Facebook's iconic Initial Public Offering

Facebook is expected to tap public markets for $10 billion in the coming months in an offering that will value the company at up to $100 billion. It will be one of the biggest U.S. market debuts ever, and a prized trophy for the investment bankers seeking to win lead advisory roles.

That has set up a fierce competition on Wall Street, particularly between the presumed front-runners Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc, which may offer their underwriting services for as little as 1 percent of gross proceeds, bankers and industry observers said.

That would be far less than the 7 percent fee that smaller deals typically fetch, or the 2 or 3 percent that large deals tend to command.Hoards of investors are keen to jump on the social media trend, and even a 1 percent fee would reap $100 million in revenue for investment banks, sending a lead advisor to the coveted No. 1 spot on IPO league tables

Facebook can easily negotiate a 1 percent fee for the entire group of investment banks that will peddle its shares, said James Montgomery - CEO of investment bank Montgomery & Co, "much to the chagrin of the underwriters." Such a low fee is practically unheard of for investment banking deals

Google Starts "Google in Education"

Google Calls all students, teachers, and parents to check out the new www.google.com/edu website to see tons of free resources to support teaching and learning.

At the website, google says,
"At Google, we believe in the power of the web to help people discover, connect, and learn. Education lies at the very core of our company’s mission “to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
Leading-edge technologies will play a vital role in helping equip future generations with the skills they need to thrive in the workforce of today and tomorrow. That is why we support collaborative learning in communities around the world, and why we invest heavily in education programs initiatives and partnerships through our products and tools."

The strongest Northern Lights in 50 years

This winter, the Northern Lights over Norway will be the strongest we’ve seen in 50 years, according to the experts.
The Northern Lights is one of the major attractions for tourists visiting Norway in the winter, and people travel from all over the world to catch a glimpse of the famous phenomenon.
A large portion of the tourism in the North of Norway during winter is connected to the Northern Lights and related activities, says Per-Arne Tuftin, Director of Tourism in Innovation Norway.

Why people are friendly ?!

Our benevolent instincts are the products of our social nature, and to analyse human society as essentially an association of individuals is not just morally but scientifically wrong, since that kind of analysis doesn't predict our behaviour accurately.

A scientific study showed that height is a hugely attractive characteristic: tall people have more friends, and far more people who want to be their friends. No other single characteristic showed such a marked effect.

By studying not just how people form groups but how they would like to do so if they could choose, the researchers showed very clearly that friendship is a universal human quality.

This is fascinating not just in itself, but also has a certain resonance in the world of religion. This is not because there is anything much in common between the myth systems of hunter-gatherers and those of modern believers. In the modern world it is myth systems rather than shared campfires that mark off different groups. Common stories go together with common interests.

Cancer In Ancient Egyptian Mummy

A professor from American University in Cairo says discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment.

The genetics-environment question is key to understanding cancer.

AUC professor Salima Ikram, a member of the team that studied the mummy in Portugal for two years, said Sunday the mummy was of a man who died in his forties.

She said this was the second oldest known case of prostate cancer.

"Living conditions in ancient times were very different; there were no pollutants or modified foods, which leads us to believe that the disease is not necessarily only linked to industrial factors," she said.

A statement from AUC says the oldest known case came from a 2,700 year-old skeleton of a king in Russia.

UN report aims for better future

A UN report is all for changing the way the world does business in an effort to secure a better future.


"Growing inequality, environmental decline and "teetering" economies mean the world must change the way it does business" (BBC News). Special focus should be on improving health and education. Additionally, subsidies on fossil fuels must also end.


"With the possibility of the world slipping further into recession, policymakers are hungry for ideas that can help them to navigate these difficult times," said South African President Jacob Zuma, who is one of the co-chairs of the High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability.


"Our report makes clear that sustainable development is more important than ever given the multiple crises now enveloping the world."


According to another co-chair Finnish President Tarja Halonen "eradication of poverty and improving equity must remain priorities for the world community".

A Human with Birdwings

Imagine the Wright brothers, except without the plane. That’s Jarnos Smeets.

His Human Birdwings project attempts to transform man into bird, with a little help from a Wiimote and Wildfire S. In the video above, you can see him taking flight ever so briefly. His team seemed clearly disappointed he wasn’t in the air for longer, but it’s a good first try, or as the project calls it, a good pre-test.
Smeets is a mechanical engineer from the Netherlands, and he dreams of a day when he can soar with wings he’s built. It looks like he’s on the cusp of achieving it. We’ll keep tabs on the project’s progression.

South Africans have difficulty in Maths

Johannesburg - One in six pupils who wrote last year's matric maths paper got less than 10%, City Press reported on Sunday.
More than half the matrics who wrote physical science got less than 30% for the subject and the average mark for the maths paper was just 29%, according to figures the paper obtained from education quality assurance body Umalusi.
The figures were "frightening", education expert Professor Graeme Bloch told the City Press.

Just Take My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark

When Natalie Raines, famous Broadway star, is found in her home in Closter, New Jersey, dying from a gunshot wound, her former husband, Gregg Aldrich, whom she was in the process of divorcing, is the chief suspect. What no one knows is that, only days before she was murdered, Natalie accidentally came face to face with the man who killed her former roommate, Jamie Evans. Two years later, career criminal Jimmy Easton, comes forward to claim that Aldrich hired him to kill his wife, but he turned the job down. Based on Easton's testimony, Gregg is charged with the murder of his wife. Handling the case is Emily Wallace, an attractive thirty-two-year-old widowed assistant prosecutor. As Aldrich's trial is making headlines, Emily's boss, Ted Wesley, warns her that this high-profile case will reveal personal matters about her, such as the fact that she had a heart transplant. And, during the trial, Emily experiences sentiments which defy all reason and continue after Gregg Aldrich's fate is decided by the jury. In the meantime, she does not realize that her own life is now at risk.

Hitler’s Lair to Lure Tourists

Hitler, evil personified, has been a puzzle for many historians and the interested public. His Wolf’s Lair in Poland has been attracting WW II devotees and a potential make over may lure a great many new visitors.

Hitler remains one of the most cruel, bloodthirsty military leaders of all time. His persona has been a fascinating subject for many history fans and devotees and monitoring his life and death has become an obsession for many.

Those who are aware of his histories will have heard about the Wolf’s Lair, a fortress where he and many of his men spent several years during WW II. It is located in Polish northeastern woodlands and what now are more or less ruins was a sturdy military headquarters. While currently owned by local forestry authority, the area is available to anyone willing to invest and turn Hitler’s fortress into a tourist magnet.

While the offer has been on the table for some time now, the reactions have been very scarce. It is a demanding project, featuring the refurbishment of nearly 80 buildings, divided into several Security Zones based on who was staying in them.

Wolf’s Lair, or Wolfsschanze was built in 1940 and the first time Hitler personally visited here was in 1941. Within three years, he spent some 800 days here and Wolfschanze functioned as his military headquarters.

The bunker system proved more than adequate and the area was self sufficient; there was a power plant and train station within the complex. It took massive amounts of TNT to destroy most of the area -- a rather tiring effort of the retreating German forces in 1945. And even now, many of local bunkers still exist thanks to their firm ferro-concrete skeletons.

Wolf’s Lair has also become known as the place where Col. Claus von Stauffenberg attempted to assassinate Hitler, a plot popularized by the 2008 Tom Cruise film ‘Valkyrie’ which certainly raises its appeal to the general public.

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather is a 1972 epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo, starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard Conte and Diane Keaton, and features John Cazale, Talia Shire and Abe Vigoda.

The story, spanning the years 1945 to 1955, chronicles the experiences of the Italian-American Corleone family. During his daughter Connie's wedding reception, crime family patriarch Don Vito Corleone hears requests for favors, one of which comes from singer Johnny Fontane asking for help in landing a movie role that will revitalize his flagging career. The Don's adopted son and family consigliere, Tom Hagen, is dispatched to Hollywood to meet with wealthy studio head Jack Woltz to fulfill Fontane's request. Woltz angrily refuses to cast Fontane, but when he later finds the severed head of his prized racehorse in his bed, he changes his mind.

Upon Hagen's return, drug lord Virgil Sollozzo asks Don Corleone to protect the rival Tattaglia family's heroin business through his political connections. Disapproving of drug trafficking and fearing the loss of his political influence, he rejects the proposal and sends his henchman, Luca Brasi, to spy on Sollozzo and the Tattaglias, but they kill Brasi. Sollozzo's men then try to assassinate Corleone, but he survives with bullet wounds. Sollozzo then kidnaps Hagen and persuades him to offer Corleone's eldest son, Sonny, the deal previously offered to the Don. As a warning, the Tattaglias send the Corleones fish wrapped in Luca Brasi's bulletproof vest to confirm that he sleeps with the fishes. Vito's youngest son, Michael, thwarts a second assassination attempt at the hospital where his father is recuperating, but in the process he is accosted by corrupt police Captain McCluskey, who breaks his jaw. Sonny retaliates by having Tattaglia's son, Bruno, killed.

The Godfather received Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In addition, it had been ranked third -- behind Citizen Kane (1941) and Casablanca (1942) -- on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies list by the American Film Institute, and second when the list was published again in 2007.

Jenny Packham Launching Affordable Capsule Line

Jenny Packham is the third designer to announce a mass market collaboration this week, along with Zac Posen and Nanette Lepore.

British newspaper The Telegraph reports January 26 that the British designer, who showcases her ultra feminine creations during New York Fashion Week, is creating a capsule line for UK department store Debenhams.

She follows in the footsteps of creators including Preen, Roksanda Ilincic, Henry Holland and Matthew Williamson in working with the retailer, which has franchise stores across the globe and ships internationally from debenhams.com.

Packham, who also makes luxurious bridalwear, is a favorite among celebrities including Kate Beckinsale and Kate Winslet, and her creations have been seen on Britain's Duchess Catherine a great deal.

The creator's affordable range of occasionwear and jewelry is scheduled to hit Debenhams this spring.

Carlos Tevez does not have a problem with me, says Roberto Mancini

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini says he has always had a good relationship with Carlos Tevez as he ruled out any further transfer activity before the deadline, meaning the Argentine is likely to spend the rest of the summer at the Etihad Stadium.

Mancini denied claims from striker's adviser, Kia Joorabchian, who claimed Tevez's relationship with his manager had never been good and there had been "feuds" with Mancini throughout their time together.

"Carlos doesn't have any problem with me," said Mancini.

Tevez is increasingly likely to stay at City beyond transfer window. The 27-year-old has been in Argentina for over two months and it is believed he will return to Manchester if his future is not sorted this week.

Earlier AC Milan, Inter Milan and Paris St Germain had shown interest in the striker but were unsuccessful in any deal.

There have been suggestions he will return if his future is not sorted this week, leaving Mancini with a tricky problem trying to reintegrate a player in his squad who has taken such an extreme stance.

"Everyone should always answer for his behaviour," said Mancini.

"If a player is at one club and wants to go to another, it is an option for the player. Maybe for the club it is a big problem."

Winners List of SAG Awards 2012

The 18th Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, often have a curious way of letting us know what the Oscars are going to deliver. So when the Screen Actors Guild doled out its golden statuettes on Sunday night, January 29, we couldn't help but feel there were more than a few hints at how the Academy Awards might shake out in a few weeks.

"The Help" wins big at SAG Awards, for Best Ensemble capped off a rather predictable night at the SAG Awards. The adaptation of the best-selling novel picked up individual awards for both Octavia Spencer, who won Best Supporting Actress, and Viola Davis, who won Best Actress.

Things were more predictable on the TV side of things. In 2012, for the second year in a row, "Modern Family" (Outstanding Cast in a Comedy) and "Boardwalk Empire" (Outstanding Cast in a Drama and a Lead Actor win for Steve Buscemi) had strong showings.



The complete list of the winners:

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
"Bridesmaids"
"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
*WINNER "The Help"
"Midnight in Paris"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
George Clooney, "The Descendants"
Demian Bichir, "A Better Life"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "J. Edgar"
*WINNER Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Brad Pitt, "Moneyball"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Michelle Williams, "My Week With Marilyn"
Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"
*WINNER Viola Davis, "The Help"
Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady"
Tilda Swinton, "We Need to Talk About Kevin"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Nick Nolte, "Warrior"
Kenneth Branagh, "My Week With Marilyn"
Armie Hammer, "J. Edgar"
Jonah Hill, "Moneyball"
*WINNER Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
*WINNER Octavia Spencer, "The Help"
Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain, "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer, "Albert Nobbs"

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
"The Adjustment Bureau"
"Cowboys & Aliens"
*WINNER "Harry Potter and the Deahtly Hallows - Part 2"
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
"X-Men: First Class"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie Or Miniseries
Laurence Fishburne, "Thurgood"
*WINNER Paul Giamatti, "Too Big to Fail"
Greg Kinnear, "The Kennedys"
Guy Pearce, "Mildred Pierce"
James Woods, "Too Big to Fail"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie Or Miniseries
Diane Lane, "Cinema Verite"
Maggie Smith, "Downton Abbey"
Emily Watson, "Appropriate Adult"
Betty White, "The Lost Valentine"
*WINNER Kate Winslet, "Mildred Pierce"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
Patrick J. Adams, "Suits"
*WINNER Steve Buscemi, "Boardwalk Empire"
Kyle Chandler, "Friday Night Lights"
Bryan Cranston, "Breaking Bad"
Michael C. Hall, "Dexter"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
Kathy Bates, "Harry's Law"
Glenn Close, "Damages"
*WINNER Jessica Lange, "American Horror Story"
Julianna Margulies, "The Good Wife"
Kyra Sedgwick, "The Closer"

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
*WINNER Alec Baldwin, "30 Rock"
Ty Burrell, "Modern Family"
Steve Carell, "The Office"
Jon Cryer, "Two and a Half Men"
Eric Stonestreet, "Modern Family"

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
Julie Bowen, "Modern Family"
Edie Falco, "Nurse Jackie"
Tina Fey, "30 Rock"
Sofia Vergara, "Modern Family"
*WINNER Betty White, "Hot In Cleveland"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
*WINNER "Boardwalk Empire"
"Breaking Bad"
"Dexter"
"Game of Thrones"
"The Good Wife"

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series
"30 Rock"
"The Big Bang Theory"
"Glee"
*WINNER "Modern Family"
"The Office"

Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series
"Dexter"
*WINNER "Game of Thrones"
"Southland"
"Spartacus: Gods of the Arena"
"True Blood"

Screen Actors Guild Awards 48th Annual Life Achievement Award
*WINNER Mary Tyler Moore

The Have's and Have-Not's!

By Sarah Mahmood


When God gives you what you pray for it's good because you get what you want to, and when God does not give you what you pray for, it's even better because this time He's going to give you what He wants you to have!


Yes, I read it somewhere, and it really is the best consolation for all that I have ever wanted, really badly, and yet have not been able to get it; a source of constant optimism, so that every time I embark on a new endeavour, I can start off with renewed vigour and a new hope, not worrying about being unsuccessful.


So here's to you, everyone of you out there: see your past failings as lessons only, and not as a source of constant dissatisfaction!

Educators Alarmed:Minority Students Performing at Levels of 30 Years Ago

WASHINGTON:Educators are expressing alarm that the performance gap between minority and white high school students continues to expand across the United States, with minority teenagers performing at academic levels equal to or lower than those of 30 years ago.
Despite the hope that improving education for children of color would propel them to better life outcomes, Latino and African-American students are not being prepared in high school classrooms for brighter futures. While achievement levels have improved considerably for minority elementary and middle school students, educators say their academic performance drops during high school years.
Educators cite these causes for the disparity in performance:

• Lowered expectations for students of color


• Growing income inequality and lack of resources in low-income school districts


• Unequal access to experienced teachers


• An increased number of "out of field" teachers instructing minority students in subjects outside their area of expertise


• Unconscious bias" by teachers and administrators.


• These factors, experts say, produce an opportunity gap for students of color.

Full Report

Students compete to rent Sweden's 'smallest' flat

SWEDEN:As students in Lund get ready to compete for a chance to live in Sweden’s ‘coziest’ dwelling, the housing commission claim the bijoux cottages are simply ‘too small’.
The price of the bijoux dwellings are their main selling point, with the prospected cottages being rented for 2500 kronor ($370) a month, compared to the average newly built student apartment in Lund which is rented for 4167, yet three times the size.

“We have a catch-22 situation. There is a shortage of student housing and the housing board’s regulations result in high building costs, and therefore expensive apartments,” said Svensson in a statement.
  The cottage features a kitchenette complete with dining area, a bathroom with toilet and shower and a sleeping loft. Student needs are not forgotten either – there’s a study desk below the sleeping area. There’s even an outside plot attached for those with green fingers.

Students interested in living in this experimental housing venture must be willing to earn their keep, however.
Full News

Student Of The Day / James Xi

A student at the University College London, James undertook a considerable amount of fundraising work for the victims of the Pakistani floods and the Haitian earthquake.

James has also been asked to help select volunteers for London’s 2012 Olympics.James was awarded the SHINE Award, as reported on British Council Website. He was titled 'The International Student of the Year 2011".

Headline Jan 30, 2012 / Assertiveness

Assertiveness

The Attribute Of True Heroes

Loving dedication M Hamad Khan, Irum Khan, London UK

David Fights Goliath!

In today's world paddling away will get to nowhere. You have to know where you are going! Studying in a great university, and for the developing world, being computer literate, or owning a computer isn't worth a mention, if you haven't mastered the key technology of "Assertiveness". And if you haven't then Education, Integrity, Ethics, and your Teachers have failed you!

In the present stormy waters that have typified our planet since over a last decade, and are building up into katrinas and tsunamis. "So what can student do?" Nearly every single interface with outside world have to be questioned. 

We have to design different configurations with our schools, colleges, universities and the outside world, to save this world from misery, injustice and unmitigated disaster. Student Angel Mother will lead the way. We owe to ourselves and the future generations. 

The world built on a reward system has merely brought in confusion, and agony and benefit just a few at the agony of the remaining world. Any system of governance that does not include the student's concerns is not a democratic cell. We must look at the premise behind every program. Nothing so far said and done anywhere should alter the behaviour of our attitudes. 

All audience heroes are requested to take up their share of responsibility and move SAM forward. We all must make sacrifices and concessions. Like it or not, or think what you will, the severe economic hardships will serve the cause of change. 

The world must share our anxieties. And Student Angel Mother has the wisdom to go for more than measurements. Results!!

A very good night to you all!

SAM Daily Times - Voice Of The Voiceless

Formula NUST

By Muhammad Arij
Pakistan Navy Engineering College





Anyone with the slightest interest in cars would know who Michael Schumacher, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are. They are all famous for pushing formula styles race cars to the limit as they fight for the formula 1 championship. Very few people however truly appreciate the effort of the team of engineers who make it possible for them for reach speeds, where one’s surrounding are literally just a blur. Motorsports is followed passionately by many in Pakistan and many young people dream of being on the race track or in the pit lanes during one of these events. Unfortunately due to the limited means they are restricted to living their dreams vicariously through the coverage of these events on television.

Students from NUST-PNEC have decided to take matters into their own hands and have formulated the team Formula NUST, which is in the process of building a formula race car to race at the Formula Student event in UK this summer.

Formula student is an annual educational motorsports competition held under the mentorship of Institute of mechanical engineers ImechE in collaboration with society of automotive engineers SAE. As premiere motorsports engineering competition of the world and it attracts students from the best engineering universities of the world who then design, build and race their cars. It is backed by industry and high profile engineers such as the Patron Ross Brawn OBE. The competition aims to inspire and develop enterprising and innovative young engineers.

Team Formula NUST has taken up the mantle of ensuring that Pakistan also lines up at the grid at this year’s competition. For this purpose, they have been working diligently on this project for the past year and are now currently in the process of manufacturing a Formula Student race car.

High-end engineering is virtually non-existent in Pakistan and no team from Pakistan has yet participated in this event. Participation in this competition will have Pakistan rub shoulders with the leading engineering nations of the world.

Collaboration with Team ‘Formula NUST’ is also a very lucrative opportunity for local brands and companies from a diverse range of fields to have their logos on display at the international and national stage.

The students from NUST through this endeavor aim to project a positive image of our nation and aim establish Pakistan as a serious competitor in the field of engineering.

Fuel pumping to start on Costa Concordia

Pumping of fuel from the stranded Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia is going to proceed along with the search of the vessel.


The ship, which crashed into rocks earlier this month, is now stable, say Italian authorities. It was carrying 4200 people onboard of which 13 are now confirmed dead. Search operation was suspended when the ship slipped further into the deep waters three days after the tragic incident.

Megaupload Users Plan To Sue FBI Over Lost Files

The drama surrounding file-sharing site Megaupload continued Friday, January 27, as users announced a plan to sue the FBI over files lost during the site's shutdown last week.

Last week, the federal government took action against Megaupload.com, arresting several members of the company on racketeering and copyright-infringement charges. A federal indictment alleged that the site, which allows users to transfer large files, has generated more than $175 million in criminal proceeds and costs copyright-holders more than $500 million in lost revenue from pirated movies, albums and other materials.

According to TorrentFreak.com, Pirate Parties around the world are banding together to file an official complaint against U.S. authorities in an effort to recover the large amounts of non-pirated data, research documents and personal videos that are shared among users on the site.

"The widespread damage caused by the sudden closure of Megaupload is unjustified and completely disproportionate to the aim intended," they announced in a statement obtained by TorrentFreak. "For this reason Pirates of Catalonia, in collaboration with Pirate Parties International and other Pirate Parties, have begun investigating these potential breaches of law and will facilitate submission of complaints against the US authorities in as many countries as possible, to ensure a positive and just result.

"This initiative is a starting point for legitimate internet users to help defend themselves from the legal abuses promoted by those wishing to aggressively lock away cultural materials for their own financial gain."

The Department of Justice said the case against Megaupload is among the largest criminal copyright cases ever brought by the United States. The news broke just a day after major websites like Wikipedia and Google protested against the U.S. House of Representatives' controversial Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, and the Senate's similar Protect IP Act.

How A Parent's Education Can Affect The Mental Health Of Their Offspring

Could depression in adulthood be tied to a parent's level of education? A new study led by Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, a medical sociologist from McGill University, suggests this is the case.
The team from Department of Sociology at Florida State University found that higher levels of parental education meant fewer mental health issues for their adult children. 
"However, we also found much of that association may be due to the fact that parents with more education tend to have children with more education and better paying jobs themselves," explained Quesnel-Vallée. "What this means is that the whole process of climbing up the social ladder that is rooted in a parent's education is a crucial pathway for the mental health of adult children." 

Source:MNT

A Barbecue, in the Middle of a Lake

Just because you’re in the middle of the Pacific Ocean doesn’t mean you can’t have a hot meal. The Floating Flamer brings the barbecue to you when you’re off kayaking, swimming or hanging out with dolphin friends.
The buoyant grill comes in two versions: the Topless Model and the Grand Flamer. The topless grill (left) is ideal for smaller parties and weekend trips, and should fit in the back of a pickup. The latter is suited for large gatherings and weeks-long outings to the lake.

McDonald's 4th-quarter profit beats on December sales strength

McDonald's Corp reported quarterly profit that beat analysts' estimates as sales, which were already outpacing competitors, picked up strength in December.
The company and its franchisees have been pouring money into their restaurants at a time when smaller and financially strapped chains are slashing costs.

Such investments in renovations, longer operating hours and new menu items have helped McDonald's win market share from weaker rivals.

Sales at stores open at least a year rose 9.6 percent in December, with a 9.8 percent increase in the United States and a 10.8 percent increase in Europe.

Analysts on average forecast a 5.9 percent increase overall, with the a 5.4 percent increase in the United States and a 6.4 percent increase in Europe, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The world's biggest hamburger chain reported fourth-quarter profit of $1.38 billion, or $1.33 per share, up from $1.24 billion, or $1.16 a share, a year earlier and beating the average analyst estimate of $1.30 a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 10 percent to $6.82 billion, edging above the average analyst estimate of $6.81 billion.

McDonald's shares were up 40 cents at $101.35 in premarket trading on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman in Chicago, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

Study: Social skills suffer when tweens multitask

"When we media multitask, we're not really paying attention to the people around us and we get in a habit of not paying attention, and thus when I'm talking with you, I may be hearing the words but I'm missing all the rich, critical, juicy stuff at the heart of emotional and social life." says education professor Clifford Nass.

Stanford University researchers, headed by education professor Roy Pea and communication professor Clifford Nass, surveyed 3,461 girls, ages 8-12, about their electronic diversions and their social and emotional lives.

“The results were upsetting, disturbing, scary,” Nass says.

The girls, all subscribers to Discovery Girlsmagazine, took the survey online, detailing the time they spent watching video including television, YouTube, and movies; listening to music; reading; doing homework; emailing; posting to Facebook or MySpace; texting; instant messaging; talking on the phone; and video chatting as well as how often they were doing two or more of those activities simultaneously.

The girls’ answers showed that multitasking and spending many hours watching videos and using online communication were statistically associated with a series of negative experiences: feeling less social success, not feeling normal, having more friends whom parents perceive as bad influences, and sleeping less.

The researchers say that while they found a correlation between some media habits and diminished social and emotional skills, a definite cause-and-effect relationship has yet to be proved.

The survey findings are bad news, given that the 8-12 age range is critical for the social and emotional development of girls, and because children are becoming active media consumers at an ever-younger age.

Students Rescue Man From Rio Grande Mud

A homeless man who tells authorities he was stuck in the mud at the Rio Grande river in New Mexico for three days has been rescued after a group of high school students heard him yelling for help.

An Albuquerque Fire Department spokesman tells KRQE-TV () that the students and their biology teacher heard the man yelling from a marshy wetlands area Saturday morning.

It took swift-water and technical rescue teams about two hours to pull the unidentified man to safety. His name and condition were not released.

The man told the students he'd spent three days stuck in the mud about two miles north of Interstate 40 in Albuquerque.

Police later identified the man as Clayton Senn, a transient who'd been living near the river.

Police say they had a warrant for Senn's arrest for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He was taken to an Albuquerque hospital for treatment and was to be booked on the warrant upon his release.