South Africa end winless run by whipping Gabon

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Make a Splash with Pyle?s New Waterproof MP3 Player

If you swim, Pyle has a new Waterproof MP3 Player (PSHWPMP3) you’ll be interested in.? The MP3 player is waterproof up to 3 meters and comes with waterproof earbuds that are “made of an ergonomic soft silicone material and wrap comfortably around the ear to keep them secure during vigorous activities like swimming, hiking, jogging, [...]

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The Engadget Show returns Friday, June 22nd -- get tickets to the taping!

Can you say "edutainment?" Yep, this month we'll be exploring the intersection of technology and education like only the Engadget Show can, including trips to NYU's ITP school and Northeastern University in Boston to check out some amazing student projects. Tim will be traveling all the way to Alaska to work with a team of researchers studying the northern lights with high-tech balloons and helmet cameras. And none other than LeVar Burton will be sitting down for an interview to discuss the next step in the evolution of his beloved Reading Rainbow. We'll also be highlighting the best of this year's E3, paying a visit to the awesome Artisan's Asylum in Somerville, MA and checking out the month's latest and greatest gadgets.

Best of all, if you're in New York City, you can be a part of the live show at Metropolis Studios on 106th St. in Manhattan -- just fire off an email to engadgetshow [at] engadget.com.

Here are the deets:
o. The event is all ages.
o. We'll open doors and begin seating at 5:00pm on June 22nd, and the taping begins at 6:00PM. We'll be closing the doors at 5:50PM.
o. A limited number of tickets are available, first come first serve. We will also have a limited stand-by list available.
o. Please bring a photo ID with you to the taping.
o. The show length is around an hour.

If you're a member of the media who wishes to attend, please contact us at: engadgetshowmedia [at] engadget [dot] com, and we'll try to accommodate you. All other non-media questions can be sent to: engadgetshow [at] engadget [dot] com.

Subscribe to the Show:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
[Zune] Subscribe to the Show directly in the Zune Marketplace (M4V).
[RSS M4V] Add the Engadget Show feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.

The Engadget Show returns Friday, June 22nd -- get tickets to the taping! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jun 2012 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You Might Want to Start Looking a Little Closer at Your 401(k ...

Jun 14 2012

I don?t know, but I suspect that most people just give their 401(k) statements a quick look? ?What is the account balance???. ?Did I make or lose money?? and then they move on to the tasks of life today, like cooking dinner and helping the kids with their homework.? If that sounds like you, you might want to think about changing that habit.

As a result of new Department of Labor regulations 401(k) plan? sponsors (the employer) and plan Investment Advisors will have to start disclosing 401(k) fees.? This will be a surprise to many people as, according to one survey, 70% of 401(k) plan participants don?t know they pay any fees.? The disclosure will come in two parts.

  1. By the end of August plan sponsors will have to disclose fees to plan participants.? We?ll see if anyone ?catches? it then.
  2. November statements will include, at the individual investor level, the fees actually paid.? For those that look closely at their statements I think they will be surprised and most likely not pleased.

So once you get over the shock of the fees what can you do with the information you now possess?? There are some things you can consider?

  1. Don?t Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water.? The benefits of the 401(k) (taxes, employer match) may make the fees you are paying tolerable.
  2. Talk to Your Advisor.? Discuss it with your Financial Advisor and get his or her advice on what you should do (If your Financial Advisor doesn?t provide advice on your 401(k) I?d ask , ?Why??).
  3. Talk to your Employer.? The plan sponsor may be willing to switch to a lower cost plan provider (Investment Advisor).
  4. Transfer Old 401(k) Balances to an IRA.? If your 401(k) is with a previous employer consider transferring the balance to a Traditional IRA where costs may be lower.? There are a couple of caveats with this idea.? First, ensure you know how to transfer the funds without having a taxable event.? Next, if you have company stock inside the 401(k) make sure you look at Net Unrealized Appreciation.? Third, determine if you are willing to accept the decrease in asset protection provided by an IRA in comparison to a Qualified Plan like a 401(k).

I?ve always believed that fees are a big deal.? In fact they are one of two things you can directly control that influence your overall return.? 401(k) fees have always been there and some of them are too high.? Take this new opportunity and either by yourself or with your Financial Advisor determine your best way forward.

Comment submission is for online discussion only. MOAA does not answer questions submitted via blog comment. To ask a question or get information, contact MOAA at (800)234-6622 or beninfo@moaa.org. Benefits counseling is a special MOAA Member service.

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The Engadget Podcast, live at 5:00PM ET!

Brian's off in Beantown, so Heater fans are bound to be disappointed in this week's episode. But, fear not: Tim's home from WWDC and feeling a bit jetlagged, and so is Darren Murph, but both will soldier with support from Richard Lawler for this week's podcast. Join them all in limited edition audio-only format right after the break.

Continue reading The Engadget Podcast, live at 5:00PM ET!

The Engadget Podcast, live at 5:00PM ET! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jun 2012 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Southern Jewish Communities Recruit Newcomers, Offer Incentives As Populations Dwindle

This article is a part of Faith Shift, a Huffington Post series on how changes in demographics, culture, politics and theology are transforming religion in America.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- On a recent Tuesday night at Rojos, a trendy Mexican restaurant on the south side of the city, a group of women were kicking off an unusual welcome party for someone they'd never met.

Their guest of honor: Lisa Pataky, a 25-year-old student who was new to town, trying out a summer internship and considering moving to Birmingham full-time. Around her were supporters of the Birmingham Jewish Federation, peppering her with reasons to stay: abundant jobs, lack of traffic, low cost-of-living, and -- most important -- a friendly, tight-knit community of 5,200 Jews spread among five congregations.

Caren Seligman, the outreach coordinator for the group, had recently been introduced to Pataky through a mutual friend. And Seligman was the one responsible for inviting these women to the restaurant that evening for their first crack at recruiting Pataky to their city.

"If I can get her to like this place for the next six weeks, maybe I can get her to move back here when she graduates," Seligman, 53, recalls thinking at the time.

Though the population of Jews in the South hovers at 1.1 million overall, Jewish life in less bustling parts of the region has taken a dive. More than half of Southern Jews -- 638,000 -- are in Florida. Another 140,000 are in Texas; 120,000 reside in Atlanta, and 97,000 are in Virginia. But the Jewish communities in cities like Birmingham have suffered.

"There has been a huge influx of Jews from the Northeast down South," says Stuart Rockoff, director of the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life in Jackson, Miss. "But there's also been a significant migration of Jews from other parts of the South to big Southern cities."

Alabama, once a beacon for Jewish immigrants and American-Jewish migrants seeking prosperity in its booming steel industry, has 8,850 Jews left in a state of 4.8 million people, down from a high of 13,000 in the early 20th century, when the state's population was less than half of what it is now. The decline has become more evident as historic congregations and communities have lately shut their doors and withered.

In the small towns surrounding Birmingham, two synagogues have closed in recent years and two Jewish religious schools have merged. Synagogues in a handful of other Alabama towns -- the state's 16 amount to a third less than what it had at its peak in 1927 -- are in danger of closing. Several don't have rabbis and are led by volunteers. In Greater Birmingham -- home to one million Alabamians and the bulk of the state's Jews -- the Jewish population has plateaued, and by some estimates, declined. Meanwhile, the region's broader population has grown by tens of thousands in a decade, fueled by growth in its medical research industry.

To help combat this trend, Seligman, the outreach coordinator, is looking for a few good Jews to bring to her city.

The stakes are high. Not only could Birmingham's historic synagogues one day disappear, but so could its secular Jewish organizations, including popular schools and social service groups that often cater to non-Jews. For Seligman, who lost her own children to the Jewish metropolises of Houston and Minneapolis but dreams of the day they move back, the job can get personal.

Her task is not easy. She works long hours -- often arriving at her modest office by sunrise -- trying to recruit young Jews, one at time, to a city with a greying Jewish community that's eager for a more balanced population. She tracks down college students who have moved away to entice them to return. She travels to campuses as close as Tuscaloosa, Ala., and as far as Bloomington, Ind., to pitch the city to students who would otherwise end up in Chicago or New York. She fields phone calls from strangers considering jobs in Alabama. When a new Jew arrives, she's ready with a welcome kit of shabbat candles, Kosher wine, memberships to the Jewish community center and a pitch to stay.

Once a place where Eastern European Jews flocked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Birmingham was home to powerful, enterprising Jews who ran major merchants and department stores, such as the now-defunct Parisians chain. Poised for much of its history to become the new Southern Jewish metropolis -- the titles instead went to Atlanta and South Florida -- the community is now at a crossroads.

The old are getting older. The young are in short supply and headed to big cities. Neither the smaller towns that once fed into the city's Jewish landscape nor the region's former industrial or retail strength can be counted on to propel the population into the 21st century.

Birmingham isn't the only place recruiting Jews. In Tulsa, Okla., a similar effort is underway, while in Dothan, Ala., and Meridian, Miss., graying small-town synagogues have unsuccessfully offered to pay Jewish families as much as $50,000 to relocate. In New Orleans, where Hurricane Katrina wiped out an Orthodox synagogue, the Jewish federation gives small stipends and memberships to a Jewish dating website to encourage newcomers to settle.

Fueled by immigration and transplants from other parts of the country, the religious makeup of the South has diversified, with Islamic, Mormon and Spanish-speaking congregations making headway in places once reliably spiritually homogeneous. Birmingham, too, has become more diverse. But unlike more prosperous Southern cities with large Jewish populations, Birmingham's Jewish community is being confronted with a harsh reality: it needs to grow to survive.

"We're not worried about the Jewish community in the next ten or 20 years," Seligman says. "We're worried about the next 100."

* * * * *

A third-generation Sephardic Jew, Seligman exudes Southern hospitality with a sense of cosmopolitanism that sets Birmingham apart from much of the state. She punctuates conversation with "sweeties" and "honeys" while extending her vowels in a drawl. She has a weakness for iced tea and banana pudding, and can only take the "hustle and bustle" of big cities like Atlanta for a few days at a time.

With seemingly endless energy, she starts her workday by checking emails and text messages from home before arriving to the office hours ahead of her small group of colleagues. A recently certified spin instructor, Seligman leaves mid-morning to teach class, an occasion where small-talk after exercises often leads her to learn about new Jewish arrivals to the city. In her rare moments of relaxation, she enjoys lounging on the white coastal sands of the Florida Panhandle. When she picks up newcomers for tours of the city, she opts to use her top-down convertible over her sedan, where her stereo shuffles between Frankie Valli, Michael Jackson and Maroon 5.

But when she imagines what her Jewish community may look like in a generation, she thinks back to growing up in Montgomery, 90 miles south of her current home.

She remembers the festive songs and celebrations at Congregation Etz Ahayem, the Sephardic synagogue her grandparents' generation helped establish in the early 20th century after immigrating from Rhoades, Greece. The small temple -- its name means "Tree of Life" -- would overflow on Fridays with the close-knit 30 families who had maintained it for decades. Prayers were in a mix of Hebrew, English, and Ladino, a flavorful Judaeo-Spanish tongue.

Like many of those she tries to lure back into the city, Seligman moved away from her birthplace after college in Tuscaloosa to follow her career in advertising and her Birmingham-raised husband. Her son's bar mitzvah and confirmation were at Birmingham's Conservative temple (their original rabbi moved to a new job in Atlanta three years ago) and she became an active volunteer in the community.

But each year for the High Holidays, Seligman would return to Montgomery for services at the temple of her forefathers. Cousins and old neighbors would catch up over fried snapper and potato and cheese-filled pastries, traditional Sephardic foods that transported Seligman back to her childhood.

Etz Ahayem, no longer able to sustain a congregation and long without a full-time rabbi, closed and merged with another synagogue a decade ago. Its Torah scroll was transferred to the new temple along with its sanctuary doors. The building is now a Baptist church, indistinguishable from so many others. Only a memory remains.

caren seligman

Caren Seligman's business card boldly invites the young Jews she meets to move to Alabama.

Seligman hopes the same won't prove true for Birmingham's Jewish communities.

In her purse, she carries black-and-white business cards stamped with large blue Stars of David. She'll slip them into the pocket of any young Jew she comes across. "YOU Belong in Birmingham!" they say in large letters beside her phone number.

Like most of the broader American-Jewish community, most Jews Seligman recruits are secular or from the Reform or Conservative traditions. Her own spiritual observance is varied. She attends synagogue once or twice a month and hosts shabbat dinners on Fridays. She also enjoys the occasional barbecue pork rib.

She's armed with the email addresses of hundreds of young Jews who have left Birmingham -- procured from their parents -- a stack of resumes and an inbox with descriptions of job openings. Her goal: to get one child from every Jewish Birmingham family to settle in the city and to convince those who happen to pass through that it's a worthwhile place to be Jewish.

That can be difficult.

* * * * *

Pataky, the student who arrived in Birmingham in the spring for an internship as a physical therapist, knows the hurdles.

"When I moved here, it was Passover. And when I said to people around town that I was observing Passover, nobody knew what it was," she recalls. "I never had to explain it before."

Jefferson County, where Birmingham is located, is commonly ranked as one of the most Christian places in the nation -- there are 67 churches for every synagogue. But despite the community being overwhelmingly Christian, its people by and large embrace diversity. There are two Hindu temples, two Buddhist temples, a Sikh gurdwara and several mosques. Birmingham is also home to a small community of Russians and popular Greek and Lebanese restaurants.

No matter for Pataky. A self-described "atheist cultural Jew" who observes the occasional Jewish holiday, she has a month to go in the city. It's not a bad place, she insists. She's not accustomed to being around so many evangelical Christians, but everyone has respected her beliefs. She's grown attached to the craft brewery not far from her suburban apartment. She loves the job and has been less bored since making friends through Seligman's introductions over sangria.

But when her internship is done, she hopes to move to New York, Boston, Atlanta or Washington, D.C. All have sizeable Jewish populations. She doesn't want to join a synagogue, but she does want to be around people who understand her.

"There are some natural cultural differences between Jewish people and others. It's nice to have a certain baseline with people you meet," Pataky says. "If I move to New York, I'd probably never even have to think of being Jewish." She feels the same about Atlanta.

While she isn't looking for a religious community, Pataky's social needs echo a refrain that Seligman often hears. Young people want to be around people like them. They want variety and a big singles scene. They want a city with a major sports team. They want to be by the buzz. Birmingham, which is revitalizing its downtown with lofts, art galleries and a burgeoning restaurant scene, still pales in comparison to bigger cities.

"All these kids go to Atlanta thinking this is going to be the place. This is where I'm going to meet that person or land this perfect job, you know, because it's Atlanta," Seligman says. "I tell people when they call me and say they are thinking of moving to the South, 'We are no Atlanta and we don't want to be.'"

Birminghamians are proud of their city, which is situated in a valley surrounded by lush, parallel mountain ranges and majestic hillside homes. Blacks and Jews here played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement. While the city of Birmingham has one of the highest crime rates in the nation, the metropolitan area has one of the lowest. Anti-Semitism is rare, though there have been isolated incidents.

About 80 percent of Birmingham Jews are members of a synagogue or otherwise involved in Jewish organizations, according to the Birmingham Jewish Federation, making for a close community of familiar faces. Nationally, the Jewish affiliation rate is 51 percent.

Despite its selling points, there's a certain unease among some Birminghamians about their city. Though its neighbor two-and-a-half hours east was also founded as a railroad town in the mid-19th century, the growth spurt that hit Atlanta never transferred to Birmingham. Many Birminghamians will lament the conservative Christian culture that pervades everyday life outside the area's urban core, where more than a third of Alabama's counties ban alcohol sales. They'll half-jokingly call the city, where a 24-hour restaurant is rare, "Boringham."

* * * * *

"Our growth really depends on the fortunes of the city of Birmingham," says Rabbi Jonathan Miller, a Reform rabbi who has led the city's largest and oldest Jewish congregation, Temple Emanu-El, for 21 years.

He points to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, home to one of the best medical research programs in country, which has attracted an increasing number of the region's new Jews and temple members.

He mentions the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa -- about an hour from Birmingham and a feeder to the city -- where a vigorous campaign to recruit Jewish students recently resulted in a 50 percent increase in Jewish enrollment over just a few years. Similar to Seligman's program, the university's efforts included visits from admissions officials to far-flung Jewish communities in Maryland, Texas and Georgia. A new Hillel building opened in 2010 that serves 675 students, and the Jewish fraternity and sorority have grown.

birmingham jewish federation

In the Birmingham Jewish Federation's office hangs a poster for its fundraising campaign to cover the costs of sustaining and growing Jewish life in the community over the century.

The Birmingham Jewish Federation's recruiting, which began six years ago, has so far netted a few dozen new or returning young Jews to the city, and Miller has gleefully offered a spiritual home to many of them.

His congregation, which dates to 1882, has about 690 members, according to Miller. About a quarter of them attend services in its airy, 62,000-square foot temple that includes a sanctuary with colorful stained glass windows, small chapel, religious school and banquet hall. While Miller boasts that membership has barely budged during his time, he admits it?s greying.

Last year, Miller hired a 27-year-old rabbi to increase young adult involvement in the temple. Rabbi Laila Haas, who was raised in Miami Beach and studied in Cincinnati, has started discussion groups at members' homes on religious and cultural topics, including lessons, she says, "on how to express myself Jewishly in a non-Jewish place." While synagogue memberships can typically cost thousands of dollars, Haas says she encourages young people to join by asking them to both pay and get involved "at their comfort level."

For the more traditionally religious Jews, Birmingham has been a harder sell, but improvements to religious life have been made in recent years. The region's first Kosher restaurant opened a year ago, and the Modern Orthodox synagogue has hired an energetic 30-year-old rabbi to reinvigorate its small congregation.

Still, a mohel, a rabbi trained in performing ritual circumcisions on newborns -- a segment of the population the city needs if it is to grow -- is harder to find.

Some Birminghamians have a physician do the medical procedure while a local rabbi says prayers. But for the group of mostly young couples and less traditionally religious Jews that regularly seeks a mohel's services, the most popular choice is farther away.

He's in Atlanta.

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Tracking MRSA in real time

Thursday, June 14, 2012

In a new study released today in New England Journal of Medicine, researchers demonstrate that whole genome sequencing can provide clinically relevant data on bacterial transmission within a timescale that can influence infection control and patient management.

Scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge, and Illumina collaborated to use whole genome sequencing to identify which isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were part of a hospital outbreak.

Current laboratory techniques often cannot distinguish between MRSA isolates. This study indicates that whole genome sequencing can provide precise information in a fast turnaround time, and could make a clear distinction between MRSA isolates in a way that was not previously possible.

MRSA infection is a major public health problem. For example, in the United States, an estimated 89,785 invasive MRSA infections associated with 15,249 deaths occurred in 2008. Even when the disease is treated, MRSA infections double the average length of hospital stay and increase healthcare costs. Fast and accurate detection of bacterial transmission is crucial to better control of healthcare-associated infection.

"An important limitation of current infection control methodology is that the available bacterial typing methods cannot distinguish between different strains of MRSA," explains Professor Sharon Peacock, lead author from the University of Cambridge and clinical specialist at the Health Protection Agency. "The purpose of our study was to see if whole genome sequencing of MRSA could be used to distinguish between related strains at a genome level, and if this would inform and guide outbreak investigations."

The team focused on an outbreak in a neonatal intensive care unit that had already ended. They took the samples and sequenced them as if they had been working in real time. They found they could distinguish between strains that were part of the outbreak and strains that were not, and showed that they could have identified the outbreak earlier than current clinical testing, potentially shortening the outbreak.

"This study demonstrates how advances in whole genome sequencing can provide essential information to help combat hospital outbreaks in clinically relevant turnaround times," says Dr Geoffrey Smith, co-lead author and Senior Director of Research at Illumina. "As sequencing has become increasingly accurate and comprehensive, it can be used to answer a wide range of questions. Not only could we distinguish different MRSA strains in the hospital, we were also able to rapidly characterise antibiotic resistance and toxin genes present in the clinical isolates."

The team constructed a list of all the MRSA genes that cause antibiotic resistance. Rapidly identifying drug resistance in MRSA strains will guide healthcare professionals to give each infected patient the most appropriate treatment possible. This also provides a powerful tool for the discovery of new drug resistance mechanisms.

MRSA produces numerous unique toxins that can inflict severe clinical syndromes, including septic shock, pneumonia, and complicated skin and soft tissue infections. The team created a list of toxin genes to rapidly identify those present in the MRSA strains, which currently can only be identified with multiple assays in reference laboratories.

"Distinguishing between strains is important for infection control management," says Dr Julian Parkhill, lead author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "Quick action is essential to control a suspected outbreak, but it is of equal importance to identify unrelated strains to prevent unnecessary ward closures and other disruptive control measures. Healthcare needs better, more efficient ways of identifying an outbreak and then processing the data."

"Current clinical methods to make links between related strains compare the pattern of bacterial susceptibility to a profile of antibiotics. We found this method to be inaccurate. We showed that two MRSA strains, which seemed by current methods to be identical, were genetically very different."

The use of whole genome sequencing will ultimately become part of routine health care. This study indicates that whole genome sequencing in real time will be valuable in controlling MRSA and other outbreaks in a hospital setting.

"The next stage is to develop interactive tools that provide automated interpretation of genome sequence and provide clinically meaningful information to healthcare workers, a necessary advance before this can be rolled out into clinical practice," adds Professor Peacock.

###

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute: http://www.sanger.ac.uk

Thanks to Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Movie review: 'Rock of Ages' serves up hits and misses | The Salt ...

Tom Cruise as dissipated rocker Stacee Jaxx in "Rock of Ages," adapted from a Broadway musical. Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

Review ? ?Rock of Ages? has the hits, but doesn?t rock out enough.

If you?re old enough to remember when bands like Journey, Twisted Sister and Def Leppard dominated the radio, "Rock of Ages" is made for you.

It?s also a chilling reminder that you?re getting old ? both because of the built-in nostalgia of the ?80s hits that fill this jukebox musical, and because the movie?s fresh-faced 20-something romantic leads were born after 1987, when the movie is set.

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?Rock of Ages?

The jukebox musical recycles ?80s rock standards, but doesn?t surpass the originals.

Where ? Theaters everywhere.

When ? Opens Friday, June 15.

Rating ? PG-13 for sexual content, suggestive dancing, some heavy drinking, and language.

Running time ? 123 minutes.

Fresh off the bus in Los Angeles is Sherrie Christian (played by Utah native Julianne Hough), a singer with a dream and a record collection ? both of which she loses in short order on the Sunset Strip. She?s befriended by Drew Boley (Diego Boneta), another would-be rock singer who works at The Bourbon Club, a legendary concert venue. Drew persuades the club?s aged-rocker owner, Dennis Dupree (Alec Baldwin), to hire Sherrie as a waitress.

The Bourbon Club is on the brink of financial collapse, and Dupree and his No. 2, Lonny (Russell Brand), have hopes that a much-hyped final concert by megaband Arsenal will save them. It?s a gamble, both because the club is being targeted by a moral watchdog group led by the mayor?s wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and because of Arsenal?s unstable frontman, rock legend Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise).

Jaxx?s appearance at The Bourbon Club also threatens to drive a wedge between lovebirds Drew and Sherrie ? by bringing Drew into sight of Jaxx?s slimy manager (Paul Giamatti) and by bringing Sherrie into proximity of Jaxx?s legendary sexual magnetism.

In adapting the Broadway hit, director Adam Shankman ("Hairspray") scrubs the rougher edges of rock ?n? roll excess. Jaxx?s seduction of a Rolling Stone writer (Malin Akerman) remains safely PG-13, and the girls in Mary J. Blige?s strip club where Sherrie later lands don?t ever remove so much as a stocking.

The songs are the stars of "Rock of Ages," with a familiar passage of, say, "Sister Christian" or "Harden My Heart" prompting pleasant twinges of recognition. The movie doesn?t rock out as hard as it could, as it puts its emotional beats on the sappy power ballads (including an awful double shot of Foreigner, "Waiting for a Girl Like You" and "I Want to Know What Love Is"). Meanwhile, the choreography, by Shankman?s fellow "So You Think You Can Dance" judge Mia Michaels, veers toward obvious pantomime, such as when Zeta-Jones? blue-hairs point their fingers, "Charlie?s Angels"-style, as they sing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot."

The hardest-rocking person onscreen is Cruise, who gives a masterful portrayal of the dissipated rock star ? shirtless, tattooed, sometimes barely coherent, but able to put it together onstage to belt out thunderous renditions of Bon Jovi?s "Wanted Dead or Alive" and Def Leppard?s "Pour Some Sugar on Me."

The weak link in "Rock of Ages," alas, is Hough, who?s never going to be a rocker chick, no matter how many thigh-baring outfits she wears. Hough is an amazing dancer and a promising actress, but as a singer she?s reedy and wispy ? her voice is more suitable for Nashville, rather than the raw energy of the rock world.

In the end, "Rock of Ages??" celebration of classic rock is more likely to have you reaching for your old LPs than wanting to watch the movie again.

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Most Departing Members' Net Worth Far Above National Median

Many of the nearly four dozen lawmakers set to leave Congress at year?s end are wealthy, boasting cushy bank accounts, stock portfolios, and property that include pro sports teams, race horses, and other glitzy holdings, according to their 2011 personal financial disclosures.

But not all soon-to-be departing members are quite so well off, according to the annual House and Senate filings released publicly on Thursday.

Some of the 44 outgoing House and Senate members ? a number that does not include those leaving to pursue another office or who resigned ? face high credit-card debt, large student-loan balances, and even multiple jumbo mortgages, as they brace for retirement either on their own terms or as the result of primary defeats or because of redistricting.?

For instance, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, defeated in last month?s primary, will head back to El Paso without much more than his congressional pension. The total value of the assets he reports is?only between $2,000 and $30,000. He still owes between $50,000 and $100,000 on a mortgage on his primary residence.

Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D-Texas, reported assets valued at between $166,000 and $416,000. But he also listed credit-card debt of between $15,000 and $50,000. He also is cosigner on two separate student loans, listing the liability on one of between $100,000 and $250,000 and between $10,000 and $15,000 on the other.

And Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, retires after eight terms, potentially in debt. The one-time presidential candidate owed between $315,000 and $650,000 on mortgage-related debts but is only worth between $250,000 and $516,000. He has two home-equity loans on which he owed between $50,000 and $100,000 and $15,000 and $50,000, respectively. He also owed between $250,000 and $500,000 on a refinance of his Washington home. Now that he is leaving Congress, perhaps he and his animal-advocate wife will decamp for the United Kingdom, where he inherited an apartment worth between $250,000 and $500,000 last year.

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., will leave relatively poor for a senator. Kyl reported assets worth between $467,000 and $1.08 million. Kyl?s reported liabilities, two mortgages and a home-equity loan, were worth from $510,000 to more than $1 million.

Meanwhile, Rep. Don Manzullo?of Illinois, who will leave Congress with a score of service under his belt, lost his state's March GOP primary to freshman Rep. Adam Kinzinger, but at least heads home with a decent amount of assets. He reported being worth between $570,000 and $1.3 million. He reported a mortgage with a balance of between $100,000 and $250,000 as well as two college loans adding up to between $20,000 and $30,000. His report did not clarify if the student-loan debt remains from his 1970 graduation from Marquette University law school or is for one of his three children.

And after completing his 30th year of service, Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., will head back to Indianapolis essentially a millionaire. He reported assets of between $950,000 and $1.6 million, which could buy a lot of pumpkins or watermelons. (He infamously acted out what he believed was the murder of White House deputy counsel Vince Foster in his backyard during the Clinton administration by shooting one or the other, but reports of which one he used have varied). Burton also reported owing between $350,000 and $750,000 on two mortgages.

Outgoing members who sought and were granted filing-deadline extensions are House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif.; Reps. Steve Austria, R-Ohio, Dan Boren, D-Okla., Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., Heath Shuler, D-N.C., and?Jerry Lewis, R-Calif.; and Sens. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Jim Webb, D-Va.?

Because of the rules members of Congress wrote for themselves, pinning down specific values on their assets and liabilities is difficult. Lawmakers are required to report most information in only broad dollar-amount ranges. The 2011 reports contain, for the first time, information on values of mortgages on personal homes, but only similarly in broad ranges. The reports can be found at http://clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-search.aspx.>

Democratic Sen.?Herb Kohl?of Wisconsin?? a businessman who?s been one of the wealthiest lawmakers on Capitol Hill and the owner of the NBA?s Milwaukee Bucks during his almost 24-year tenure ? reported his minimum worth as $151 million. In his retirement, he is expected to continue operating the Bucks.?

Among his many other holdings are a ranch in Wyoming and a horse-breeding operation. But he is not the only member of Congress involved in horses. Rep.?Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., reported his worth as at least $1.6 million, some of it tied to his one-half interest in Cardoberg Stables and a number of horses, including a racehorse named Unanimous Consent. Cardoza also reported three mortgages, the balances amounting to between $765,000 and $1.5 million.

Running in a redrawn district, Rep.?Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, lost her bid for the GOP nomination for her Cincinnati-based seat to Iraq War veteran?Brad Wenstrup in March. But when the 112th Congress adjourns and her tenure is up, she will not be done with politics. She still owes between $515,000 and $1.5 million to lawyers for fees incurred fighting ethics charges. That potentially eclipses her net worth, which she reported as between $487,000 and $1.6 million.

Rep.?Steven Rothman, who earlier this month lost his member-versus-member matchup with fellow Democratic Rep.?Bill Pascrell, can head back to New Jersey with the consolation prize that he can fall back on his part-time role as landlord. He?s a partial owner of 16 rental properties in the Garden State, most in Hackensack, the heart of his district. He reported his worth as between $1.4 million and $3.9 million. He reported no liabilities.

Sen.?Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., reported assets worth between $1.5 million and nearly $2.5 million. He listed a mortgage in Florence, S.C. worth between $500,000 and $1 million. He listed a check overdraft worth between $10,000 and $15,000 as well as a credit line with $10,000-$15,000 in debt.

Among other soon-to-retire lawmakers, Sen.?Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, reported? assets of between $630,000 to about $1.3 million, with no liabilities; Sen.?Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, showed assets of between $9.3 to $18.2 million, with mortgage liabilities on homes in Maine and Florida of between $550,000 and $1.1 million.?

Rep.?Sue Myrick, R-N.C., reported assets of between $135,000 and $360,000, and liabilities of between $230,000 and $550,000, all in mortgage-related debt, including a $15,000 and $50,000 home-equity loan; Rep.?Jason Altmire, D-Pa., showed assets of between $148,000 and $395,000 with no reported liabilities.?

House Appropriations ranking Democrat?Norm Dicks?of Washington reported between $316,000 and $665,000 in assets, but held debt through several mortgages that totaled between $950,000 and $2 million.?

Sen.?Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., reported assets totaling anywhere between $950,000 and $2.9 million, including a certificate of deposit at the FirstBank of Puerto Rico worth from $15,001 to $50,000. He had liabilities totaling anywhere between $350,000 and $750,000. Both of his liabilities were mortgages on his personal residence in Fairfax, Va. that were refinanced in 2010.?

Sen.?Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, reported assets worth between $3.6 million and $10 million. Some of her largest assets were stocks, including between $250,000 and $500,000 in Exxon Mobil stock. She also reported owning between $100,000 and $250,000 in Merck, Microsoft, and PepsiCo stock, among other stocks and mutual funds. No liabilities were listed.?

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