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Sunday, December 23, 2012

Batangas Today: “Amazon Best-Selling Books 2012: ‘Fifty Shades Book 3′ and ‘The Mark of Athena’ lead Top 10 list” plus 4 more

Batangas Today: “Amazon Best-Selling Books 2012: ‘Fifty Shades Book 3′ and ‘The Mark of Athena’ lead Top 10 list” plus 4 more

Amazon Best-Selling Books 2012: ‘Fifty Shades Book 3′ and ‘The Mark of Athena’ lead Top 10 list

Posted: 23 Dec 2012 07:36 AM PST

Amazon has released its list of top 10 best-selling books of 2012 (Overall, print and Kindle version combined), along with this year’s top 10 best-selling books for Kids & Teens. Interestingly, E. L. James‘ controversial book “Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three of the Fifty Shades Trilogy” landed on the top of the list.

Fifty Shades Freed book cover

Fifty Shades Freed book cover
Image Credit: E. L. James via Amazon.com

According to a press release at Amazon.com late last week, Fifty Shades Book 3 was the best-selling book of 2012, and was followed by “Gone Girl: A Novel” by Gillian Flynn, with James‘ Fifty Shades Trilogy (3-volume boxed set) landing on the third spot. However, the exact figures of sales were not mentioned.

“This was truly the year of the billionaire bad boy in romance—Amazon readers just couldn’t get enough of the genre.” Sara Nelson, Amazon‘s Editorial Director of Books and Kindle was quoted in the report, noting that the first two books of the Fifty Shades trilogy were released in 2011, and therefore are not included in the list.

“It’s also interesting to note that four of the five contemporary romance titles in the top 10 list, including the Fifty Shades trilogy, were originally independently published and went on to become huge best sellers.” Nelson added.

On the other hand, for the Amazon‘s best-selling Kids & Teens books for 2012, “The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus, Book 3)” by Rick Riordan landed on the first spot of the top 10, and was followed by “The Third Wheel (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 7)” by Jeff Kinney.

Below is the list of the Amazon‘s top 10 best-selling books for 2012 overall and for the Kids & Teens category, while the complete list of the 2012 Top 100 Amazon best-selling books can be found at www.amazon.com/bestsellingbooks2012.

* Amazon Top 10 Best-Selling Books (Overall):

1. “Fifty Shades Freed: Book Three of the Fifty Shades Trilogy” by E. L. James

2. “Gone Girl: A Novel” by Gillian Flynn

3. “Fifty Shades Trilogy: Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker, Fifty Shades Freed 3-volume Boxed Set” by E. L. James

4. “Bared to You: A Crossfire Novel” by Sylvia Day

5. “No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden” by Mark Owen

6. “The Marriage Bargain (Marriage to a Billionaire)” by Jennifer Probst

7. “Reflected in You: A Crossfire Novel” by Sylvia Day

8. “The Racketeer” by John Grisham

9. “Defending Jacob: A Novel” by William Landay

10. “The Innocent” by David Baldacci

* Amazon Top 10 Best-Selling Books (Kids & Teens):

1. “The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus, Book 3)” by Rick Riordan

2. “The Third Wheel (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 7)” by Jeff Kinney

3. “Insurgent (Divergent)” by Veronica Roth

4. “The Serpent's Shadow (The Kane Chronicles, Book 3)” by Rick Riordan

5. “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green

6. “City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments)” by Cassandra Clare

7. “While it Lasts” by Abbi Glines

8. “The Rise of Nine (Lorien Legacies, Book 3)” by Pittacus Lore

9. “Wonder” by R. J. Palacio

10. “Nevermore: The Final Maximum Ride Adventure (Book 8)” by James Patterson

California gay therapy law blocked by federal appeals court panel of judges

Posted: 23 Dec 2012 03:11 AM PST

The so-called gay therapy law in California was blocked by a federal appeals court on Friday, December 21, 2012, which was signed into law by California Governor Jerry Brown nearly three months ago. The gay therapy law, also known as Bill 1172, is reportedly aimed to help people under 18 year old avoid being gay.

According to CNN on Saturday, a three-member panel of federal judges at the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the controversial California gay therapy law, which is supposed to take effect on January 1, 2013. No details on why the said law was blocked were mentioned, as well as names of the three judges.

When Governor Brown approved the bill last September 29, California became the first US state to ban therapy practices that allegedly can change the minds of the minors on their sexual preference, with some LGBT community saying that such therapies may hurt the feelings of gay and lesbian teenagers.

“This bill bans non-scientific ‘therapies’ that have driven young people to depression and suicide. These practices have no basis in science or medicine, and they will now be relegated to the dustbin of quackery.” Gov. Jerry Brown (@JerryBrownGov) tweeted that time, whose decision received mixed reactions

Chad Griffin, president of Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT organization in the US, noted that the “LGBT youth will now be protected from a practice that has not only been debunked as junk science, but has been proven to have drastically negative effects on their well-being.”

However, National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality spokesman David Pickup cited a report by the American Psychiatric Association has found no evidence that the said gay therapy causes harm to LGBT minors, telling CNN that time that they do “competent therapy and it truly works”.

Early this month, the same gay therapy law was temporarily blocked by U.S. District Court Judge William Shubb, noting that it may be violating the First Amendment rights of psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health service professionals who are currently engaged in this field of therapy.

Truck falls through ice in Lake Winnipeg, two passengers safe

Posted: 22 Dec 2012 06:38 PM PST

Truck falls through ice

Lake Winnipeg
Image Credit: Reggie.net

A truck falls through ice at Lake Winnipeg in the Matlock area, near Chalet Beach, Manitoba on Saturday, December 22, 2012.

The Canadian Press reported that two unnamed passengers, a father and his daughter, were on their way for a fishing trip in Manitoba when the incident happened.

Based on initial report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the ice broke beneath the truck while the two travelers were inside.

RCMP reported that the two were able to safely get out of the truck. The father informed the police of the incident after he and his daughter reached home.

Due to the incident, officials issued a warning to fishermen that they should study the place they will be going to. They explained that ice may be thinner in some areas.

Potatoes help Wi-Fi reliability testing on airplanes be faster, Boeing says (Video)

Posted: 22 Dec 2012 05:58 PM PST

Boeing engineers recently used potatoes to help Wi-Fi testing on their airplanes, and the tests have been successful. These tests were conducted to provide more reliable wireless connectivity to passengers who use their electronic devices while on board a Boeing plane. A Boeing video below further explains.

Potatoes Wi-Fi testing Boeing

Sacks of potatoes inside a Boeing plane, during
its Wi-Fi reliability testing
Image Credit: Boeing video

According to a press release by Boeing on their official press site on Wednesday, December 19, 2012, members of the Boeing Test & Evaluation laboratories team initially used a de-commissioned airplane on ground to test their newly established method to measure the quality of the radio signals.

As noted by Boeing, their team of engineers said that potatoes help their Wi-Fi testing by using them as stand-ins for passengers, saying that potatoes have the same physical interactions with the properties of electronic signals. Around 20,000 pounds of potato sacks were used for the series of experiments.

Afterwards, Boeing engineers used humans as stand-ins passengers and compared the result to the testings made using potatoes. When the new method was established, results show that testing time was reduced from two weeks to only 10 hours, when using potatoes as stand-ins for passengers.

“Every day we work to ensure that Boeing passengers are traveling on the safest and most advanced airplanes in the world. This is a perfect example of how our innovations in safety can make the entire flying experience better.” Dennis O’Donoghue, VP of Boeing Test & Evaluation, was quoted on their report.

Nevertheless, Boeing emphasized that Wi-Fi testing using potatoes was proven providing a reliable result and that the aim of their newly developed technology is to identify the areas with strong and weak signals and to balance them by adjusting the connectivity system accordingly.

In addition, the American airplane company noted that they always make sure that their Wi-Fi signal passes the safety standards and does not interfere with the signals brought about by the electronic and electrical system of their planes, but will rather improve its reliability and increase the safety level during the flight.


Boeing, explaining the Wi-Fi reliability testing using potatoes
Video Credit: Boeing

Child falls, cruise ship turns back to Florida port to seek treatment

Posted: 22 Dec 2012 05:25 PM PST

Child falls, cruise ship turns back

Monarch of the Seas
Image Credit: VirginHolidayCruises.co.uk

How unfortunate to have a child fall in balcony on-board a cruise ship? This incident may be one for the books.

After a 14-month-old child falls, the cruise ship turns back to a Florida port on Friday, December 21, 2012, to seek medical treatment for the baby.

Orlando Sentinel earlier reported that the baby from India was injured after falling aboard the Monarch of the Seas.

Initial report by the Royal Caribbean officials indicated that the ship was off for a Bahamas cruise when the incident happened.

Monarch of the Seas is on a three-night cruise schedule to CocoCay and Nassau in the Bahamas according to officials.

Officials of the cruise line decided to seek medical treatment for the child who fell from one of the floor to another. The ship immediately returned to Port Canaveral and the child was taken to a Florida hospital.

As of posting, no immediate information was made available pertaining to the young child’s condition.
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