Artists to Watch For 2009 - natasha slayton

Natasha Slayton is making quick speed into the music scene with her sultry looks and heavy soul. She brings a broad view to the R&B game that will make even white people saying sexy nothings into their partners’ ear. She’s the daughter of the comedian Bobby Slayton (the” Pitbull of Comedy”), and I have witnessed firsthand the humor mixed with hard work that this family brings to the table.

Getting her big break in the entertainment industry, as a main character in the Caméra d’Or wining (that’s a Cannes award mind you) indie film Me You and Everyone We Know, she didn’t need daddy’s money to get out there and bust her ass. Not only can homegirl sing, but she’s got the dancing skills parallel to most of today’s most energetic young stars on the dance floor.

I’m back with the long awaited continuation of the Artists to Watch For 2009 series with 3 powerful woman figureheads for you to gawk and admire. All of these ladies lead a musical revolution in different genres, and had me at hello. Let’s have a look.

She’s involved with her music every step of the production process, keeping it professional, while still making the boys’ heads turn. Recently, she’s been releasing a lot of her 12 track album on her MySpace page, to get listeners ready for the release coming (hopefully) this year.

Personally, my favorite song was Her, which I ask, where the hell did it go Natasha? But other funky hits are Put Your Lovin’ On Me, Tempted, and my new personal favorite, Splenda (an oldie but a goodie).

Michael Gleeson brings his talent to the table playing members of the guitar family, mainly the axe, while Ashley Heatherly plays the keys and jumps on the bass as well. Her backup vocal talents give me nostalgic feelings of what may be a female Dallas Green. Josh Hayes plays guitar, keeping it fun and flowing, with Chris Jones providing the much underrated drums to the mix. I think in the final cut of their debut LP, he will be one of my favorite members of the band.

From the slow, movie-intro-paced track Relic, to the fast, furious and beautifully written Ending of Control, I believe we may have something here. I look forward to their LP dropping sometime this summer to give you a “This Just In” report on it.

NASA LCROSS moon impact in T-minus 15, water discovery expected in T-minus 19

A second Shepherding spacecraft will pass through the debris plume 4 minutes later, collecting and relaying data back to Earth in real-time before meeting its end. With any luck, we'll know shortly if the moon contains the water-ice theorized by scientists... and cheese. While the obvious use of lunar-based water is to sate the thirst of astronauts, it could also be used be make fuel for off-Earth exploration. Hit the read link for live streaming of the mission from
NASA -- first impact occurs at 07:31:19 AM EDT.

NASA's LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite) mission is coming to a glorious end. The mission launched on June 18, 2009 is just minutes away from making dual-impact on the face of the moon. The first impact sees the Centaur craft hitting the surface at a speed of about 1 mile per second ejecting about 350 tons of debris from a crater about 20-30-meters in diameter and 2- to 4-meters deep.

Update: Impact occurred... are we still here? Data is now being analyzed and NASA is expected to know the facts in about an hour. Post-impact news conference scheduled for 10:00 AM EDT.

Update 2: Video added after the break showing the final minutes before impact. The highlight seems to be the denied high-5 at 5:00 minutes in.

LCROSS impact NASA LCROSS mission LCROSS video LCROSS live feed

LCROSS will also provide technologies and modular, reconfigurable subsystems that can be used to support future mission architectures.

Ames Research Center (ARC) is managing the mission, conducting mission operations, and has developed the payload instruments, while Northrop Grumman designed and built the spacecraft for this innovative mission. Ames mission scientists will spearhead the data analysis. This is a fast-paced, low-cost, mission that will leverage some existing NASA systems, Northrop-Grumman spacecraft expertise, and Ames’ Lunar Prospector experience.

The identification of water is very important to the future of human activities on the Moon. LCROSS will excavate the permanently dark floor of one of the Moon’s polar craters with two heavy impactors to test the theory that ancient ice lies buried there.

The impact will eject material from the crater’s surface to create a plume that specialized instruments will be able to analyze for the presence of water (ice and vapor), hydrocarbons and hydrated materials.


Why LCROSS?

LCROSS spacecraft above the Moon's surface

Just like on Earth, water is a crucial resource on the Moon. It will not be practical to transport to space the amount of water needed for human and exploration needs. It is critical to find natural resources, such as water, on the Moon. The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission will begin the search for water, leveraging the information we learned from the Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions.

Your request is being processed... Moon Bombing Video: Watch NASA's LCROSS Mission Bomb The Moon (UPDATED, PHOTOS) Read more at: http://

The smaller probe had five cameras and four other scientific instruments and NASA had touted live photos on its web site. But those images didn't occur. NASA officials say they are sure the two probes crashed and looking to see what happened to the pictures. Pictures were live until seconds before impact.

The intentional crashes had been expected to kick up miles of lunar dust. The space probe is called LCROSS, short for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

NASA has successfully bulldozed two spacecraft into the moon's south pole in a search for hidden ice, but without the promised live photos.

First a 2.2-ton empty rocket hull smacked the moon's south pole at 7:31 a.m. EDT Friday. Then four minutes later the camera-and-instrument laden space probe made its death plunge.

NASA has successfully bulldozed two spacecraft into the moon's south pole in a search for hidden ice, but without the promised live photos.

First a 2.2-ton empty rocket hull smacked the moon's south pole at 7:31 a.m. EDT Friday. Then four minutes later the camera-and-instrument laden space probe made its death plunge.

The smaller probe had five cameras and four other scientific instruments and NASA had touted live photos on its web site. But those images didn't occur. NASA officials say they are sure the two probes crashed and looking to see what happened to the pictures. Pictures were live until seconds before impact.

The intentional crashes had been expected to kick up miles of lunar dust. The space probe is called LCROSS, short for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/nasa-moon-bombing-lcross-_n_314956.html

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/nasa-moon-bombing-lcross-_n_314956.html

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/nasa-moon-bombing-lcross-_n_314956.html

NASA moon bombing video Lacrosse video rocket crash into moon NASA LCROSS

If this is proved, and NASA claims that it was a final test to prove it following a recent NASA confirmation about water’s presence on moon, it will open up a whole new possibility of expansion of research and habitation on moon.

NASA had sent two probing mission on board an Indian moon mission to further probe if there was water on moon.

The result was positive and Indian scientists belonging to its prestigious Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also said that their probe too had established that indeed there was water on the surface of the moon.

Today Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) did a magnificent job by hitting the moon surface with a sped of around six thousand miles an hour.

The findings will be known only after the detailed data analysis work is completed by NASA scientists and other scientists who are also cooperating with NASA.

New Delhi, October 9: NASA moon bombing video Lacrosse video rocket crash into moon NASA LCROSS. It is an important occasion in the history of space exploration. NASA today undertook a mission that aims to prove beyond doubt the presence of water on the moon surface.

Moon has always fascinated the human beings. Since the Soviet Union first succeeded in implementing the concept in 1966, 18 spacecraft landed on the Moon up to 1976.

Nine of these missions returned to Earth bearing samples of Moon rocks. The former Soviet Union, the United States, Japan, Europe, India and China have all achieved hard Moon landings.

The Soviet Union later achieved sample returns via the unmanned Luna 16, Luna 20 and Luna 24 Moon landings.

Since this was during the time of the Cold War, the contest to be the first on the Moon was one of the most visible facts of the Space Race.

The United States space agency NASA achieved the first manned landing on Earth's Moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission commanded by Neil Armstrong. On July 20, 1969, lunar module Eagle landed on the surface of the Moon, carrying Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

Hamas says Obama does not deserve Nobel Peace Prize

Fawzi Barhoum, Gaza Hamas spokesman told Xinhua that "Obama does not deserve this prize," after the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

"We believe that there are lots of things needed from Obama to be presented to the Palestinian people in order to deserve this reward. Obama should change his manner and be fair," said Barhoum.

Islamic Hamas movement said Friday that U.S. President Barack Obama does not deserve a Noble Peace Prize since he failed to give the Palestinian people their legitimate rights.

Right after Obama took office, he promised that resolving the conflict in the Middle East is his priority.

"So far, nothing changed. He was giving statements, promises and hopes, while on the ground nothing practical has been done," said Barhoum.

"I think Obama has a lot more to do," he added.

Meanwhile, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said in a statement that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) hopes Obama will be able to achieve peace in the Middle East.

Obama's Nobel prize

Given this reality, awarding President Obama this prestigious prize now is not helpful. First, it further raises international expectations at a very delicate time in Obama's presidency - expectations that may not be fulfilled.

Second, it will be more grist to the mill for his critics back home. The Nobel Peace Prize speaks to the existence of a global community and international values.

If the polls are to be believed, increasing numbers in America want to know that President Obama's first priority at this difficult period in American history is to protect and further US interests. Receiving the prize right now will make his opponents even more cynical about his policies, and make many of his supporters more anxious.

I think it is great to recognise the remarkable policy of international engagement that Barack Obama has undertaken in the last nine months. He has opened numerous diplomatic avenues simultaneously, many of which show promise.

But there are problems with the decision to award him the Nobel Peace Prize now.

There was widespread surprise at the Nobel Committee's decision

Engagement doesn't necessarily mean success, and I think the Obama administration knows this. America may still be the most powerful nation in the world, but its power is increasingly challenged and, in any case, does not always translate into influence. There are no guarantees that his good diplomatic policies will pay off.

Finally, I would not agree that giving him the award is going to support his diplomacy. To believe so smacks of hubris. The nations with which Obama is engaging will act on the basis of their self-interest, adapting their policies in response to a mixture of US engagement and pressure.

In fact, President Obama may need to set aside engagement and get tough in the future with some of the same nations with which the US is now engaging.

It might have been better, therefore, to consider awarding Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize at a time when it could underscore the vital importance of major powers pursuing policies of engagement, however difficult the process and however unpredictable the outcomes.

We had the outcomes from talks in Geneva with Iran last week, unprecedented dialogue with Burma has opened and there are some flickers of positive movement coming out of North Korea.

Probably the most important thing President Obama has done in regards to trying to establish global security is on the issue of nuclear disarmament.

He has come out more forcibly than any other US president in office in his calls for a world free from nuclear weapons.

Presidents in the past have talked about it, but rarely stated it as succinctly and powerfully as this president has - it's quite unprecedented.

The unanimous new UN Security Council resolution on nuclear disarmament last week, and US negotiations with the Russians on the reduction of nuclear weapons are very important steps forward.

The potential for the US to assume greater responsibility and moral leadership is higher than it has been for some years.

I think the Nobel Committee recognised this change and its potential - and that's what the prize was awarded for.

Three Win Nobel for Ribosome Research

The trio are Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England; Thomas A. Steitz of Yale University; and Ada E. Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. Each scientist will get a third of the prize, worth 10 million Swedish kronors in total, or $1.4 million, in a ceremony in Stockholm on Dec. 10.

If the sequence of lettered nucleic acids in the DNA forms the blueprint for life, ribosomes are the factory floor. In a press release, the Swedish academy said the three, who worked independently, were being honored “for having showed what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at the atomic level.”

Three researchers whose work delves into how information encoded on strands of DNA is translated by the chemical complexes known as ribosomes into the thousands of proteins that make up living matter will share the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Swedish Academy of Sciences said Wednesday.

Some antibiotics work by gumming up the ribosomes of bacteria, allowing those bacteria to be stopped at no danger to their host. The ribosome research, the academy said, is being used to develop new antibiotics.

Dr. Ramakrishnan was born in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India, in 1952 and obtained his Ph.D. at Ohio University, and holds American citizenship. Dr. Steitz was born in Milwaukee in 1940 and received his Ph.D. from

One of the first people who called to congratulate her was the president of Israel, Shimon Peres, who shared a Nobel Prize for Peace with the late leaders Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat in 1994.

She is the fourth woman to win the chemistry prize and the first one since 1964, noted Thomas Lane, president of the American Chemical Society, who said it reflected “a tremendous change in the demographics of the field.” More than 50 percent of chemistry degrees are now earned by women, he reported.

Dr. Yonath was born in Jerusalem in 1939 and received her Ph.D. at the Weizmann Institute in 1968. She said on Wednesday that she was both surprised and not surprised at being awarded a Nobel Prize. Speaking by telephone, she said people had long been telling her that her project was a potential winner. But at the same time, she said, there were “many, many people with fantastic work standing in line.”

She said she was working and watching over her 13-year-old granddaughter when she received the news.

How Kindle Could Win (or Not) in the UK

Because U.K. Kindle buyers will have to order the e-book reader from Amazon's U.S. site, customers will have to pay extra tax for the device, due to the country's regulations. Also, because books will be sold from the U.S. site as well, customers would be technically avoiding the Value Added Tax (VAT) system in Britain, which if applied, would make the books more expensive.

Amazon also had difficulties making Kindle's Whispernet wireless download system (hosted by AT&T in the U.S.) work in the U.K, so the company had to resort to downloads via the country's 3G network. Outside 3G coverage, users will have to transfer content to their Kindle over USB.

Tax headaches and connectivity problems could stifle U.K. Kindle sales, as Amazon introduced on Wednesday its e-book reader to the British public.

To the delight of my fellow UK e-book fans, Amazon announced that the Kindle 2 would be available from October 19. The Kindle was long overdue in the U.K., where it is expected to finally kick-start the e-book market, but it might not be the case yet, as the U.K. version of the Amazon Kindle is only half-baked.

So if you buy a Kindle in the U.K, you will be able to download books wireless as long as you are in a 3G coverage area. While most of the country is in such an area, indoors 3G coverage in the U.K. is patchy, so for example, I would have to download books for my Kindle from my back garden, as there is no 3G coverage in my living room.

However, Amazon's Kindle will the have the advantage of being the only e-book reader with a wireless connection in the U.K., where Sony has yet to introduce the Daily Edition of its e-reader, which has such capabilities. The U.S. Sony Reader Daily Edition will be the second e-book reader after the Kindle to have wireless capabilities.

Notehall, The Solution To All Class Needs Makes An Appearance On TV

Notehall has come up with an innovative platform where the students can both sell and buy notes easily. So no more looking here and there to collect the notes you have missed, all you have to do now is log on to the Notehall website and get all that you want. Moreover, this is not all that you can get from Notehall, you can even get class lectures, study guides and all kinds of material for your classroom requirements.

From its very inception, earlier this year, to its recent television appearance in ABC’s show “Shark Tank,” Notehall has paved a way to immense popularity amongst the students from different streams. Notehall’s appearance on ABC’s show on the 6th of October, 2009 at 8 p.m. is proof enough of its increasing business. Notehall was co-founded by four students DJ Stephan, Shaun Conway, Sadi Chalfoun and Justin Miller, and all of them come from University of Arizona. Of the four DJ Stephan and Shaun Conway came for the television show to display and promote their products.

Well there is great news for all the students who feel that they are missing out on classroom knowledge because of some reason or the other! And even greater news is is that you will no longer need to hanker for notes from your classmates or batch-mates.


The best part about Notehall is that you can get the study material or class lectures at very reasonable rates. Added to this is the advantage of earning money for selling notes and lectures, so while doing good for other you will also be able to earn some bucks. Notehall allows you to get your payment in your preferred mode, you can either take the cash amount or earn credits which will help you to get different kinds of advantages from the site. True to its word, Notehall is truly the “eBay for lecture notes.”

Nobel Prize for chemistry of life; venkatraman ramakrishnan

The 2009 chemistry Nobel Prize has been awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas Steitz and Ada Yonath.

The announcement was made during a press conference at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, during which the three winners were described as "warriors in the struggle of the rising tide of incurable bacterial infections".

Professor Ramakrishnan is based at the Medical Research Council's Molecular Biology Laboratories in Cambridge, UK.

Thomas Steitz is based at Yale University in the US, and Ada Yonath is from the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel.

The prize is to be shared equally between the three scientists, who all contributed to revealing the ribosome's huge and complex molecular structure in remarkable detail.

Professor David Garner, president of the Royal Society of Chemistry, described the three as "great scientists" and said their work was of "enormous significance".

The prize is awarded for the study of the structure and function of the ribosome - the cell's protein factory.

The ribosome translates genetic code into proteins - which are the building blocks of all living organisms.

It is also the main target of new antibiotics, which combat bacterial strains that have developed resistance to traditional antibiotic drugs.

These new drugs work by blocking the function of ribosomes in bacterial cells, preventing them from making the proteins they need to survive.

This is the 101st chemistry Nobel to be awarded since 1901, and Professor Yonath is only the fourth woman to win. She joins an illustrious list of female chemists that includes Marie Curie, who also won the physics award.

During the press conference, Professor Yonath said: "It's above and beyond my dreams and I am very thankful."

President of the American Chemical Society Thomas Lane told the BBC that the award was "a wonderful example of leaders in their disciplines - people from around the world - working towards a common goal and being able to achieve it.

"It shows that as scientists we don't just sit in our dark labs, we come together and share our research."

He added: "With advances in analytical chemistry, computer science and imaging, we now have a valid window into these cellular structures.

"This gives other scientists the knowledge to create new drugs, and new materials to combat disease."

Working together

These scientists and their colleagues have helped build a 3D structure of the ribosome.

In doing so, they solved an important part of the the problem posed by Francis Crick and James Watson when they discovered the twisted double helix DNA structure - how does this code become a living thing?

The work laid foundations for the design of new antibiotics

DNA is made available to the ribosome by "transcription" of genes into chunks of messenger RNA.

In the ribosome, these are read and translated into the various amino acid sequences that make up an organism's proteins.

By looking closely at its structure, scientists are able to study how this translation process works.

The work is based on a technique called x-ray crystallography - where protein molecules are removed from cells, purified and made into crystals that can be examined using x-rays.

Addressing the Nobel press conference by telephone, Professor Yonath said that modern techniques were allowing scientists to look at the structures on the atomic scale - individual bond after individual bond.

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Dalai Lama expenses furor brews

Last month, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan County, Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties and Tainan and Kaohsiung cities jointly issued an invitation to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, asking him to visit Taiwan to hold religious services for those who lost their lives and to comfort the victims of Typhoon Morakot.

Upon receiving the request from the Control Yuan, the MOI sent inquiries to the local governments on Tuesday, a move that riled DPP lawmakers — such as Tainan City’s William Lai (賴清德) and Kaohsiung City’s Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) — who questioned whether it was a retaliatory measure because China had voiced opposition to the visit.

Huang denied the allegation and said both the Control Yuan’s request and the ministry’s inquiries to local governments were part of standard procedure when handling a public petition. Huang said there was no political motive behind it.

So far, Kaohsiung and Tainan counties have replied and said the expenses were covered by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the de facto representative office of the Tibetan government in exile in Taiwan.

The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) yesterday denied allegations by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the media that its request for details of any government money spent on the Dalai Lama’s visit to Taiwan by local governments was politically motivated. “As the government authority in charge of religious affairs, we received a request from the Control Yuan to see if government money was spent by the seven local governments that invited the Dalai Lama to cover his expenses,” Civil Affairs Department Director Huang Li-hsin (黃麗馨) told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday. “The Control Yuan made the request because they received a public petition asking if government money was spent to cover the expenses of the Dalai Lama’s visit and whether this was in violation of the separation of religion and state clause in the Constitution.”

“The Dalai Lama wouldn’t even let me pay for his lunch when we stopped for a lunch break in Jiasian Township (甲仙)” after visiting the disaster-torn Siaolin Village (小林), Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) said.

“Not a cent of the expenses for the Dalai Lama’s visit came out of the Kaohsiung City treasury,” Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said.

Sonam Dorjee, secretary-general of the Tibetan representative office, confirmed that the office had covered the monk’s expenses.

Huang said she did not think it would have been a problem if the local governments had covered the expenses.

“Separation of religion and state as stipulated in the Constitution means that the government is responsible of protecting everyone’s freedom of religion and should refrain from interfering in religion,” Huang said. “Government agencies sponsor religious events on a regular basis, so I don’t see a problem with it.”

That explanation, however, did not convince Taiwan Friends of Tibet chairwoman Chow Mei-li (周美里), who believes the probe should not have started in the first place.

“As the government authority in charge of religious affairs, the MOI should have told the Control Yuan there was no problem, instead of sending inquiries to the local governments,” Chow said.

Chow said she would file similar petitions to question the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission’s sponsoring of a Tibetan Buddhist service to commemorate the typhoon victims at the end of last month and whether President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had violated the separation of religion and state by taking part in several religious services for typhoon victims.
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The Bai Ling Experience

Falling from the Moon

It’s hard not to instantly like Bai Ling, with her languid, deep voice and striking fashion sense which she wears with a nonchalant attitude. She also loves to talk — so much so that I have trouble keeping up, especially when she switches subjects mid-sentence. “Kozuki!” she suddenly exclaims, catching the name of a restaurant over my left shoulder. “Sounds Japanese.” It’s easy to classify her as eccentric with her otherworldly ideas of nature and spirits, however, it’s obvious that she’s not affecting a persona; she believes every word she says.

“I’m totally not in this world,” she admits, “and I feel like I’m not really existing as a human being, but part of me is. I have eight little spirits living inside of me. They’re all different personalities.” According to Bai, most people only know the crazy party girl spirit, with her short skirt and exposed nipples, but that same spirit is fearless and doesn’t care about what anyone else thinks. “She’s fire. She’s a burning fire. That passion, for me, is so magical.”

René S. Garcia Jr.

Contributing Editor

It’s 10:00 p.m. on a slow Sunday evening, and I’m standing outside the Red Corner restaurant in Thai Town, waiting for my interview with Bai Ling to start. I’ve read her blog, looked at her pictures and listened to stories about frequent nipple-slips. I’m prepared for every Hollywood cliché I can think of, but when I see her appear across the parking lot walking unassumingly toward me, she smiles warmly, and every preconception melts away. Suddenly, I just want to know everything about her.

When it comes to reconciling her natural views with the artificial world of Hollywood, Bai dismisses the premise outright. She doesn’t see obstacles; she sees opportunities. Where others may see problems, she sees puzzles that are fun to solve. “I’m taking all the negative words away from life,” she says. “When you take a situation as a difficulty, you become bitter.”

Beyond simply thinking good thoughts, she also tries to view situations fairly from all angles. Recently, she was caught running late for the Toronto premier of her new film, A Beautiful Life, and didn’t have time to find a proper room to slip into her gown. So she used an airport restroom to change, which quickly turned into a bad idea. Women started pouring in, accosting her and wanting to find out if she was Bai Ling. The women pressed her, even after Bai asked them to leave her alone and not look at her while she dressed. Finally, Bai ran flustered to her awaiting limo where she finished getting ready. Then, in a moment rare for most people, she laughed off the situation. “That lady probably thought I was the crazy one since I was naked in the ladies room.”

More than just PR for her film, Bai went to Toronto for a humanitarian cause as well. She participated in the Rally for Kids with Cancer, coming in a respectable 9^th place out of 21. “I was so busy and tired, but I promised I’d go. I just hope all this money will go to the hospital and to the children. No matter what part I supported, if I’m not there, it’s going to be less. So I’m there.”

When it comes to good causes, Bai Ling tries to separate herself from other celebrities by truly being part of the event or situation and taking a very active role. When Taiwan was hit by the Morakot typhoon recently, Bai secured her own passage to the most heavily damaged area, even after she was warned that there would be no press there. For Bai Ling, this was not a PR stunt and she didn’t just want to donate money. She asked for the most difficult job, whether it was cooking food or scrubbing floors. Bai also offered comfort to the survivors by listening to their heartbreaking stories of losing everything. “I held their hands,” she says, “and I felt like their family.”

Adorable ‘teacup pigs’ are latest hit with Brits

‘Fantastic pets’
Their name comes from their size: At birth, the piglets weigh about 9 oz. and are the size of a teacup. At full growth at the age of two, they top out at 12 to 16 inches — about knee-high — and weigh a modest 65 pounds.

“It’s about the size of a small spaniel,” Croft said. “They make fantastic pets. They’re really clean. They’re highly intelligent and just love to be loved. They give so much back to you.”

Pigs are known to be highly intelligent; they beat dogs in animal IQ tests. They’ve also enjoyed surges in popularity as pets before. In the United States, potbellied pigs were something of a fad a generation ago — but their popularity faded when their owners realized that they got rather large and hard to care for.

“People love pigs so much, but it’s almost impossible to keep a full-grown pig in the house,” Croft explained. “Now that we’ve gotten them down to this size, they’ve become extremely popular.”

Teacup pigs, which are also called micropigs, are a mixture of those potbellied pigs with the Tamworth, Kune Kune and Gloucester breeds. When Croft first saw them, she was so smitten she gave up her day job and started breeding them at her Little Pig Farm in England.

Most people go into business to earn a living. Jane Croft did it to literally bring home the bacon.

The 42-year-old breeder has become something of a sensation in her native England, thanks to her unique product line: cute-as-a-button miniature pigs that never grow up.

Croft sat cross-legged Wednesday in a stall filled with straw, cradling a squirming litter of tiny little piggies that will all be going to market. They’re called teacup pigs, she told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira and Ann Curry — and they’re the hottest pet sensation to hit Great Britain in years.

Porking over cash
Mind you, this bacon doesn’t come cheap. The piglets cost up to $1,100 each, and Croft sells them only in pairs and only to people she feels are qualified to keep them. In Great Britain, owners must be licensed to keep livestock, as the pigs are considered to be farm animals.

Don Emmert / AFP/Getty Images Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley in the “Harry Potter” films, is the proud owner of two teacup pigs.

“They have to reach very, very strict criteria,” Croft explained. “I won’t sell to anybody who’s going to keep one alone in a house; they have to be home all the time. They have to have a garden. They have to have company. I don’t like them going on their own. They’re only sold in pairs.”

Since the pigs are highly intelligent, she said, they get bored easily, which is why she will not sell to people who can’t be home to entertain them.

The pigs are also clean. “You can litter-train them like a cat. You can take them for walks,” Croft said. The mini-porkers also are said to be good for people who are allergic to dogs or cats, because they have hair instead of fur.

Popular piggies
So far, the pigs are not officially available in the United States, but it seem just a matter of time before someone starts breeding them. They have the sort of cute quotient that proves irresistible to pet lovers.