New Year is a good time to count your blessings

The new year is a great time to look back and consider how blessed you are. I try to do that every day, but often in my life I am overwhelmed at the enormous blessings the Lord has bestowed on me.

No, I didn’t get a great big financial windfall last year. And I walk with a cane, because of painful arthritis in one of my knees. Still, I am blessed. I can still walk.

A few years ago, I was told by two doctors that I was going blind. But today, I can see without eyeglasses. So, every time I pass a patch of flowering weeds along the road, I say a silent "Thank you," to the Lord for allowing me to see His beautiful handiwork. I even get excited when I see my mango tree heavy with new blossoms, signifying a bumper crop (hopefully) of mangoes this season. And when I see a momma bird caring for her young, it brings a smile to my face.

Yes, I have a lot to be thankful for as I go into this new year. And so do you. This is even more evident in a letter I received a few months ago from local gospel recording artist Pat Jackson. She briefly told her touching story of survival and blessings and wanted to know if I wanted to interview her. I did, and still do. However, Jackson’s email doesn’t seem to work and the number she enclosed in her letter was missing one digit.

Jackson said she is a survivor of thyroid cancer. Her story is so touching for this and any time of the year, that I will share with you what she shared with me in her letter.

Jackson, 50, has been plagued with serious health issues nearly all her life, that included multiple cysts, benign tumors, diverticulitis, ruptured intestines, four major surgeries, during one of which she nearly bled to death, survived six car accidents and a stray bullet that came through her sister’s home.

She never knew her biological mother or father and spent her entire childhood as a foster child. "I was very fortunate and was able to live in the same [foster] home until I became an adult," she said.

"But," she added, "Today, I am cancer-free, even though doctors doubted that I would ever be able to speak or sing again. To God be the glory, for allowing me life and a second chance," she wrote. She has an album titled, Lord, I’m Still Standing.

What’s your "I am thankful for another year" story? Tell me in a few words and I may use them in a future column.

Email them to me at: bea.hines@gmail.com, or write to me at: Bea L. Hines, c/o The Miami Herald, 2000 NW 150th Ave., Suite 1105, Pembroke Pines, FL 33028.

‘Jews of Asia and Africa’

If you want to be in the class, "Jews of Asia and Africa," to be offered at the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU, Jan. 9-April 17, you have until Jan. 9, to register.

The class will be taught by FIU research professors Nathan Katz and Tudor Parfitt, and is open to both degree-seeking FIU students and community members interested in taking the class on a auditing basis.

Community members interested in auditing the class may enroll through the Center for the Advancement of Jewish Education at 305-576-4030, ext. 128, or carlaspector@cajemiami.org. The cost is $295. Students seeking credit may enroll in course REL 4312 through FIU.

The 12-week course will look at the Jewish experience beyond Florida, which has been the traditional focus of the museum. The class will also feature guest speakers to include a visiting member of Zimbabwe’s Lemba Jewish community, and will employ different methodologies, from genetic anthropology to participant/observation findings.

For more information, contact Katz at nathan.katz@fiu.edu.

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The Most and Least Influential Social Media Celebs

While he isn’t currently available for promotional work, businesses would have the most success on social media with President Barack Obama endorsing their goods and services, new research shows.

A study by social marketing platform SocialToaster revealed that Obama is considered the most influential celebrity on social media. Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Ashton Kutcher and Anderson Cooper followed the president on the rankings of social influencers.

On the flip side, the research found that former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney was the least influential celebrity on social media, finishing just below Madonna, Kanye West and Sean Hannity.

While celebrities might be influential on social media in some aspects, it’s those closest to us who make the largest impact when it comes to the important issues. Nearly all of the social media users surveyed agreed that a social media post from a close friend or family member was most likely to influence them on important subjects, with politicians and athletes the least likely to influence them.

“While it was no surprise that in this election year Barack Obama would be ranked the most influential person in social media, it was surprising to us that Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga would beat Madonna and Kanye West,” said Brian Razzaque, CEO of SocialToaster. “We were also surprised to see that friends had more pull than family when it came to influencing the sharing of social media content.”

Regardless of whom it comes from, there are some posts that will quickly result in an unfollowing, the study discovered. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said a racist post would cause them to immediately unfollow someone on social media. Other types of posts that result in a loss of followers include sexism, pornography, repetitive, overly personal posts and those that use poor grammar.

The researcher was based on surveys of 3,000 SocialToaster Super Fans, which consist of social media experts and professionals, many of whom work with some of the nation’s leading brands. The experts range from those who work in the entertainment industry who represent numerous television shows and movies to those who work in professional sports, including the Baltimore Ravens and the Detroit Pistons.

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow Chad Brooks on Twitter @cbrooks76 or BusinessNewsDaily @BNDarticles. We’re also on Facebook & Google+.

Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Kathy Griffin Reacts Anderson Cooper Crotch Kiss

"If you think this is the part where I'm going to apologize for trying to go down on Anderson Cooper, you are sorely mistaken," Kathy Griffin told David Letterman when asked about her sexual simulation on the journalist during CNN's New Year's Eve coverage in Times Square.

"I tried ladies and gays for you," the comedian declared on Wednesday's Late Show.

When Letterman, 65, asked how Griffin, 52, would feel if the tables were turned and a man tried that on her, she quipped, "If it was Anderson Cooper... I'd unzip so fast. Boom. Pants down."

Check out Griffin's outrageous public display of affection towards Cooper, 45, on New Year's Eve, below:

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NASA might hijack an asteroid and park it near the moon

NASA is well on it's way to an "Armageddon"-style mission to an asteroid, but it is leaving behind Bruce Willis and the nuclear bombs.

The space brainiacs are investigating the deployment of a robotic spacecraft to capture an asteroid and drag it into orbit around the moon, according to NewScientist.com.

From the orbiting space rock, NASA could stage practice landing missions to the moon, study the use of asteroids in the production of spacecraft and fuel for spaceships and expose astronauts to long-term radiation beyond Earth's protective magnetic field.

Rick Sternback/ KISS

Illustration from the Keck Institute for Space Studies at Caltech of the asteroid capturing spacecraft.

The details of the planned mission aren't fully hashed out yet, but the Keck Institute for Space Studies at Caltech say that the mission would cost roughly $2.6 billion, only slightly more than NASA's Curiosity Mars rover.

The key component of the mission would be a solar-powered spacecraft that would propel itself near a small asteroid, probably one about 20 feet wide.

Once it was close to the asteroid, the spacecraft would catch the rock in a gigantic 30-by-45-foot bag and drag it into orbit around the moon.

All told, it would take the spacecraft six to 10 years to complete the mission.

But netting an asteroid is not the be all and end all of the mission. In fact, the asteroid's orbit would be the first major step towards sending astronauts to places like Mars.

If an asteroid were to be pulled into orbit around the moon, it would be put in the sweet spot where the gravitational pull from the Earth was cancelled out by the gravitational pull from the moon.

That place, called the Earth-moon Lagrange point 2, would be farther from Earth than any astronaut has ever gone and is not shielded from radiation by Earth's magnetic field.

Additionally, and importantly, any spacecraft or space station that reached that place wouldn't need to burn fuel in order to maintain orbit.

It is thus a perfect place to see how the human mind and body would fare in a deep space mission, like one to a far off asteroid or to a planet like Mars.

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Portion of Macy’s Flagler Street property in downtown Miami sold

A New York firm bought part of the Macy’s building in downtown Miami and is expected to acquire the rest. The next priority is negotiating a new lease to keep Macy’s as a tenant.

In a deal that could have implications for the future of downtown Miami’s anchor retail tenant, a New York real estate investment firm paid $15.55 million to acquire more than half the property that now houses Macy’s Flagler Street store.

The acquisition by Aetna Realty Group includes the 48,000 square feet of land that was leased to R.W. Burdine in 1917. Until the recent sale, the property was owned by 23 heirs of Richard and Harriet Ashby, who signed the initial 99-year lease with Burdine. The lease expires in 2016.

The Ashby family began taking steps to prepare the property at the intersection of Miami Avenue and Flagler Street for sale nearly four years ago, said Lewis R. Cohen, a GrayRobinson lawyer who represented the Ashby family in the transaction that closed on New Year’s Eve.

Over the years, Macy’s and its predecessor, Burdines, grew the site’s downtown presence well beyond the Ashby land, and the current building now extends another 30,000 square feet of land. Aetna has also made a commitment to purchase the remaining portion of the building, that is currently owned by Macy’s, Cohen said. But that deal hasn’t closed yet.

“That deal is a sure thing,” Cohen said. “They could not have closed with us without having an agreement with Macy’s completely nailed down.”

When Macy’s decided not to purchase the Ashby land itself, the owners soughta third-party that could control both pieces. The reason: Improvements made to the store over the years straddled both properties, such as elevators and escalators starting on one parcel and ending on another.

“Between the engineering difficulties of severing the properties and the legal issues involved, it would have been somewhere between extremely expensive and impossible” for different entities to share control, Cohen said.

Aetna was one of three bidders interested in the site, Cohen said. One of the other players was the Barlington Group, a Miami developer that in 2011 signed a deal with Macy’s to sub-lease 20,000 square feet of empty ground-floor space for a mix of restaurants and cafes.

Macy’s spokesman Jim Sluzewski said this transaction doesn’t impact Macy’s current lease. He declined to comment on any other pending transaction regarding the property the retailer owns in downtown Miami.

“It’s business as usual,” said Sluzewski, who also would not discuss Macy’s long-term plans for downtown Miami beyond the expiration of its lease. The company’s roots in downtown Miami date to 1898, when the first Burdines opened in a nearby downtown location.

Aetna and its local attorneys did not respond to calls Wednesday for comments.

But Cohen said Macy’s is in the process of finalizing a short-term deal with the new owners.

“They intend to stay for at least the foreseeable future,” Cohen said. “For a minimum of five years they’ll be there and possibly longer.”

Downtown scene

Macy’s long-term future on Flagler Street has been in doubt since 2007, when Macy’s Florida then-Chairwoman Julie Greiner took city leaders to task for the deplorable conditions in downtown and threatened that the retailer might leave.

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Naked man arrested after choking family dog

A barking dog woke a homeowner out of his early morning sleep Wednesday. When he grabbed his gun and went to check, he found a naked man choking the family pet.

When the victim tried to intercede, the culprit quickly turned around and began biting the man, according to Miami Police.

Fearing for his life, the victim shot the man, while family members called police.

The culprit continued to fight with officers who arrived on the scene.

The subject finally was taken into custody and transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center to be treated for a gunshot wound.

The victim was treated for his injuries.

Police charged the man, who refused to give his name, with burglary with an assault, resisting arrest with violence, lewd and lascivious behavior and animal cruelty.

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Scarlett Johansson Talks Marriage and Ryan Reynolds

The usually private Scarlett Johansson gets surprisingly candid in a new interview with Elle UK, where the Avengers star talks marriage, her super-sexy image and how she dealt with her hacked nude pics scandal.

In particular, Scarlett, 28, opens up about her marriage to Ryan Reynolds, whom she divorced in 2011 after two years together.

Related: Scarlett Still Not Over 'Horrible' Split with Ryan

"I got married when I was young and it was incredibly romantic and I liked being married, actually," she says. "But it is different. It's hard to put into words. To me, being in a functioning relationship doesn't mean you have to be married… I never think about marriage. Is that weird? The only time I ever think about it is when people ask me, 'Would I get married again?'"

She also reveals that marriage in general is "not important" to her, and that she isn't making baby plans anytime soon.

"It's really not important to me. It has no relevance to me right now. I'm not having kids any time soon, I'm in a nice relationship, I'm working a lot, and, like I said, it's not important to me," she says.

Related: Ryan Reynolds Files for Divorce from Scarlett Johansson

Scarlett is reportedly in a relationship with French journalist Romain Dauriac, who she was snapped kissing in December.

As for her sexy "curvy girl" image in Hollywood, she explains that it was pretty much forced upon her.

"I think any woman who is curvy and wears a gown to an event is, like, super sexualized. I mean, at the time I was 18, 19. I was young. I've always been curvy. It runs in the family," she says. "Throw on an evening frock and it's like all of a sudden you have boobs and everyone is like: 'bombshell!' Instantly it was: 'The new Marilyn [Monroe].'"

Related: Scarlett Johansson's Hacker Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

But not all publicity has been so "flattering" for Scarlett -- she had to deal with major drama when her nude pics, which she has said were originally meant for Reynolds at the time, were hacked.

"It was a crazy time. I had some problems in my family and publicly, my relationship -- all that stuff. It was like 'Oh man what next?,'" she says about the dark time in her life. "But life has ebbs and flows, don't you think? Things are more manageable now, but I'm sure something will crumble ... I keep it together. I am relatively composed but I can also lose my sh*t. I'm pretty controlled, and probably controlling too, for better or worse. I'm working on it ..."

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US still faces political fights on spending, debt

WASHINGTON — A last-minute deal will keep the US from driving off the so-called "fiscal cliff," but higher taxes and continued political fighting in Washington threaten to shake the fragile economy well into 2013.

A bill passed by Congress late Tuesday averts widespread tax increases and delays deep spending cuts that had threatened to return the country to recession. World stocks went up in response.

Many economists were disappointed that Congress and the White House couldn't reach agreement on a broader deal to significantly reduce the deficit over the next 10 years. That could have boosted business and consumer confidence and accelerated growth.

"Nothing really has been fixed," said Joseph LaVorgna, an economist at Deutsche Bank. "There are much bigger philosophical issues that we aren't even addressing yet."

HOUSE PASSES FISCAL CLIFF DEAL

GASPARINO: THIS 'CURE' WORSE THAN THE DISEASE

EDITORIAL: AN UGLY DEAL

$60B IN AID FOR SANDY BLOWN AWAY

Lawmakers postponed tough decisions on government spending, giving themselves a reprieve from cuts that were scheduled to start taking effect automatically Jan. 1. That just sets the stage for more hard bargaining later. Spending cuts could hurt growth even more.

Another standoff is likely to arrive as early as February, when Congress will need to raise the $16.4 trillion federal borrowing limit so the government can keep paying its bills. House Republicans, who objected strongly to the latest fiscal deal Tuesday before the chamber finally voted to approve it, probably won't agree to raise the debt limit without offsetting spending cuts that Democrats are sure to resist.

President Barack Obama warned Republicans late Tuesday that "if Congress refuses to give the United States government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic, far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff."

Meanwhile, the economy doesn't have much growth to give. Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo, predicts it will expand just 1.5 percent in 2013, down from a weak 2.2 percent in 2012. Unemployment stands at 7.7 percent.

Ben Schwartz, chief market strategist for Lightspeed Financial, said unemployment was still likely to edge up and retail sales growth was likely to be weaker than last year.

"Regardless of a deal getting done, people on Wall Street are not going to run around giving high fives" in celebration, Schwartz said. "The federal government is obviously dysfunctional, to say the least."

The months-long political standoff over fiscal policy has already taken its toll, adding uncertainty that has discouraged consumers from spending and businesses from hiring and investing.

The fiscal cliff, with its Jan. 1 deadline to reach a deal over taxes and spending, was created to force Democrats and Republicans to compromise, and it barely succeeded. Without a deal, more than $500 billion in tax increases would hit the economy in 2013 alone, along with $109 billion in cuts from the military and domestic spending programs.

Negotiations to avert catastrophe have highlighted once again how far apart the two parties are on taxes (Republicans don't want to raise them) and spending (Democrats are reluctant to cut government programs).

"What induces the two sides to stop fighting and start compromising?" asked Ethan Harris, co-head of global economics at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Political gridlock has been rattling financial markets and shaking consumer and business confidence the past two years.

After a fight over raising the debt limit last year, the credit rating agency Standard & Poor's yanked the US government's blue-chip AAA bond rating because it feared that America's dysfunctional political system couldn't deliver a credible plan to reduce the federal government's debt. S&P warned that "the differences between political parties have proven to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge."

The Dow Jones industrials dropped 635 points in panicked selling the first day of trading after the S&P announcement.

Outside Washington, the economy has been getting some good news. Europe's financial crisis appears to have eased. And the US real estate market finally appears to be recovering from the housing bust.

But partisan divide has left businesses and consumers wondering what's going to happen to their taxes and to federal contracts.

Companies have plenty of cash. But they reduced spending on industrial equipment, computers and software from July to September, the first quarterly drop since mid-2009 when the economy was still in recession. And hiring has been stuck at a modest level of about 150,000 new jobs per month this year.

Consumer confidence fell in December for the second straight month, according to a survey by the Conference Board, which blamed the drop on worries about the fiscal cliff. The uncertainty is also believed to have hurt holiday shopping, which grew at the slowest pace this year since 2008.

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World markets rally after U.S. ‘fiscal cliff’ deal

LONDON --
The world’s financial markets breathed a huge sigh of relief Wednesday that U.S. lawmakers agreed on a budget deal that will stop hundreds of billions of dollars in automatic tax increases and spending cuts that risked plunging the world’s biggest economy into recession.

Stocks around the world started 2013 with hefty gains as investors welcomed the vote in the House of Representatives that made sure that the U.S. does not go over the so-called “fiscal cliff.” Though longer-term fiscal problems remain and President Barack Obama will likely face more battles with the Republican-dominated House, investors were relieved that the biggest near-term stumbling block to the world economy has been cleared.

“Investors are trading with a sense of relief after lawmakers in Washington agreed on a compromise to avoid the fiscal cliff that has been the dominant theme in equity markets since the presidential elections back in November,” said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at stockbroker Interactive Investor.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares jumped 2.2 percent to 6,028, its first foray above the 6,000 mark since July 2011. The CAC-40 in France rose 2.4 percent to 3,729 while Germany’s DAX was up 2.3 percent at 7,786.

Earlier, in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shot up 2.9 percent to close at 23,311.89, its highest finish since June 1, 2011. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.2 percent to close at 4,705.90, its best finish in 19 months while South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.7 percent to 2,031.10.

Wall Street was likewise set to rally on the open – Dow futures were up 1.3 percent at 13,195 while the broader S&P 500 futures jumped 1.5 percent to 1,441.

The “fiscal cliff” deal is likely to remain the focus of attention in financial markets over the rest of the day.

The bill that Congress approved calls for higher taxes on incomes over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples, a victory for Obama. Earnings above those amounts would be taxed at a rate of 39.6 percent, up from the current 35 percent. It also delays for two months $109 billion worth of across-the-board spending cuts that had been set to start affecting the Pentagon and domestic agencies this week.

If lawmakers had not agreed by the Jan. 1, 2013 deadline on the new budget measures, more than $500 billion in tax increases would have hit the economy in 2013 alone. Government spending worth $109 billion would have been cut from the military and domestic spending programs.

Though fears over an imminent fall off the “fiscal cliff” have eased, investors still have a host of issues to worry about – not least the prospect of more debates over unresolved longer-term U.S. budget issues.

“Cynics will point out that another argument has been booked in for two months’ time, when the debt ceiling comes up for debate, and Republicans will be looking to make progress on the spending cuts that haven’t been featured in the New Year deal,” said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG.

Investors will also keep a close watch on any response from the credit rating agencies. After a fight in Congress to raise the debt limit in 2011, Standard & Poor’s lowered the U.S. government’s AAA bond rating, citing the lack of a credible plan to reduce the federal government’s debt. It also voiced its concerns about the “effectiveness, stability and predictability of American policymaking.”

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Peeping tom suspect nabbed at Forever21 store at Sawgrass Mills mall

A suspected “peeping tom” was arrested Sunday after he was caught with video of women trying on clothes at the Forever21 store at the Sawgrass Mills mall.

Andre Clements, 30, has been charged with video voyeurism and disorderly conduct, Sunrise police said.

A manager at the store became suspicious when Clements, 30, was caught loitering in the dressing rooms. Customers also complained about Clements.

The manager alerted mall security, who called Sunrise police. When police arrived, the manager found several large slits in the curtain which separated the fitting room Clements was in and the adjoining fitting room.

In Clements possession police found a Sony camcorder with videos of young women changing clothes.

Clements admitted taping the women just before police had arrived.

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