Man who killed Texas pastor sentenced to death

By NBC News staff

A man convicted of capital murder in the strangulation death of a pastor in a north Texas church was sentenced to death on Tuesday.

A jury in state District Judge Mike Thomas' court deliberated for about 90 minutes before deciding on the sentence for Steven Lawayne Nelson, 25, of Arlington, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

Nelson faced either the death penalty or life in prison without parole for killing the Rev. Clint Dobson at his Baptist church in Arlington in March 2011. Dobson was beaten, strangled with a computer extension cord and suffocated with a plastic bag. A church secretary was also brutally beaten and left for dead but survived.

---

Prosecutors said Nelson, a convicted felon, killed the pastor because he wanted to steal a car that he had seen in the church parking lot.

Nelson was convicted of capital murder last week by the same jury in Fort Worth that decided on his death sentence.

Watch US News crime videos on NBCNews.com

At trial, prosecutors showed text messages that Nelson sent the day after the killing. In one, he wrote: "I don't mean to brag. I'm a monster," according to The Associated Press.

Nelson's family members testified that he had a troubled childhood in which he suffered from attention deficit disorder and dysfunctional relationships, according to AP.

Defense attorneys asked jurors to spare Nelson's life, saying he didn't get the proper help he needed when he was growing up.

More content from NBCNews.com:

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

?

?

?

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/16/14485267-man-who-killed-texas-pastor-sentenced-to-death?lite

chargers jets air jordans pecan pie recipe prince philip sugar cookie recipe sugar cookie recipe

Astro pulls curtain on 2013 edition of $250 A40 gaming headset ...

ASTRO GAMING ANNOUNCES NEW AND IMPROVED
2013 EDITIONS OF AWARD-WINNING A40 HEADSET AND MIXAMP? PRO

Critically Acclaimed ASTRO Gaming A40 Headset and MixAmp? Pro Deliver Most Accurate Audio Ever; Feature Updated Cabling System, Re-tuned Drivers, Custom Audio Profiles and More

SAN FRANCISCO ? Oct. 16, 2012 ? ASTRO Gaming, a division of Skullcandy, Inc. (Nasdaq: SKUL), and creators of premium video gaming equipment for professional and hardcore gamers, today announced a major update to two of the brand's most innovative and best-selling products with 2013 editions of the ASTRO A40 Pro Gaming Headset and the ASTRO MixAmp? Pro.

The 2013 Edition of the ASTRO A40 Headset features an update to the company's highly popular Quick Disconnect Cabling System as well as re-tuned drivers and enclosures that make the audiophile-grade headset the most accurate and detailed ASTRO Gaming has ever produced, with improved low-end response and less distortion at peak volume.

2013 Edition ASTRO A40 Headset Features Include:

NEW FEATURES:

? New Quick Disconnect Cabling System: Updated version of the ASTRO Quick Disconnect system, offering the same flexibility of using multiple cable types and lengths, but now plugging directly into the headset via a 3.5mm 4-pole jack instead of the oiriginal mid-cable release. This increases reliability and durability while also making it easier to change to preferred cable lengths and update cables as desired.

? Best Sounding ASTRO Headsets Ever: The 2013 Edition ASTRO A40 has re-tuned drivers and enclosures with improved low-end response and less distortion at high volumes making them the most accurate ASTRO headsets ever

RETURNING FEATURES:

? ASTRO Audio Experience - Engineered specifically for gaming, ASTRO Audio delivers audiophile-grade sound in a richly detailed positional audio experience. ASTRO A40 headsets are designed for extended game playing, movie watching and music listening sessions with superior fit and finish.

? Removable Mic System: The ASTRO A40 feature a removable boom mic that can be removed and swapped from ear to ear.

? Dolby ? Digital 7.1 Surround Sound: ASTRO 40 headsets deliver pinpoint spatial accuracy and crystal clear definition with Dolby ? Digital 5.1 and 7.1 Surround Sound decoding providing more immersive gaming, movie and music experiences.

? Customizable Speaker Tags: ASTRO A40 features a magnetic, removable and customizable Speaker Tag system. Tags can be designed online to create a unique look for teams, clans, guilds or simply for pure personal expression.

? Multi-System Compatibility: ASTRO products are compatible with any platform you choose to game on. Whether it's Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Mac, or a mobile platform, ASTRO headsets will provide superior audio performance and vocal fidelity.

The cutting edge 2013 Edition ASTRO MixAmp? Pro raises the bar once again with a host of new features, including: custom audio profiles; a new streaming out capability allowing gamers to incorporate Game Sound and Voice Chat directly into their livestreams; and, a smaller, more portable form factor for easier transportation to and from LAN and Pro Gaming events.

2013 Edition ASTRO MixAmp? Pro Features Include:

NEW FEATURES:

? Game and Voice Stream Output: The ASTRO MixAmp? Pro now features a Stream Out - a 3.5mm jack that allows Game Sound and incoming/outgoing Voice Chat to be output without interruption directly to a livestream using a single cable.

? New Custom Audio Profiles: The ASTRO MixAmp? Pro now allows users to switch between four pre-set Audio Profiles ? Pro, Core, Media and Sports. Soon, ASTRO users will be able to create and share their own custom audio profiles via www.astrogaming.com.

? New Smaller Form Factor: The ASTRO MixAmp? Pro is now smaller and more portable allowing for easier transport between LAN and Pro Gaming events.

? New Optical Port: A more reliable 3.5mm optical port is now being utilized in place of the previous TOSlink optical port.

RETURNING FEATURES:

? Game to Voice Balance: The MixAmp? Pro features discrete game to voice balance controls which allow for a customized audio experience depending upon the gaming situation or personal listening preference.

? Multi-System Compatibility: Whether you play on an Xbox 360, PS3, PC or Mac the 2013 Edition MixAmp? Pro will provide the compatibility you need. The MixAmp? Pro also features an MP3 input allowing for music listening while game playing.

? Dolby? 5.1 and 7.1 Surround Sound: The ASTRO MixAmp? Pro features 7.1 and 5.1 channel Dolby? Surround Sound decoding and Dolby? Headphone Surround Sound output.

? Dedicated Voice Channel: The ASTRO MixAmp? Pro can be daisy-chained linking multiple MixAmp?s together for a private, hands-free, full-duplex voice communication channel providing significantly superior vocal clarity, as compared to VoIP, with zero network and system lag.

View the latest 2013 Edition video at http://youtu.be/m7v9yYTBWhM. 2013 Editions of the ASTRO Gaming A40 Headset and MixAmp? Pro are available now from www.astrogaming.com as a bundled system for $249.99 .

The 2013 Edition ASTRO A40 Audio System can also be found at all Best Buy stores nationwide. Select Best Buy stores also feature ASTRO Gaming Listening Stations providing customers with an opportunity to experience ASTRO audio performance first-hand.

ASTRO 2013 Edition A40 Audio Systems and additional ASTRO products can also be found now at select Gamestop stores in the United States as well as EB Games and JB Hifi in Australia. In November, Astro's retail distribution will expand to include select Canadian and French Retailers including EB Games Canada, Best Buy Canada, Fnac and Micromania.

About ASTRO Gaming
ASTRO Gaming creates premium video gaming equipment for pro gamers, leagues, gaming enthusiasts and their lifestyles. Spun-off from design powerhouse ASTRO Studios, known in the gaming world for designing the Microsoft Xbox 360?, Alienware PCs, and HP's Gaming PCs, ASTRO Gaming produces a line of gamer-centric "tech-life" products, supporting this rapidly growing community. ASTRO Gaming's product line includes the A50 Wireless Headset, the A40 Audio System, the A30 Cross-Gaming Headset, and the Transport Series of gaming gear bags.

All ASTRO Gaming products are available at www.astrogaming.com, www.astrogaming.co.uk and www.astrogaming.fr

About Skullcandy, Inc.
Skullcandy is a global designer, marketer and distributor of performance audio and gaming headphones and other accessory related products under the Skullcandy, Astro Gaming and 2XL by Skullcandy brands. Skullcandy became one of the world's most distinct audio brands by bringing color, character and performance to an otherwise monochromatic space; helping to revolutionize the audio arena by introducing headphones, earbuds and other audio and wireless lifestyle products that possess unmistakable style and exceptional performance. The Company's products are sold and distributed through a variety of channels in the U.S. and approximately 80 countries worldwide. Visit skullcandy.com, or join us at facebook.com/skullcandy or on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/17/astro-pulls-curtain-on-2013-A40-headset-MixAmp/

katie couric barista university of kentucky ncaa oakland news alec baldwin alec baldwin

ThinkGeek Mega Stomp Panic

I'm going to throw a new word at you. It's a bit of a portmanteau, but I think it stands on its own: Awesomenoying. Something that is simultaneously awesome and annoying. To understand what this word means, you have to look at the ThinkGeek Mega Stomp Panic, a $39.99 (direct) audio costume toy that forced me to create this new word. It's something you wear to make sound effects while you walk, and it's equally brilliant and irritating.

Belt Clip Sound Effects
The Mega Stomp Panic is a device that clips to your belt that generates different sound effects when you walk and stop, providing ambient noise to reflect your costume. It comes with nine different sound effect tracks, and the included motion sensor adjusts the track based on your movement. The main box is a little larger than a pack of cigarettes, with two control knobs and a one-digit LED readout on the top. The top knob controls which sound effect track plays, and the bottom knob controls power and volume. Each sound effect track corresponds to a number, and the active number is displayed on the readout. On the other side of the device, a screw-in door holds four AA batteries.

A small wire comes out of the left, clip side of the box, and holds a 3.5mm port. It connects to the included motion sensor through a two-foot cable. The sensor is a small plastic rectangle with another belt clip that's designed to be worn near your belt buckle to best track your motion, and four blue lights light up when it's plugged in and turned on. The two-part design is slightly inconvenient for personal soundtrack use, because you need to clip at least one item to your belt and have a cable running over your person, but it's meant for use in a costume and it gives you flexibility that the single large box wouldn't allow. It lets you position the speaker, located in the large box, anywhere you want on your person to make the appropriate sounds come while the motion sensor on your belt tracks your steps.

Choose Your Soundtrack
Each effect track has an ambient background or music track, a sound effect or two that plays when you walk normally, and a sound effect or two that plays when you stomp your feet. The effect tracks include hydraulic giant robot, rainstorm, zombie attack, giant monster, gunslinger, medieval knight, pirate, 8-bit gaming hero, and steampunk giant robot, and they vary from the vaguely amusing to the infectious. The 8-bit gaming hero soundtrack stands out, with a chiptunes music track and Mario-like jumping and coin collecting sounds when you walk and stomp. The giant monster track is also a lot of fun, with Godzilla-like roars and stomping sound effects. The tracks can sound equally amusing or cheesy based on your tastes; I loved the 8-bit hero and giant monster tracks, but the gunslinger track and medieval knight track sounded a bit grating to me, with stereotypical whistling high noon and jousting horn music tracks. Of course, if you prefer wearing a cowboy hat to wearing a large red "M" cap, you might love the gunslinger track and hate the 8-bit hero track.

The motion sensor tracks your steps easily, but it's a bit flakey on tracking stomping motions. It picks up some stomps, picks up some steps as stomps, and ignores some stomps. Fortunately, the step and stomp sound effects are similar enough and contribute to the effect of the tracks well enough to make it a minor issue.

If you want something to put an extra bit of ambiance into your Halloween costume, or just want to annoy people with sound effects, the ThinkGeek Mega Stomp Panic is a fun toy. At $40, though, it's a bit of a pricey novelty for what it is: Awesomenoying.

More Toy Reviews:
??? ThinkGeek Mega Stomp Panic
??? Pressman iPieces Snakes & Ladders
??? Pressman iPieces Air Hockey
??? NeuroSky Necomimi Brainwave Cat Ears
??? Hasbro Lazer Tag 2-Blaster Battle Pack
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/hwkbeu7G810/0,2817,2410800,00.asp

red tails red tails heidi klum

European Data Regulators Slam Google Over Privacy Policy: ?Too Large? And Users Need More Control (But Not Illegal)

Authorities in Europe today kicked off a fresh wave of scrutiny over Google's privacy policy and called for changes to be made in how Google manages user data, describing Google's scope as "too large". But they also stopped short of saying Google is acting illegally in how it manages privacy or demanding a change in its wider policy. France's data protection authority, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique (CNIL), today published a list of recommendations for the company in the area of user privacy, following an investigation that began earlier this year.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/H2P_KgCOUlc/

dr jekyll and mr hyde edwin jackson punksatony phil trump 2012 groundhog day

Painting sold by Clapton nets record $34 million

LONDON?? An abstract painting by German artist Gerhard Richter has a set a new record for the price paid at auction for the work of a living artist, after selling for $34.2 million, Sotheby's auction house in London said.

"Abstraktes Bild (809-4)", from the collection of rock guitarist Eric Clapton, was sold to anonymous buyer after five minutes of bidding late on Friday, triggering a round of applause.

The sale smashed the previous 2010 record of $28.6 million paid for Jasper Johns' "Flag" at Christie's auction house in New York in 2010.

Richter's red, yellow and black oil on canvas had been estimated to fetch $14-19 million.

"The combination of outstanding provenance and gold-standard quality in this sublime work by this blue-chip artist made for an historic auction moment," said Alex Branczik, senior director at Sotheby's and head of the sale.

The top end of the art market has performed strongly in recent years despite a faltering global economy.

(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Check for restrictions at: http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49401511/ns/world_news-europe/

louis oosthuizen phil mickelson 10 year old gives birth c. difficile carmelo anthony nurse jackie nurse jackie

Clarification: Chicago Public Schools story

{ttle}

{cptn}","template_name":"ss_thmb_play_ttle","i18n":{"end_of_gallery_header":"End of Gallery","end_of_gallery_next":"View Again"},"metadata":{"pagination":"{firstVisible} - {lastVisible} of {numItems}","ult":{"spaceid":"84397933","sec":""}}},{"id": "hcm-carousel-1935909057", "dataManager": C.dmgr, "mediator": C.mdtr, "group_name":"hcm-carousel-1935909057", "track_item_selected":1,"tracking":{ "spaceid" : "84397933", "events" : { "click" : { "any" : { "yui-carousel-prev" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"HCMOL on article right rail","slk":"prev","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } }, "yui-carousel-next" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"HCMOL on article right rail","slk":"next","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // no more pages, don't beacon again // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } } } } } } })); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function() { try{ if (Math.floor(Math.random()*10) == 1) { var loc = window.location, decoded = decodeURI(loc.pathname), encoded = encodeURI(decoded), uri = loc.protocol + "//" + loc.host + encoded + ((loc.search.length > 0) ? loc.search + '&' : '?') + "_cacheable=1", xmlhttp; if (window.XMLHttpRequest) xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest(); else xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); xmlhttp.open("GET",uri,true); xmlhttp.send(); } }catch(e){} })(); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {Y.namespace("Media").ywaSettings = '"projectId": "10001256862979", "documentName": "", "documentGroup": "", "ywaColo" : "vscale3", "spaceId" : "84397933" ,"customFields" : { "12" : "classic", "13" : "story" }'; Y.Media.YWA.init(Y.namespace("Media").ywaSettings); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {if(document.onclick===YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.newClick){document.onclick=YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.oldClick;} }); }); });

Gene Deletion Linked to Mental Illness, Obesity | Psych Central News

By Traci Pedersen Associate News Editor
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on October 11, 2012

Researchers have pinpointed a small region in the genome ? the entirety of human hereditary information ??as a vital factor in the development of psychiatric disease and obesity.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor, or BDNF, is a nervous system growth factor that plays a critical role in brain development.? To determine the role of BDNF in humans, McGill researchers screened over 35,000 people referred for genetic screening at clinics, as well as over 30,000 control subjects in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Researchers found five individuals with BDNF deletions, all of whom were obese, had a mild-moderate intellectual impairment, and had a mood disorder.

The children had anxiety disorders, aggressive disorders, or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), while post-pubescent individuals had anxiety and major depressive disorders. Subjects slowly gained weight with age, suggesting that obesity is a long-term process when BDNF is deleted.

The results of the new study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, reveal for the first time the link between BDNF deletion, cognition, and weight gain in humans.

?Scientists have been trying to find a region of the genome which plays a role in human psychopathology, searching for answers anywhere in our DNA that may give us a clue to the genetic causes of these types of disorders,? said?Carl Ernst, Ph.D., from McGill?s Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine.

?Our study conclusively links a single region of the genome to mood and anxiety.?

Based on animal studies, BDNF has been a suspect of several functions in the brain, but no study has proven what happens when BDNF is missing from the human genome. The new study helps provide a better understanding of human behavior and mood by clearly identifying genes associated with mental disorders.

?Mood and anxiety can be seen like a house of cards. In this case, the walls of the house represent the myriad of biological interactions that maintain the structure,? said Ernst, who is also a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute.

?Studying these moving parts can be tricky, so teasing apart even a single event is important. Linking a deletion in BDNF conclusively to mood and anxiety really tells us that it is possible to dissect the biological pathways involved in determining how we feel and act.?

?We now have a molecular pathway we are confident is involved in psychopathology,? he adds.? ?Because thousands of genes are involved in mood, anxiety, or obesity, it allows us to root our studies on a solid foundation.?

?All of the participants in our study had mild-moderate intellectual disability, but most people with these cognitive problems do not have psychiatric problems ? so what is it about deletion of BDNF that affects mood? My hope now is to test the hypothesis that boosting BDNF in people with anxiety or depression might improve brain health.?

Source: McGill University

APA Reference
Pedersen, T. (2012). Gene Deletion Linked to Mental Illness, Obesity. Psych Central. Retrieved on October 12, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/10/11/gene-deletion-linked-to-mental-illness-obesity/45914.html

?

Source: http://psychcentral.com/news/2012/10/11/gene-deletion-linked-to-mental-illness-obesity/45914.html

think like a man world peace world peace lakers colorectal cancer