Former South African President Mandela Released from Hospital

A spokesman for South African President Jacob Zuma said former President Nelson Mandela will begin to get home-based medical care following his release Wednesday from a Pretoria hospital, where he has been since December 8.

The 94-year-old anti-apartheid leader underwent treatment for a lung infection and had surgery to remove gallstones.

President Zuma’s spokesman, Mac Maharaj, said Mandela’s discharge has brought immense relief to South Africans and well-wishers around the world.

“This [Wednesday] evening, South African time, former President Mandela was discharged from the hospital.  He will now undergo home-based high care at his home in Johannesburg until he recovers fully,” he said.

Maharaj thanked the media and the public on behalf of the government and people of South Africa for their good wishes.

“As you know, Madiba [Nelson Mandela] is adored by millions and millions of people throughout the world, and everybody has been praying for him, kept him in their thoughts and willed him to get better.  So, his discharge from hospital is a milestone in his recovery,” Maharaj said.

Mandela, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, became South Africa's first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in prison for his opposition to apartheid.

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Randi Zuckerberg loses control on Facebook (and Twitter)

(CNET NEWS)It's easy to have sympathy for those who have been misled by Facebook's ever-morphing privacy controls. One should therefore have additional sympathy when the person led astray is a former director of Facebook and enjoys the name Zuckerberg.
Randi Zuckerberg thought she had posted a picture to be only seen by her friends. Suddenly, it was there for all to see. Yes, all. The world. The whole misanthropic, green-eyed human race.
As ReadWriteWeb's Dan Lyons icily fulminates, it seems that one of her sister's friends saw the picture, assumed it was for public viewing and -- because of its profoundly fascinating nature -- tweeted it down the Styx to public hell.
You'll be wondering about the picture. Well, it shows several members of the Zuckerberg family standing around the kitchen, staring into their cellphones and seeming astoundingly happy.
You might imagine that Randi Zuckerberg felt this was not the right message to be sending to the world.
Happy families at this time of year can be disturbing sights, encouraging onlookers to wonder what lurks beneath those open mouths and exposed teeth.

People will wonder what gifts these people bought each other and why the boy with the very pale face and the hoodie is leaning smugly against the kitchen cabinets.

Zuckerberg, however, leaped onto Twitter to explain her pain: "Digital etiquette: always ask permission before posting a friend's photo publicly. It's not about privacy settings, it's about human decency."

Oh, but this only led to her receiving little lectures -- not exclusively about human decency, oddly enough.

Media Bistro wondered whether she was a Twitter bully.

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Toyota in $1.1 Billion Gas-Pedal Settlement

( http://online.wsj.com )Toyota Motor Corp. agreed to pay about $1.1 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit stemming from complaints of unintended acceleration in its vehicles that soured its reputation for quality and undermined its sales globally.
The settlement, filed in a federal court in California on Wednesday, will result in a $1.1 billion pretax charge to earnings this quarter, Toyota said. Owners of some 16 million Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles would be eligible for payments and safety updates that would vary depending on their vehicle and its age.

The settlement includes no admission of fault or unlawful conduct by Toyota and allows the company to avoid the risks associated with battling a lengthy trial. "One of our overriding goals has been to vigorously defend the safety of our vehicles, and we believe we have done that," said Mike Michels, a Toyota spokesman.
The 2009/2010 recalls and public scrutiny of accidents involving its vehicles—including congressional hearings—dented Toyota's reputation for quality and undermined its sales. Its U.S. sales were flat in 2010, a year in which almost every other major auto maker posted gains, and ended its 30-year unbroken run of market-share increases in the U.S.
The settlement is one of the largest in a lawsuit involving the automotive industry, said Steve W. Berman, one of the lead plaintiff lawyers. The tentative agreement must still be approved by U.S. District Judge James Selna.

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Pats get 7 to Pro Bowl

(bostonherald)FOXBORO — The NFL has again shown its respect for the Patriots’ elite level of talent.
Seven Patriots were selected to play in the Pro Bowl on Jan. 27 in Honolulu.
Quarterback Tom Brady, tight end Rob Gronkowski, wide receiver Wes Welker, left guard Logan Mankins, defensive lineman Vince Wilfork, linebacker Jerod Mayo and special teamer Matthew Slater all received the nod.

“It is flattering to be selected, but I have always considered Pro Bowl recognition as a reflection of the team’s overall success,” Brady said. “I am happy for my many teammates who were selected again this year. I know that there are many others who are equally deserving of the opportunity. One day, I am sure, I will have a greater appreciation for individual accomplishments, but this week, my focus is simply on our preparations for Miami.”
Of course, the Patriots hope to avoid the Pro Bowl by advancing to the Super Bowl, but that’s another story for another day.
The Patriots have the third-most Pro Bowlers behind the 49ers (nine) and Texans (eight). The Pats have the fourth-most starters (Gronkowski, Mankins, Wilfork, Mayo) behind the 49ers (seven), Texans (five) and Bears (five).
The fans, players and coaches each receive one-third of the vote. Gronkowski, Mankins and Mayo led the fan vote at their positions, and Brady earned the second-most votes in the league behind Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.
“We have a lot of guys who earned the honor this year, so that is pretty cool,” Mankins said. “It’s always nice to have your peers, coaches and fans select you to the Pro Bowl. Getting voted in is always a reflection of our team success. While I do appreciate this recognition, we need to get ready and keep our focus on the game this week against Miami.”
Brady earned his eighth Pro Bowl nod. Welker, Mankins and Wilfork are going for the fifth time. Gronkowski, Mayo and Slater received their second selection.
“To be selected to my fifth Pro Bowl is amazing,” Wilfork said. “I am honored and humbled. More importantly, I am proud that the other guys on my team are getting the recognition they deserve.”

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McConnell Pushed Into Fiscal Fight as Congress Faces Deadline

(bloomberg) Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader who has stayed largely outside the U.S. budget fight this year, will be thrust into prominence just five days before the deadline for tax increases and spending cuts.
After the House of Representatives failed to act and the Treasury Department said yesterday it will start taking special measures now to avoid breaking the debt ceiling, McConnell’s next move may influence whether more than $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts begin in January. President Barack Obama is pressing for lawmakers to craft an interim deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff as senators return to Washington today.
Should Democrats who control the Senate heed Obama’s call, McConnell will choose from three options: using his legislative experience to help forge a bipartisan deal, wielding his power to block a proposal by Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid from reaching a vote, or letting Democrats advance their own plan without having to endorse it.
“His instincts and his background have always been to engage more in the legislative bargaining and deal-making,” said Stephen Voss, associate professor of political science at the University of Kentucky. Still, “there are lots of pressures that encourage him to represent the more conservative wing of the Republican Party in these negotiations, and we’ve seen that,” Voss said.

‘Bad Cop’ Incentive

As McConnell prepares to seek a sixth term in 2014, the Kentucky Republican risks drawing a Republican primary challenger if he supports raising taxes on anyone, giving him an incentive to be the “bad cop” who scoffs at Obama’s budget proposals, Voss said.
Whatever McConnell does, the House -- which balked at the tax-rate increases for top earners that Obama and Democrats say are needed in any deal -- would still need to approve any measure the Senate passes.
McConnell, 70, has called on the Senate to take up and consider changes to House-passed legislation that would extend the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for all income levels. He’s argued that the Senate could try to alter that legislation to allow tax cuts to expire for top earners, as Democrats advocate.

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A street dog from the Philippines that won hearts around the world

  ( sacbee)       A street dog from the Philippines that won hearts around the world after saving two girls from being hit by a motorcycle is a step closer to receiving surgery at UC Davis to reconstruct her missing snout.
UC Davis veterinarians have announced that chemotherapy has successfully eliminated the tumors that delayed facial surgery for Kabang, the dog whose muzzle was torn off in a motorcycle crash last year. Now the 2-year-old dog is getting treated for heartworms.
"Kabang begins her third week of 'bed rest' following her first heartworm treatment," says a Dec. 18 online update from the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at UC Davis.
"This will continue for about another three weeks. She is eager to go outside and play, but is accepting her needed rest well."
Kabang arrived at UC Davis in October after thousands of dollars were raised for her care through a social media frenzy. A nurse in New York state started the website www.careforkabang.com to raise money, and Kabang has her own Facebook page with more than 16,000 "likes."
When the dog got to Davis for surgery to close the gaping wound where a snout should be, veterinarians determined that her other health problems had to be treated first. They said in October that treating Kabang's tumors and heartworms would likely delay the facial surgery by six months.

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(Catholic) LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Hugh Jones of the University of Hertfordshire says he and his colleagues have discovered no less than five planets orbiting Tau Ceti, a star which is just 12 light-years away.

Tau Ceti is a sun-like star in the constellation Cetus, (the whale) and can been seen with the naked eye. What's more is astronomers studying the light from the star have detected five planets orbiting it. One of those is within the star's Goldilocks zone, a band of space around the star where liquid water could possibly exist.

This intrigues astronomers because liquid water is a prerequisite for life as we know it.

Tau Ceti has long been regarded as a hopeful place, since the star is so much like our sun and it is close to the Earth. In fact, scientists from the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence project (SETI) have listened in to the star repeatedly over the years hoping to detect signs of life there.

Unfortunately, their hopes are probably doomed. Although there are so many things right with the star, there is at least one thing wrong. The star is still surrounded by a substantial disk of stellar debris, much like our solar system was soon after its formation. We know from studying the formation of our solar system, this means that large asteroid impacts must be common on those planets.

Those impacts would almost certainly prevent intelligent and complex life from evolving since any life there would be destroyed with each periodic, cataclysmic impact. We know this because it's happened here on Earth. Tau Ceti has ten times more debris in orbit than our sun.

Ultimately, researchers have concluded that Tau Ceti isn't the kind of place where humans, or anyone else is likely to live. Still, it's amazing to see such wonders of creation in our cosmic backyard.

Read more: What happens if we find life out there?
     
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