USOC looks to build consensus for Olympic bid

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) ? When it comes to amassing medals, money and friends around the world, leaders of the U.S. Olympic Committee couldn't be happier.

Yet to bring the Olympics back to the United States, they know they'll need to keep collecting allies in Washington, too.

Speaking at the USOC's annual assembly Friday, CEO Scott Blackmun said Olympic leaders need to reach out to politicians in the nation's capital to shore up support for a possible bid for the 2024 or 2026 Olympics.

"We believe the next bid needs to be not only the bid of a city but a bid of a nation," Blackmun said. "We want to have the White House and the Hill on board with us. We can't wait two or four years to have them get on board with us."

The USOC has put together a committee to explore a bid; it will report to the board of directors at its next meeting in December.

"Make no mistake, we do want to bid, and we do want to win," chairman Larry Probst said. "But we will only bid if the business logic is as compelling as the sports logic."

Among the issues the USOC will explore in Washington would be getting a federal financial guarantee, the likes of which almost every country brings to the table when they bid. Recent U.S. bids have been backed by state and local guarantees, but not federal.

"I'm not sure they would do that in the future, but we'd certainly appreciate that sort of support," Probst told reporters in a meeting after his prepared address. "We plan to spend some time in Washington to see if that opportunity exists."

On Friday morning, Blackmun and Probst addressed leaders from the U.S. Olympic world ? recapping America's successes at the London Games and looking toward the future. The Winter Olympics in Sochi are only 17 months away and, on a grander scale, the USOC wants to bring the Olympics back to home turf for the first time since 2002.

Probst said the atmosphere for bidding is better both internationally, now that the USOC and International Olympic Committee have reached a deal on revenue sharing, and domestically, where dysfunction that rocked the USOC has largely been resolved.

"When I stepped into this role four years ago, we were engulfed in period of challenge and turmoil, and that's an understatement," Probst said. "We had back-to-back Olympic bids that did not win ? or frankly even come close to winning. ... When Scott and I first sat down at the end of 2009 to chart the future direction of the USOC, we both recognized that the organization needed a major course correction."

While the USOC's internal politics have been smoothed out, the federation wants to make sure it has support from Washington. A handful of congressmen complained before the Olympics that the U.S. team's uniforms for opening ceremony were made in China. The USOC and its supplier, Ralph Lauren, have changed that for future Olympics.

The dust-up illustrated the fine line the USOC walks when delving into the realm of Washington. It seeks support from politicians but doesn't want them micromanaging its affairs, especially considering the USOC doesn't receive federal funding.

These days, supporting the U.S. Olympic movement isn't a high-risk political proposition.

The United States won the most overall (104) and gold medals (46) in London and "sent a clear message to the world," Probst said, that it "is far from finished in raising its competitive game to new heights."

The U.S. team actually took home six more medals from Beijing four years ago than it did from London last month, but the tone at the assembly four years ago couldn't have been more different.

Outgoing chairman Peter Ueberroth, tired of criticism heaped on the USOC for taking too much cash out of the revenue-sharing arrangement with the IOC, gave arguably the most memorable speech in the history of these assemblies. He pointedly reminded international partners that, "U.S. corporations have paid 60 percent of all the money, period. Be sure you all understand that. The rest of the world pays 40 percent. It's pretty simple math."

Meanwhile, behind closed doors, the stage was being set for the ouster of CEO Jim Scherr and a number of other key executives ? moves that both outraged and confused other Olympic leaders and played into Chicago's humiliating fourth-place finish in the bidding for the 2016 Olympics.

Four years later, the keynote addresses were part of an overall love-fest, filled with chart after chart detailing the success stories of the past four years.

In addition to winning the medal counts, the USOC increased overall revenue by 5 percent in a bad economy, to $699.5 million, while also upping the amount of direct support to athletes and national governing bodies by 17 percent, to $247 million.

Blackmun opened his presentation by showing a feel-good video of U.S. swimmers, featuring Missy Franklin, hamming it up to the song "Call Me Maybe," in buses, airplanes and practice pools on their way to London.

By the end of Blackmun's presentation, the rest of the assembly hall was practically singing Kumbaya.

"This is a very different place than it was four, five, six years ago," said Bill Marolt, CEO of the U.S. Ski Team. "You go to a ... meeting and we're talking about real things and real direction, whereas four, five years ago, we'd just sit around and (complain), basically."

Happy as everyone may be, the success of all the relationship building will ultimately be judged on whether the USOC can bring the Olympics back. The 2024 Games won't be awarded until 2017, but the topic is always near the top of the agenda at these meetings.

"I really believe the time is right to bring the Games back to the United States, and make sure we do it the right way," said Peter Vidmar, the two-time Olympic gold medalist who is chairman of USA Gymnastics. "Not just throwing a city out there, but really having the best bid out there, and I feel we're capable of doing that."

___

On the internet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxffBXIPOcg

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/usoc-looks-build-consensus-olympic-bid-192947196--finance.html

daylight savings time john mccain game changer selection sunday corned beef recipe time change daylight savings

Enrich the Taste of Your Sauces and ... - Fishco Bar And Grill

Being a vegan is never an easy thing. When others regularly consume the meats, fish, milk, and egg, you can only enjoy the fresh veggies and fruits. No time for you to taste the animal-produced products. That is a big no no for a vegan like you. But, as a man, you must feel bored and tired of tasting and smelling the same food over and over. Can you imagine how limited it is your foods and drinks?

But thanks to technology in the culinary field, you can taste more various foods and drinks that are still fruit and vegetable based. The foods and drinks are made of 100% fruits and vegetables but still, you will never imagine it, that they will taste as good as the meats, fish, milk, or egg that common people consume. Of course, you can easily find that kind of foods and drinks in the vegan restaurants. The chefs always try to explore their ability to cook tasteful foods and prepare fresh drinks.

However, having a meal in vegan restaurants can harm your wallet. The price of the vegan foods and drinks commonly push you to dig your wallet deeper than ever. So, it is then suggested if you complete your vegan condiments and sauces so that you can make your own delicious dishes such as vegan salad dressing, soups, BBQ sauces, etc.

Source: http://www.fishcobarandgrill.com/enrich-the-taste-of-your-sauces-and-condiments/

the closer michael turner split pea soup land of the lost cleveland cavaliers cleveland cavaliers war horse

Gambling Bill Still on Table: Quinn | NBC Chicago

Gov. Pat Quinn said he'll let legislators press their luck once more to try and pass a gambling bill that would put a casino in Chicago.

"I really feel we will address this issue and hopefully resolve it by the 9th of January, which is the deadline for this session of the General Assembly," Quinn said after a Thursday event at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. "I'm very hopeful of that."

While it sounds like the odds are in favor of the gambling bill, Quinn stood firm on his stance to create a bill that promotes integrity in the government.

"When I vetoed the legislation before, it did not have dedicated earmarked money for education,"?Quinn said. "I think that's absolutely required, imperative, if we're going to do this. I feel if that's addressed, that certainly will go a long way toward getting the job done."

The governor also said the bill needs to have a "statewide perspective."

Just last month, Quinn showed he wasn't bluffing when he said he wasn't a fan of the Illinois gambling expansion plan. He ended up vetoing the bill.

Lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year that would create five new casinos -- a land-based site in Chicago and four more on riverboats. The bill also would have allowed slot machines at horse racing tracks for the first time, another point Quinn has spoken out against.

The veto promoted many of the bill's sponsors to believe Quinn never had any intention of passing a gambling bill.

Emanuel said earlier this year the new casino would be the financial engine for miles of new roads and sewer lines, along with millions of dollars in rehab of the Chicago Transit Authority. Emanuel also has said Chicago has a casino but it's in Hammond, which continues to rake in money the mayor believes belongs to the Windy City.

Quinn said a casino can't solve money troubles.

"Illinois cannot gamble its way out of our fiscal challenges," he wrote last month when he vetoed the bill. "Even a casino on every street corner cannot repair the state's $83 billion unfunded pension liability."

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Quinn-Gambling-Bill-Still-on-Table-170710566.html

obama state of the union 2012 2012 state of the union address jorge posada maurice sendak state of the union sotu boehner

Endeavor gives Californians ultimate photo op

Rather than roaring to space on an elevator of flame, the shuttle Endeavour's final flight Friday was a leisurely, low-altitude journey past the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and Hollywood sign as well as other California landmarks.

The workhorse rode piggyback atop a Boeing 747 to its home state and ultimately landed at Los Angeles International Airport.

NASA's shuttle fleet, which retired last year after three decades of flight, was assembled in Palmdale, Calif., near Edwards Air Force Base. The military outpost 100 miles north of Los Angeles served as the original shuttle landing strip and remained a backup site in case of stormy weather at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Endeavour's final airborne journey started with takeoff from Edwards and a northern heading to swoop low over Sacramento before flying by San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz prison.

The flight then turned south for a fly-by at West Coast space port Vandenberg Air Force Base. Other sites where people gathered to gawk ? and shoot photos and video ? included Malibu, Santa Monica, the Getty Center, Griffith Observatory, downtown Los Angeles and the Queen Mary, a transportation relic enshrined in Long Beach.

Endeavour later will be hauled 12 miles on city streets to its home at the California Science Center.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/endeavor-gives-californians-ultimate-photo-op-195916092.html

Hurricane Isaac Sam Claflin Tony Farmer West Nile virus symptoms snooki ll cool j amy schumer

New Maps app is rare Apple flub

4 hrs.

Peter Svensson , Associated Press

With a touch of?geek whimsy, Google Maps warns anyone who seeks walking directions to Mordor ?the land of evil in "The Lord of the Rings"? to use caution. "One does not simply walk into Mordor," it says. Apple is finding this week that creating an alternative to Google Maps isn't a simple walk, either.

Apple released an update to its iPhone and iPad operating system on Wednesday that replaces Google Maps with Apple's own application. Early upgraders are reporting that the new maps are less detailed, look weird and misplace landmarks. It's shaping up to be a rare setback for Apple.

"It's a complete failure," said Jeffrey Jorgensen. "It's slower, its directions are poorer and its location data doesn't seem to be accurate. All around, it's not quite there yet."

Jorgensen, a user interface designer for a San Francisco-based startup, began using Apple Maps months ago, because Apple made it available early to people in its software development program. He said he finds himself relying on Google Maps running on his wife's Android phone instead.

The most-hyped feature of the new app is a "Flyby" mode that shows three-dimensional renderings of buildings and other features. It presents a convincing depiction of the canyons of Manhattan, but has a hard time rendering bridges and highway overpasses, which tend to look wobbly or partly collapsed.

The Apple app also has a tendency to judge landscape features by their names. For instance, it marks the hulking Madison Square Garden arena in New York as green park space because of the word "Garden" in its name. The TD Garden football stadium in Boston gets the same treatment.

Conversely, Apple Maps marks "Airfield Gardens," a farm and plant nursery in Dublin, Ireland, as an airfield. This prompted the country's Justice Minister, Alan Shatter, to warn pilots on Thursday not to land there.

"Clearly the designation is not only wrong but is dangerously misleading in that it could result in a pilot, unfamiliar with the area, in an emergency situation and without other available information, attempting a landing," he said.

Marcus Thielking, the co-founder of mapping-app developer Skobbler, said the lapses of the Apple app are surprising, particularly since Apple purchases map data from an established provider, Tele Atlas.

"The combination of Apple and TomTom screwing up something like this is very odd. Apple is not the first and only company using Tele Atlas maps," Thielking said.

Tele Atlas is a subsidiary of TomTom, a Dutch maker of navigation devices.

"We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and we are just getting started," said Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller. The app will work better the more people use it, she said, alluding to fact that users can report errors and omissions from within the app.

Google has been in the mapping game for much longer, giving it the benefit of years of error reports to help shape its maps.

There's been a Google Maps app on the iPhone since it was launched in 2007, but it's always come with the operating system. Now that it's gone from the list of "core" apps, users are finding that it's not available for download either. Google says its goal is to make Maps available, but hasn't said when that will be.

In the meantime, iPhone and iPad owners can access maps.google.com through their browser, said Google spokesman Nate Tyler. The browser version has fewer features but uses a comprehensive mapping database, he said.

Last year, Apple released another software product that many regard as half-baked: the voice-controlled virtual assistant Siri. But Siri's ability to ??at least sometimes?? understand spoken queries was something most users hadn't met before, so they forgave its lapses. With Maps, Apple is replacing an app nearly every smartphone user is already familiar with.

User reaction on social media has been fierce. One Twitter user quipped that the lines of people queuing up to buy the iPhone 5 on Friday will be shorter, because the buyers will be misled by the new Maps.?

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/new-maps-app-rare-apple-flub-1B6020130

packers score ricky gervais napoleon dynamite michelle williams the descendants the descendants homeland

Romneys paid $1.94 million in fed taxes for 2011

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gets out of his vehicle before boarding his campaign plane in West Palm Beach, Fla., Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gets out of his vehicle before boarding his campaign plane in West Palm Beach, Fla., Friday, Sept. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, paid $1.94 million in federal taxes on last year's income of $13.7 million, for an effective tax rate of 14.1 percent, his campaign said Friday.

That's slightly above the 13.9 percent rate the couple paid in 2010. Most of the 2011 income was from investments.

Campaign officials said the couple filed the return Friday with the Internal Revenue Service, after receiving an extension. They were to publicly release their full 2011 returns late Friday.

Romney's taxes have emerged as a key issue during the 2012 presidential race with President Barack Obama. Romney released his 2010 tax returns and a 2011 estimate in January, but he has declined to disclose his returns from earlier years.

His vast fortune and his long association with Bain Capital, the private equity firm he cofounded, have been much discussed this year.

His campaign earlier estimated that Romney would pay about $3.2 million in taxes for the year, an estimate well above the $1.9 million actually paid. He paid about $3 million in federal income taxes in 2010 ? an effective rate of 13.9 percent.

Critics, including Obama, have urged Romney to release more than just the two years of returns and follow his father's model. When George Romney ran for president, he released 12 years of tax returns.

Mitt Romney's campaign did put out a summary Friday by Brad Malt, the trustee of the couple's blind trust, saying that over the 20-year 1990-2009 period, the Romneys owed both state and federal income taxes and paid federal taxes at an effective annual rate of 20.2 percent

Obama's own tax return for last year showed that he and his wife, Michelle, paid $162,074 in federal taxes on $789,674 in adjusted gross income, an effective tax rate of 20.5 percent. Their income plunged from $1.7 million in 2010, with declining sales of the president's books. In 2009, the Obamas reported income of $5.5 million, fueled by the best-selling books.

The Romneys' exact totals for 2011 were federal taxes of $1,935,708 and on income of $13,696.951.

Most of Romney's income is from investments held in a blind trust, and campaign aides have stressed that he makes no decisions on how his money is invested.

During the 20-year period, the Romneys paid an effective federal income tax rate of between 13.45 percent and 13.66 percent each year, trustee Malt wrote.

For last year, the Romneys claimed a deduction for $2.25 million of their $4.021 million in charitable contributions, Malt said. In the previous year, a large percentage of those contributions went to the Mormon Church.

They could have claimed a higher charitable deduction, Malt said, but the couple "limited their deductions of charitable contributions to conform to the governor's statement (n August, based on the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13 percent in income taxes in each of the last 10 years."

Romney told reporters in August that he's never paid less than 13 percent of his income in taxes during the past decade. He said that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's claim to have heard that he paid no taxes in some years was "totally false."

The former Massachusetts governor, who would be among the richest presidents ever elected, is aggressively competing with Obama for the support of middle class voters. Romney has estimated wealth of as much as $250 million.

His tax rate of 14.1 percent is below that of many Americans because most of it flows from capital gains, which are taxed at 15 percent whereas the top marginal income tax rate now is 35 percent.

On average, middle-income families, those making from $50,000 to $75,000 a year, pay 12.8 percent of their income in federal taxes, according to Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation.

Several tax law experts said Friday that Romney's newly released tax returns would not be much help in uncovering the most persistent mysteries of the candidate's sprawling finances ? whether he used aggressive tax-deferral strategies, what are the specifics and tax advantages of his numerous offshore investments, what is the source of his massive retirement account and what are the details behind his now-closed $3 million Swiss bank account.

The analysts said those details could emerge only if Romney provided far more of his tax returns ? including files dating back to his years at Bain Capital, the private firm he left in 2001. Romney, who initially refused to disclose any tax returns, has drawn the line at providing only his 2010 and 2011 returns.

"The issue has never been Romney's 2011 tax return ? in fact, it is a distraction to the real issues," said Edward D. Kleinbard, a law professor at the University of Southern California and former chief of staff of Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation. "All the important compliance and policy questions relating to Romney's personal tax matters relate to the past."

Only multiple returns would provide details about Romney's $100 million retirement account and how it grew, Kleinbard said. He also earlier returns would be crucial in knowing how often he paid gift tax on family trusts.

Joseph Bankman, a Stanford University law school professor and expert on tax law, said Friday, "It's the Bain years we'd really need to know to have a full assessment of his tax strategies." Bankman said that the 2010 and 2011 returns "only raised these questions, but they can't provide real answers."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-09-21-US-Romney-Taxes/id-2916bab2dcc74114a2271fdd0b8ccfda

alicia silverstone park slope food coop anchorman sequel safety not guaranteed lifehouse al gore la dodgers

Clear Your Sinuses in 20 Seconds with Your Tongue and Your Thumb [Body Hacks]

Blocked sinuses are no fun, especially when the problem frequently requires taking a pill. Redditor gymfork points to a clever acupressure method that can solve the problem in just 20 seconds:

Push your tongue against the top of your mouth and place a finger between your eyebrows and apply pressure. Hold it for about 20 seconds and your sinuses will begin to drain.

When you push your tongue against the roof of your mouth, don't aim for a specific point but rather push it flat against the top. When you let go, you should start to feel a little movement in the back of your throat. It's a very simple trick that gets the job done.

LPT: How to clear a blocked nose | Reddit

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/3oA8h9f8mVQ/make-a-pocketable-amplifier-for-your-iphone-out-of-paper

wrestlemania 28 dierks bentley kenny chesney blake shelton academy of country music awards brad paisley zac brown band