obama could decide whether to allow a massive tar sands pipeline right through the middle of the U.S. -- boosting tar sands production and risking the contamination of major fresh water sources in his own country. PM Harper and his oil cronies have tarnished Canada's beauty and reputation, but Obama has the ultimate say on pipeline approval and he’s keen to strengthen his green credentials. He could override Harper's stubborn support for deadly oil.

Harper stopped listening to Canadians about climate a long time ago. Now, we have the chance to lobby the US and cut-off deadly oil for good. When we reach 50,000 signatures, we'll deliver our call directly to the White House. Let’s save Canada’s tarred image -- sign now and forward to everyone you know!" - Avaaz.org

Teen moms, get ready to go back to school with these fantastic Old Navy sales!

Source: tosh.0 blog

This teenage mother trend is clearly important enough to cause a new fashion line. What is happening to sexual health education in the U.S.?

Tell us what you think!

"House" Season Premiere Scoop!

"Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d type: House will be doing time in the pokey alongside Urkel!

Former child geek Jaleel White will guest star in the Oct. 3 season premiere of House as a fellow inmate of Hugh Laurie’s titular grouch, TVLine has confirmed.

White is, of course, best known for his iconic role as the suspenders-clad little Einstein at the center of the ’90s sitcom Family Matters. In recent years, the now-34-year-old actor has made guest appearances on The Game, Psych and Boston Legal.

The prison-set House opener, intriguingly titled “20 Vicodin,” picks up a year after the events of May’s finale and also features a guest turn by Michael Paré (Eddie and the Cruisers) as the warden." - Michael Ausiello, TV Line.

House Spoiler: First Look at House in Prison!

Kids of Older Dads Face Brain Health Risks

"Children of older fathers are more likely to be diagnosed with autism, schizophrenia and a number of other neuropsychiatric or developmental disorders, and a new study reveals why this may be.

 The results show that older male mice are more likely than younger males to have offspring with mutations in genes that correspond to human genes associated with these neurological conditions. The genomes of mice and men are roughly 85 percent identical.

"Mice do not get schizophrenia or autism," said Dr. John McGrath, senior author of the study published today (Aug.30) in the journal Translational Psychiatry. "But, we have found previously that the offspring of older mice have subtle changes in brain structure and behavior."

The new study provides "a mechanism of action" that links the known genetic clues and the increased risk of human neurological disorders faced by children of older fathers, said McGrath, a professor at the University of Queensland in Australia.

Finding the genetic link

Researchers bred older and younger male mice with female mice of the same age. The researchers then sequenced the genomes of all the mice involved, and gave the 12 offspring mice behavioral tests and analyzed their brain structure.

When digging through the mice genomes, the researchers found new mutations in the baby mice that weren't present in either parent. Offspring of the older male mice showed six new mutations that, when matched to their human equivalent genes, have been linked to autism and schizophrenia in humans. The offspring of the young male mice had none of these genetic mutations.

In behavioral tests — which included a swim test and observing how much the mice startled at loud noises — mice of older fathers showed unusual responses. And their brains showed physical differences from other mice.

There are several theories behind the connection between older dads and developmental disorders in their children, including a possible link between assisted reproductive therapy and cognitive disorders, said Rita M. Cantor, professor of human genetics and psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Since scientists sequenced the human genome in 2000, researchers around the world have tried to correlate mutations with diseases. Many disorders are linked to small mutations called SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms), which entail a single change of an A, T, C or G nucleotide in the DNA.

But other mutations, called copy number variations, or CNVs, are comprised of several duplicated or deleted genes. While studies of SNP mutations have not offered many clues to neurodevelopment and neuropsychiatric disorders, Cantor said research into CNVs has been more fruitful.

"We are putting a lot of effort into the CNV studies, and it would be nice to know that that risk [of having CNVs] would be increased with paternal age," Cantor said. "The study is consistent with the idea, but not a proof."

The new study, because it controlled the age of the parents and many environmental factors through a mouse model, was "a good first step" to revealing the connection between older fathers and disorders in their children, Cantor said.

Do mutations lead to disease?

Not all CNVs are harmful, so matching the CNVs in the mice to known harmful mutations in humans was a boon to the study, said Dr. John Csernansky, chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.

"The homology between the mouse genome and the human genome is very, very strong. So when they say, this gene is equivalent to the human gene... I don't think there's any doubt about that," Csernansky said.

But Csernansky added that simply matching a harmful mutation in humans to a mutation in mice is "guilt by association." The researchers can't assume that a mutation that's harmful in humans is also harmful in mice.

So while the behavioral tests in the study couldn't diagnose mice with disorders, they did go further than previous work in proving that older fathers were more likely to have offspring with new, harmful mutations.

"As fathers grow older, there's a greater likelihood of having a child with many problems, including psychiatric problems," Csernansky said. "I think this [study] will help us piece together the story of how these illnesses come about."

Pass it on: The children of older fathers may be more likely to have mutations called CNVs in genes linked to neurodevelopmental disorders." - By Lauren Cox, MyHealthNewsDaily Contributor

Want your own miniature world in a bottle? Click here!

Egypt's Lost Fleet — It's Been Found

"The discovery of 
an ancient harbor on 
the Red Sea proves 
ancient Egyptians 
mastered oceangoing technology and 
launched a series of 
ambitious expeditions 
to far-off lands. 


The scenes carved into a wall of the ancient Egyptian temple at Deir el-Bahri tell of a remarkable sea voyage. A fleet of cargo ships bearing exotic plants, animals, and precious incense navigates through high-crested waves on a journey from a mysterious land known as Punt or “the Land of God.” The carvings were commissioned by Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt’s greatest female pharaoh, who controlled Egypt for more than two decades in the 15th century B.C. She ruled some 2 million people and oversaw one of most powerful empires of the ancient world.

The exact meaning of the detailed carvings has divided Egyptologists ever since they were discovered in the mid-19th century. “Some people have argued that Punt was inland and not on the sea, or a fictitious place altogether,” 
Oxford Egyptologist John Baines says. Recently, however, a series of remarkable discoveries on a desolate stretch of the Red Sea coast has settled the debate, proving once and for all that the masterful building skills of the ancient Egyptians applied to oceangoing ships as well as to pyramids.

Archaeologists from Italy, the United States, and Egypt excavating a dried-up lagoon known as Mersa Gawasis have unearthed traces of an ancient harbor that once launched early voyages like Hatshepsut’s onto the open ocean. Some of the site’s most evocative evidence for the ancient Egyptians’ seafaring prowess is concealed behind a modern steel door set into a cliff just 700 feet or so from the Red Sea shore. Inside is a man-made cave about 70 feet deep. Lightbulbs powered by a gas generator thrumming just outside illuminate pockets of work: Here, an excavator carefully brushes sand and debris away from a 3,800-year-old reed mat; there, conservation experts photograph wood planks, chemically preserve them, and wrap them for storage..." - Andrew Curry, Discover Magazine.

Black Death Bacterium Identified: Genetic Analysis of Medieval Plague Skeletons Shows Presence of Yersinia Pestis Bacteria

Yersinia pestis, direct fluorescent antibody stain (DFA), 200x magnification. (Credit: CDC/Courtesy of Larry Stauffer, Oregon State Public Health Laboratory)

ScienceDaily (Aug. 29, 2011) — "A team of German and Canadian scientists has shown that today's plague pathogen has been around at least 600 years.

The Black Death claimed the lives of one-third of Europeans in just five years from 1348 to 1353. Until recently, it was not certain whether the bacterium Yersinia pestis -- known to cause the plague today -- was responsible for that most deadly outbreak of disease ever. Now, the University of Tübingen's Institute of Scientific Archaeology and McMaster University in Canada have been able to confirm that Yersinia pestis was behind the great plague.

The results of the research are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Previous genetic tests indicating that the bacterium was present in medieval samples had previously been dismissed as contaminated by modern DNA or the DNA of bacteria in the soil. Above all, there was doubt because the modern plague pathogen spreads much more slowly and is less deadly than the medieval plague -- even allowing for modern medicine.

The international team of researchers has for the first time been able to decode a circular genome important for explaining the virulence of Y. pestis. It is called pPCP1 plasmid and comprises about 10,000 positions in the bacterium's DNA. The sample was taken from skeletons from a London plague cemetery. The working group in Tübingen, led by Dr. Johannes Krause used a new technique of "molecular fishing" -- enriching plague DNA fragments from tooth enamel and sequencing them using the latest technology. In this way, the fragments were connected up into a long genome sequence -- which turned out to be identical to modern-day plague pathogens. "That indicates that at least this part of the genetic information has barely changed in the past 600 years," says Krause.

The researchers were also able to show that the plague DNA from the London cemetery was indeed medieval. To do that, they examined damage to the DNA which only occurs in old DNA -- therefore excluding the possibility of modern contamination. "Without a doubt, the plague pathogen known today as Y. pestis was also the cause of the plague in the Middle Ages," says Krause, who is well known for his DNA sequencing of ancient hominin finds, which help trace relationships between types of prehistoric man and modern humans." - ScienceDaily.com

Humans Could Have Geomagnetic Sight

"The ability to see Earth’s magnetic field, thought to be restricted to sea turtles and swallows and other long-distance animal navigators, may also reside in human eyes.

Tests of cryptochrome 2, a key protein component of geomagnetic perception, found that its human version restored geomagnetic orientation in cryptochrome-deficient fruit flies.

Flies are a long, long way from people, but that the protein worked at all is impressive. There’s also a whole lot of it in our eyes.

“Could humans have this cryptochrome heavily expressed in the retina as a light-sensitive magnetoreceptor?” said University of Massachusetts neuroscientist Steven Reppert, lead author of a June 21 Nature Communications cryptochrome study. “We don’t know if the molecule will do this in the human retina, but this suggests the possibility.”

Reppert, whose laboratory specializes in the biological mechanisms underlying long-distance butterfly migration, showed three years ago that cryptochrome allowed fruit flies to geomagnetically orient themselves using light.

Before then, cryptochrome’s navigational role was a matter of inference and proposition. Since then, researchers have described how cryptochrome seems to be a quantum compass that detects infinitesimally subtle, geomagnetically-induced variations in the spin of electrons struck by photons. From those variations, animals seem able to determine their orientation in relation to Earth’s magnetic field.

Many gaps still remain in cryptochrome theory, but it’s generally thought that the cryptochrome system may be active across the animal kingdom, from fish to reptiles to birds. Humans, however, were thought to be an exception. Our own cryptochrome is considered a piece of circadian machinery, part of our molecular clock rather than any optical compass.

The new study, however, suggests that cryptochrome may be more than a clock. Seeking to test how a vertebrate cryptochrome would work in fruit flies, Reppert decided to use the human version. His team engineered flies to be cryptochrome-deficient: They struggled to orient within a magnetically-charged maze. When the researchers spliced human cryptochrome into the flies, they again found their bearings.

‘We can’t show that it will do the same in humans, but it sure restored geomagnetic sight in the flies.’

“This is a very exciting paper,” said Klaus Schulten, a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign biophysicist and cryptochrome research pioneer who was not involved in the new study. According to Schulten, the findings add even more support for the general role of cryptochrome in vertebrates, and of course raise questions about cryptochrome’s role in people.

“We can’t show that it will do the same in humans, but it sure restored geomagnetic sight in the flies,” said Reppert.

Whether humans can sense geomagnetism is somewhat controversial. In the 1980s, research by British zoologist Robin Baker suggested that humans have a magnetic sense, but the findings proved difficult to replicate. More recently, however, work by German researchers hints at geomagnetic effects on vision.

Whether any of this is linked to high levels of cryptochrome in human eyes — and, if so, whether that quantum compass system still works for us — is completely speculative, but it’s speculation that Reppert welcomes. “It’s perfectly reasonable to think that humans have a magnetosensing response,” he said. “Maybe we’ve been looking at it in a way that’s not been fruitful in the past.”

Schulten, however, thinks evolution might have traded geomagnetic orientation for longevity. His own research suggests that the cryptochrome compass needs superoxide, a type of free radical oxygen molecule, to work. Free radicals tend to destroy DNA. That’s fine for a relatively short-lived animal, but not for one that intends to live for decades.

Nevertheless, said Schulten, “it might be that we humans, along with many other animals, might have been capable a long, long time ago of orienting ourselves.”

Reppert himself is now concentrating on how brains read their cryptochrome compass. “At the most fundamental level, we’re interested in how cryptochrome information is transferred to the nervous system,” he said. “Nobody knows how that occurs.”

Top image: GaelG, Flickr." - By Brandon Keim, Wired.

A tale of two media: Despite the iPad, traditional books aren't going anywhere.

"It was the newest of technologies, it was the oldest of technologies. A while back I wrote an opinion piece on my lament over Penguin Books' John Makinson trying to reinvent books on the iPad. In response to the article, I received emails that ranged from people calling me a Luddite to readers asking me to petition Penguin to keep books from becoming audio, video, and streaming monstrosities. What people on both sides of the debate misunderstood was that I am not against ebooks. I'm against turning an ebook into a multimedia experience that detracts from the work of literature.A few days ago I was in London having drinks with a novelist and a literary agent. We discussed the pros and cons of the iPad as a book reader and how the iPad as a medium and its iBookstore affects the reading public. The novelist and agent gave me their impressions of the device and how it will, if at all, change the way readers consume books. We also spoke about Penguin's ideas to reinvent books as apps and discussed my previous article on the subject along with the notion that some people in the tech world think that the iPad and iBookstore will kill traditional books.

Our conversation got me thinking: I normally read about 50-60 books a year in paperback format, but I had owned my iPad for a week already and had yet to try my favorite pastime on it. So I decided to compare how reading the same book in paperback would compare with reading it on the iPad. In order not to bias the medium I was reading it on by already having discovered the story on another device (and thus being a little bored with it on a second reading that so closely followed the first), I decided to read one novel -- every other of its chapters on the iPad and then in paperback.

The novel I read was the paperback edition of Julie Myerson's Something Might Happen (iBooks/paperback links). I decided to let random chance choose if I should start chapter one on the iPad or on the paperback. The coin landed on heads: iPad won. In order to conduct a fairly thorough reading experiment, I chose to read the novel on each of its mediums in locations where people normally read novels: their home, on their commute (trains and planes), and in parks and cafés.

The chapters I read in paperback (in all locations) was an experience one would expect from reading in that medium: comfortable, easy to use, immersive (immersive in how books should be -- by using your brain power, not by throwing audio and video in your face). The iPad however, was another story.

In my flat, I enjoyed reading the novel on the iPad more than in any other location (why, I'll get to in a moment). One thing I love about ebooks on the iPad is the in-text dictionary look-up feature. This is something the iPad will always have as an advantage over traditional paperbacks. I sometimes come across a word I don't know while reading a book. It's much handier to be able to look up the word on the same screen as the text as opposed to having to grab a dictionary or my iPhone to look it up while I'm reading a paperback. I also like the bookmarking feature. Though bookmarking has long existed in paperbacks (when you dog-ear a page), bookmarks excel on the iPad's ebooks because they allow you to do two useful things: highlight a word or block of words (much like you might highlight or underline text in a paperback), but the iPad also displays a bookmarks Table of Contents that list all your bookmarks and the date you bookmarked them.

However, when it came to actually reading the ebook, the iPad's advantages as a medium to consume literature began to pale. The iPad was relatively heavy and large (compared to a paperback) in my hands and the swiping and tapping to turn a page soon became tedious. A normal paperback edition of a book is roughly half the size of the iPad and slips snugly into a pocket while traveling. Even when the book is opened, it's still smaller than the flat and hard surface of the iPad. Though resting the iPad my lap resolved the weight issues, most people do not read books by lying them on their laps. Most people read books lightly grasped in their hands, or even laying down in bed. There is no way to "lightly grasp" the iPad and when you hold it for an hour while reading, your hands feel the strain.

Another big issue I had with reading the ebook chapters was that, since they were on the iPad, I was always tempted to navigate away to check an email, browse the web, or look for another book on the iBookstore. This short attention span of mine only existed while I was reading on the iPad and not from the paperback, which means it wasn't the story's fault that I was so tempted to navigate away. The iPad is a wonderful device that cries "touch me", and that's what I constantly wanted to do while holding the iPad -- touch, swipe, IM, check email. Push notifications from different apps didn't help the reading experience either.

Let's leave home and move on to another place where people read books: on their commute. Being in London, I did what most commuters do: I rode the tube. Forget about resting your iPad on your lap to read, your knees get bumped too much from the constant flow of commuters entering and leaving the train. Your only option is to hold your iPad in your hands, like you would a paperback. Now when I say "hold" what I really mean is "grip." This is where a huge drawback of the iPad becomes apparent. That drawback is called fear.

When I read the paperback on the tube, not once did I worry about hanging on to my paperback for dear life. A $7 paperback book is a pretty low target for a thief. A $500 iPad out in the open on a crowed train, on the other hand, is prime theft material. The reading experience goes down dramatically when you need to keep an eye on the people walking past you. Think I'm being paranoid? The New York Times reported in April that smartphone theft increased 70% year over year in Boston and 65% year over year in Washington DC. Those aren't pickpocket thefts either -- they're snatched-out-of-your-hands thefts. The iPad is a larger and easier-to-snatch device than a small smartphone, especially when you're reading it on a crowded city train, and the constant awareness that you must keep an eye out for potential theft detracts from the reading experience.

So, we've left home, taken the train, and walked a few blocks to the park or café. Again, with a paperback, it slips nicely into my back pocket while walking -- something the iPad cannot do. Previous issues I noticed with the iPad as a book replacement also apply here. Like at home, in a café you will be holding the iPad in your hands, which gets tiring, and like the train, you feel a need to keep one eye on your surroundings, though, admittedly, there is much less fear of theft when you're in a café than on a packed commuter train. Should fear of theft keep you from using your iPad in public? Of course not. But it is an extra strain that you don't have to worry about while reading a paperback or while reading your iPad at home (which is one of the reasons why reading an ebook in my flat was more enjoyable than reading it on the train or in the café).

I want to address another point. I've had people tell me that they've "read more books than they ever have before" since they got their iPad (to them, I would like to point out that reading the free Winnie-the-Pooh book that comes with the iBooks app doesn't really count). They also say they love carrying their entire book library around with them. Their last point is something I discussed with the novelist and literary agent. Similarly, the agent loved his Sony Reader because he could throw the twenty manuscripts he needs to read over the weekend on it and take them anywhere with little effort -- quite a space saver. My point of contention when other people say this library-in-your-hands feature will destroy paperbacks is that, unlike the agent who will commonly read sections from twenty different novels in a weekend, your average reader reads one book at a time.

There's a reason books are primarily sold as stand alone editions and do not bind the first four chapters from five different novels into a single volume -- because most people will not read two or more stories at once. Novels typically involve multiple story lines, characters, and settings; at best, reading more than one novel at once will distract from the stories of the novels, at worst, doing so will confuse the reader outright. So while carrying your entire library with you is nice, once you begin a book, chances are you'll see it trough to the end and not flit from one novel to the next. Besides, the average person takes two weeks to read one book. Books are not like music, movies, and magazines -- they take much longer to consume. Unless you're on a round the world trip, there's really no reason to have your entire library with you because you won't be using it.

After finishing my read of the novel on both mediums -- the iPad and the paperback -- I am more convinced than ever that the iPad and its iBookstore will not usurp traditional print editions. A paperback is just a too versatile and easy device to read from. It's cheap and replaceable and takes a very low level of care to keep it in working order. It's much lighter and the page turns flow more naturally in your hands than page swipes do on the iPad. Also, a paperback offers no distractions from the printed words. Despite my love for the traditional medium, I do want to say that I love the iBookstore. I use it now to browse for books I think would be interesting and use the "Get Sample" feature to explore the first few chapters. If I like what I read, I'll purchase the print edition from Amazon or at my local bookseller.

Now, before I get any angry emails, let me state emphatically that I love my iPad (I'm currently writing this article on it on my flight back to Portugal). It's an awesome leisure device. I love browsing the web on it and even love reading magazines and comics on it. But I can do those things comfortably because reading a website, a comic book, or a magazine article does not take the length of time and the concentration commitment that reading a book does.

People will read books on the iPad, and I'm glad for that. The more people who read, the better. But digital books will not put paperbacks out of circulation. There's room for both mediums. But, unlike MP3s that replaced CDs, the original medium for the novel is still the superior one in both form and function." - Michael Grothaus

Layton had been someone "you could have a beer with" (R.I.P. Jack Layton)

Mourners hold a candlelight vigil in a park for NDP Leader Jack Layton who died Monday after a bout with cancer Monday, August 22, 2011 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

"TORONTO - Jack Layton was remembered Monday as a regular guy and terrific political leader that everyone liked, as friends and political foes alike paid tribute to the New Democrat leader hours after learning he had succumbed to cancer.

On the quiet side street where Layton lived with his politician wife Olivia Chow, friends and area residents stopped by, some bearing flowers.

"He was someone you could have a beer with," said neighbourhood resident Ted Hawkins, who laid a single red rose on the doorstep "as a little bit of a tribute" to the longtime political presence.

"He was a very down-to-earth person."

Sarah Hastie, a longtime area resident who also delivered a flower to his home, said she had hoped Layton would somehow beat the disease that forced him to step aside last month from his party-leader duties.

"Jack was such a fighter, and I was just always keeping my fingers crossed that this might be a battle that he would win," Hastie said.

"It's a terrible thing for his family but it's an even greater loss for the country."

A family friend emerged briefly from the home to request privacy.

Layton, 61, died early Monday barely three months after an election campaign in which he gamely led his New Democrats to Official Opposition status in the Commons.

Politicians of all stripes — some long retired — were quick to praise Layton.

"Jack Layton will be remembered for the force of his personality and his dedication to public life," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said.

"We have lost an engaging personality, and a man of strong principle."

Interim Liberal leader Bob Rae said the public Layton and the private Layton were one and the same — a naturally upbeat person that everyone liked even if they disagreed with his political views.

Layton showed "tremendous class," and never complained about being stricken, and never showed any rancour, Rae said.

"He just saw it as another twist of fate that he was going to have to deal with."

Rae said it was too soon to say what impact Layton's death would have on federal politics.

Flags were lowered in the city where Layton cut his political teeth over an 18-year span as councillor, a function now served by his son Mike Layton.

"Jack was a fighter and he will be missed in Canadian politics," said Mayor Rob Ford, who credited Layton with his own political successes.

"No one taught me more about how City Hall worked."

Ontario's Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty called Layton a "tireless champion" for people who brought "enthusiasm and a passion and an irrepressibility that were absolutely unique when it came to his public service."

On Parliament Hill and outside Toronto City Hall, hundreds of people — some carrying flowers — gathered in impromptu tributes.

At Layton's closed constituency office, where someone had chalked "Thanks Jack" on the sidewalk, people stopped by to express condolences and to drop off flowers.

One of them, Philip Girard, said he wanted to show solidarity with those who had supported Layton.

"Political leadership is a rare thing, and he possessed it in good measure," Girard said. "It will be hard to replace that."

Across town at the Layton home, Cheuk Kwan, a longtime friend of Chow's, said he was "really saddened" by Layton's death even if it was not unexpected.

"I thought Jack had done a superhuman job of bringing the NDP to where it is right now," Kwan said.
"It's sad to see the party has lost a great leader."

Layton's Ontario counterpart, Andrea Horwath, said she would miss Layton as she heads into her first provincial campaign as party leader next month.

"Not being able to phone up Jack and say 'Here's how I'm feeling' and get that kind of advice, it’ll be a loss for sure,'' Horwath said.

Wayne Hanley, national president of UFCW Canada, the country's largest private-sector union, said Layton "worked tirelessly" toward creating a better Canada.

"His passing is a great loss for all Canadians," Hanley said. "His tenacity to fight to make Canada a more compassionate and equitable country will be missed." " - The Canadian Press

2010's "So You Think You Can Dance" Winner

Woman killed after walking into propeller

"The woman who died at a Humboldt, Sask., airstrip on Saturday received her fatal injury when she walked into a propeller, the RCMP says.

The accident happened at Humboldt, Sask., 113 kilometres east of Saskatoon.

The accident occurred around 11 a.m. CST, shortly after the small plane the 40-year-old woman had been a passenger in landed.

The woman, who is from the Annaheim area, had emerged from the passenger side of the single-engine Cessna 210 and was walking toward the nose area when it happened, the RCMP said.

The plane wasn't moving, but the propeller was still spinning when she walked into it, police said.

It's believed the woman was trying to take a photo just before she was struck, police said.

Transport Canada is investigating the incident. Police haven't released the name of the woman at the request of family." - CBC

Strauss-Kahn may be cleared of all charges. (Click here).

Winners of "The Glee Project" discuss their future on the show.

"LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

In a surprising twist, “The Glee Project” crowned two winners on Sunday’s finale, Samuel Larsen and Damian McGinty, and the two young stars are thrilled to be appearing in seven upcoming episodes of the FOX series.

“It’s mind blowing stuff!” Damian, 18, who hails from Derry City, Northern Ireland, told Kit Hoover and guest co-host Arsenio Hall on Monday’s Access Hollywood Live.

“You’re born and you have dreams, but they only come true for an incredibly small percentage of people in this world,” he continued.

Dreadlocked rocker Samuel, 19, from Los Angeles, said he once considered lopping off his distinguishing locks.

“I’m so glad I didn’t [cut my hair],” he told Kit and Arsenio.” It’s kind of become a trademark thing.”

As far as heading to the halls of McKinley High, Samuel said he feels ready to appear on the hit FOX series after his time on the Oxygen reality series.

“I think after the boot camp that is ‘The Glee Project,’ I think we’re prepared,” he explained.

“For me it’s been quite an incredible journey,” Damian added. “It’s been a rollercoaster, I’ve had ups and downs… to come out on top along with Samuel, it proves the underdog can come out on top.”

Samuel said he and Damian do not know what roles they’ll be playing, but he’s willing to go wherever showrunner and co-creator Ryan Murphy ask him to go.

“Hey, whatever they throw at me, I’ll do it,” Samuel said.

Fellow finalists Lindsay Pearce and Alex Newell will also appear on two episodes of “Glee’s” upcoming Season 3." - AccessHollywood.com

Jack Layton's last words to Canada/Les derniers mots de Jack Layton pour le Canada

"Dear Friends,

Tens of thousands of Canadians have written to me in recent weeks to wish me well. I want to thank each and every one of you for your thoughtful, inspiring and often beautiful notes, cards and gifts. Your spirit and love have lit up my home, my spirit, and my determination.

Unfortunately my treatment has not worked out as I hoped. So I am giving this letter to my partner Olivia to share with you in the circumstance in which I cannot continue.

I recommend that Hull-Aylmer MP Nycole Turmel continue her work as our interim leader until a permanent successor is elected.

I recommend the party hold a leadership vote as early as possible in the New Year, on approximately the same timelines as in 2003, so that our new leader has ample time to reconsolidate our team, renew our party and our program, and move forward towards the next election.

A few additional thoughts:

To other Canadians who are on journeys to defeat cancer and to live their lives, I say this: please don't be discouraged that my own journey hasn't gone as well as I had hoped. You must not lose your own hope. Treatments and therapies have never been better in the face of this disease. You have every reason to be optimistic, determined, and focused on the future. My only other advice is to cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey, as I have done this summer.

To the members of my party: we've done remarkable things together in the past eight years. It has been a privilege to lead the New Democratic Party and I am most grateful for your confidence, your support, and the endless hours of volunteer commitment you have devoted to our cause. There will be those who will try to persuade you to give up our cause. But that cause is much bigger than any one leader. Answer them by recommitting with energy and determination to our work. Remember our proud history of social justice, universal health care, public pensions and making sure no one is left behind. Let's continue to move forward. Let's demonstrate in everything we do in the four years before us that we are ready to serve our beloved Canada as its next government.

To the members of our parliamentary caucus: I have been privileged to work with each and every one of you. Our caucus meetings were always the highlight of my week. It has been my role to ask a great deal from you. And now I am going to do so again. Canadians will be closely watching you in the months to come. Colleagues, I know you will make the tens of thousands of members of our party proud of you by demonstrating the same seamless teamwork and solidarity that has earned us the confidence of millions of Canadians in the recent election. 

To my fellow Quebecers: On May 2nd, you made an historic decision. You decided that the way to replace Canada's Conservative federal government with something better was by working together in partnership with progressive-minded Canadians across the country. You made the right decision then; it is still the right decision today; and it will be the right decision right through to the next election, when we will succeed, together. You have elected a superb team of New Democrats to Parliament. They are going to be doing remarkable things in the years to come to make this country better for us all.

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

And finally, to all Canadians: Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world. We can be a better one - a country of greater equality, justice, and opportunity. We can build a prosperous economy and a society that shares its benefits more fairly. We can look after our seniors. We can offer better futures for our children. We can do our part to save the world's environment. We can restore our good name in the world. We can do all of these things because we finally have a party system at the national level where there are real choices; where your vote matters; where working for change can actually bring about change. In the months and years to come, New Democrats will put a compelling new alternative to you. My colleagues in our party are an impressive, committed team. Give them a careful hearing; consider the alternatives; and consider that we can be a better, fairer, more equal country by working together. Don't let them tell you it can't be done.
My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world.

All my very best,
Jack Layton"


"Chers amis,

Des dizaines de milliers de Canadiens m'ont fait parvenir des mots d'encouragement au cours des dernières semaines. Je tiens à remercier chacun d'entre vous pour vos cartes, vos notes et vos cadeaux si magnifiques, si inspirants, si attentionnés. Vos bons sentiments et votre amour ont éclairé mon foyer et ont renforcé mon courage et ma détermination.

Malheureusement, mes traitements n'ont pas eu les effets escomptés. Je remets donc cette lettre à Olivia afin qu'elle la partage avec vous dans l'éventualité où je ne pourrais continuer. Je recommande que Nycole Turmel, députée de Hull-Aylmer, continue son travail à titre de chef intérimaire jusqu'à ce qu'une ou un successeur(e) soit élu(e).

Je recommande au parti de tenir un vote quant au leadership du parti le plus tôt possible dans la nouvelle année, en s'inspirant de l'échéancier de 2003, afin que notre nouveau ou nouvelle chef ait amplement le temps de reconsolider notre équipe, de renouveler notre parti et notre programme, et puisse aller de l'avant et se préparer pour la prochaine élection.

Quelques mots additionnels :

Aux Canadiens qui se battent contre le cancer pour continuer à profiter pleinement de la vie, je vous dis ceci : ne soyez pas découragés du fait que ma bataille n'ait pas eu le résultat espéré. Ne perdez pas votre propre espoir, car les thérapies et les traitements pour vaincre cette maladie n'ont jamais été aussi évolués. Vous avez raison d'être optimistes, déterminés et convaincus face à la maladie. Mon seul autre conseil est de chérir tous les moments passés auprès de ceux qui vous sont chers, comme j'ai eu la chance de le faire cet été.

Aux membres de mon parti : nous avons obtenu des résultats remarquables en travaillant ensemble au cours des huit dernières années. Ce fut un privilège d'être le chef du Nouveau Parti démocratique et je suis très reconnaissant pour votre confiance, votre appui et vos innombrables heures consacrées à notre cause. Il y a des gens qui vont essayer de vous convaincre d'abandonner notre cause. Mais cette dernière est bien plus grande qu'un chef. Répondez-leur en travaillant encore plus fort, avec une énergie et une détermination sans précédent. Rappelez-vous de notre fière tradition de justice sociale, de soins de santé universels, de régime de pensions publiques, et des efforts que nous faisons pour nous assurer que personne ne soit laissé pour compte. Continuons d'aller de l'avant. Démontrons dans tout ce que nous faisons au cours des quatre prochaines années que nous sommes prêts à servir les Canadiens en formant le prochain gouvernement.

Aux membres de notre caucus : j'ai eu le privilège de travailler avec chacun d'entre vous. Nos rencontres du caucus ont toujours été le moment fort de ma semaine. Cela a été mon rôle d'exiger le plus possible de votre part. Et maintenant je le fais à nouveau. Les Canadiens vous porteront une attention toute spéciale dans les mois à venir. Chers collègues, je sais que vous rendrez les dizaines de milliers de membres du NPD fiers en démontrant la même éthique de travail et la solidarité qui nous ont mérité la confiance de millions de Canadiens lors de la dernière élection.

À mes concitoyens québécois : le 2 mai dernier, vous avez pris une décision historique. Vous avez décidé qu'afin de remplacer le gouvernement fédéral conservateur du Canada par quelque chose de mieux, il fallait travailler ensemble, en collaboration avec les Canadiens progressistes de l'ensemble du pays. Vous avez pris la bonne décision à ce moment-là. C'est encore la bonne décision aujourd'hui et restera la bonne décision au cours des prochaines élections, lorsque nous réussirons, ensemble. Vous avez élu une superbe équipe de députés du NPD qui vous représenteront au Parlement. Ils vont réaliser des choses remarquables dans les années à venir afin de faire du Canada un meilleur pays pour nous tous.

Aux jeunes Canadiens : toute ma vie j'ai travaillé pour améliorer l'état des choses. L'espoir et l'optimisme ont caractérisé ma carrière politique, et je continue à être plein d'espoir et d'optimisme quant à l'avenir du Canada. Les jeunes Canadiens ont été une grande source d'inspiration pour moi. J'ai rencontré plusieurs d'entre vous et discuté avec vous de vos rêves, de vos frustrations, et de vos idées de changement. De plus en plus d'entre vous être impliqués en politique parce que vous voulez changer les choses pour le mieux. Plusieurs d'entre vous avez choisi de faire confiance à notre parti. Alors que ma carrière politique s'achève, j'aimerais vous transmettre toute ma conviction que vous avez le pouvoir de changer ce pays et le monde. Plusieurs défis vous attendent, de l'accablante nature des changements climatiques à l'injustice d'une économie qui laisse tant d'entre vous exclus de la richesse collective, en passant par les changements qui seront nécessaires pour bâtir un Canada plus solidaire et généreux. Votre énergie, votre vision et votre passion pour la justice sont exactement ce dont ce pays à aujourd'hui besoin. Vous devez être au coeur de notre économie, de notre vie politique, et de nos plans pour le présent et pour l'avenir.

Et finalement, j'aimerais rappeler à tous les Canadiens que le Canada est un magnifique pays, un pays qui représente les espoirs du monde entier. Mais nous pouvons bâtir un meilleur pays, un pays où l'égalité, la justice et les opportunités sont plus grandes. Nous pouvons bâtir une économie prospère et partager les avantages de notre société plus équitablement. Nous pouvons prendre mieux soin de nos aînés. Nous pouvons offrir à nos enfants de meilleures perspectives d'avenir. Nous pouvons faire notre part pour sauver l'environnement et la planète. Nous pouvons réhabiliter notre nom aux yeux du monde. Nous pouvons faire tout ça parce que nous avons enfin un système de partis politiques fédéraux qui nous offre de vrais choix; où notre vote compte; où en travaillant pour le changement on peut effectivement provoquer le changement. Dans les mois et les années à venir, le NPD vous proposera une nouvelle et captivante alternative. Mes collègues du parti forment une équipe impressionnante et dévouée. Écoutez-les bien, considérez les alternatives qu'ils proposent, et gardez en tête qu'en travaillant ensemble, nous pouvons avoir un meilleur pays, un pays plus juste et équitable. Ne laissez personne vous dire que ce n'est pas possible.

Mes amis, l'amour est cent fois meilleur que la haine. L'espoir est meilleur que la peur. L'optimisme est meilleur que le désespoir. Alors, aimons, gardons espoir et restons optimistes. Et nous changerons le monde.

Chaleureusement,
Jack Layton"

R.I.P., Jack Layton/Repose en paix, Jack Layton. "Canadian hearts are breaking".

BREAKING NEWS

"NDP Leader Jack Layton died early Monday morning after a struggle with cancer. He was 61 years old. The news comes mere weeks after Layton announced he had been diagnosed with a second form of cancer.

Layton's death is not only heartbreaking in how quickly it came after he announced his illness, but that it came so soon after what could was Layton's greatest political achievement. 

After an entire life spent in politics -- first as an academic, then as a city councillor, then in federal politics – Layton had been riding a wave of popularity ahead of his death. It was his personal popularity that many credit for the NDP's "orange crush" in the 2011 federal election. Buoyed by his party's success, Layton had even put the prime minister's office in his sights for the next election. 

Now, with his death, those dreams come to an end and put the very future of his party into doubt. 

While not everyone agreed with Layton's socialist views, there were few who didn't respect the man's passion and work ethic. The politician who had once been a scrappy city councillor with a brash, sometimes strident style, matured into a federal party leader renowned for his dedication. 

Layton's colleagues say he was a master politician who knew how to both work a crowd and work out compromise within his team. All the while, he seemed to never abandon the causes he held most dear: poverty, the environment, public transit, workers' rights. 

In the 2011 election, voters who had once seemed a little wary of the camera-loving politician appeared to finally connect with Layton, embracing his energy, his no-nonsense approach and his promises to represent the average Canadian in Parliament. 

Many voters, particularly in Quebec, said it was Layton himself that drew them to vote for his party and push the NDP into official Opposition status. 

Layton had likely dreamed of reaching the higher echelons of power his whole life. He had been steeped in politics from an early age, growing up in Hudson, Que., under a father who was a cabinet minister in Brian Mulroney's government and who became the Progressive Conservatives' caucus chairman. 

Layton's grandfather too was a cabinet minister, under Maurice Duplessis' Union Nationale government in Quebec, and his great-great-uncle was one of the Fathers of Confederation. The Layton political legacy continues today, with his son, Mike, now a Toronto city councillor as well. 

Layton became student council leader in high school and was voted by classmates as most likely to become a politician. He went on to study political science at McGill University and received his PhD in Political Science from York University. 

He briefly aligned himself with the Liberals while at McGill but, impressed by Tommy Douglas's opposition to the War Measures Act, he turned to the NDP in 1971. 

Layton married at 19, wedding his high school sweetheart, Sally Halford. They had two children: Mike, the Toronto city councillor; and Sarah, who works for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. 

But his marriage to Sally dissolved in 1983, shortly after Layton decided to leave behind life as a politics professor at Ryerson University (then called Ryerson Polytechnical Institute) and make a run for Toronto city council. 

A few years later, Layton met Olivia Chow, who was then a school board trustee, and married her in 1988. She ran for Toronto city council in 1991, the same year that Layton decided to make a bid for mayor. Layton lost badly to June Rowlands; but Chow won her council seat. 

Many have credited Chow, an ambitious politician in her own right, as being one of Layton's greatest assets, acting as both his closest adviser and his soulmate. Former Toronto city councillor Howard Moscoe told The Canadian Press he always thought of Layton and Chow as a single political-family unit.

"They were so good at playing the council," he said earlier this year. "They were kind of meant for each other." 

Together, Layton and Chow became Toronto's political power couple, fighting for public transit, the homeless and sustainable urban development. As councillors, they were often accused of grandstanding, once wearing black gags to protest being silenced by other Toronto politicians when they attempted to object to a deal with Shell Oil. 

Layton loved to spend time in the outdoors with Chow and cycled to work every day while in Toronto and worked out in the House of Commons gym every week while in Ottawa. NDP MP Pat Martin once said that Layton and Chow even thought of their work as recreation. 

"I've never met anybody so perfectly matched to a life in politics," Martin said of Layton. 

But Layton did have some brushes with controversy. In 1988, he came under fire when it emerged that he and Chow were living in a housing co-operative subsidized by the federal government, despite a combined income of $120,000. Toronto's solicitor cleared the couple of any wrong-doing, and the couple soon left the co-op and bought a house in Toronto's Chinatown. 

In the 2011 election, three days before voting day, it emerged that Layton had also been caught up in a sting on a Toronto massage parlour. Layton insisted he had entered the salon seeking a legitimate shiatsu massage and didn't know the place was used for "illicit purposes." Police chose not to charge him in the sting. 

Despite the scandals and Layton's failed 1991 mayoralty bid, his ambitions didn't falter; they simply shifted. In 1994, he decided to make a run for federal politics, vying for a seat in the riding of Rosedale. Again, he fared badly, finishing fourth. 

He pressed on with his Toronto city council duties, but in another example of his trademark energy, he also took on work as well as the head of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, where he said he broadened his understanding of the priorities of towns outside Toronto. 

Along the way, Layton also penned three books; "Homelessness: the Making and Unmaking of a Crisis" in 2000; "Speaking Out: Ideas That Work for Canadians" in 2004 and "Speaking Out Louder" in 2006. 

He ran again for MP in 1997, this time in the riding of Toronto-Danforth but lost yet again, to longtime incumbent Liberal, Dennis Mills. Layton was finally able to make his move into federal politics in 2003 by taking over as leader of the NDP from outgoing leader Alexa McDonough. He grabbed a seat in Parliament a year later, in the 2004 election. 

In that first federal election campaign in 2004, Layton insisted to reporters without any irony that his aim was to increase the party's standings from 13 seats to 150. The party earned 19 seats. But the NDP was able to win 15 per cent of the popular vote -- its best result in 16 years. 

Layton's flamboyant leadership style seemed to re-energize the party following the staid leaderships of McDonough and Audrey McLaughlin before her. He was constantly in front of the microphone, moving easily between English and French, always ready with the quick sound bites that had made him famous in Toronto.

But Layton stumbled in that first federal campaign when he accused then-Liberal prime minister Paul Martin of being responsible for the deaths of homeless people because he had failed to provide funding for affordable housing. 

He managed to smooth out his edgy persona during the 2006 election campaign and consistently scored well in leadership polls, with voters giving him high marks in the areas of principle, honesty. 

Queen's University political scientist Jonathan Rose told CTV.ca during the 2006 campaign that voters seemed to respond to Layton because of his tireless campaigning and infectious energy. 

"He has all the hallmarks of what we demand from traditional leaders: a clear persona, someone who has a high trust level, and someone who is able to articulate clearly what they believe," Rose said. 

Layton added 10 more seats for his party in the 2006 election, and then again in 2008, when the party's seat count rose to 37. 

Throughout the 2008 election campaign, Layton opened every speech with the eyebrow-raising declaration that he was running to be prime minister. Longtime friend Peter Tabuns said at the time that Layton was never anything if not an optimist. 

"He is one of the most optimistic and hopeful people that I know, and I think that gives him a lot of strength to get through tough times," he told CP. 

Those tough times were soon to come, when Layton was diagnosed in early 2010 with prostate cancer. Layton chose to push through it, taking to the hustings for the 2011 election campaign with the save fervour as ever. He even suggested the illness gave him further motivation. 

"People that go through serious illness – you can either go one way or the other. You can either become despondent about it all. Or it kind of rejuvenates you, makes you focus on what's important," he said in an interview with Metro news. 

The election began as a traditional two-horse race between the Conservatives and the Liberals, but at some point after the leaders' debate, Layton surged. Layton was suddenly no longer the third-place outsider; he was being embraced as the candidate of hope and change for those opposed to the Conservatives. 

Election Day brought what became known as the "orange crush": 31 per cent of the popular vote for the NDP, 59 seats in Quebec, as well as 44 other seats across the country -- the party's best showing ever. 

Former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney told CTV News afterwards that he believed Quebecers embraced Layton because they thought of him as one of their own. 

"He's always referred to here as, ‘Our boy, Jack, a good guy,'" Mulroney said. 

Ahead of the 2011 campaign, many had said that with four elections already behind him, if the NDP didn't make big strides, this would likely be Layton's final federal election. 

In fact, it was Layton's last campaign. But not for the reason that anyone would have ever predicted." - CTV.ca 

This is very sad day in and for Canada. Rest in peace, Jack. We will miss you. 

NDP Leader Jack Layton was a political Moses who never entered Promised Land.

Share your condolences with everyone here.

See Jack's life in pictures.

See more reactions on Layton's death here.

70% of Canadians say Jack changed their views on politics.

"Jack Layton, le chef du NPD, est mort des suites d'un cancer lundi matin. «Nous avons le regret de vous annoncer que l'Honorable Jack Layton, chef du Nouveau Parti démocratique du Canada, est décédé à 4 h 45 ce matin, le lundi 22 août, a écrit son épouse, Olivia Chow, dans un communiqué. Il est décédé paisiblement chez lui, entouré de ses proches. Les détails en lien avec les funérailles de M. Layton vous seront communiqués prochainement.»

Il est décédé l'âge de 61 ans. Jack Layton, personnage charismatique et très respecté dans les milieux politiques, y compris par ses adversaires, a mené une campagne très efficace pour les législatives canadiennes du 2 mai dernier, faisant de son parti la deuxième formation du parlement fédéral d'Ottawa.

En juillet 2011, le politicien sympathique était apparu amaigri et la voix brisée pour annoncer son retrait «temporaire» de la politique, en raison d'une tumeur dont il n'avait pas dévoilé la nature. Il avait cependant précisé qu'il ne s'agissait pas du cancer de la prostate dont il se savait atteint depuis février 2010.

Son départ inattendu avait suscité la consternation non seulement dans les rangs néo-démocrates, mais dans toute la classe politique et parmi la population, qui a donné un appui sans précédent à sa formation lors du scrutin du 2 mai dernier.

Il meurt alors que le NPD détient 103 sièges au Parlement, dont 59 au Québec.

- Avec AFP, PC" - La Presse