Lakers beat Raptors 118-116 in OT to go over .500

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Kobe Bryant's steely determination never wavers. It's his 34-year-old body he sometimes wonders about.

He skipped pre-game shootaround because his shoulders were tight, and he was feeling weary in overtime.

But Bryant found enough energy to hit the tying 3-pointer with 5 seconds to play in regulation, then dunked for the go-ahead basket with 10 seconds left in the extra session, helping the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors 118-116 on Friday night for their second straight come-from-behind win.

They rallied from 25 points down to beat New Orleans on the road two nights earlier, when Bryant had 42 points and 12 assists. This time, he finished with 41 points and 12 assists, and made 14 of 16 free throws.

"It's like, 'Damn, are you kidding again?'" Bryant said. "Do we collectively have the energy to do this again, and we did."

Against the Raptors, the Lakers rallied from a 15-point deficit in regulation and a slow start in overtime to close within a half-game of Utah for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff berth. They also moved a game above .500.

"It feels good to be back within striking distance," Bryant said. "We're just hell-bent on trying to win games."

Dwight Howard had 24 points and 13 rebounds while going 6 of 13 from the free-throw line as he and Bryant complimented each other well for the second game in a row.

"We know what we're trying to accomplish as a team and we just stuck together," Howard said. "Kobe hit some tough shots and then we got some good stops at the end."

DeMar DeRozan led six Toronto players in double figures with 28 points. Rudy Gay and Alan Anderson added 17 points each, and Kyle Lowry had 15 points and 10 assists. Starter Andrea Bargnani left the game with a strained right elbow in the first quarter.

"Our guys are fighting, scratching their behinds off," Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. "Now we have to understand the intensity, the speed of the game, how much you have to put thought into the game and execution at the same time as you are playing hard."

The Lakers won their fifth in a row at home and 10th straight at Staples Center against Toronto, which was seeking its first-ever season sweep after winning 108-103 on Jan. 20.

The Lakers found themselves playing catch-up nearly the entire game.

Under defensive pressure in overtime, Bryant passed off to his teammates, but they repeatedly missed. Steve Nash finally hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 115 with 45 seconds left. Then, Bryant's running dunk gave the Lakers their second lead of overtime.

"He's a clutch shooter, you can't just leave him open," Bryant said. "He made them pay."

Howard fouled Alan Anderson, who made the first free throw and deliberately missed the second. But Aaron Gray fouled going for the ball, giving the Lakers possession. Nash got fouled and missed the first but made the second for a 118-116 lead.

Gay's jumper missed as time expired, the same thing that happened to him when he took the last shot of regulation. He shot 7 for 26.

"They didn't go in, so I guess not," he said about the looks he was getting. "I don't like to miss."

Bryant and Howard combined to score 12 straight points in the fourth and Nash hit a 3-pointer as the Lakers trailed 103-99, the third time they closed within four points. Bryant's 3-pointer beat the shot clock and got the Lakers to 105-103.

Anderson hit a jumper for the Raptors, who led 107-103. Bryant missed a 3-pointer, but after a timeout, he caught the inbounds pass from Nash and hit a 3-pointer that drew the Lakers within a point with 29 seconds to go.

Howard fouled Lowry, who made both for a 109-106 lead with 8 seconds left. After another timeout, Bryant caught the inbounds from Steve Blake and fought through traffic to make the tying 3-pointer at 109-all.

"We're just not going to give in," said Bryant, who had nine of his team's 13 turnovers. "I'm a perfectionist. ... The turnovers I had were just tired turnovers."

Bryant had the Lakers in rally mode in the third when they trailed by 13. He keyed a 13-5 run with eight straight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers, to get to 83-78. But then Bryant had two straight turnovers, and Antawn Jamison and Bryant missed 3-pointers to close the quarter trailing 89-79.

Howard and Bryant combined to score 17 of the Lakers' 28 points in the second quarter, when they rallied from 15 points down to trail 59-53 at the break. Bryant only played the final five minutes of the period, scoring five points in that time.

The Raptors shot 74 percent in the first quarter, outscoring Los Angeles 37-25. Toronto lost Bargnani with a strained right elbow after he scored two points in nine minutes.

NOTES: The Raptors play 18 of their final 20 games against Eastern opponents. ... Toronto concluded its four-game trip with a 1-3 mark, having changed time zones four times. ... The Raptors haven't won at Staples since Nov. 13, 2009, when they beat the Clippers. ... They fell to 9-23 on the road.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lakers-beat-raptors-118-116-ot-over-500-063414562--spt.html

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Dear Sheryl Sandberg, Congrats on your new book, but (Washington Post)

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All About Auto Responders | Bruce Conner's Empower Network Blog

Although the technical name is an auto-responder, other known names include auto email, mail-bot, and email responder.? An auto responder is a great way to save time, as it responds to any message with an automatic response.

Auto-responders can vary from messages that go through email to scripts that are programed to run on servers.? All types of auto-responders work the same, as they will automatically send a message out when a message is received.? Depending on the message they receive, they will send out the correct return message.? This can be determined by the script or the email address.

Although they are great for promotional reasons, they are also widely abused all across the Internet.? Auto-responders are great to use for your daily tasks, as they will basically do all of the work for you.? On the other hand, they can also be quite disastrous on those who happen to come in contact with them.

When you submit your website to search engines, directories, or classifieds, you should never attempt to use an auto-responder address.? Most of these website types use auto-responders themselves, when they send out their messages.? If their auto-responder happens to send a message out to your auto-responder, they will continue responding ? which can be very annoying.

When you decide to subscribe to an email or ezine you should always use your valid email address and never use the address for your auto-responder.? If you use your auto-responder to subscribe, chances are you?ll have your subscription revoked.? It can be very annoying if a group sends out emails, only to find that your auto-responder keeps sending return messages.? For that very reason, you should never use your auto-responder address to subscribe to anything.

Auto-responders can be great to use, although they can also be a hazard as well.? Often times, with subscriptions groups or ezines, it can be very hard to locate someone who is using an auto-responder. In most cases, those who use an auto-responder don?t have the same reply or from address as they did when they signed up.? In cases such as this it can take quite a lot of time and effort to locate the address.

If you take care of your auto-responder and don?t use it to annoy others or sing up for email subscriptions, it should treat you well. An auto-responder can do a world of good for your business, saving you a lot of time and effort.? Auto-responders are easy to set up and easy to use, which is great news for anyone who isn?t technical with the Internet.? For the price they cost and how easy they are to operate ? auto-responders can make your Internet business easier than ever before.

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Source: http://www.empowernetwork.com/amourbruce60/blog/all-about-auto-responders/

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Raquel Allegra Debuts Chic Tie-Dye Tops for Kids

In addition to her women's line of hand-dyed fashions, designer Raquel Allegra debuts an equally cool kids collection

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SpaceX reports problem after Dragon launch

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, sending the Dragon capsule on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket blasted off Friday to send an unmanned Dragon cargo capsule on its quickest trip yet to the International Space Station, but the company reported a problem with the Dragon in orbit.

The Falcon 9 made a problem-free ascent from its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 10:10 a.m. ET. A half-hour after launch, SpaceX's billionaire founder, Elon Musk, said in a Twitter update that controllers were looking into a technical issue involving the capsule's thrusters.

"Issue with Dragon thruster pods," Musk wrote. "System inhibiting three of four [pods] from initializing. About to command inhibit override."

The thruster snag forced a delay in deploying the Dragon's power-generating solar arrays. "Holding on solar array deployment until at least two thruster pods are active," Musk said in a follow-up tweet. The Dragon can remain on battery power for 18 hours after launch.

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Musk said the command to override the Dragon's onboard system and initialize the thruster pods was being issued?during the capsule's pass over a ground station in Australia. A news briefing is planned for later Friday to discuss the status of what's expected to be a three-week resupply mission.?

This is the third Dragon flight to the station: The first one, which took place last May, was a demonstration flight aimed at proving that California-based SpaceX could safely reach the space station, get hooked up, and then descend again to a splashdown. Last October's second flight marked the first of what's expected to be 12 resupply missions to the station, under the terms of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

Those earlier flights required a couple of days for the approach to the space station, but due to a favorable orbital geometry, this Dragon could reach the station as early as 6:30 a.m. Saturday. NASA and SpaceX said the sequence of engine burns required to get to the station might have to be modified due to the pod-initialization problem ? and that could affect the schedule.

When the Dragon comes within 10 meters (33 feet) of the space station, the astronauts will use the station's robotic arm to grab the capsule and pull it in to a port on the orbital outpost's Harmony module.

This Dragon holds more than 2,300 pounds (1,050 kilograms) of cargo, including experiments to study the growth of plants and mouse stem cells in zero-G. There are also spare parts for the station's air-recycling system, and?a research freezer for preserving biological samples.

A similar freezer was loaded up with ice cream treats for the crew for last October's resupply mission, but this time, the goodies packed on the Dragon will be "a little bit healthier," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said. Although she wasn't specific about what the space station's six residents would be getting, she said the treats were coming fresh from an orchard owned by the father of one of SpaceX's employees.

The astronauts are due to open up the Dragon on Sunday. It will take about three weeks to unload the craft, then load it up with more than 3,000 punds (1,370 kilograms) of cargo for return to Earth. The Dragon is due to be unberthed on March 25, and will head down to a Pacific splashdown and recovery.

SpaceX's cargo flights are meant to fill the gap left by the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet in 2011. Another company, Orbital Science Corp., has a separate NASA contract to begin deliveries to the space station later this year. Cargo can also be delivered to the space station on Russian, Japanese and European transports, but only SpaceX currently has the capability to bring cargo back down.

SpaceX and two other companies, Sierra Nevada Corp. and the Boeing Co., are developing crew-capable spacecraft under a separate NASA program. Those spaceships could be ready for NASA's use as early as 2017. In the meantime, U.S. astronauts have to ride on Russian Soyuz capsules at a cost of about $60 million per seat.

More about SpaceX:

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Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the?Cosmic Log?community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space,?sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

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This story was originally published on Fri Mar 1, 2013 10:01 AM EST

Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/01/17146712-spacexs-falcon-blasts-off-sending-dragon-cargo-ship-to-space-station?lite

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NASA's Van Allen Probes reveal a new radiation belt around Earth

Feb. 28, 2013 ? NASA's Van Allen Probes mission has discovered a previously unknown third radiation belt around Earth, revealing the existence of unexpected structures and processes within these hazardous regions of space.

Previous observations of Earth's Van Allen belts have long documented two distinct regions of trapped radiation surrounding our planet. Particle detection instruments aboard the twin Van Allen Probes, launched Aug. 30, quickly revealed to scientists the existence of this new, transient, third radiation belt.

The belts, named for their discoverer, James Van Allen, are critical regions for modern society, which is dependent on many space-based technologies. The Van Allen belts are affected by solar storms and space weather and can swell dramatically. When this occurs, they can pose dangers to communications and GPS satellites, as well as humans in space.

"The fantastic new capabilities and advances in technology in the Van Allen Probes have allowed scientists to see in unprecedented detail how the radiation belts are populated with charged particles and will provide insight on what causes them to change, and how these processes affect the upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington.

This discovery shows the dynamic and variable nature of the radiation belts and improves our understanding of how they respond to solar activity. The findings, published February 28 in the journal Science, are the result of data gathered by the first dual-spacecraft mission to fly through our planet's radiation belts.

The new high-resolution observations by the Relativistic Electron Proton Telescope (REPT) instrument, part of the Energetic Particle, Composition, and Thermal Plasma Suite (ECT) aboard the Van Allen Probes, revealed there can be three distinct, long-lasting belt structures with the emergence of a second empty slot region, or space, in between.

"This is the first time we have had such high-resolution instruments look at time, space and energy together in the outer belt," said Daniel Baker, lead author of the study and REPT instrument lead at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado in Boulder. "Previous observations of the outer radiation belt only resolved it as a single blurry element. When we turned REPT on just two days after launch, a powerful electron acceleration event was already in progress, and we clearly saw the new belt and new slot between it and the outer belt."

Scientists observed the third belt for four weeks before a powerful interplanetary shock wave from the sun annihilated it. Observations were made by scientists from institutions including LASP; NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, N.M.; and the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

Each Van Allen Probe carries an identical set of five instrument suites that allow scientists to gather data on the belts in unprecedented detail. The data are important for the study of the effect of space weather on Earth, as well as fundamental physical processes observed around other objects, such as planets in our solar system and distant nebulae.

"Even 55 years after their discovery, the Earth's radiation belts still are capable of surprising us and still have mysteries to discover and explain," said Nicky Fox, Van Allen Probes deputy project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. "We thought we knew the radiation belts, but we don't. The advances in technology and detection made by NASA in this mission already have had an almost immediate impact on basic science."

The Van Allen Probes are the second mission in NASA's Living With a Star Program to explore aspects of the connected sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. Goddard manages the program. The Applied Physics Laboratory built the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA.

For more information on the Van Allen Probes, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/vanallenprobes

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. D. N. Baker, S. G. Kanekal, V. C. Hoxie, M. G. Henderson, X. Li, H. E. Spence, S. R. Elkington, R. H. W. Friedel, J. Goldstein, M. K. Hudson, G. D. Reeves, R. M. Thorne, C. A. Kletzing, and S. G. Claudepierre. A Long-Lived Relativistic Electron Storage Ring Embedded in Earth's Outer Van Allen Belt. Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1126/science.1233518

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/6au8zstDb1E/130228155430.htm

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Thousands of caterpillars seized at UK airport

LONDON (AP) ? British customs agents made a creepy discovery when an airline passenger was found with 94 kilograms (207 pounds) of caterpillars in his luggage.

The man claimed they were intended as food for personal consumption.

The U.K. Border Force said Friday that inspectors at London's Gatwick Airport found the dried caterpillars shrink-wrapped in cellophane and packed into hessian bags carried by a passenger travelling from Burkina Faso via Istanbul.

The caterpillars were seized by authorities after the Feb. 23 find because they breached restrictions on importing animal products. The 22-year-old passenger was let off with a warning.

Border Force spokeswoman Ingrid Smith said "the vigilance of our officers has stopped these dried insects from entering the U.K., and possibly posing a risk to our food chain."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-caterpillars-seized-uk-airport-145848897.html

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