Pro News

Studies are finding that cholesterol lowering drugs may also decrease your chance of catching the flu. [Read the rest of this entry...]

The partners of Wolf Block voted Monday to dissolve the 106-year-old law firm due to a combination of effects of the recession on the firm’s core real estate practice, the constriction of credit and the anticipated departures of significant partners and practices. The firm said it would remain in business for several months to protect the interests of its clients, employees and creditors.

“The partners concluded that continued efforts to finance the firm’s operations in the face of these obstacles was unwise and could risk greater harm later to firm clients and employees than if the situation were to be managed now in an orderly and responsible manner,” the firm said in a statement.

This is a shocking dissolution as Wolf Block has been around for so long. Who knows who will be hit next by this recession?

A sad day in baseball, Curt Schilling retires today, ending a wonderful career as a pitcher in pro baseball. He was one of my favorite pitchers and pitched for one of my favorite teams, the Red Sox. I had a feeling this day would soon be here, but it still hits hard. Pitchers like Schilling only come around once in a full blue moon.

Now here is a deal you should not miss, the superb HP dv7-1245dx AMD Dual-Core 2.1 GHz 17” 4GB DDR2 320GB HD eSATA HDMI Webcam Notebook for only $549.99 via Woot.com

Great for gaming and business on the go!

Main Features include an AMD Turion X2 RM-72 2.1GHz Dual-Core Mobile Processor, Integrated webcam, stunning 17” Diagonal WXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1440×900), ATI Radeon HD 3200 Video Graphics RS780M, 320GB (5400RPM) SATA 5400 RPM Hard Drive, 802.11b/g WLAN Wireless Connectivity, and yes there is even more features below:

• Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN Network Card
• Altec Lansing speakers
• Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical scroll Up/Down pad
• HDMI port allows you to display video from the notebook on a HDTV
• LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support Multi Media Drive
• eSATA with USB 2.0 port
• Full size keyboard, with full size keypad
• Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit with Service Pack 1

Main Specifications:
• AMD Turion 2.1GHz X2 RM-72 Dual-Core Mobile Processor
• 4096MB DDR2 SDRAM SO DIMM 200-pin
• 8GB Max
• ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics RS780M
• 320GB (5400RPM)
• LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
• 17.0” Diagonal WXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1440 x 900)
• High speed 56k modem
• Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN
• 802.11b/g WLAN
• Altec Lansing speakers
• 101-key compatible
• Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical scroll Up/Down pad
• 1 ExpressCard/54 Slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)
• 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, or xD Picture cards
• 4 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0, 4th port shared with eSATA
• 2 Headphone out
• 1 microphone-in
• HDMI
• 1 VGA (15-pin)
• eSATA + USB 2.0
• 1 RJ-11 (modem)
• 1 RJ -45 (LAN)
• 1 notebook expansion port 3
• 1 Consumer IR (Remote Receiver)
• 15.59 (W) x 11.22″ (D) x 1.31 (min H)/1.66(max H)
• 7.75lbs
• Kensington MicroSaver lock slot
• Accepts 3rd party security lock devices
• 65W AC Adapter
• 8-Cell Lithium-Ion battery

(AP) WINNENDEN, Germany – A 17-year-old gunman dressed in black opened fire at his former high school in southwestern Germany on Wednesday then fled in a hijacked car, killing at least 15 people before police shot him to death, state officials said.

The gunman entered the school in Winnenden and opened fire, shooting at random, police said. He killed nine students, three teachers and a passer-by outside the building, officials said.

“He went into the school with a weapon and carried out a bloodbath,” said regional police chief Erwin Hetger. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.”

Triggering a land and air manhunt, the gunman hijacked a car, freed the driver and drove about 25 miles (40 kilometers) before police found him. When confronted, he killed two bystanders in a shootout with police before he was slain, Baden Wuerttemburg governor Guenther Oettinger said. Two officers were seriously injured, but there was no immediate information on other casualties.

Four hours after the shootings began, police announced the teenager’s death.

Police have identified the gunman only as Tim K, who graduated last year from the school of about 1,000 students.

In their hunt for him, police searched his parents’ home in a nearby town. The suspect’s father, who is a member of a local gun club, had 16 firearms and one was missing, police said.

Authorities have said the weapon was not a rifle, but have otherwise only called it a “high caliber” firearm.

Police had said that a 10th student died of injuries in a local hospital, but spokesman Klaus Hinderer later changed that report saying that it was wrong and blaming an internal police “communications error.”

The death toll brings the killing close to that of Germany’s worst school shooting.

In the 2002, 19-year-old Robert Steinhaeuser shot and killed 12 teachers, a secretary, two students and a police officer before turning his gun on himself in the Gutenberg high school in Erfurt, in eastern Germany.

Steinhaeuser, who had been expelled for forging a doctor’s note, was a gun club member licensed to own weapons. The attack led Germany to raise the age for owning recreational firearms from 18 to 21.

German Chancellor Angel Merkel called the shooting “a horrific crime.”

“It is hard to put into words what happened today, but our sadness and sympathy goes out to the victims’ families,” Merkel said at a news conference.

The European Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, France, stood in silence for a minute, to honor the victims.

“It is our task as responsible politicians in the European Union and, indeed, all the member states to do our utmost that such deeds can be prevented,” said EU assembly president Hans-Gert Pottering, a German.

BEND, Ore. – A sign hangs amid the bottles of vinegar at Newport Avenue Market. It’s simple, to the point: “Thanks to the Balsamic Vinegar Thief this area is now under surveillance. We will get you.” The last sentence, it should be noted, is underlined. For about a year, a thief pinched bottle after bottle of balsamic vinegar from the store — and not the low-end stuff.

No, this thief was after bottles that go for $30 or $40 a pop. “Thieves with good taste.” That’s how owner Rudy Dory explains them.

The store figured out what was going on when the order writer noticed he was buying a lot more balsamic vinegar than what the store was actually selling. The market has quite a large balsamic collection, but the thefts were noticeable.

So the sign went up.

A couple months ago, workers caught someone who they think may have been the balsamic bandit. The market didn’t press charges, just banned the alleged thief from the store. Dory wouldn’t say much about the suspect, just that it was a she.

So we are left to speculate. Maybe she needed that that last little ingredient for her many dinner parties. Maybe she was selling it on some sort of gourmet black market.

Whatever it is, Dory said, “it really irritates you.”

“We don’t know if we got the person or not,” he added. The store has seen a slowdown in balsamic loss, but it hasn’t stopped.

For now, the sign stays.

Shoplifting, of course, is a problem not limited to this market. Even so, Steve Esselstyn, community liaison for the Bend Police Department, says the police don’t get many calls from grocery stores, and when they do it’s typically something along the lines of a kid trying to score beer.

But balsamic vinegar?

“Well,” Esselstyn said, “they must be a vegetarian.”

Clint Eastwood gives a stirring performance and sparks a great comeback into films. He makes you forget your watching the actor, and you start to think his character is real. Eastwood plays a Korean War vet who doesn’t take nonsense from nobody. His wife has passed and he lives by himself in an Asian neighborhood with Hmong people.Their is definitely some racial tension, it is almost palpable in the film.

His neighbors have a young son Thao nicknamed “Toad”. This boy is considered “weak” by his family and is always doing the “female” chores. There are Hmong gangs in this neighborhood and they start harassing and trying to initiate Toad into their gang. Toad is hesitant but then caves to the peer pressure and has to steal the Gran Torino from Eastwood’s garage as his initiation. From there the story has you hooked and doesn’t let you out of its grasp.

I won’t give away anything more about the plot, since it is definitely worth enjoying every moment. There is great character arc with Eastwood and his acting will keep you enthralled. The film covers the spectrum of emotions, there is funny and sad moments alongside a bevy of action. It is not your typical shoot em up “Dirty Harry” style film, it has more heart than that. I went in thinking the film would be all about fighting and shooting and it had more substance to it and I was pleasantly surprised.

While the Asian actors in the film were definitely inexperienced, it brought a realistic feel to the movie. They were basically being themselves instead of trying to play at something they are not. Whereas a rookie director would try and make them into stars, Eastwood knows better, to let them be themselves is the wise thing to do.

The story is phenomenonal and the characters are all unique and interesting. The plot takes you for lots of different twists and ends in the unexpected. Films like these really don’t come along often these days. It has the traditional honor of the older generation infused with the minority youth of today. From a marketing sense, you wouldn’t think it would have a large target audience,  but because of it’s substance and quality people are drawn to it. If your friends haven’t told you to see it, then I am telling you to go see this film. It was a very bizarre experience when you walk out of the film, and then in the streets you see some of the same racial issues that were just being talked about an hour beforehand.

SYDNEY - Parents of a five-year old boy, who was last week swallowed by crocodile in north Queensland in Australia, requested that the reptile does not die, reported today the local authorities.

Jeremy Doble (5) jumped in the Daintree River for his dog. The elder brother observed the crocodile in the river, but it was too late for Jeremy’s salvation.

Crocodile, 4.3 meters long, was later caught, and in the womb are found the remains of unfortunate boy.

The reptile will be taken to the crocodile farm or to the zoo.

Ben Stiller, known for his hilarious antics did a funny imitation of Joaquin Phoenix at the Oscars.

(AP) Police said a 58-year-old man stabbed his teenage son after he refused to take off his hat at church earlier in the day. The father and his 19-year-old son got into an argument on Sunday afternoon. That’s when police said the father went to a car, got a knife and stabbed his son in the left buttock and fled.

The son was taken to University of Maryland Medical Center for treatment. The father’s name was withheld pending his arrest.