AP - A swift series of bombings and shootings killed 35 people across the Iraqi capital early Thursday in attacks that mostly appeared to target police, officials said.
ROCHESTER, N.Y.?? Police in upstate New York say a 6-year-old boy snoozing in his father's car never woke up while the vehicle was being stolen after it was left running outside a store.
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Officers tell Rochester media outlets that a 26-year-old man from Irondequoit left his car running while he went inside a convenience store to get a drink late Saturday night.
While inside the store, someone jumped into the car and drove off with the boy asleep in the car.
Police say the car was found abandoned within 30 minutes. Officials say the boy wasn't harmed and had slept through the entire ordeal.
Police charged the boy's father with endangering the welfare of a child.
The car thief hasn't been found.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Dulce Albuquerque works in her carnival dress-making shop Monday, Feb. 20, 2012 in downtown Lisbon. Portugal's center-right coalition government has cancelled what is usually a day off on Tuesday for carnival celebrations saying that the country can't afford time off amid high debts and austerity measures. Others argue that the celebrations generate an important revenue for many small businesses, commerce and tourism. (AP Photo/ Francisco Seco)
Dulce Albuquerque works in her carnival dress-making shop Monday, Feb. 20, 2012 in downtown Lisbon. Portugal's center-right coalition government has cancelled what is usually a day off on Tuesday for carnival celebrations saying that the country can't afford time off amid high debts and austerity measures. Others argue that the celebrations generate an important revenue for many small businesses, commerce and tourism. (AP Photo/ Francisco Seco)
A dancer of Grande Rio samba school parades on a float during carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012. Nearly 100,000 paying spectators turn out for the all-night spectacle at the Sambadrome. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Dancers of Grande Rio samba school parade on a float during carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012. Nearly 100,000 paying spectators turn out for the all-night spectacle at the Sambadrome. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Dancers of Grande Rio samba school parade during carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012. Nearly 100,000 paying spectators turn out for the all-night spectacle at the Sambadrome. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Brokers are dressed as punks on occasion of carnival at the stock market in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, Feb.21, 2012. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
LISBON, Portugal (AP) ? Garish costumes, scary masks and bright wigs trumped dreary economic austerity Tuesday as most Portuguese defied a government appeal to keep working on one of their deeply beloved holidays: Carnival.
It was a spontaneous "Ja chega!" ? "That's enough!" ? from a people who have suffered in Europe's debt crisis but have not rioted, set streets aflame and heaved chunks of marble at police like their fellow bailout colleagues, the Greeks.
The streets of Lisbon, the capital, were deserted and eerily quiet Tuesday, resembling a typical Sunday morning. Offices stood empty and banks were shuttered. Well over half of workers stayed home, local media estimated.
Instead, tens thousands of people, many dressed in colorful handmade costumes and men often in drag, were expected later to attend traditional street parades around the country featuring elaborate floats, loud Brazilian samba music and dancing.
The mild, sunny winter day was apparently just the ticket for the austerity blues.
Nationwide, the government's attempt to make people work more by scrapping the traditional Fat Tuesday holiday flopped as most companies and many public services shut down.
The spontaneous choice of revelry over austerity ? imposed last year in return for a euro78 billion ($103 billion) international bailout Portugal needed to avoid bankruptcy ? came at a particularly embarrassing moment for the government. Inspectors from the bailout lenders were in Lisbon for a regular review of whether Portugal is honoring its promise to reduce debt and improve economic output.
Government ministers, lawmakers and the head of state worked normally. Civil servants had to turn up for work too, but most local councils and state-owned companies closed, media reported. Train engineers went on a 24-hour strike to protest the government's anti-holiday call.
Marilia Gomes, a middle-aged worker at a Lisbon tax office, said she resented having to work on a holiday she cherished.
"Carnival is about getting rid of your sadness, letting your hair down," she said during her lunch break, calling scrapping the holiday "a lack of respect for working people."
Local television stations showed some civil servants going to work in outrageous wigs, masks and outsize glasses.
Others, however, agreed with the government's plea for people to knuckle down and beat the financial crisis by working more.
"We have to work for the good of the country," said Manuel Agostinho, an unemployed 54-year-old. "It's no laughing matter."
Portugal sunk into a double-dip recession last year, and the government forecasts the economy will shrink a further 3 percent this year. Unemployment is at a record 14 percent. Portugal's debt load and feeble growth over the past decade have contributed to Europe's financial woes, prompting its eurozone partners to grant it a financial rescue package last year.
Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho refused to grant the usual day off for Carnival, which is not an official public holiday. But the last time a government refused to recognize Fat Tuesday as a holiday was during the 1993 economic crisis.
The prime minister said he hoped people would understand the need for sacrifices.
"This isn't a normal year, it's an important year of national emergency," Passos Coelho said at the time. "(I hope) the Portuguese understand that this is no time to be talking about tradition, it's about finding out who wants to beat this crisis and who wants to cling to old traditions."
The government made no comment Tuesday about the public's rejection of its appeal.
Although unions have staged strikes and protests against the tax hikes and pay cuts, the Portuguese have largely accepted the austerity program with resignation, exhibiting none of the street violence that has wracked Greece.
While Carnival in Portugal doesn't match the glamor and all-night revelry seen in Brazil, it is tremendously popular with children and adults alike. Many rural towns and villages observe centuries-old traditions, some of them pagan, many of them comical, vulgar and satirical.
With local authorities who organize street parades feeling the economic crunch, festivities this year were scaled back. Brazilian soap opera stars are often invited to be kings and queens of Portuguese carnivals but this year the VIP guests were mostly national celebrities.
The celebrations in Torres Vedras, 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Lisbon, are known as "the most Portuguese Carnival" but the local council cut spending this year 16 percent. Even so, it spent around euro400,000 ($531,000) on Carnival events and expects to draw thousands of visitors.
In many places, the celebrations will end with a meal made of dried salted cod ? a typical Portuguese dish ? to mark the start of the Roman Catholic period of Lent.
By admin
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Diet pills are not considered medications, and therefore they are not regulated by the FDA.? This has enormous implications for people looking to lose weight and are thinking about turning to diet pills to help them with their weight loss goals.? For many people, diet pills can be the gateway to addiction and an array of negative side effects.? We?ve heard many tragic stories of people who became addicted to diet pills within a few weeks of beginning their regimen.? Diet pill manufacturers promise nearly impossible results and it is all too easy to be taken in by the allure of being free from obesity in a matter of a few months.? The effects of diet pill addiction are many.? In many people, diet pill addiction is noticeable only after a few weeks of beginning to take the pills.? Many people who become addicted say? that they just don?t feel ?normal? unless they take their pills.? They feel depressed, unenergetic, sometimes anxious, and experience highs and lows in their emotional state.? In even more extreme examples, those addicted to diet pills damage their cardiovascular system, their heart, or even their kidneys.? These cases are extremely serious, as heart and kidney damage accumulates and can be fatal if not treated by a physician.
In many cases, diet pill addiction is a sign of deeper psychological problems, and the person is not chemically addicted, but rather, psychologically addicted.? The phenomenon mirrors other types of psychological addictions, like people who feel the need to smoke cigarettes, but don?t feel the negative effects that would show chemical addiction.? In many cases, addiction to diet pills could point to much deeper self-esteem issues.? Some people have such poor self-image and self-esteem that they feel that they must constantly take diet pills to keep their weight in check. This starts a vicious cycle, where the person addicted to the pills is never satisfied with their appearance and takes more and more diet pills.? This can lead to kidney failure and heart disease, so the effects can be quite serious.? If you develop these symptoms, please see a psychiatrist and a physician as soon as possible to investigate the negative effects the diet pills may have visited on your body, and also how you can rebuild your self-image so that you do not feel you need the diet pills any longer.?
Diet pill addiction is serious and those entrapped by it spend long, painful months breaking the addiction, even under the supervision of a trained, medical physician.? This is why it is so important to try other, non-chemical ways to improve our self-esteem and lose weight.? People lost weight long before the invention of the diet pill.? Simply changing our diet to include healthier food, more exercise, and more positive activities can do so much more than a diet pill ever could.? If you feel depressed by your weight, take time out of your week to go for a walk or visit your local gym.? If you are a regular at your local fast food place, try cooking a meal at home and really making it something special.? A little candlelight and nice cutlery might be over the top, but you?re worth it!? You?ll find that treating yourself with respect will do so much more than any diet pill ever could.
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Let us face the facts, occasions are tough and finding business nowadays isn?t always easy. The economy in general isn?t producing just as much activity as previously so we have to branch out and check out other avenues for sales prospecting.
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If you are part of the online Disney community on twitter, facebook or message boards, you have no doubt heard the buzz about the new interactive card game that has premiered under beta testing in the Magic Kingdom Park ? The Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. As a local, we saw the little portal stations being built for quite some time, as speculation swirled regarding what these new screens and areas would mean to the parks. Would they interfere with guests? experiences as they explored the lands of the Magic Kingdom? Would Imagineers be able to pull off the mixing of villains and animated film characters? The answers are a bit complex, but overall, I give the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom a hearty ?thumbs up.? I?ll go into further detail below.
First, let?s go over exactly what the game is all about. The premise is that certain villains, organized by Hades, Lord of the Underworld, are teaming up to steal pieces of the crystal of the Magic Kingdom. Merlin is on board to fight evil, and enlists us ? the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, to help defeat the foes.
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How it Works (the short version):
Head to the Main Street, U.S.A. Firehouse, pick up your cards and Sorcerers key card
Follow the icons on the map to defeat villains at various portals throughout the Magic Kingdom
Use your spell cards to defeat each villain and eventually become a Master Sorcerer
Come back again and again to collect more cards and defeat more villains!
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You can hold the key card any way, front or back to activate the portal
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How it Works (the long version):
You start off by heading to the Main Street Firehouse. There you can watch a preview, check in with your ticket media and receive a key card, 5 spell cards and a map marking the portal locations. You then watch a tutorial with Merlin so you know exactly what to do when you set out on your quest. Now here you must make a decision with your group ? you can all battle together under one key card, or if you each receive a key card, you will most likely be separated and sent to different lands to explore the portals at different times. When we first checked in, we got key cards for each of our family members, but only used one, so we stayed together. Now that we?ve been playing for about a week, my older kids or husband can go off and fight at a portal in a different location within the same land. We usually stay together until we all get portals in the same land though, so for example, if my son gets Adventureland and I get Fantasyland, we?ll go to one land and then wait until he gets Fantasyland too so we can be in the same area. Of course it?s up to you how you want to handle these battles. I have heard that sometimes if you have a large party they will tell you at the Firehouse that you must only use one key card. We have not run into this, however.
Who Can Play? As far as age-range for the game, this was something my 3 year old could play ? at least the unlocking of the portal with the key card. He could still use the spell cards, but only if we told him how to hold them, etc. I?d say in a year he?d be perfect at figuring out the right way to hold or picking out the spell cards he wants. However, from the sounds of level 2 and 3, it would probably take an older child or adult to weigh the options for each card?s skill points and so on.
Once you start collecting your cards, you will get doubles or duplicates of some of them. Especially with our family, we are getting 4 sets of 5 cards each day, so our collection has added up quickly. In the case of dupes, guests can trade with other Sorcerers players and pick up some missing cards that way. So far, we?ve run into new players, who don?t really have anything to trade, and seasoned players, who have almost everything and don?t really need to trade. But we have picked up I?d say about 10-15 cards through trading and it?s a great way to complete your collection. Especially if you have friends playing, they can hold cards for you and will be more willing to trade.
There are 70 cards ? but at this time cards 61-70 have been pulled from play. Cast members will say they are not sure when the cards will be back or in what fashion, but we have heard they will be selling those last 10. As of right now, the packs arriving at the Firehouse don?t have cards 61-70 within them, so you?ll have to wait, or find someone that?s been playing from day 1 of beta testing who?s willing to trade. The game is technically still in the testing phase until February 22, 2012. We are not sure if progress will be reset and all those playing will have to start from square one at that time. Since we?ve been playing, the game has been reset twice already, but you only need to tell cast members at the Firehouse which villains you?ve defeated to pick up where you left off. The exception to this is if you have defeated all the villains and become a Master Sorcerer, moving on to level 2, you will have to complete that last battle to become a Master Sorcerer again.
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Our first set of cards from the first time we played
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All About the Cards:
Once you start your collection of cards, you?ll notice some numbers and symbols on the face of each card. in the bottom left corner there will be a number out of 70, which tells you simply the number the card is in the collection. For example, Sorcerer Mickey is 1/70 and Cabellero Donald is 43/70. In addition, the cards are listed by spell ? Mystic Spell (blue background), Princess Spell (purple background), Toy Spell (red background), Machine Spell (black background), Warrior Spell (dark blue background), Monster Spell (green background), Hero Spell (dark teal background), Animal Spell (dark green background), and Fairy Spell (pink background).
Within each spell card, there will be three types of numbers: attack, boost, and shield. So Merlin?s card has a 5 Energy attack, 0 Energy boost, and 1 Energy shield. Other cards will have other types of spells. Options are Energy, Charming, Wishful, Quick, Flying, Strong, and Gross. Right now, in level one, these distinctions don?t really matter as any card defeats any villain. However when the game really goes live, or in higher levels, the type of card and type of attack will most likely matter.
Lastly, above the number is a symbol, with one of three designations ? a star symbol, which indicates a rare card; a moon symbol, which signifies an uncommon card; and a planet symbol, which indicates a common card. There are also cards out there with lightning bolt symbols, which seem to be the 61-70 cards that are now pulled. Hopefully we?ll get more facts as the game gets out of testing mode.
Game play:
Just head to the portal the Firehouse initially tells you to go to, and then you?ll be instructed where to go next. After you?ve played once, you can pick up where you left off, unless the system has been reset. You can always check where you are supposed to be by scanning your key card at any portal and it will tell you where you need to be. If the game has been reset, it will tell you to head to the Firehouse to get reassigned. There is also a booth in Liberty Square, behind Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe, staffed with cast members, who can fix errors, show you the tutorial and help you out. (You can also sign up there with usually no line compared to the Firehouse!) In no time you?ll have all the portals memorized and be able to go from place to place without even needing a map.
The game itself involves defeating 8 villains at this time:
Main Street, U.S.A. ? Cruella DeVil
Adventureland ? Jafar, Yzma and Scar
Liberty Square/Frontierland ? Dr. Facilier and Governor Ratcliffe
Fantasyland ? Maleficent and Ursula
Once you defeat ALL of those villains, you will have a final battle with Chernabog and Hades, and become a Master Sorcerer. Then you proceed to level 2 and from there, level 3. Here?s a video of the Master Sorcerer announcement. If you don?t want the finale to be spoiled, don?t watch! You can check out another video on my YouTube channel of the scene before this one, where you actually battle Hades.
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The first portal you go to tells you the story of the villain, and where to go next to help out. The next portal you will get to pick spell cards (you can combine spells up to 6 at a time!), and usually one of the portals will ask you to use the Sorcerer?s Crest on the back of the card (I actually don?t like this since you don?t get to pick the spells!). The final battle for that land?s villain will let you use two separate spell castings (again, up to 6 cards for each one). Then you have defeated that villain and Merlin will tell you if you?d like to continue to help, which land you should head to next.
The portal next to the Frontierland Shootin' Gallery, one of my faves!
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I highly recommend playing in both daylight and nighttime. At night you can see many details and lighting effects of the portals that just aren?t visible in bright sunlight. It?s also usually less crowded, though you must wait to play in Fantasyland until the fireworks have ended. I had way too many photos to post here, so I?ve created a flickr set for all our Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom adventures. Just click to see the portals ? I?ll be adding more as I make future visits to the Magic Kingdom.
Pros and Cons to the game:
As far as pros go, for the most part, I?d categorize the game as unobtrusive to the average guest. You don?t have to pay attention to it as you are passing, though some portals are hard to ignore and can all be a bit loud. I don?t think a single portal detracts from its land or the space it is in. If anything, the only problem is the fact that passers-by will often ask WHAT you are doing, and you?ll have to give a quick synopsis of the game, usually while your animated scene is playing. In addition, those with quite a few cards can expect smaller children who?ve just started playing to ask ?where did you get all those cards?? and even ?can I have some?? so just be prepared for lots of questions.
I can see how those on a one-time trip to Walt Disney World or even a once-a-year visit would perhaps get frustrated by the time it takes to become a Master Sorcerer, but of course, that?s what Disney wants: return visitors. Or, for guests to plan a day longer vacation to be sure you get enough game time. In the 4 times we?ve played, we have not gone on a single ride in the Magic Kingdom, and we?ve spent about 17 hours playing (not counting time spent dining). Again, being locals, this isn?t a big deal to us?but those on a yearly vacation may feel they are missing valuable ride time. What we did get to do was notice more details around the park, and enjoy the various parades and nighttime shows from different angles than usual.? And just like pins or Vinylmation figures, the cards become your own prize collection, free ? for now, and unlike Vinyls or pins, you get to actually use them in the park. There is a reward for your patience and your play.
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The window I like to call Merlin's lab, looks amazing at night!
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My hope, when the game goes officially live on the 22nd, is that cast members at the Firehouse are able to better explain the ins and outs of card use. What the symbols mean, what you want to do or not do in the second or third levels ? even if only to give us a vague idea and let us figure it out for ourselves. In addition, there needs to be a more pronounced explanation about keeping the map and cards. A handful of times, I have heard, ?do we get to keep these cards?? or ?do we have to give the map back?? from guests. I understand that given the only other comparison game within Walt Disney World ? the Kim Possible missions, you are instructed to return your Kimmunicator, but it makes me sad to think that people are worried they have to give their cool cards and map back, and the problem is easily solved by cast members up front.
With ALL of that said, I?m so excited to see where this game goes in the coming months and will of course update this page as I find out definitive facts or news. Even as I type this post, changes are happening to some of the portals; updates, props, new posters and banners?Disney really is working to make this an amazing experience. You can also follow all the latest updates on twitter at @DisneySorcerers, an unofficial account offering tips, news, photos, videos and more. Now go get ?em, Sorcerer!