S.F. mourns a twin with a passion for fashion

SAN FRANCISCO — They were known simply as the San Francisco Twins.At 5-foot-1 and about 100 pounds apiece, the fashion enthusiasts...

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Wired Science Space Photo of the Day: The Star Factory

This is a near-infrared, colour-coded composite image of a sky field in the south-western part of the galactic star-forming region Messier 17. In this image, young and heavily obscured stars are recognized by their red colour. Bluer objects are either foreground stars or well-developed massive stars whose intense light ionizes the hydrogen in this region. The diffuse light that is visible nearly everywhere...

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Jazz world mourns Montreux founder “Funky Claude”

GENEVA (Reuters) – Claude Nobs, who founded the Montreux Jazz Festival nearly 50 years ago, has died after several weeks in a coma following a skiing accident, the festival said on Friday.The Swiss impresario immortalized by rock group Deep Purple as “Funky Claude” in the song “Smoke on the Water” and who lured the biggest stars of the music world to his festival on the shores of Lake Geneva died...

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Former Lab Technician Denies Faulty DNA Work in Rape Cases

A former New York City laboratory technician whose work on rape cases is now being scrutinized for serious mistakes said on Friday that she had been unaware there were problems in her work and, disputing an earlier report, denied she had resigned under pressure. The former lab technician, Serrita Mitchell, said any problems must have been someone else’s. “My work?” Ms. Mitchell said....

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Business Briefing | Retailing: Best Buy Shares Rally on Improved Holiday Sales

The Best Buy Company had better-than-expected holiday sales, setting off a gain of $2, or 16.4 percent, in its stock price, to $14.21 a share on Friday. The holiday quarter accounted for about a third of Best Buy’s revenue last year. The chain said that revenue at stores open at least a year fell 1.4 percent for the nine weeks ended Jan. 5. The company’s performance in the United States was flat....

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Nearly one-third of U.S. homeowners have no mortgage

What mortgage meltdown?While millions of Americans have suffered the angst of lost homes, equity and pride, nearly a third of...

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The Internet of Things Has Arrived — And So Have Massive Security Issues

Internet. Things. Add the “Of” and suddenly these three simple words become a magic meme — the theme we’ve been hearing all week at CES, the oft-heralded prediction that may have finally arrived in 2013.While not devoid of hype and hyperbole, the Internet of Things (IoT) does represent a revolution happening right now. Companies of all kinds – not just technology and telecommunications firms...

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‘Argo,’ ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ win at Critics Choice

(Reuters) – Ben Affleck’s Iran hostage drama “Argo,” “Lincoln” star Daniel Day-Lewis and “Zero Dark Thirty”‘s Jessica Chastain were among big winners at the Critics Choice Movie Awards on Thursday, taking honors for best picture, actor and actress, with Affleck nabbing the prize for best director.The all-star “Silver Linings Playbook” swept the comedy awards, winning best comedy film, best comedy...

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The New Old Age Blog: Taking a Zen Approach to Caregiving

You try to help your elderly father. Irritated and defensive, he snaps at you instead of going along with your suggestion. And you think “this is so unfair” and feel a rising tide of anger.How to handle situations like this, which arise often and create so much angst for caregivers?Jennifer Block finds the answer in what she calls “contemplative caregiving” — the application of Buddhist principles...

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Official Urges Greater Accountability by Euro Members

BRUSSELS — Olli Rehn, the European Union commissioner in charge of the euro currency, on Friday defended the bloc’s austerity policies and urged legislators to pass a law that would let him push countries even harder to shore up their finances. Signaling little let-up in the need for wrenching adjustments in Europe, Mr. Rehn also issued warnings to a wide range of countries — including...

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Irvine City Council overhauls oversight, spending on Great Park

Capping a raucous eight-hour-plus meeting, the Irvine City Council early Wednesday voted to overhaul the oversight and spending...

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Disk Jockey: Hear Your Favorite Theme Songs Played by a Floppy-Drive Orchestra

While making music with computers is nothing new, it’s rarely quite so literal as the melodies of Youtube user MrSolidSnake74, who transformed eight floppy disk drives into an orchestra of MIDI magic. In the gallery above, you can hear his arrangements based on popular themes from Super Mario Bros, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, Mega Man, Star Trek: The Next Generation,...

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TNT Orders Dick Wolf Series “Cold Justice”

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – TNT has ordered eight episodes of a new procedural from “Law & Order” boss Dick Wolf, the network said Wednesday.The series bears the working title “Cold Justice” and is billed as an “unscripted procedural drama.” It will follow Texas prosecutor Kelly Siegler and Yolanda McClary, a crime-scene investigator for the Las Vegas Police Department, as they help local law-enforcement...

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Flu Widespread, Leading a Range of Winter’s Ills

It is not your imagination — more people you know are sick this winter, even people who have had flu shots. The country is in the grip of three emerging flu or flulike epidemics: an early start to the annual flu season with an unusually aggressive virus, a surge in a new type of norovirus, and the worst whooping cough outbreak in 60 years. And these are all developing amid the normal winter...

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Daily Stock Market Activity

Stocks rose on Wall Street at the opening of trading on Thursday as stronger-than-expected exports in China, the world’s second-biggest economy, raised hopes for a more robust recovery in the global economy this year. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index added 0.4 percent, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq composite index gained 0.5 percent in morning...

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Weight-loss regimen a preferred choice for countering diabetes

After all those well-intentioned New Year's resolutions have yielded to the force of habit, many of the nation's 79 million...

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Google Maps of <em>Django Unchained'</em>s Plantation and Other Infamous Tarantino Locations

Naturally, Quentin Tarantino's new saddles-and-spurs flick Django Unchained has probably attracted at least a few fans of Westerns. But fans of one more recent Western may recognize some of its environs a little too well. It was partially shot on the same set at HBO's series Deadwood. The Melody Ranch in Santa Clarita served as the frontier for Django (Jamie Foxx) and Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz)...

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“Lincoln” leads BAFTA film nominations with 10

LONDON (Reuters) – “Lincoln”, the story of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln’s battle to end slavery starring Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role, won 10 BAFTA nominations on Wednesday, putting it ahead of the pack at Britain’s top film honors.The biopic was shortlisted in categories including best film, actor, supporting actor (Tommy Lee Jones) and supporting actress (Sally Field), but director Steven...

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Gaps Seen in Therapy for Suicidal Teenagers

Most adolescents who plan or attempt suicide have already received at least some mental health treatment, raising questions about the effectiveness of current approaches to helping troubled youths, according to the largest in-depth analysis to date of suicidal behaviors in American teenagers. The study, in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, found that 55 percent of suicidal teenagers had received...

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DealBook: Former Analyst Cooperates in Insider Trading Case

A former analyst at SAC Capital Advisors, the hedge fund owned by the billionaire investor Steven A. Cohen, has given federal agents the names of about 20 people he said had engaged in insider trading, according to a court filing.The disclosure of the extraordinary cooperation by the former SAC analyst, Wesley Wang, emerged in a pleading filed by federal prosecutors. In a letter to a judge, the government...

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LAPD force exceeds 10,000 for the first time, officials say

For the first time in the city's history, Los Angeles' police force now exceeds 10,000 officers, city officials said Monday.Appearing...

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