Larry Hagman dies at 81; TV's J.R. Ewing

Fervor for the television show “Dallas” was intense in 1980, when the Queen Mother met actor Larry Hagman and joined the worldwide chorus asking: “Who shot J.R.?”

“Not even for you, ma’am,” replied Hagman, who portrayed villainous oil baron J.R. Ewing at the center of the popular prime-time soap from 1978 until 1991.

An estimated 300 million viewers in 57 countries had seen J.R. get shot by an unseen assailant, a season-ending plot twist that is credited with popularizing the cliffhanger in television series.

Hagman, who became a television star in the 1960s starring in the sitcom “I Dream of Jeannie,” died Friday at a Dallas hospital, said a spokesman for actress Linda Gray, his longtime co-star on “Dallas.” He was 81.

A year ago, Hagman announced his second bout with cancer. He had spoken candidly about decades of drinking that led to cirrhosis of the liver and, in 1995, a life-saving liver transplant.

“He was the pied piper of life and brought joy to everyone he knew,” Gray said in a statement. “He was creative, generous, funny, loving and talented.... an original and lived life to the full.”

For years, he was considered the unofficial mayor of Malibu, where he lived for decades in an oceanfront home. He often led impromptu ragtag parades on the sand while wearing outlandish costumes and flew a flag from his deck that declared “Vita Celebratio Est” — “Life is a celebration.”

As an actor, Hagman came with a serious pedigree. He was the son of Mary Martin, a legendary star of Broadway musicals best known for originating the role of Peter Pan in the 1950s.

On “Dallas,” Hagman's J.R. Ewing was “the man viewers loved to hate,” according to critics, a scheming Texan in a land of plenty. Much of the show's run paralleled the nation's fascination with big money and big business in the 1980s, and the role made him an international star.

“Here is a man born to play villainy,” former Times TV critic Howard Rosenberg wrote soon after the show's debut. “His performance on ‘Dallas’ is a salute to slime.”

A Texas native, Hagman often said he played the character as a composite of “all those good old boys” he had known growing up, “who caught more flies with honey instead of vinegar.”

He approached the role as “a cartoon,” Hagman once said of the role that earned him two Emmy nominations. “It was outrageous comedy to me.”

By his own admission, Hagman drank his way through “Dallas.” Champagne was “his poison” — he would uncork a bottle by 9 a.m. and keep the bubbly flowing all day. He once poured bourbon on his cornflakes.

“The drinking sometimes made it harder to remember lines, but I liked that constant feeling of being mildly loaded,” Hagman said in 1995 in People magazine.

Diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver during a checkup in 1992, Hagman said he became an instant teetotaler. After developing a cancerous tumor on his liver, he underwent a liver transplant three years later.

“I'm often asked how my liver transplant operation changed my life. Aside from saving it, nothing changed,” he wrote in his 2001 autobiography, “Hello Darlin’.” “It confirmed what I've always tried to do — live my life as fully as possible before the clock runs out.”

When Hagman arrived in Hollywood in the 1960s, he had already appeared in a half-dozen Broadway plays and spent two years on the daytime television soap opera “The Edge of Night.”

From five television pilots, Hagman chose to read for the part of astronaut Tony Nelson on “I Dream of Jeannie.” Created by Sidney Sheldon, the show plugged into the nation’s space mania and owed a creative debt to another hit series, “Bewitched.”

Jeannie was played by Barbara Eden, who complicates the life of uptight Nelson after he aborts a mission on a desert island and unleashes her character — a magical and alluring genie — from a bottle.

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Larry Hagman dead at 81, portrayed notorious TV villain J.R. Ewing

(Reuters) – Larry Hagman, who created one of American television’s most supreme villains in the conniving, amoral oilman J.R. Ewing of “Dallas,” died on Friday, the Dallas Morning News reported. He was 81.

Hagman died at a Dallas hospital of complications from his battle with throat cancer, the newspaper said, quoting a statement from his family. He had suffered from liver cancer and cirrhosis of the liver in the 1990s after decades of drinking.

Hagman’s mother was stage and movie star Mary Martin and he became a star himself in 1965 on “I Dream of Jeannie,” a popular television sitcom in which he played Major Anthony Nelson, an astronaut who discovers a beautiful genie in a bottle.

“Dallas,” which made its premiere on the CBS network in 1978, made Hagman a superstar. The show quickly became one of the network’s top-rated programs, built an international following and inspired a spin-off, imitators and a revival in 2012.

“Dallas” was the night-time soap-opera story of a Texas family, fabulously wealthy from oil and cattle, and its plot brimmed with back-stabbing, double-dealing, family feuds, violence, adultery and other bad behavior.

In the middle of it all stood Hagman’s black-hearted J.R. Ewing – grinning wickedly in a broad cowboy hat and boots, plotting how to cheat his business competitors and cheat on his wife. He was the villain TV viewers loved to despise during the show’s 356-episode run from 1978 to 1991.

“I really can’t remember half of the people I’ve slept with, stabbed in the back or driven to suicide,” Hagman said of his character in Time magazine.

In his autobiography, “Hello Darlin’: Tall (and Absolutely True) Tales About My Life,” Hagman wrote that J.R. originally was not to be the focus of “Dallas” but that changed when he began ad-libbing on the set to make his character more outrageous and compelling.

‘WHO SHOT J.R.?’

To conclude its second season, the “Dallas” producers put together one of U.S. television’s most memorable episodes in which Ewing was shot by an unseen assailant. That gave fans months to fret over whether J.R. would survive and who had pulled the trigger. In the show’s opening the following season, it was revealed that J.R.’s sister-in-law, Kristin, with whom he had been having an affair, was behind the gun.

Hagman said an international publisher offered him $ 250,000 to reveal who had shot J.R. and he considered giving the wrong information and taking the money, but in the end, “I decided not to be so like J.R. in real life.”

The popularity of “Dallas” made Hagman one of the best-paid actors in television and earned him a fortune that even a Ewing would have coveted. He lost some of it, however, in bad oil investments before turning to real estate.

“I have an apartment in New York, a ranch in Santa Fe, a castle in Ojai outside of L.A., a beach house in Malibu and thinking of buying a place in Santa Monica,” Hagman said in a Chicago Tribune interview.

An updated “Dallas” series began in June 2012 on the TNT network with Hagman reprising his J.R. role with original cast members Linda Gray, who played J.R.’s long-suffering wife, Sue Ellen, and Patrick Duffy, who was his brother Bobby. The show was to focus on the sons of J.R. and Bobby.

Hagman had a wide eccentric streak. When he first met actress Lauren Bacall, he licked her arm because he had been told she did not like to be touched and he was known for leading parades on the Malibu beach and showing up at a grocery store in a gorilla suit. Above his Malibu home flew a flag with the credo “Vita Celebratio Est (Life Is a Celebration)” and he lived hard for many years.

In 1967, rock musician David Crosby turned him on to LSD, which Hagman said took away his fear of death, and Jack Nicholson introduced him to marijuana because Nicholson thought he was drinking too much.

Hagman had started drinking as a teenager and said he did not stop until the moment in 1992 when his doctor told him he had cirrhosis of the liver and could die within six months. Hagman wrote that for the past 15 years he had been drinking about four bottles of champagne a day, including while on the “Dallas” set.

LIVER TRANSPLANT

In July 1995, he was diagnosed with liver cancer, which led him to quit smoking, and a month later he underwent a liver transplant.

After giving up his vices, Hagman said he did not lose his zest for life.

“It’s the same old Larry Hagman,” he told a reporter. “He’s just a littler sober-er.”

Hagman was born on September 21, 1931, in Weatherford, Texas, and his father was a lawyer who dealt with the Texas oil barons Hagman would later come to portray. He was still a boy when his parents divorced and he went to Los Angeles with Martin, who would become a Broadway and Hollywood musical star.

Hagman eventually landed in New York to pursue acting, making his stage debut there in “The Taming of the Shrew.” In New York, he married Maj Axelsson in 1954 while they were in a production of “South Pacific. The marriage produced two children, Heidi and Preston.

Hagman served in the Air Force, spending five years in Europe as the director of USO shows, and on his return to New York he took a starring role in the daytime soap “The Edge of Night.” His breakthrough came in 1965 when he landed the “I Dream of Jeannie” role opposite Barbara Eden.

In his later years, Hagman became an advocate for organ transplants and an anti-smoking campaigner. He also was devoted to solar energy, telling the New York Times he had a $ 750,000 solar panel system at his Ojai estate, and made a commercial in which he portrayed a J.R. Ewing who had forsaken oil for solar power. He was a longtime member of the Peace and Freedom Party, a minor leftist organization in California.

Hagman told the Times that after death he wanted his remains to be “spread over a field and have marijuana and wheat planted and harvest it in a couple of years and then have a big marijuana cake, enough for 200 to 300 people. People would eat a little of Larry.”

(Writing by Bill Trott in Washington; Additional reporting by Alex Dobuszinkis in Los Angeles; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Scientists See Advances in Deep Learning, a Part of Artificial Intelligence

Hao Zhang/The New York Times

A voice recognition program translated a speech given by Richard F. Rashid, Microsoft’s top scientist, into Mandarin Chinese.

Using an artificial intelligence technique inspired by theories about how the brain recognizes patterns, technology companies are reporting startling gains in fields as diverse as computer vision, speech recognition and the identification of promising new molecules for designing drugs.

The advances have led to widespread enthusiasm among researchers who design software to perform human activities like seeing, listening and thinking. They offer the promise of machines that converse with humans and perform tasks like driving cars and working in factories, raising the specter of automated robots that could replace human workers.

The technology, called deep learning, has already been put to use in services like Apple’s Siri virtual personal assistant, which is based on Nuance Communications’ speech recognition service, and in Google’s Street View, which uses machine vision to identify specific addresses.

But what is new in recent months is the growing speed and accuracy of deep-learning programs, often called artificial neural networks or just “neural nets” for their resemblance to the neural connections in the brain.

“There has been a number of stunning new results with deep-learning methods,” said Yann LeCun, a computer scientist at New York University who did pioneering research in handwriting recognition at Bell Laboratories. “The kind of jump we are seeing in the accuracy of these systems is very rare indeed.”

Artificial intelligence researchers are acutely aware of the dangers of being overly optimistic. Their field has long been plagued by outbursts of misplaced enthusiasm followed by equally striking declines.

In the 1960s, some computer scientists believed that a workable artificial intelligence system was just 10 years away. In the 1980s, a wave of commercial start-ups collapsed, leading to what some people called the “A.I. winter.”

But recent achievements have impressed a wide spectrum of computer experts. In October, for example, a team of graduate students studying with the University of Toronto computer scientist Geoffrey E. Hinton won the top prize in a contest sponsored by Merck to design software to help find molecules that might lead to new drugs.

From a data set describing the chemical structure of 15 different molecules, they used deep-learning software to determine which molecule was most likely to be an effective drug agent.

The achievement was particularly impressive because the team decided to enter the contest at the last minute and designed its software with no specific knowledge about how the molecules bind to their targets. The students were also working with a relatively small set of data; neural nets typically perform well only with very large ones.

“This is a really breathtaking result because it is the first time that deep learning won, and more significantly it won on a data set that it wouldn’t have been expected to win at,” said Anthony Goldbloom, chief executive and founder of Kaggle, a company that organizes data science competitions, including the Merck contest.

Advances in pattern recognition hold implications not just for drug development but for an array of applications, including marketing and law enforcement. With greater accuracy, for example, marketers can comb large databases of consumer behavior to get more precise information on buying habits. And improvements in facial recognition are likely to make surveillance technology cheaper and more commonplace.

Artificial neural networks, an idea going back to the 1950s, seek to mimic the way the brain absorbs information and learns from it. In recent decades, Dr. Hinton, 64 (a great-great-grandson of the 19th-century mathematician George Boole, whose work in logic is the foundation for modern digital computers), has pioneered powerful new techniques for helping the artificial networks recognize patterns.

Modern artificial neural networks are composed of an array of software components, divided into inputs, hidden layers and outputs. The arrays can be “trained” by repeated exposures to recognize patterns like images or sounds.

These techniques, aided by the growing speed and power of modern computers, have led to rapid improvements in speech recognition, drug discovery and computer vision.

Deep-learning systems have recently outperformed humans in certain limited recognition tests.

Last year, for example, a program created by scientists at the Swiss A. I. Lab at the University of Lugano won a pattern recognition contest by outperforming both competing software systems and a human expert in identifying images in a database of German traffic signs.

The winning program accurately identified 99.46 percent of the images in a set of 50,000; the top score in a group of 32 human participants was 99.22 percent, and the average for the humans was 98.84 percent.

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Walmart protests draw crowds, shoppers largely unfazed

Dozens of local workers, and hundreds nationally, took advantage of Black Friday crowds and camera crews at major retailers like Walmart to call for wage increases.

But there was little evidence that the chanting disrupted holiday shoppers.

Steven Restivo, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Stores, said the chain had done its "best Black Friday event ever" despite protests organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union in Chicago and other cities.

At a Walmart in Chicago's Chatham neighborhood on the south side, only one of the store's 500 employees took part in the demonstration, the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer said. "Almost all the folks you'll see protesting today are not Walmart associates," Restivo said. "I guess you can't believe everything you read in a union press release."

According to the union, protests took place in Miami and Washington, D.C., with additional events planned at Midwestern and Southern stores.

Walmart has so far avoided a union presence, which has become cumbersome for competitors like Jewel-Osco and Dominick's Finer Foods. Those chains have been closing stores as Walmart has expanded locally.

Separately Friday, dozens of members of the Workers Organizing Committee of Chicago and its supporters marched from the Loop to the Magnificent Mile to demand a $15 minimum wage and union contracts for downtown workers. Organized on November 15, the union has about 150 members and has received financial support from Service Employees International Union, Action Now and Stand Up Chicago.

Deborah Sims, marching Friday, said she worked at Macy's for 12 years, eventually making $13 an hour, before losing her job during the recession. She was rehired last holiday season, but at $8.50 an hour, with no benefits.

Sims said she expects retailers to turn to younger, less-experienced workers because "$8.25 an hour is going to look good to them."

Macy's did not respond to a request for comment.

Peter Gill, a spokesman for the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, called the demand for a $15 minimum wage dangerous "because people are out looking for jobs and it's tough in this economy."

He explained that if retailers were forced to nearly double the starting hourly wage, "you're going to have to cut the number of employees."

Reuters contributed to this story.

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Black Friday shopping gets an early start in Chicago

After dinner at a Maggiano's restaurant, the Tannehill/Schroeder clan headed over to Sears at Woodfield Mall in search of a 50-inch flat-screen TV for less than $300.

After 10 minutes of waiting in line, they breezed into the store. That's when Terri Schroeder, of Chicago, began to yell. "Hurry, grab a TV," she said to her sister-in-law, Margie Tannehill, of West Chicago. Both women laughed.

As it turns out, the family of eight waited in the wrong line at the wrong door at Sears. Vouchers for the 50-inch TV and other discounted "door-busters" were given out at another entrance, and they missed their chance to snag the coveted TV.

After making their way through the swarming crowd, they found another TV, and both women grabbed it. They settled on a smaller, less expensive 32-inch flat-screen set that at $250 was on sale but not a door-buster that had throngs of shoppers waiting in line at Sears since Thursday afternoon.

"This is not the one we wanted, but we're keeping it," Schroeder said with a giggle.

She joined throngs of shoppers who cut off Thanksgiving celebrations to turn their attention to preparing for the December holiday season, which typically accounts for up to 40 percent of retailers' sales.

Black Friday historically launched the day after Thanksgiving. But in recent years, stores have opened at 4 a.m., then midnight. Last year, retailers created a stir by opening at 10 p.m. Thursday. This year, Wal-Mart upped the ante when it announced plans to open at 8 p.m.

Taryan Sanders and Maurice Boston, both 25, were among those hanging out at the Wal-Mart in Humboldt Park, waiting for the 8 p.m. round of door-busters.

With a cart already filled with playthings like a Monster High doll, toy puppy and scooter (they'd been at the store since 4 p.m.), the couple stationed themselves near a pallet of Nerf gun sets that would go on sale for $10 each, items they eyed for Sanders' younger brothers.

"Gotta get the door-busters for my daughter and two brothers," Sanders said. "I already ate, and I'm out ready to get my shop on!"

This year, holiday spending is expected to rise 4.1 percent, according to the National Retail Federation. Last year, more than 24 percent of Black Friday shoppers were out before midnight, and nearly 39 percent of shoppers were in the stores before 5 a.m.

A recent survey from the consulting firm Deloitte shows that Chicago-area consumers plan to spend about 10 percent more on gifts this year, shelling out an average of $450. Most also expect the national economy to pick up in 2013 — their most positive outlook since 2009.

Beyond early Thanksgiving openings, retailers have also vied to outdo one another by offering Black Friday-esque discounts — in stores and online — nearly a week early.

"First blood is everything," said Wendy Liebmann, CEO and chief shopper at WSL Strategic Retail, a New York-based consumer behavior research firm. "This is really the first year where we've seen a vast majority of retailers decide that Thanksgiving Day is no longer sacrosanct."

Retailers are pulling out all the stops, from offering gift cards as incentives to shoppers who buy higher-priced items to touting deeper-than-ever discounts on popular items such as televisions and tablets. They'll send coupons to shoppers' phones, and many will promise to match rivals' prices.

"The earlier you can get people to open their wallets, the better," Liebmann said. "The uncertainty of life is such that you don't know what people will spend throughout the (holiday) season. So get 'em when you can."

With Black Friday bleeding into Thursday, the type of shopper prowling for good deals was expected to change, industry watchers said.

Mothers and families typically hit the stores Friday. But this year, retail watchers say men were expected to make a strong showing Thursday night. Big-spending millennials might also be inclined to soak up the partylike atmosphere.

The earlier hours open a window to "appeal to a wider array of customers," said Ben Arnold, director of industry analysis at the Port Washington, N.Y.-based research firm NPD Group.

Some things stay the same, though. As in years past, shoppers are angling to get more bang for their buck. Flat-screen TVs have always been big Black Friday sellers, but this year, they are expected to be larger and cheaper. TVs and laptops, annual best-sellers, are expected to hit a new price low, experts say.

Wal-Mart greeted Thursday night shoppers with deeply discounted TVs, video game consoles and Blu-ray players. At Sears, shoppers were met with on-sale tablet computers, washer and dryer sets, refrigerators and more TVs, among other items.

To prepare for the crowds, retailers have bolstered employee ranks and stepped up training. They have also staggered door-buster deals.

Toys R Us, which opened at 8 p.m. Thursday, distributed tickets to shoppers lined up for door-buster deals such as a 16-gigabyte iPod accompanied by $50 in gift cards, to avoid a "mad rush," CEO Jerry Storch told the Tribune in an interview. "It de-stresses the crowd," he said.

At electronics seller Best Buy, which opened at midnight, store managers have been giving staff crash courses in customer service and product knowledge, said Mitchell Zelasko, sales manager at the retailer's Bucktown location. The chain has hired more than 20,000 employees nationwide for its stores, distribution centers and customer service centers to support the holiday rush.

Locally, Best Buy planned to boost security for the shopping kickoff Friday, keep employees well-fed and in the store by ordering food and bringing in off-duty Chicago police officers to help keep order.

"Things can change very quickly in a mob situation," Zelasko said. "We keep things under control and we keep it fun."

Cheryl V. Jackson is a freelance writer.

crshropshire@tribune.com | Twitter @corilyns

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Recipes for Health: Pear Clafoutis — Recipes for Health

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times NYTCREDIT:

If you don’t want to make a crust but want something tartlike for your Thanksgiving dessert, a clafoutis, which is something like a cross between a flan and a pancake, is a great choice. It’s a very easy dessert, yet it’s always impressive.

2 tablespoons pear eau-de-vie or liqueur (optional)

2 tablespoons mild-flavored honey, like clover

2 pounds ripe but firm pears, like Bartlett or Comice

3 large eggs

1 vanilla bean, scraped

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup sifted unbleached white flour

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup milk

pinch of salt

1. Combine the pear eau-de-vie and the honey in a bowl. Peel, core and slice the pears and toss with the mixture. Let sit for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 10-inch ceramic tart pan or baking dish.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer or with a whisk, beat together the eggs, the seeds from the vanilla bean and the sugar. Pour off the marinade from the pears and add to the egg mixture. Gradually beat in the flour, then beat in the yogurt, milk and salt.

4. Arrange the pears in the baking dish. Pour on the batter. Place in the oven and bake 40 to 50 minutes, until the top is beginning to brown. Serve hot or warm.

Yield: 8 servings.

Advance preparation: Although this is best served warm, you can allow it to cool completely and serve it at room temperature. It will hold for several hours out of the refrigerator. Leftovers make a nice breakfast treat.

Nutritional information per serving: 195 calories; 2 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram monounsaturated fat; 71 milligrams cholesterol; 40 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 47 milligrams sodium; 5 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of “The Very Best of Recipes for Health.”

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Chicago shopping frenzy gets early start

After dinner at a Maggiano's restaurant, the Tannehill/Schroeder clan headed over to Sears at Woodfield Mall in search of a 50-inch flat-screen TV for less than $300.

After 10 minutes of waiting in line, they breezed into the store. That's when Terri Schroeder, of Chicago, began to yell. "Hurry, grab a TV," she said to her sister-in-law, Margie Tannehill, of West Chicago. Both women laughed.

As it turns out, the family of eight waited in the wrong line at the wrong door at Sears. Vouchers for the 50-inch TV and other discounted "door-busters" were given out at another entrance, and they missed their chance to snag the coveted TV.

After making their way through the swarming crowd, they found another TV, and both women grabbed it. They settled on a smaller, less expensive 32-inch flat-screen set that at $250 was on sale but not a door-buster that had throngs of shoppers waiting in line at Sears since Thursday afternoon.

"This is not the one we wanted, but we're keeping it," Schroeder said with a giggle.

She joined throngs of shoppers who cut off Thanksgiving celebrations to turn their attention to preparing for the December holiday season, which typically accounts for up to 40 percent of retailers' sales.

Black Friday historically launched the day after Thanksgiving. But in recent years, stores have opened at 4 a.m., then midnight. Last year, retailers created a stir by opening at 10 p.m. Thursday. This year, Wal-Mart upped the ante when it announced plans to open at 8 p.m.

Taryan Sanders and Maurice Boston, both 25, were among those hanging out at the Wal-Mart in Humboldt Park, waiting for the 8 p.m. round of door-busters.

With a cart already filled with playthings like a Monster High doll, toy puppy and scooter (they'd been at the store since 4 p.m.), the couple stationed themselves near a pallet of Nerf gun sets that would go on sale for $10 each, items they eyed for Sanders' younger brothers.

"Gotta get the door-busters for my daughter and two brothers," Sanders said. "I already ate, and I'm out ready to get my shop on!"

This year, holiday spending is expected to rise 4.1 percent, according to the National Retail Federation. Last year, more than 24 percent of Black Friday shoppers were out before midnight, and nearly 39 percent of shoppers were in the stores before 5 a.m.

A recent survey from the consulting firm Deloitte shows that Chicago-area consumers plan to spend about 10 percent more on gifts this year, shelling out an average of $450. Most also expect the national economy to pick up in 2013 — their most positive outlook since 2009.

Beyond early Thanksgiving openings, retailers have also vied to outdo one another by offering Black Friday-esque discounts — in stores and online — nearly a week early.

"First blood is everything," said Wendy Liebmann, CEO and chief shopper at WSL Strategic Retail, a New York-based consumer behavior research firm. "This is really the first year where we've seen a vast majority of retailers decide that Thanksgiving Day is no longer sacrosanct."

Retailers are pulling out all the stops, from offering gift cards as incentives to shoppers who buy higher-priced items to touting deeper-than-ever discounts on popular items such as televisions and tablets. They'll send coupons to shoppers' phones, and many will promise to match rivals' prices.

"The earlier you can get people to open their wallets, the better," Liebmann said. "The uncertainty of life is such that you don't know what people will spend throughout the (holiday) season. So get 'em when you can."

With Black Friday bleeding into Thursday, the type of shopper prowling for good deals was expected to change, industry watchers said.

Mothers and families typically hit the stores Friday. But this year, retail watchers say men were expected to make a strong showing Thursday night. Big-spending millennials might also be inclined to soak up the partylike atmosphere.

The earlier hours open a window to "appeal to a wider array of customers," said Ben Arnold, director of industry analysis at the Port Washington, N.Y.-based research firm NPD Group.

Some things stay the same, though. As in years past, shoppers are angling to get more bang for their buck. Flat-screen TVs have always been big Black Friday sellers, but this year, they are expected to be larger and cheaper. TVs and laptops, annual best-sellers, are expected to hit a new price low, experts say.

Wal-Mart greeted Thursday night shoppers with deeply discounted TVs, video game consoles and Blu-ray players. At Sears, shoppers were met with on-sale tablet computers, washer and dryer sets, refrigerators and more TVs, among other items.

To prepare for the crowds, retailers have bolstered employee ranks and stepped up training. They have also staggered door-buster deals.

Toys R Us, which opened at 8 p.m. Thursday, distributed tickets to shoppers lined up for door-buster deals such as a 16-gigabyte iPod accompanied by $50 in gift cards, to avoid a "mad rush," CEO Jerry Storch told the Tribune in an interview. "It de-stresses the crowd," he said.

At electronics seller Best Buy, which opened at midnight, store managers have been giving staff crash courses in customer service and product knowledge, said Mitchell Zelasko, sales manager at the retailer's Bucktown location. The chain has hired more than 20,000 employees nationwide for its stores, distribution centers and customer service centers to support the holiday rush.

Locally, Best Buy planned to boost security for the shopping kickoff Friday, keep employees well-fed and in the store by ordering food and bringing in off-duty Chicago police officers to help keep order.

"Things can change very quickly in a mob situation," Zelasko said. "We keep things under control and we keep it fun."

Cheryl V. Jackson is a freelance writer.

crshropshire@tribune.com | Twitter @corilyns

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1 dead, 6 wounded in separate South Side shootings

A man was killed and six other people wounded in separate shootings on the city's South Side since Wednesday morning, police said.

About 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, a 19-year-old man was found shot multiple times in his back on the 4500 block of South Halsted Street, police said.

Police responded to a "man down" call and found him there, dead from his wounds. He was found in a gangway. The man identifies with a local gang, police said, and had recently served time in prison for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.

He was paroled from Shawnee Correctional Center on Oct. 25 and was scheduled to have his parole discharged on the same date in 2013.

He was pronounced dead at 9:55 a.m. at the scene, according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office. A spokesman for the office said they do not have the dead man's name.

An 18-year-old man was shot about 11 p.m. in the 6400 block of South Normal Avenue, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said. He was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County with a wound to the upper right leg. Someone inside a dark sedan shot the teen while he was on the sidewalk, Alfaro said.

A 15-year-old girl was shot in the head about 9:35 p.m., Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines said. She was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious condition from the 1100 block of West 104th Street.

Two people were shot about 5:15 p.m. An 18-year-old woman and 27-year-old man were shot in the 6200 block of South Campbell Avenue, Purkiss said. The pair were shot by two people who opened fire from the mouth of a nearby alley, police said, and shell casings were recovered near the scene.

The woman was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, Purkiss said, and the man to Mount Sinai Hospital. Both suffered multiple wounds and were transported in serious condition, he said.

Another man, 21, was shot about 4:15 p.m. on the 4700 block of South Champlain Avenue in the city's Bronzeville neighborhood. He suffered a wound to his right leg and drove himself to Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, said Purkiss. His condition was not immediately available.

About 30 minutes earlier, a 28-year-old man was shot in the city's West Chesterfield neighborhood. That shooting happened on the 8700 block of South King Drive, Purkiss said. The man suffered a wound to his foot and his condition was stabilized, Purkiss said. There was no immediate information available about the circumstances leading up to the attack or about where he was taken for treatment.

Area South and Area Central detectives were investigating.

dawilliams@tribune.com
Twitter: @neacynewslady

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas

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Windows 8 is “Terrible,” Says Usability Expert Jakob Nielsen

When gadget and web companies want to make sure people can figure out how to use their stuff, they turn to experts like Jakob Nielsen, who’s most widely known for his free Alertbox column.

Last year, Nielsen’s scathing review of Amazon’s Kindle Fire made headlines, alerting buyers to the tablet’s choppy scrolling and hard-to-use volume controls. Now, Nielsen has published the results of a study where his firm “invited 12 experienced PC users to test Windows 8,” the new version of Windows, on both normal PCs and Microsoft’s new Surface RT tablets.

“Weak on Tablets, Terrible for PCs”

Nielsen pulled no punches in summing up his firm’s study, saying Windows 8 throws Microsoft’s most loyal customers “under the bus” and that it “removes a powerful PC’s benefits.”

For tablet use, like on the new Surface RT tablets Microsoft brought out to compete with the iPad, Nielsen feels Windows 8′s issues are “nothing that a modest redesign can’t fix.” He thinks we’ll have to wait until Windows 9 for that redesign, though, the same way that Windows 7 fixed many of Vista’s problems.

​​Study methodology

The study’s participants were asked to perform a series of tasks, such as changing the Start screen’s background color. Usability consultants then watched how they did, and noted problem areas. Such as …

​”Where can you click?”

Microsoft’s “Modern” UI (previously called Metro) uses flat, monochrome, and extremely simplistic icons, which sometimes don’t even have a box around them. Many of the study’s participants couldn’t find the “Change PC settings” menu, because it didn’t have an icon and it looked like it was the label for other settings icons right near it. Tapping in places you’d expect to have a result, such as a running app’s title, didn’t work, while Microsoft’s new swiping gestures were often hard to figure out.

​”Information density”

On the scale between “coffee table photo book” and “telephone book,” Windows 8 apps are way over on the coffee table’s side. In contrast to websites packed with pages of text and dozens of images, Windows 8 apps feature large, beautiful pictures, and only minimal text blurbs beneath. While this gives them a striking appearance, it also means it takes lots of swiping to get anywhere.

Windows 8′s Start screen, on the other hand, “feels like dozens of carnival barkers yelling at you,” according to Nielsen. The animated “live tiles” which apps use to display up-to-date information are also what you tap on to launch them, so it can be hard to pick out the right one and easy to get distracted.

​Time to upgrade?

Nielsen says he plans to stick with Windows 7 until Windows 9 is released. He has an especially unfavorable view of Windows 8 for “knowledge workers … in the office”. This may be the group least likely to see Windows 8 anytime soon, however, thanks to years-long corporate support contracts and conservative IT departments.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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“Price Is Right” model wins $7.7 million in discrimination suit

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A former model on the U.S. daytime television game show “The Price is Right” was awarded $ 7.7 million in punitive damages by a Los Angeles court on Wednesday after suing the show for not letting her return to work after giving birth.

The amount was in addition to $ 775,000 in compensatory damages awarded to 41-year-old Brandi Cochran on Tuesday, after the jury in the case ruled that the producers of the show had acted with malice by not taking her back after her pregnancy.

The jury rejected Cochran’s claim for mental hardship she said she had suffered.

“I hope my case will help other women in the same situation,” Cochran told reporters outside the courtroom after the trial.

Producers for “The Price is Right” said they planned to appeal.

Cochran, who is married to soap-opera actor Dean Cochran, told the Los Angeles Superior Court the show’s producers began treating her poorly after she told them in December 2008 that she was expecting twins.

The former Miss USA and Miss Teen USA told the court that once she was pregnant, producers made disparaging remarks about her eating habits and weight, and removed her from the show’s website.

The show’s comedian host Drew Carey backed the producers in testimony earlier this month.

Cochran worked as model on the show from 2002 until January 2009. Her son was stillborn in February 2009 and her daughter was born prematurely the following month. Cochran said she asked to return to the show, but was turned down in February 2010.

Cochran said she was encouraged to sue by actress Hunter Tylo’s successful 1997 pregnancy discrimination suit against the producers of the TV show “Melrose Place,” who fired Tylo after she announced she was expecting a child.

(Reporting By Eric Kelsey, Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and David Brunnstrom)

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Recipes for Health: Apple Pear Strudel — Recipes for Health

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

This strudel is made with phyllo dough. When I tested it the first time, I found that I had enough filling for two strudels. Rather than cut the amount of filling, I increased the number of strudels to 2, as this is a dessert you can assemble and keep, unbaked, in the freezer.

Filling for 2 strudels:

1/2 pound mixed dried fruit, like raisins, currants, chopped dried figs, chopped dried apricots, dried cranberries

1 1/2 pounds apples (3 large) (I recommend Braeburns), peeled, cored and cut in 1/2-inch dice

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons unsalted butter for cooking the apples

1/4 cup (50 grams) brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup (30 grams) chopped or slivered almonds

3/4 pound (1 large or 2 small) ripe but firm pears, peeled, cored and cut in 1/2-inch dice

For each strudel:

8 sheets phyllo dough

7/8 cup (100 grams) almond powder, divided

1 1/2 ounces butter, melted, for brushing the phyllo

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment.

2. Place the dried fruit in a bowl and pour on hot or boiling water to cover. Let sit 5 minutes, and drain. Toss the apples with the lemon juice.

3. Heat a large, heavy frying pan over high heat and add 2 tablespoons butter. Wait until it becomes light brown and carefully add the apples and the sugar. Do not add the apples until the pan and the butter are hot enough, or they won’t sear properly and retain their juice. But be careful when you add them so that the hot butter doesn’t splatter. When the apples are brown on one side, add the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and almonds, flip the apples and continue to sauté until golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the pears and dried fruit, then scrape out onto one of the lined sheet pans and allow to cool completely. Divide into two equal portions (easiest to do this if you weigh it).

4. Place 8 sheets of phyllo dough on your work surface. Cover with a dish towel and place another, damp dish towel on top of the first towel. Place a sheet of parchment on your work surface horizontally, with the long edge close to you. Lay a sheet of phyllo dough on the parchment. Brush lightly with butter and top with the next sheet. Continue to layer all eight sheets, brushing each one with butter before topping with the next one.

5. Brush the top sheet of phyllo dough with butter. Sprinkle on half of the almond powder (50 grams). With the other half, create a line 3 inches from the base of the dough, leaving a 2 1/2-inch margin on the sides. Top this line with one portion of the fruit mixture. Fold the bottom edge of the phyllo up over the filling, then fold the ends over and roll up like a burrito. Using the parchment paper to help you, lift the strudel and place it on the other parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with butter and make 3 or 4 slits on the diagonal along the length of the strudel. Repeat with the other sheets of phyllo to make a second strudel. If you are freezing one of them, double-wrap tightly in plastic.

6. Place the strudel in the oven and bake 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, brush again with butter, rotate the pan and return to the oven. Continue to bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature.

Yield: 2 strudels, each serving 8

Advance preparation: The fruit filling will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator. The strudel can be baked a few hours before serving it. Recrisp in a medium oven for 10 minutes. It can also be frozen before baking, double-wrapped in plastic. Transfer directly from the freezer to the oven and add 10 minutes to the baking time.

Nutritional information per serving: 259 calories; 13 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 15 milligrams cholesterol; 34 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 91 milligrams sodium; 4 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of “The Very Best of Recipes for Health.”

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Judge to let Hostess liquidation proceed

Hostess Brands Inc. on Wednesday won permission from a U.S. bankruptcy judge to begin shutting down, and expressed optimism it will find new homes for many of its iconic brands, which include Twinkies, Drake's cakes and Wonder Bread.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in White Plains, New York authorized management, led by restructuring specialist Gregory Rayburn, to immediately begin efforts to wind down the 82-year-old company, a process expected to take one year.

"It appears clear to me that the debtors have taken the right course in seeking to implement the wind-down plan as promptly as possible," Drain said near the end of a four-hour hearing.

The judge authorized Hostess to begin the liquidation process one day after his last-ditch mediation effort between the Irving, Texas-based company and its striking bakers' union broke down.

Roughly 15,000 workers were expected to lose their jobs immediately, and most of the remaining 3,200 would be let go within four months.

"This is a tragedy, and we're well aware of it," Heather Lennox, a lawyer for Hostess, told the judge. "We are trying to be as sensitive as we can possibly be under the circumstances to the human cost of this."

Lennox said Hostess has received a "flood of inquiries" from potential buyers for several brands that could be sold at auction, and expects initial bidders within a few weeks.

Joshua Scherer, a partner at Perella Weinberg Partners, which is advising Hostess, said the company was in "active dialogue" over its Drake's brand with one "very interested" party that had toured a New Jersey plant on Tuesday.

He said that regional bakeries, national rivals, private equity firms and others have also expressed interest in various brands and that more than 50 nondisclosure agreements have been signed.

"These are iconic brands that people love," Scherer said.

While prospective buyers were not identified at the hearing, bankers have said rivals including Flowers Foods Inc. and Mexico's Grupo Bimbo SAB de CV were likely to be interested in some of the brands.

Representatives of neither company responded on Wednesday to requests for comment.

Scherer said Hostess could be worth $2.3 billion to $2.4 billion in a normal bankruptcy, an amount equal to its annual revenue. It also has about $900 million of secured debt and faces up to about $150 million of administrative claims.

Scherer expects a discount in this case because plants have already been closed and Hostess' value could fall further if the liquidation were dragged out.

"I've had buyers tell me, 'Josh, the longer it takes, the less value I'm going to be able to pay you,' " he said.

Hostess decided to liquidate on Nov. 16, saying it was losing about $1 million per day after the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, representing close to one-third of its workers, went on strike a week earlier.

The bakers union walked out after Drain authorized Hostess to impose pay and benefit cuts, which the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Hostess' largest union, had accepted.

Hostess has about 33 plants, plus three it decided to close after the strike began, as well as 565 distribution centers and 570 bakery outlet stores.

Many of the 3,200 workers expected to stay on will help shut these properties and prepare them for sale. Hostess expects to need only about 200 employees by late March.

Rayburn, a former chief restructuring officer for the bankrupt phone company WorldCom Inc., said that letting 15,000 workers go now helps preserve their ability to obtain unemployment benefits.

"I need to maximize the value of the estate, but I need to do the best I can for my employees," he said.

Hostess filed for Chapter 11 protection on Jan. 11, its second bankruptcy filing in less than three years.

The case is In re: Hostess Brands Inc. et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-22052.

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Bartender wounded in hotel stabbing: 'It was bone-chilling'

Bradford Burner didn't stop to think when he heard a blood-curdling scream and saw a man race through the Westin Hotel and into the streets of the Magnificent Mile still crowded from the Festival of Lights. He gave chase.

"The way the person screamed, 'Stop that person!' — it was bone-chilling," said Burner, 35, who was bartending Saturday night at the Westin's Grill on the Alley restaurant. "I just reacted."

Speaking out Tuesday for the first time, Burner said the man displayed a knife as he closed in on him near some shops at the Hancock building.

"Someone yelled something. The gentleman turned around (and) saw me coming toward him," Burner told Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass on WLS-AM 890. "The next thing I know, he was lunging at me with a sharp object."

Burner was cut on the left side of his chest and fell to the sidewalk.

"I was like, 'What the hell just happened?'" Burner told the Tribune after his radio interview.

Police and prosecutors said Jimmy Harris had tried to rob an Oak Brook doctor, Mir Jafar Shah, in the restaurant bathroom and stabbed and struck him during a scuffle before fleeing. Harris, 56, a parolee with 60 arrests who had just been freed from prison eight days earlier, is being held without bond on charges of attempted murder, aggravated battery and unlawful restraint.

In the radio interview, Burner said that after he had been cut on the chest, the assailant ran across the street before slowing down, trying to blend in among the families strolling along North Michigan Avenue.

"I looked right over at him. He paused for two seconds and looked directly back at me, and then he proceeded down the steps," Burner said. "His demeanor was that of a person trying to get away ... sacrifice everything to get away from the situation."

Burner recalled that parents and their small children stared down at him as he lay bleeding. He decided not to wait for an ambulance and hailed a cab. He hopped in and asked the driver, "What was the fastest he could get me to Northwestern (Memorial) Hospital?"

"The taxi driver was freaked out," Burner said. "He was like, 'Are you crazy?' I said, I'm really serious about this,'" said Burner, showing the cabbie his bloodied shirt and vest.

Burner said he tipped the driver — how much, he can't remember — before going inside to be stitched up for the deep wound.

Burner bristled at being called a hero.

"My heart goes out to (Shah) and their whole family that they had to go through this tragedy," Burner said. "I was just trying to stop an individual that was doing something wrong."

Tribune reporter Jason Meisner contributed.

wlee@tribune.com

Twitter: @MidnoirCowboy

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Republic Wireless Now Offering $19/Month Unlimited Smartphone Service to All

Prepaid wireless carrier Republic Wireless has been offering its $ 19 per month, unlimited everything, prepaid smartphone plan since about this time last year. At the time, though, there were a few catches; you had to buy a very low-end smartphone from them, you had to use its Hybrid Calling technology for most of your calls, and you could only get in if you were lucky enough to be accepted to an exclusive “beta wave.”

Since then, Republic Wireless has upgraded to the slightly more modern Motorola Defy XT as its flagship smartphone model, and has changed to allow unlimited calling, texting, and data over Sprint’s nationwide network, for the same $ 19/month price. Now the North Carolina-based startup is dropping its last restriction; the doors are open for anyone to preorder up to four Defy XT phones, “and they’ll begin shipping in mid-December.”

​The phone

The Motorola Defy XT is designed to be dustproof and waterproof, with rubber bumpers covering each port and an unlocking switch keeping the back cover sealed. Its specs are decidedly last year’s; powered by a 1 GHz, single-core processor, it often shows Kindle Fire-style lag when swiping between home screens on its 3.7 inch display. It runs 2010′s Android 2.3 Gingerbread, with no OS upgrades announced, and it doesn’t have much room to store games and apps, although it comes with a 2 GB microSD card.

​The service

Republic Wireless’ low monthly fee is partly made possible by its Hybrid Calling technology, which is basically an app that loads on startup and lets you make calls and send texts over Wi-Fi. Call quality is generally good, although it depends on how good your Wi-Fi connection is and how many people are streaming video over it while you’re trying to make your call. You can switch off Hybrid Calling by disabling Wi-Fi, if you want to make calls over Sprint’s network instead; this happens automatically if your Wi-Fi signal drops, which has the effect of hanging up your call.

​The support

“Here at Republic,” its Support page explains, “we believe in helping each other out as much as possible.” What this translates to is that there’s no number to call for questions or tech support. Instead, customers are directed to a community wiki and forums, for answers to their issues. If all else fails, you can contact Republic using an online form, and receive a response within 24 hours.

​The price

It costs close to $ 300 to begin using Republic Wireless’ service; $ 249 for the phone, a $ 10 startup fee, and $ 19 for your first monthly fee, before any applicable taxes. That $ 19 is charged once your phone ships, and if Republic’s difficulty keeping up with orders for its first beta waves is any indication, just because the phones “begin shipping in mid-December” doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s when you’ll get yours.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.
Linux/Open Source News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Singer Fiona Apple cancels tour dates to be with ailing dog

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Grammy award-winning singer Fiona Apple said in a handwritten letter posted on her website on Tuesday that she has canceled upcoming tour dates in North and South America to be with her ailing dog.

Apple, who vowed to make up the concerts, called off three shows in Brazil between November 27 and 30, a Buenos Aires festival appearance on December 1-2 and a December 9 performance in Mexico City, according to her record label, Epic.

The “Criminal” singer and pianist said her 13-year-old pit bull Janet has been suffering from a tumor in her chest among other ailments and appears to be dying.

“She’s my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor and she’s the one who taught me what love is,” Apple wrote in the four-page letter she penned last week but did not release until Tuesday. “I can’t come to South America. Not now.”

Apple, 35, said that she wants to appreciate the final days with her dog. “I will not be the woman who puts her career ahead of love and friendship,” Apple wrote.

The singer-songwriter, who is touring in support of “The Idler Wheel … ” album, was arrested in September in Texas and charged with felony drug possession for having four grams of hashish, a form of cannabis.

(Reporting By Eric Kelsey; editing by Patricia Reaney and Todd Eastham)

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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New H.I.V. Cases Falling in Some Poor Nations, but Treatment Still Lags

New infections with H.I.V. have dropped by half in the past decade in 25 poor and middle-income countries, many of them in Africa, the continent hardest hit by AIDS, the United Nations said Tuesday.

The greatest success has been in preventing mothers from infecting their babies, but focusing testing and treatment on high-risk groups like gay men, prostitutes and drug addicts has also paid dividends, said Michel Sidibé, the executive director of the agency U.N.AIDS.

“We are moving from despair to hope,” he said.

Despite the good news from those countries, the agency’s annual report showed that globally, progress is steady but slow. By the usual measure of whether the fight against AIDS is being won, it is still being lost: 2.5 million people became infected last year, while only 1.4 million received lifesaving treatment for the first time.

“There has been tremendous progress over the last decade, but we’re still not at the tipping point,” said Mitchell Warren, the executive director of AVAC, an advocacy group for AIDS prevention. “And the big issue, sadly, is money.”

Some regions, like Southern Africa and the Caribbean, are doing particularly well, while others, like Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, are not. Globally, new infections are down 22 percent from 2001, when there were 3.2 million. Among newborns, they fell 40 percent, to 330,000 from 550,000.

The two most important financial forces in the fight, the multinational Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the domestic President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, were both created in the early 2000s and last year provided most of the $16.8 billion spent on the disease. But the need will soon be $24 billion a year, the groups said.

“Where is that money going to come from?” Mr. Warren asked.

The number of people living with H.I.V. rose to a new high of 34 million in 2011, while the number of deaths from AIDS was 1.7 million, down from a peak of 2.3 million in 2005. As more people get life-sustaining antiretroviral treatment, the number of people living with H.I.V. grows.

Globally, the number of people on antiretroviral drugs reached 8 million, up from 6.6 million in 2010. However, an additional 7 million are sick enough to need them. The situation is worse for children; 72 percent of those needing pediatric antiretrovirals do not get them.

New infections fell most drastically since 2001 in Southern Africa — by 71 percent in Botswana, 58 percent in Zambia and 41 percent in South Africa, which has the world’s biggest epidemic.

But countries with drops greater than 50 percent were as geographically diverse as Barbados, Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, India and Papua New Guinea.

The most important factor, Mr. Sidibé said, was not nationwide billboard campaigns to get people to use condoms or abstain from sex. Nor was it male circumcision, a practice becoming more common in Africa.

Rather, it was focusing treatment on high-risk groups. While saving babies is always politically popular, saving gay men, drug addicts and prostitutes is not, so presidents and religious leaders often had to be persuaded to help them. Much of Mr. Sidibé’s nearly four years in his post has been spent doing just that.

Many leaders are now taking “a more targeted, pragmatic approach,” he said, and are “not blocking people from services because of their status.”

Fast-growing epidemics are often found in countries that criminalize behavior. For example, homosexuality is illegal in many Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa, so gay and bisexual men, who get many of the new infections, cannot admit being at risk. The epidemics in Eastern Europe and Central Asia are driven by heroin, and in those countries, methadone treatment is sometimes illegal.

Getting people on antiretroviral drugs makes them 96 percent less likely to infect others, studies have found, so treating growing numbers of people with AIDS has also helped prevent new infections.

Ethiopia’s recruitment of 35,000 community health workers, who teach young people how to protect themselves, has also aided in prevention.

Mr. Sidibé acknowledged that persuading rich countries to keep donating money was a struggle. The Global Fund is just now emerging from a year of turbulence with a new executive director, and the American program has come under budget pressures. Also, he noted, many countries like South Africa and China are relying less on donors and are paying their own costs. The number of people on treatment in China jumped 50 percent in a single year.

Mr. Warren’s organization said in a report on Tuesday that the arsenal of prevention methods had expanded greatly since the days when the choice was abstain from sex, be faithful or use condoms. Male circumcision, which cuts infection risk by about 60 percent, a daily prophylactic pill for the uninfected and vaginal microbicides for women are in use or on the horizon, and countries need to use the ones suited to their epidemics, the report concluded.

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Hostess, union fail to reach deal

Hostess Brands Inc, the bankrupt maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, said on Tuesday that it failed to reach a deal in mediation with the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union.

The company, which operates three facilities in Illinois, including in Schiller Park and Hodgkins, said it will have no further comment until a hearing scheduled for Wednesday before the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

A representative of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) did not immediately respond for comment.

The ailing company, which also makes Wonder Bread and Drake's cakes, went to bankruptcy court on Monday to seek permission to liquidate its business, claiming that its operations were crippled by the bakers' strike and that winding down was the best way to preserve its dwindling cash.

But Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain of the Southern District of New York urged the sides into a private mediation, prompted by a desire to protect the more than 18,000 jobs at stake.

The 82-year-old Hostess runs 33 bakeries, 553 distribution centers, about 5,500 delivery routes and 527 bakery outlet stores throughout the United States. Bakery operations ceased last week, though product deliveries to stores continued in order to sell already-made products.

The company has blamed union wages and pension costs for contributing to its unprofitably. Hostess Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn has also said the company's labor contracts have deterred would-be bidders for the company and its assets.

Aside from its unionized workforce, analysts, bankers and restructuring experts have said that a fleet of inefficient and out-of-date factories has also eaten up costs. They have said the brand names were likely to be more valuable once they were separated from the factories and sold to non-union competitors.

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Bears, Campbell pounded in 32-7 loss to 49ers

Postgame analysis of the Chicago Bears' 32-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers with Chicago Tribune columnists Steve Rosenbloom and Fred Mitchell and sports editor Mike Kellams. (Posted on Nov. 19)

SAN FRANCISCO — It's too bad Colin Kaepernick wasn't available when Phil Emery set out to find a backup quarterback.

The first-year general manager had to strike quickly to find an experienced No. 2. The Bears invested big money in Jason Campbell, signing him to a one-year, $3.5 million deal at the outset of free agent.

Campbell making the 71st start of his career Monday night at Candlestick Park was nowhere near as good as Kaepernick making his first start. The 2011 second-round pick from Nevada led a destruction of the Bears defense as the 49ers won a 32-7 rout.

The Bears managed just 143 yards offense, their worst output since the 2010 game at the Giants when Jay Cutler was sacked nine times in the first half and concussed. Linebacker Aldon Smith of the 49ers had 51/2 sacks, a record versus the Bears.

"Tonight was probably the worst nightmare," Campbell said. "Our goals and everything are still set ahead of us, but we've got to start improving and improving quickly. The games don't get any easier."

The Bears must wonder if Cutler will be able to return from his latest concussion in time for Sunday's game against the Vikings at Soldier Field and coach Lovie Smith was optimistic afterward. Smith will have to contemplate what happened to his defense, which got mauled by the 49ers. The absence of Cutler had nothing to do with the Bears surrendering a 96-yard touchdown drive in just four minutes as San Francisco (7-2-1) jetted to a 20-0 lead.

All signs pointed to Alex Smith starting for the 49ers after he suffered a concussion a week ago, but news broke Monday morning that he had not passed his neurological exam. So Kaepernick was thrust into a starting role after Smith got much of the work in practice last week. Known for his running ability, Kaepernick carved up the secondary from the start to catch the Bears — in particular safeties Major Wright and Chris Conte — off guard.

Kaepernick completed 16 of 23 passes for 243 yards and touchdown passes to Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree. He may have created a quarterback controversy in the Bay Area, where Alex Smith always has seemed to be on shaky ground. Coach Jim Harbaugh did little to quiet a brewing controversy afterward, saying, "We'll see. Usually tend to go with the guy who's got the hot hand."

Having lost two straight, the Bears (7-3) are in a tie with the Packers (7-3) atop the NFC North, but Green Bay won the Week 2 meeting. It sets up to be an interesting finish with the Vikings (6-4) only a game back. The Bears host the Packers on Dec. 16 in a game that could decide the division.

But the Bears cannot be thinking about the postseason after being worked over. The offense ended a drought of 111 minutes, 37 seconds without a touchdown when Campbell connected with Brandon Marshall for a 13-yard touchdown late in the third quarter. Lovie Smith's formula for takeaways was not successful as the Bears came up empty for the first time this season.

"It was embarrassing," center Roberto Garza said. "We're a much better team than that. This is not the type of team we are. We have to find out what is going on."

The run defense was vulnerable again as Frank Gore carried 17 times for 78 yards and backup Kendall Hunter gained 27 yards and scored on a 14-yard carry. This on the heels of consecutive 100-yard games by the Texans' Arian Foster and Titans' Chris Johnson with Vikings star Adrian Peterson set to face the Bears for the first time this season Sunday.

"You've got to admit they gave it to us," defensive end Corey Wootton said. "We got our butts kicked."

Meanwhile, the Bears failed in effort to get their ground game going. Matt Forte gained 63 yards on 21 carries and Michael Bush was ineffective. Campbell was under siege even before the score got out of hand. He completed 14 of 22 passes for 107 yards and was intercepted twice. He was sacked six times as outside linebacker Aldon Smith dominated tackles J'Marcus Webb and Gabe Carimi. The 49ers did a nice job covering Brandon Marshall as he was limited to two receptions for 21 yards.

If the previous two games have proved anything, it's that the first half of the schedule was packed with cupcakes. Emery has been out on the road scouting in advance of a big predraft meeting next month. He probably didn't need to see this wreck to know offensive linemen, plural, must be a priority even over a backup quarterback.

bmbiggs@tribune.com

Twitter @BradBiggs

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HTC “happy” with Apple settlement, slams media estimates

TOKYO (Reuters) – Taiwan’s HTC Corp is happy with its patent settlement with Apple Inc, but regards media reports on details of the licensing agreement as “outrageous”, chief executive Peter Chou told reporters on Tuesday.

HTC and Apple announced a global patent settlement and a 10-year licensing agreement this month after a bruising patent war between the two smartphone makers.

The companies did not disclose details of the settlement or the licensing agreement, but HTC said it will not change its fourth-quarter guidance.

Responding to a question about media reports that HTC will pay Apple $ 6 to $ 8 per Android phone as part of the patent settlement, Chou said it was an outrageous estimate.

“I think that these estimates are baseless and very, very wrong. It is a outrageous number, but I’m not going to comment anything on a specific number. I believe we have a very, very happy settlement and a good ending,” said Chou at a KDDI Corp product launch in Tokyo.

Apple sued the Taiwanese handset maker in 2010, its first major legal salvo against a manufacturer using Google’s Android operating system. Since the suit, a patent war has engulfed competitors including Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Google’s Motorola Mobility unit.

(Reporting by Mari Saito; Editing by Michael Watson and Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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Why Oscar’s “Simple” Date-Change Is a Ticking Time Bomb

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – The press release didn’t look as if it contained big news.

“Key Dates Announced for the 85th Academy Awards,” read the headline on the September 18 announcement, which came significantly later than usual for the Academy and contained one seemingly innocuous line:

“In an effort to provide members and the public a longer period of time to see the nominated films, the Academy will reveal the 85th Academy Awards nominations on January 10, five days earlier than previously announced.”

But that little change – those five days, which moved the nominations from what was already an unusually early slot to the Thursday before the Golden Globes – has shaken all things Oscar, essentially detonating a time bomb across the Academy Awards landscape.

As advertised, the move will give members of the Academy and prospective viewers extra time to see the 35 or so features that will be nominated (plus another 10 documentaries and foreign-language films) – but it’ll give them significantly less time to see the 250 to 300 films that are eligible to be nominated.

“As an Academy member, I’m not happy about it,” said one voter, who was typical of those TheWrap has spoken to. “It’s short-sighted and unfair to members, and they’re limiting the number of movies that might get nominated because members won’t see as many. And as a marketer, it hampers you in every way and forces you to flood people with emails and mailings and screenings and screeners to get all your stuff out by January 1.”

Grumbling, moaning and the occasional gnashing of teeth over the compressed timeline has been almost constant since the announcement. One commonly heard phrase is, “What were they thinking?” Another is, “I know what they were thinking, and it has nothing to do with what they say they were thinking.”

To this latter camp, which includes both outsiders and AMPAS members, the clear intent of the move was to hurt the Golden Globes, the tacky show whose importance on the awards calendar has always rankled the Academy.

The governors were said to be determined to make the Globes (and its presenting body, the much-maligned Hollywood Foreign Press Association) irrelevant by announcing Oscar nominations before the Globes even happen … as if that would stop people from tuning in or persuade NBC, Dick Clark Productions or the HFPA to pull the plug on a multimillion-dollar cash cow that they would no doubt move to Thanksgiving weekend before they’d ever consider giving it up.

Yes, the move will put the Globes in the awkward position of taking place at a point where trade ads are more likely to proudly trumpet “six Oscar nominations!” than “Golden Globe winner!” And by the time Academy members are able to vote, the Globes results will most likely forgotten by anybody casting an Oscar ballot.

The move won’t impact the Globes ratings, but it could conceivably reduce attendance at the show: If a star hoping to use a fabulous Globes acceptance speech to boost an Oscar candidacy winds up not being nominated, will he or she still feel inclined to show up for the HFPA’s dog-and-pony show?

Among other awards shows, the real casualty could be the Broadcast Film Critics Association‘s Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, a reliable Oscar precursor that this year is scheduled to take place the evening of the day on which Oscar noms are announced.

It’s hard to imagine too many actors wanting to put on a brave face and mingle with nominated colleagues only a few hours after learning that Oscar voters have ignored them; I’m guessing the BFCA may find itself with at least a few last-minute cancellations and lame excuses.

But the move’s repercussions go far beyond other awards shows.

A voting window that ends on January 3, immediately after the Christmas/New Year’s holidays, will mean more pressure to book early screenings, more of a push to get parties and Q&As done before the holidays, and outright desperation to have screeners in voters’ hands before they head to Aspen or Hawaii for the break.

And for films released in December – a typical Oscar slot that has been utilized quite effectively in the past by the likes of “Million Dollar Baby” and “Shakespeare in Love” – the new calendar could be a killer: With nominating ballots due so soon after the holidays, films had better be must-sees if they want to get voters to check them out before casting their ballots.

Obviously, that won’t hurt the December releases “Django Unchained,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Les Miserables” and “The Hobbit” – those are no-brainers for any Academy member who wants to be the slightest bit thorough. But what about a lower-profile film like Michael Haneke’s “Amour,” which Sony Classics is releasing on December 19?

The Cannes Palme d’Or winner is strong enough to escape the foreign-language category and become a viable Best Picture contender if enough members see it, but SPC may have to push awfully hard to get it in front of voters already facing a year-end crunch.

The move also puts a hit on the Palm Springs International Film Festival, whose annual Awards Gala, which typically honors an array of Oscar hopefuls, now falls three days after polls close.

And the late-January Santa Barbara International Film Festival now sits in the 29-day no-man’s-land between the nominations and the opening of final voting, long enough after nominations that some potential honorees might want to wait for the Academy’s verdict before committing to an SBIFF tribute.

Still, it’ll make things easier for Oscar-watchers who also want to go to the Sundance Film Festival; rather than noms coming in the middle of that fest, they will happen two weeks before Park City kicks off.

And yes, the new calendar will, as advertised, give viewers and voters more time to watch the nominated films.

The same voter who slammed the move as unfair for members and terrible for marketers did concede one thing: “From the exhibition point of view, I think it’s a good thing. You get an additional two weeks in theaters with the films that have been nominated, and we all know that’s where the money is made.”

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Recipes for Health: Apple Walnut Galette — Recipes for Health

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times NYTCREDIT:

A great rustic apple pie for Thanksgiving, this has very little butter in the pastry and a minimum of sweetening. It’s all about the apples.

1 dessert galette pastry (1/2 recipe)

Juice of 1/2 lemon

2 pounds slightly tart apples, like Braeburns, peeled, cored and cut in wedges (about 1/2 inch thick at the thickest point)

2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter

1/4 cup (50 grams) plus 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar or turbinado sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup lightly toasted walnuts, chopped

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup (25 grams) almond powder

1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon milk, for egg wash

1. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment. In a large bowl combine the lemon juice and apples and toss together.

2. Heat a large, heavy frying pan over high heat and add the butter. Wait until it becomes light brown and carefully add the apples and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Do not add the apples until the pan and the butter are hot enough or they won’t sear properly and retain their juice. But be careful when you add them so that the hot butter doesn’t splatter. When the apples are brown on one side, add the vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon and the nutmeg, flip the apples and continue to sauté until golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the walnuts, then scrape out onto one of the lined sheet pans and allow to cool completely.

3. Remove the pastry from the freezer and place it on the other parchment-lined baking sheet. Leave to thaw while the apples cool, but don’t keep it out of the freezer for too long. It’s easiest to handle if it’s cold and will thaw quickly. You just want it soft enough so that you can manipulate it.

4. Sprinkle the almond powder over the pastry, leaving a 2- to 3-inch border all around. Place the apples on top. Fold the edges of the dough in over the fruit, pleating the edges as you work your way around the fruit to form a free-form tart that is roughly 9 inches in diameter. Place in the freezer on the baking sheet for 45 minutes to an hour. This helps the galette maintain its shape.

5. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the galette from the freezer. Brush the exposed edge of the pastry with the egg wash. Combine the remaining tablespoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over the fruit and the crust. Place in the oven and bake 1 hour, until the crust is nicely browned and the apples are sizzling. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Yield: 1 9-inch galette, serving 8

Advance preparation: You can assemble this through Step 4 and freeze it for up to a month. Once it is frozen, double-wrap it in plastic. You can also freeze the galette after baking. Thaw and warm in a 350-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes to recrisp the crust.

Nutritional information per serving: 259 calories; 11 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 50 milligrams cholesterol; 37 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 92 milligrams sodium; 5 grams protein

Martha Rose Shulman is the author of “The Very Best of Recipes for Health.”

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