Michelle Obama Unveils White House Christmas Decorations

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama is giving military families a first look at the White House Christmas decorations.
Family dog Bo, the star of past Obama White House holiday displays, had to share the spotlight with his little sister, Sunny.
Two life-sized replicas of the Portuguese water dogs made of satin ribbons are one of the first things an expected 70,000 White House visitors will see this month. Dark chocolate miniatures of the first pets are also part of the annual gingerbread White House display.
Another highlight is the towering Blue Room tree, dedicated to military families and trimmed with photos of their joyous homecomings.
Mrs. Obama says she wants Americans to never forget the debt they owe service members and their families for the sacrifices they make in serving the country.

Fox Sells Out Entire Super Bowl XLVIII Ad Inventory, Exec Says

With two months left to go before the big game, Fox has already sold out all of its TV commercial inventory for Super Bowl XLVIII to be played on February 2, 2014.
A Fox executive said that the network has filled all 65, 30-second slots allotted to them by the National Football League, Variety reported on Wednesday. Each commercial slot usually sells for $4 million, with some slots going for as much as $4.5 million, media sources confirmed.
Fox had announced in August that they had already sold 85% of their Super Bowl inventory, before the NFL season had even begun. But even though the "in-game" spots are now off the market, Fox Sports ad sales executive vice president Neil Mulcahy said that "opportunities remain" for pre and post-game commercial slots as well as digital ads.
And while Mulcahy said that many of the usuals are back again, including PepsiCO, GoDaddy and Frito-Lay, there will indeed be some changes this year. Among them will be the lack of movie commercials, as Fox says Hollywood will not be "as well represented" as in past years.

Do Not Let Fame Change You When You Are A Celebrity

Do Not Let Fame Change You When You Are A Celebrity

By:  Stan Popovich

Many celebrities sometimes have a difficult time in coping with their fame and popularity. Here are some suggestions on how to not let fame get the best of you.

A person must understand that fame comes and goes and that a person has no control over their popularity.  Fame is elusive and cannot be controlled.

Always remember your values.  Your values will be with you for your entire life while your fame lasts for a short time.  Do what is right and follow your heart. Don’t give in to peer pressure. When the cameras disappear, it will be just you, your family, and closest friends.

You can’t remain on top forever. A person may be the talk of the town today but tomorrow is another day. There are millions of people who are trying to be in the same spot as you.  You will not remain on top for long.

Many celebrities focus on their fame which is a short term thing. This is a mistake.   Many celebrities should focus on their long term business goals instead of their current popularity.  You want to make the decisions that are best for your business and your personal life in the long run.

Don’t get cocky. It is nice when everyone is coming to you for your attention,  however those same people will be chasing down someone else in  a couple of months.  Enjoy the time in the spot light but don’t get used to it. It doesn’t last.

Finally, learn from the mistakes of others who have dealt with fame and success. There are countless number of people who made the mistake of letting fame get the best of them.  If you are not sure of what to do in handling your fame, then talk to a professional who can give you some advice.

BIOGRAPHY:

Stan Popovich is the author of "A Layman's Guide to Managing Fear Using Psychology, Christianity and Non Resistant Methods which is located at  http://www.managingfear.com/

Prosecutors in Aaron Hernandez case allege girlfriend lied 29 times

FALL RIVER, Mass. — The girlfriend of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez lied to a grand jury nearly 30 times, including saying she could not recall where she left a large box Hernandez allegedly told her to dispose of, prosecutors allege in new court documents.
Prosecutors outlined their accusations in a document filed in Fall River Superior Court on Monday explaining a perjury charge against Shayanna Jenkins, The Herald News reported. The accusation about the box had previously been made during her arraignment.

Shayanna Jenkins AP

PHOTOS: Disgraced athletes: Where Hernandez, 32 others went wrong
Jenkins has pleaded not guilty and her attorney has accused prosecutors of overreaching. A message seeking comment was left with her attorney Tuesday.
Hernandez has pleaded not guilty in the killing of Odin Lloyd, a 27-year-old semipro football player who was dating Jenkins' sister. He is being held without bail.
Prosecutors also say they believe Jenkins lied when she said she couldn't remember several conversations about Lloyd's murder that she had with Hernandez.
The court documents say Jenkins told the grand jury in August that she didn't know why Hernandez changed plans to visit New Hampshire and that she never talked to him about why he needed to meet with his lawyers.
The documents also say Jenkins lied about only seeing one gun in her house and about a confidentiality agreement and issues related to the people who cleaned her house, among other topics.
In October, defense attorney Janice Bassil said in court that there was no evidence Jenkins lied. She called a prosecutor's questioning of Jenkins extremely aggressive and described the relationship between Jenkins and Hernandez, who have a child, as "don't ask, don't tell." Bristol County Assistant District Attorney William McCauley said in November that most of her testimony was not credible.

USC hires Washington's Steve Sarkisian as Trojans' next coach

Washington's Steve Sarkisian has accepted the Southern California coaching job, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.
The person spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because no official announcement had been made by either school.

Steve Sarkisian (AP photo)

Sarkisian is a former USC assistant under Pete Carroll and has been at Washington for five seasons.
REPORT: Ed Orgeron resigns after not getting HC position
He'll be the permanent replacement for Lane Kiffin, who was fired after five games this season and replaced on an interim basis by Ed Orgeron. The Trojans went 6-2 under Orgeron.
Orgeron's success had some USC supporters calling on athletic director Pat Haden to give him the job permanently. Instead, Haden went outside the current staff, but to another coach with USC ties.
MORE: BCS Standings | Week 14 photos | Grobe out at Wake Forest
Per multiple reports, Orgeron was upset on Monday upon not receiving the head coaching job and abruptly resigned as interim head coach of the Trojans.
Kiffin and Sarkisian are friends and at one time were co-offensive coordinators for Carroll during the late stages of USC's dominant run during the 2000s.
Sarkisian was 34-29 at Washington in five seasons after inheriting a program coming off the first 0-12 record in school history under coach Tyrone Willingham.
After going 5-7 in his first season, Sarkisian took the Huskies to a bowl game each of the next four seasons, but they were stuck on seven wins for three years.
The Huskies finished this regular season 8-4, with a victory over Washington State in last Friday's Apple Cup.
Sarkisian said after Friday's victory that he was thankful he no longer had to answer questions about the seven-win barrier.
"We're a better team today that we were a year ago, and a year ago we were a better team than a year before that," Sarkisian said after the 27-17 victory. "Sometimes games go the way they go and you don't get the call or you don't get the catch or you make the one bad call as a coach. But that doesn't mean you're not a good football team or you aren't a better team than you were a year before."
Sarkisian arrived in Seattle trumpeting that he would help Washington return to the elite of the Pac-12. The Huskies at least got back to respectability, but their attempts at finally joining the upper echelon of the conference this season were turned back in losses to Stanford, Oregon and Arizona State. He never defeated the Ducks in his tenure, an issue that stuck with Washington fans tired of getting beaten up by their neighbors to the south.
Sarkisian is the first Washington coach to voluntarily leave for another position since Darrell Royal in 1956 when he departed for Texas. Royal was at Washington for one season.
 AP Sports Writer Tim Booth in Seattle contributed to this report.
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Here Are 5 New Things We Know About Obama

WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is more than just another celebrity, or the famous face behind the government's troubled health care website. Here are five new things about President Barack Obama:
HE SINGS IN THE BATHROOM
Obama showed off his pipes when he sang the opening lines of the Al Green classic "Let's Stay Together" at a New York fundraiser in January 2012. He apparently has had a lot of practice. Asked during an interview on BET's "106 & Park" about her husband's unexpected turn as a balladeer, Michelle Obama said he sings "all the time. Oh, yes, he's in the bathroom all the time just singing. He is always willing to sing. He's like, 'You want me to sing now, want me to sing something for you?'"
THIS PRESIDENT CAN COOK
Obama said the mothers of the Pakistani roommates he had in college in 1980 taught him how to cook a traditional South Asian meat dish called keema, a lentil dish known as daal "and other very good Pakistani food." (He studied at Occidental College in Los Angeles from 1979-81.) Sam Kass, the chef Obama brought with him from Chicago to cook meals for the first family, didn't sound too worried about his pots and pans in the president's hands. "If he wants to make dinner now and again, that's fine by me," Kass said in an interview.
BROKE HIS NOSE PLAYING BASKETBALL
An avid basketball fan, Obama got a busted lip, and 12 stitches, playing basketball the day after Thanksgiving in 2010. He revealed the past broken nose while arguing that his health care law has made the monthly cost of insurance so cheap that young adults who often feel immune to illness or injury should buy a policy to protect themselves. "I kind of remember when I was in my 20s and early 30s I thought I was invincible, but it turns out I broke my nose playing basketball," he told the Fusion television network in an interview. "There were times where I had unexpected illnesses or accidents, and making sure that you've got coverage insures that you're not ending up paying out of pocket thousands of dollars that you may not have."
WORLD TRAVELER
Besides the years spent growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia, Obama traveled the globe before landing his current job. Italy and Pakistan were on the pre-White House itinerary; he has been to Italy as president, but not Pakistan. Obama said he went to Pakistan in 1980 because of his college roommates. "It was a wonderful trip for me, and created a great appreciation and a great love for the Pakistani people," he said after an Oval Office meeting with that country's prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. As for Italy, he revealed after a separate Oval Office meeting with Prime Minister Enrico Letta that he and Michelle had been to Tuscany before he became president. Letta invited him to come back, but Obama didn't commit to returning before his term ends in 2017.

DAUGHTER HAS PEANUT ALLERGY
When Obama signed a bill encouraging schools to stockpile epinephrine, which is used to treat people with severe allergies, he revealed that his 15-year-old daughter, Malia, has a peanut allergy. It was known that she has other allergies, which is why the Obamas chose Portuguese water dogs as the family pets. The breed is said to be good for allergy sufferers. Obama said making sure epinephrine is readily available in schools in case of emergency is "something that every parent can understand."
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE 12/02/13 03:18 AM ET EST

Brain Tumor Risk Factors

By Jean Rothman

Medically reviewed by Pat F. Bass III, MD, MPH

There are more than 100 different types of tumors that can start in the spinal cord and brain. The tumors, which may be cancerous (malignant) or non-cancerous (benign), can interrupt numerous normal activities such as thinking, feeling, moving, and even breathing.
Doctors may know the types of tumors, but they don’t yet know the risk factors for them. “Some brain tumors occur as a result of a known genetic condition, such as neurofibromatosis [in which nerve tissues grow tumors], but these represent less than 5 percent of all brain tumors in adults as well as children,” says Andrew Sloan, MD, director of the Brain Tumor and Neuro-Oncology Center at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. “We aren’t sure what causes the other 95 percent, but there are several new trials designed to give us much more data on risk factors than ever before.”
One study, called Gliogene, is gathering information from patients and family members around the world to help determine whether there are genes related to a kind of primary brain tumor called a glioma. A glioma is the most common type of brain tumor. These tumors form from nerve cells called glial cells. These cells form the brain’s supportive tissue.
Gliogene’s goal is to examine tumor samples and blood from about 15,000 people who either have a brain tumor or have a relative who has one. If a genetic link can be identified, it may lead to better brain tumor treatment and preventive strategies in the future. The study involves research teams in the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, and Israel.

Brain Tumor: Are You at Risk?

There are some known risk factors for developing a spinal cord or brain tumor. But keep in mind that having a risk factor doesn’t mean you’ll get sick — and not having one is no guarantee that you won’t.
The risk of brain tumor may be influenced by these factors:

• Gender. Spinal cord and brain tumors happen more frequently in males than in females, except for meningiomas, which occur more often in females. A meningioma is a type of tumor that grows in the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
• Race. Caucasians get brain tumors more often than people of other races.
• Age. In general, brain tumors are most often found in adults aged 70 or older. However, children do get brain tumors. They are more common in children who are under 8 years old.
• Family history. If a family member has a glioma, you are more likely to get one.
• Radiation. Studies have found that people who work in the nuclear industry are at increased risk for brain tumors. Also, if you were treated with radiation therapy in the past, either to the head or brain, you may be at a higher risk for meningioma.
• Formaldehyde. Studies show that certain workers who are exposed to formaldehyde are at an increased risk for brain cancer. These include pathologists and embalmers. But people in other kinds of careers that involve exposure to formaldehyde have not been found to be at higher risk.
• Vinyl chloride. Being exposed to this chemical, which is used in the making of plastics, may increase a person's risk of getting a brain tumor.
• Acrylonitrile. Exposure to this material, used in making textiles and plastics, may also be a risk factor.
• Genetic disorders. Having a genetic disorder can increase the chances of having the different kinds of brain tumors, including: Neurofibromatosis (type 1 and type 2), Von Hippel-Lindau disease, tuberous sclerosis, Li-Fraumeni syndrome, Turcot syndrome (type 1 and type 2), Klinefelter syndrome, Nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome.

Having the Epstein-Barr virus or AIDS, or having an organ transplant may increase a person's risk of central nervous system lymphoma.
Some studies have raised the question of whether using a cell phone increases brain tumor risk, but there are no proven associations so far. “The biggest risk of cell phone use is being in a car accident,” Dr. Sloan says. “If you are on the phone while driving, there is known to be a four-fold increased risk.”
If you are concerned that you may be at risk for spinal cord or brain tumors, talk with your doctor. Together, you can look at your medical history, talk about the possible risk factors, and determine a course of action.