Is Europe Doomed? (Powerlineblog)

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All About Female Health and Fitness Guidance | Bethesda Beatniks ...

Women are one of the major and as well as the important part of the society. But from the first stage of the beginning of the society, they are just neglected by the community. And the female health issues are also violating by the society. All these social violence forced women also overlook their mental and physical health. But from the last decades, the thought becomes quite different. The female health becomes one of the major issues to concern. Female health is not only important for the women community only; the discussion has same value for the other parts of the society also. A healthy society and future depends on the healthy female community. As the women carry another life in her body part, so the female body health is the much important issue of discussion.

Women diseases are naturally relates with their reproductory system. If we are not take care of the female nutrition, the illness and diseases can be attacks, are; calcium less, anemia, arthritis, breast cancer, cervical cancer and many other disease. The disease and illness starts in a major way only after the menopause. Healthy life depends on to take nutritious food item. Healthy life depends on healthy life style. If you are a female, and want to know about the healthy life style, we will guide you. In this page you can find out the various types of disease, and its treatment and also the precautions.

An appropriate diet chart requires, proper amount of minerals, vitamin, and carbohydrate. To get a healthy life, you have to take two or three types of seasonal fruits, three or four type of green vegetable, milk; or milk products, egg, fish and chicken products. Taking proper foods are not enough; you have to avoid smoking and drinking alcohol and also have to maintain a healthy life style.

Today?s women are not only takes breath into the boundary wall of the home; she has to take pressure in the work front too. And at present era, she has more duty and responsibility than the past. Because of all these, women are now avoiding pregnancy in the early stage of their carrier. And delay pregnancy also gives birth of the few more disease in their life, and creating the chance of breast cancer and also the cervical cancer in a rapid way.

Lack of the proper female genital health or the lack of the knowledge, of the health, rural women are facing lots of problem in their life. In India, where the maximum population of the country is living in the rural villages of the country, the health care facilities are still under construction for them. Although the women health care is now a much talking subject, but there has enormous things to change regarding the female health care system.

Female health care defines not only the physical health, but also it indicates the female mental health also. Mentally the women of the country now are facing lots of pressure including social violence to the domestic violence. To get relief from all these violence, we have to support the women of the country and have to nourish the society?s mentality.

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4. Health, Fitness & Anti-Aging
5. Female Hair Loss Problem

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Fujitsu unveils two new LifeBooks, shows some Ivy Bridge zen

Fujitsu's teased us before with Intel's hot new chipset, but now it's getting ready to actually ship two notebooks with Intel's third-gen Core i7 CPU. The first, like others before it, will be a refresh of an older model, the LifeBook LH532, with its last-gen i7 tech swapped out for Ivy Bridge. Other specs will stay the same, with 2GB of system memory, NVIDIA GeForce GT620M graphics with 2GB of VRAM and a 15.6 14-inch 1366x768 high definition TFT LED wide screen. The LifeBook LH772, on the other hand, is an all-new model which will have the same Ivy Bridge i7 horsepower and screen, but the addition of a 2GB NVIDIA Optimus graphics and 4GB of RAM. Being more upmarket than its cousin, it'll have added touches like Onkyo Box Speakers, a DTS UltraPC II Plus sound system and a fingerprint sensor.

Both LifeBooks will have Fujitsu's Face Sense utility, which uses a front facing camera to detect your presence, and pause the system if you're not there. Fujitsu is also touting its Takumi design philosophy, supposedly offering zen-like simplicity and attention to detail -- with features like multiple color choices, rounded keyboard outlines, leveled palm rests and dichromatic keys. Fujitsu hasn't announced pricing yet, but if you need to hit your tasks quickly but harmoniously, check the PR below for more details.

Update: The Lifebook LH532 is a 14" model, not 15.6". Apologies for any confusion.

Continue reading Fujitsu unveils two new LifeBooks, shows some Ivy Bridge zen

Fujitsu unveils two new LifeBooks, shows some Ivy Bridge zen originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 May 2012 08:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook Testing ?Offers? Discounts For Ecommerce Sites, Not Just Brick+Mortar

Facebook has a plan to squeeze more ad dollars out of ecommerce sites and anyone else selling products on the web. It's quietly testing a new version of its Offers coupons that can be redeemed at online stores, not just at physical shops. Sources clued us in and Facebook has now confirmed with me that users will see Offers in the news feed, ads, and Sponsored Stories that feature a promo code or special link to click through for a discount on off-site purchases. Similar to how the existing version of Offers lead to foot traffic and revenue for brick-and-mortar stores, big brands with web stores, ecommerce hubs, and celebrities with merch to sell could soon use Offers to drive sales. Coupons like "Take $5 Off A Purchase Of $50 Or More" can produce real return on investment. So while they're free to run, businesses will pay Facebook to show their Offers to more people.

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Rovio makes a Mighty Eagle's $68 million in profit in financial squawk

It's inspired artwork, sketch shows and even a Pomplamoose cover, but flinging feathery fowl is ultimately a serious business. Rovio has announced that in 2011, it made a huge $106.3 million turnover and a whopping $67.6 million in profit (before tax). Fueled by the success of Angry Birds, Seasons and Rio, the company grew by a factor of eight in the last year, from 28 employees all the way to 224. The company adds that the three games were downloaded 648 million times and are now used by 200 million daily users, while sales of merchandise contributed to around 30 percent of the total revenue. The report adds that the only barrier to future profits is if people stop buying new smartphones, but we're not sure that's likely to be the case for a while.

Continue reading Rovio makes a Mighty Eagle's $68 million in profit in financial squawk

Rovio makes a Mighty Eagle's $68 million in profit in financial squawk originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 May 2012 15:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jack Osbourne Introduces Pearl Clementine

"He gets up to change her nappy, burp her and put her back to sleep," she shares. "I've only changed three nappies -- Jack's done all the others."

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Disney Research?s Touch? shows off the future of iPhone-like multitouch gestures? everywhere

The iPhone made capacitive multitouch, gesture-based technology mainstream. These days, we never think twice about tapping, swiping, pinching, twisting, or otherwise manipulating the digital content on our devices. But only on our digital devices. Imagine a future where capacitive multitouch wasn't limited to screens but could be implemented on all sorts of everyday objects, from doorknobs to tables to liquids, to the human body itself. Well, Disney Research isn't just imagining it, they're engineering it today with something they call Touch?.

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Augmented reality sandbox lets you change the course of rivers, won't get you wet

Ask any kid, playing in the sandbox is fun enough on its own, but too much moisture will turn your grainy playground into a lumpy mess. Researchers at UC Davis have cooked up one solution: an augmented reality sandbox. Much like last year's SandyStation, the project uses a Kinect sensor in conjunction with a digital projector and a bit of software to overlay topographical data and simulated water over a traditional -- and dry -- sandbox. The end result is an augmented environment that can be used to teach geographic, geologic and hydrological concepts. The team hopes the project will help them develop hands-on exhibits for science museums, teaching visitors about contour lines, watersheds, catchment areas and more. Check out the video above for a full demo, or scope out the source below for the technical nitty-gritty.

Augmented reality sandbox lets you change the course of rivers, won't get you wet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 May 2012 04:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Study ties fertility treatment, birth defect risk

Test-tube babies have higher rates of birth defects, and doctors have long wondered: Is it because of certain fertility treatments or infertility itself? A large new study from Australia suggests both may play a role.

Compared to those conceived naturally, babies that resulted from simple IVF, or in vitro fertilization ? mixing eggs and sperm in a lab dish ? had no greater risk of birth defects once factors such as the mom's age and smoking were taken into account.

However, birth defects were more common if treatment included injecting a single sperm into an egg, which is done in many cases these days, especially if male infertility is involved. About 10 percent of babies born this way had birth defects versus 6 percent of those conceived naturally, the study found.

It could be that the extra jostling of egg and sperm does damage. Or that other problems lurk in the genes of sperm so defective they must be forced to fertilize an egg.

"I don't want to scare people," because the vast majority of babies are born healthy, said the study's leader, Michael Davies of the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Couples could use simple IVF without sperm injection, freeze the embryos and implant only one or two at a time, he said. All of those can cut the chance of a birth defect.

The study was published online Saturday by the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at a fertility conference in Barcelona, Spain. Health agencies in Australia paid for the research.

More than 3.7 million babies are born each year through assisted reproduction. Methods include everything from drugs to coax the ovaries to make eggs to artificial insemination and IVF. Fertility treatments account for about 4 percent of births in Australia and as many as 8 percent of them in Denmark, where costs are widely covered, Davies said.

In the United States, more than 60,000 babies were born in 2009 from 146,000 IVF attempts. About three-quarters of them used ICSI, or intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

ICSI was developed because of male infertility. But half the time, it was not done for that reason but to improve the odds that at least some embryos will be created from an IVF attempt. Many clinics do it in all cases.

IVF costs around $10,000 to $12,000 per attempt and another $2,000 for sperm injection.

The study used records on nearly 303,000 babies conceived naturally and 6,163 conceived with help in Australia from 1986 through 2002, plus records on birth defects detected by age 5. Researchers counted heart, spinal or urinary tract defects, limb abnormalities and problems such as cleft palate or lip, but not minor defects unless they needed treatment or were disfiguring.

They looked at birth defect rates according to type of fertility treatment. They also had three comparison groups of women who conceived naturally, including some with some history of infertility or who previously needed help to get pregnant.

Among fertility treatments, only ICSI, the sperm injection, resulted in higher rates of birth defects once other factors that affect these odds were taken into account.

"They take a sperm that is probably not normal and force it to conceive," said Dr. Darine El-Chaar, an OB-GYN at Canada's University of Ottawa. She led a smaller previous study of this and called the new work impressive and "the study that needed to be done" to sort out the source of these risks.

In the study, frozen embryos were less likely to result in birth defects than fresh ones used soon after they were created. Defective ones may be less likely to survive freezing and thawing, so the fittest embryos result in pregnancies, Davies said.

Babies born to women with a history of infertility who ended up conceiving on their own, or who had natural pregnancies after assisted ones, also had higher rates of birth defects. That suggests that infertility itself is playing a role.

Dr. Glenn Schattman, president of the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technologies and a Cornell University fertility specialist, said it was reassuring that ordinary IVF is safe. If ICSI is chosen because male infertility is involved, "parents have to be aware that by having a child with their own genetic material, they might be increasing their risk" of a birth defect, he said.

Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson, a geneticist and research chief at the March of Dimes, said doctors should take this work seriously and discuss it with patients. He said techniques have improved over the last decade and ICSI may be safer now than when this study began.

Even with genetic testing for various diseases, "we always tell our patients that this doesn't guarantee a perfect baby," he said.

___

Online:

New England Journal: http://www.nejm.org

Infertility information: http://www.sart.org and http://www.asrm.org

Sperm injection explanation: http://bit.ly/Inb688

CDC on fertility treatments: http://www.cdc.gov/art/ARTReports.htm

___

Follow Marilynn Marchione at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

Associated Press

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Activists: Chen case does not mean controls easing

A woman protester who claims she wants to see blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng, recounts her grievances as a Chinese police officer questions her outside the hospital where Chen is recuperating in Beijing, Saturday, May 5, 2012. While it appears China will likely make a rare concession and allow activist Chen Guangcheng to leave China with his family, dissidents say the deal is not a sign of a broader easing of controls. Authorities might even tighten the screws on other prominent critics to prevent them from seeking similar offers ahead of a leadership handover during which stability is paramount. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A woman protester who claims she wants to see blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng, recounts her grievances as a Chinese police officer questions her outside the hospital where Chen is recuperating in Beijing, Saturday, May 5, 2012. While it appears China will likely make a rare concession and allow activist Chen Guangcheng to leave China with his family, dissidents say the deal is not a sign of a broader easing of controls. Authorities might even tighten the screws on other prominent critics to prevent them from seeking similar offers ahead of a leadership handover during which stability is paramount. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

An image featuring blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is shown by a protester during a rally in front of the Chinese central government's liaison in Hong Kong Friday, May 4, 2012. Chen at the center of a diplomatic standoff between the United States and China said Friday his situation is "dangerous," and that American officials have been blocked from seeing him for two days and friends who have tried to visit have been beaten up. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

In this photo released by the US Embassy Beijing Press Office, blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng, left, chats with U.S. ambassador to China, Gary Locke as they leave the U.S. embassy for a hospital in Beijing, Wednesday, May 2, 2012. (AP Photo/U.S. Embassy Beijing Press Office, HO)

Chinese police officers question a woman and another videotape a woman protester who claims she wants to see blind lawyer Chen Guangcheng outside the hospital where Chen is recuperating in Beijing, China, Saturday, May 5, 2012. While it appears China will likely make a rare concession and allow activist Chen Guangcheng to leave China with his family, dissidents say the deal is not a sign of a broader easing of controls. Authorities might even tighten the screws on other prominent critics to prevent them from seeking similar offers ahead of a leadership handover during which stability is paramount. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Chinese petitioners protest about their own grievances near a cordon for journalists gathered outside the hospital where blind activist lawyer Chen Guangcheng is recuperating in Beijing, Saturday, May 5, 2012. While it appears China will likely make a rare concession and allow activist Chen Guangcheng to leave China with his family, dissidents say the deal is not a sign of a broader easing of controls. Authorities might even tighten the screws on other prominent critics to prevent them from seeking similar offers ahead of a leadership handover during which stability is paramount. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

BEIJING (AP) ? Even if China makes a rare concession and allows legal activist Chen Guangcheng to leave the country with his family, other dissidents say they don't expect a broader easing of controls. Authorities might even tighten the screws on prominent critics to prevent them from taking encouragement from Chen's case to challenge the leadership.

The blind activist's escape from house arrest and flight to safety in the U.S. Embassy has provided a much-needed morale boost for a dissident community that over the last year has been debilitated by a massive government security crackdown aimed at preventing an Arab-style democratic uprising. Dozens of activists, rights lawyers, intellectuals and others have been detained, questioned and in some cases, even tortured.

Chen, a symbol in China's civil rights movement, may be able to leave to study in the United States under still-evolving arrangements announced Friday by Washington and Beijing to end a weeklong diplomatic standoff over his case.

On Saturday, Chen was still in a hospital where he was taken to receive medical care, joined by his wife and two children. U.S. Embassy officials met with his wife, although Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Beijing this past week for annual talks, left Beijing without visiting him.

The Foreign Ministry said Friday that Chen could submit an application to go abroad. His wife told Hong Kong broadcaster TVB on Saturday that applications for travel documents had not yet been started and no date has been set for them to leave.

The turn of events for Chen, while welcomed by most activists and dissidents, is seen as an individual victory that is not likely to pave the way for improvements in the government's attitude toward its critics.

"I think that after the Chen Guangcheng incident, the situation for us will just become worse and worse, because in today's society government power has no limits," said Liu Yi, an artist and Chen supporter who was assaulted Thursday by men he thinks were plainclothes police while he attempted to visit Chen in the hospital.

Liu Feiyue, a veteran activist who runs a rights monitoring network in the central province of Hubei, noted the importance of U.S. involvement in Chen's case. "This is only an individual case. Because it turned into a China-U.S. incident, the U.S. put a lot of pressure on China, which is why the authorities made a concession to allow Chen Guangcheng to study overseas," he said.

"Not all dissident cases can become international issues," Liu Feiyue said.

Chen, a self-taught legal activist, is best known for exposing forced abortions and sterilizations in his community in a scandal that prompted the central government to punish some local officials. His activism earned him the wrath of local authorities, who punished him with nearly seven years of prison and house arrest.

He made an improbable escape from his farmhouse in eastern China two weeks ago and sought refuge in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. After negotiations between U.S. and Chinese officials, Chen left the embassy under arrangements to stay in China that were supposed to guarantee his and his family's safety. But he then changed his mind, prompting more talks that resulted in Friday's tentative deal that would let him travel to the U.S. with his family for a university fellowship.

All this played out as Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and a slew of senior U.S. officials arrived for meetings on trade tensions and global economic and political trouble spots. It also occurred as Chinese President Hu Jintao and most of his senior leadership prepare to step aside for a younger generation of leaders ? a time the Communist Party is acutely wary of challenges to its authority and usually reins-in critics.

Activists said that while Chen, his wife and children are likely to find sanctuary in the United States, it is unclear what will happen to his other relatives. Authorities have already detained Chen's elder brother, and his nephew is on the run after attacking local officials who raided his house apparently in search of Chen after his escape. Chen's mother, who lived with the couple, has been under constant surveillance.

If Chen leaves, the officials who mistreated him and his family will likely not be held accountable ? something Chen asked for in a video statement he made while in hiding in Beijing before entering the U.S. Embassy.

"Chen's story is not a triumph for China's human rights, unfortunately," said Wang Songlian, a Hong Kong-based researcher with Chinese Human Rights Defenders. "Although Chen and his immediate family might gain freedom, his extended family is likely to be retaliated against. ... None of those whose violence Chen exposed, or those who beat and detained Chen and his family, have been punished."

There are concerns China will exact retribution on Chen's supporters who aided his escape, as well as friends who later tried to get the message out about his fears for his safety or publicly urged him to flee to the United States. Two supporters who helped him escape were detained, then released, but placed under gag orders and close monitoring.

Others like Chen's friend Zeng Jinyan, who ? at great risk to herself ? publicized Chen's worries about leaving the embassy Wednesday, have since been barred from speaking to the media and placed under house arrest. Also under similar restrictions is Teng Biao, a rights lawyer who repeatedly called Chen imploring him to flee the country, then published a transcript of their phone conversations online.

"They (the authorities) will certainly settle scores with them later," Teng told Chen, referring to the two supporters who aided Chen's escape.

Some activists say local officials who have been watching dissidents in their own jurisdictions might beef up monitoring and restrictions on them to prevent them from attempting copycat escapes into diplomatic compounds.

"One guess is that they will learn a lesson from this experience and be stricter in guarding and monitoring similar key figures and take even harder measures against them," said Mo Zhixu, a liberal-minded author and Chen supporter.

___

Follow Gillian Wong on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gillianwong

Associated Press

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Hot pace, talented field for 138th Kentucky Derby

Trainer Todd Pletcher watches his Kentucky Derby entries during a morning workout at Churchill Downs Friday, May 4, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Trainer Todd Pletcher watches his Kentucky Derby entries during a morning workout at Churchill Downs Friday, May 4, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Jockey Calvin Borel rides Kentucky Derby entrant Take Charge Indy during a morning workout at Churchill Downs Friday, May 4, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Exercise rider George Alvarez takes Kentucky Derby entrant Bodemeister for a workout at Churchill Downs Friday, May 4, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Kentucky Derby entrant Union Rags during his bath after a morning workout at Churchill Downs Friday, May 4, 2012, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) ? Bode Baffert has never been so nervous about a race. The 7-year-old son of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is the namesake of the 138th Kentucky Derby morning-line favorite, Bodemeister.

"Bode feels a lot of pressure right now," Baffert said. "I said, 'Isn't it exciting, Bodemeister's going to go to the Derby?' And he said, 'Well, what if he loses?'

"You never know, but at least you have a good horse named after you. He didn't know what to think of it."

Bodemeister, at 4-1 odds, is among a 20-horse field that's so stacked that unbeaten Gemologist, trained by Todd Pletcher, is no better than third choice on the morning line behind Union Rags.

"History tells us that you can't throw anyone out," said Pletcher, a former Lukas assistant who is also starting El Padrino. "There have been some winners the past few years that have been way down everybody's depth charts."

Still, just because the odds are big doesn't mean there isn't some serious contenders like I'll Have Another at 12-1 or, at 15-1, Take Charge Indy, who will leave from the No. 3 post with jockey Calvin Borel, a three-time Derby winner.

"This is the best bunch I've seen in a long time," four-time Derby-winning trainer D. Wayne Lukas said. "I was out there riding next to some of them, and let me tell you, this is a hell of a group."

Some of the strongest contenders ? Hansen, for example ? have had the most success running at or near the pace. But their task is complicated by the presence of speedster Trinniberg, who could prove to be enough of a pest on the front end to compromise any horse willing to keep pace with him.

If the early fractions in the 1 1/4-mile race are fast enough, it could set up well for a deep closer like Dullahan, Daddy Nose Best or I'll Have Another.

Baffert, who has won the Derby three times and also has long shot Liaison in the field called it "one of the toughest Derbys I've been in probably the last 10 years."

Baffert has a new outlook on life after a medical scare in March when he was hospitalized with a heart attack in Dubai.

Bodemeister, ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, goes into the starting gate staring down 129 years of Derby history. The last horse to win without racing as a 2-year-old was Apollo in 1882.

"I've brought some really good horses here, and they were the best horse, but they got beat," he said, referring to Lookin At Lucky, the 2010 race-day favorite who was trapped on the rail and finished sixth. In 2001, his heavy favorite, Point Given, wound up fifth.

Union Rags, the 9-2 second choice ridden by Julien Leparoux, is the best horse trainer Michael Matz has brought to the Derby since he won with undefeated Barbaro in 2006.

"I was lucky enough once," he said. "It's hard to believe you can get lucky twice."

Matz trains the strapping colt for Phyllis Wyeth, the former steeplechase rider who was paralyzed from the waist down in a 1962 car accident and gets around in a wheelchair. She is married to painter Jamie Wyeth, whose father was renowned Andrew Wyeth.

Gemologist, undefeated in five races, is trained by 2010 Derby winner Pletcher, yet he's been overshadowed by the other entrants since arriving late in Louisville on Tuesday, getting most of his training in Florida.

"He's done everything he could possibly do," Pletcher said, "but part of it might be because the 2-year-old races he ran in weren't the Breeders' Cup races. He was a little late in developing."

Two of Gemologist's wins came at Churchill Downs.

Hansen is a standout on looks alone. The colt is nearly white and his outspoken owner Kendall Hansen tried to doll him up by having his tail painted blue for the Blue Grass three weeks ago. The track stewards didn't approve and neither did trainer Mike Maker.

Nine horses are expected to start from November's Breeders' Cup Juvenile that Hansen won by edging out a hard-charging Union Rags, proof of the depth of this field.

"It's amazing how well the major contenders have held their form," trainer Steve Asmussen said. "It's a very competitive race, and there are some very good horses."

Like Baffert and Pletcher, Asmussen has two horses in the Derby ? Daddy Nose Best and Sabercat. He came close last year when Nehro finished second to Animal Kingdom.

"It is definitely on the bucket list," Asmussen said. "I like my horses, love how they're doing, feel that they're going to run real good Saturday, but have no control over everybody else."

Trainer Graham Motion, jockey John Velazquez, and Barry Irwin, who heads the Team Valor ownership group, shared last year's win with Animal Kingdom. They return with 20-1 shot Went the Day Well, trying to become the first connections to repeat since 1972-73 when Riva Ridge and Secretariat prevailed.

Then there's the weather.

Saturday's forecast calls for a high of 86 with a 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. The Derby day temperature has topped 80 degrees just five times since 1969, when it hit 87.

Making it feel subtropical is the humidity, which was close to 70 percent on Friday. The heat combined with humidity affects horses in different ways. Some sweat profusely; others handle the elements. All Derby horses will be examined by vets on race morning.

"The hot weather may be to our advantage," said Mark Casse, who saddles 30-1 shot Prospective. "There are some hot-headed horses in this field that it could hurt. My horse stays calm and cool."

Post time is 6:24 p.m. EDT.

___

AP Racing Writer Beth Harris contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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Twilio Expands Again In Europe, Adds VoIP API In Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, and Sweden

Twilio, the upstart software maker of voice and other telephony APIs used by developers in web and mobile apps, is marking another chapter in its European expansion today: the company's voice API -- which lets users make and receive calls through those apps -- is now available in Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden, bringing the total number of countries supported on this side of the pond up to 10, in addition to the U.S. and Canada. The news comes in the same week that Twilio announced a strategic partnership with Microsoft that will see the Windows giant offering Twilio voice and text APIs to developers on its Azure cloud platform, and one week after the company announced a significant hire for its European team, James Parton, as a new European VP.

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Video: Berkshire Hathaway By the Numbers

CNBC's Brian Shactman reports Berkshire Hathaway's operating earnings were up 67% in the quarter; Sprint's CEO is giving himself a $3.25 million dollar pay cut; and the U.S. Treasury is selling some of its AIG holdings.

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Happy 23rd Birthday, Chris Brown!

Chris Brown turns 23 on this wonderful Cinco de Mayo.

We'd buy him a margarita, but maybe an O'Douls would be better, given the potentially negative effects of alcohol on people prone to ... you know.

Just kidding ... sort of. Anyway, happy birthday CB!

With his songs burning up the charts, he's certainly beaten the haters' expectations after nearly torpedoing his own career by beating ... you know.

Point being, man is he hot right now!

Chris Brown on the cover of his Webdings-themed new album.

All joking aside, the man's future has never looked brighter. As a tribute to his very special day, check out our pages devoted to Chris Brown videos and click to enlarge some of our absolute favorite Chris Brown pictures below.

And in less controversial news, it's also Adele's birthday today! Goooo May 5!

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