Zimmerman police video in Trayvon case raises questions

Forensic experts say newly released video by police of the man who shot Trayvon Martin raises more questions than it answers — but that's not stopping droves of amateur sleuths on TV, Twitter and Facebook from scrutinizing it anyway.
"I think the public should not draw any conclusions from this at all," said Grant Fredericks, a former police officer who headed the forensic video unit for the Vancouver Police Department.

The video should be just a fraction of the evidence available to police as they investigate George Zimmerman's claim that he shot and killed Trayvon, 17, after the teenager allegedly punched the neighborhood watch volunteer in the nose and slammed his head against the ground, Fredericks said.
The Feb. 26 shooting in Sanford, Fla., has brought national attention because Trayvon's family claims Zimmerman killed the unarmed youth after racially stereotyping him. Trayvon was black. Police say Zimmerman is white; his family says he is Hispanic.
Zimmerman's brother, Robert Zimmerman Jr., told CNN Thursday that reports his brother was chasing the teen are "absolutely false" and that he "was not patrolling the neighborhood. He was going to a store, Target."

Robert Zimmerman said the voice heard screaming on 911 tapes is that of his brother, who acted to save his own life. He said George Zimmerman "was very disappointed that none of the neighbors had come out" to help him. He said his brother would have been dead "if he had not acted decisively and instantaneously.''
The police security camera video shows Zimmerman exiting a patrol car and entering the Sanford Police Department about 35 minutes after the shooting. Images of Zimmerman's head and face reveal no obvious cuts or gashes, but at one point, a police officer inspects the back of his head. Zimmerman's lawyer, Craig Sonner, told NBC's Today the video supports his client's story because the officer may have been looking at an injury.

The public weighed in on social media sites. Many expressed disbelief at Zimmerman's claim that he fired in self-defense, and pointed to the grainy video as proof.
Trayvon's family and supporters say Zimmerman's lack of apparent injury in the video shows he lied about the teen attacking him.
Forensic video expert David Notowitz, founder of the National Center for Audio and Video Forensics, says much work remains before investigators can draw evidence from the video. "Right now, people are jumping to frantic conclusions," he said.

5 Reasons Why Men Need Beauty Sleep, Too

The battle of the sexes has made its way into the bedroom in recent years, prompting even Arianna Huffington to weigh in on the debate over who needs more sleep. Though women hold the title in her opinion, relying more on sleep to exercise good judgement, creativity and to realize their full potential, experts say quality sleep is just as critical for men as well.

"As far as men go, the health aspects of sleep are quite important," says Joe Ojile, M.D., a pulmonary and sleep specialist in St. Louis and chairman of the National Sleep Foundation's education committee.

"In people who deprive themselves of sleep, we see increased infections," Ojile says. "There's a reduction in the ability of the cells that kill germs -- they're called killer cells -- and they don't work as well," he says. It's just one of the many consequences of not getting enough sleep that researchers have been able to hone in on over the years.

According to National Sleep Foundation's 2010 "Sleep In America" survey, African Americans reported the least amount of sleep on average, during both the work week and on weekends, than their white and Asian counterparts.

"There are people who believe that to be sleep deprived and to take away hours of sleep to do something else is a good thing, or it shows that you're really tough or macho, and in reality it's fraught with consequences," Ojile says.

Here, he explains some additional risk factors of not getting enough sleep and the impact they have on men in particular.
"If you don't sleep correctly, your ability to get fit is more challenging," Ojile says, explaining how adequate sleep works to enhance men's ability to have more efficient workouts.

Researchers at the University of Chicago Medical School have found that sleep deprivation can have a big impact on basic metabolism, with lack of sleep slowing glucose metabolism by as much as 30 to 40 percent.

In the study, levels of the stress hormone cortisol were also higher during sleep deprivation periods, which has been linked to memory impairment, age-related insulin resistance, and impaired recovery in athletes.

Ojile says he's seen adequate anecdotal evidence in his practice with coaches reporting a reduction in stress and strain injuries among athletes they train.

Shaima Alawadi Dead: Iraqi Woman Who Was Severely Beaten In California Home Dies

EL CAJON, Calif. — A 32-year-old woman from Iraq who was found severely beaten next to a threatening note saying "go back to your country" died on Saturday.

Hanif Mohebi, the director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he met with Shaima Alawadi's family members in the morning and was told that she was taken off life support around 3 p.m.

"The family is in shock at the moment. They're still trying to deal with what happened," Mohebi said.

Alawadi, a mother of five, had been hospitalized since her 17-year-old daughter found her unconscious Wednesday in the family's house in El Cajon, police Lt. Steve Shakowski said.

The daughter, Fatima Al Himidi, told KUSI-TV her mother had been beaten on the head repeatedly with a tire iron, and that the note said "go back to your country, you terrorist."

Addressing the camera, the tearful daughter asked: "You took my mother away from me. You took my best friend away from me. Why? Why did you do it?"

Police said the family had found a similar note earlier this month but did not report it to authorities.

Al Himidi told KGTV-TV her mother dismissed the first note, found outside the home, as a child's prank.

A family friend, Sura Alzaidy, told UT San Diego () that the attack apparently occurred after the father took the younger children to school. Alzaidy told the newspaper the family is from Iraq, and that Alawadi is a "respectful modest muhajiba," meaning she wears the traditional hijab, a head scarf.
Investigators said they believe the assault is an isolated incident.

"A hate crime is one of the possibilities, and we will be looking at that," Lt. Mark Coit said. "We don't want to focus on only one issue and miss something else."

The family had lived in the house in San Diego County for only a few weeks, after moving from Michigan, Alzaidy said. Alzaidy told the newspaper her father and Alawadi's husband had previously worked together in San Diego as private contractors for the U.S. Army, serving as cultural advisers to train soldiers who were going to be deployed to the Middle East.

Mohebi said the family had been in the United States since the mid-1990s.

He said it was unfortunate that the family didn't report the initial threatening note.

"Our community does face a lot of discriminatory, hate incidents and don't always report them," Mohebi said. "They should take these threats seriously and definitely call local law enforcement."

El Cajon, northeast of downtown San Diego, is home to some 40,000 Iraqi immigrants, the second largest such community in the U.S. after Detroit.

Austin Carroll, Indiana High School Student, Expelled For Tweeting Profanity

An Indiana high school senior has been expelled for a Tweet he says was posted from home on his personal account.
"One of my tweets was, f--- is one of this f---ing words you can f---ing put anywhere in a f---ing sentence and it still f---ing makes sense," Garrett High School senior Austin Carroll told Indiana's NewsCenter.

The expulsion comes when Carroll is on the home stretch toward graduation. Carroll's mother Pam Smith said she doesn't agree with her son's Tweet, but doesn't agree with an expulsion either. To her, a suspension lasting several days is more appropriate.

Carroll says he doesn't think he should be punished by the school for what he posts on his own time and on his own computer. The student is finishing high school at an alternative school and will be able to graduate.

"I thought it was pretty funny, the school didn't think so, they thought it was inappropriate," Carroll told Indiana's NewsCenter. "I think it's inappropriate, too, but I just did it to be funny…. I just want to be able to go back to regular school, go to prom and go to everything that a regular senior would get to do in their senior year."

Carroll's expulsion follows another incident at an Indiana school in which two students faced similar disciplinary action in January for creating fake Twitter accounts impersonating their principal. Tweets from the accounts, the Indianapolis Star reported, were sexually and racially charged.

School districts across the country have implemented or are considering policies that opens dialogue on what the school's role is in social media and what action should -- or shouldn't -- be taken against what students and teachers post online outside of the classroom.
A bill that would allow schools to punish students for off-campus activities has advanced in the Indiana legislature, permitting schools to suspend or expel students for engaging in activities away from school and after hours that "may reasonably be considered to be an interference with school purposes or an educational function."

West Virginia recently adopted an anti-bullying policy that would punish students with detention or suspension for "vulgar or offensive speech" online if it disrupts school, and the U.S. Supreme Court last month let stand rulings that said schools could not discipline two Pennsylvania students for MySpace parodies of their principals that the students created at home.

A Kansas high school senior made the news when she tweeted disparaging remarks about Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, posting to her account, "Just made mean comments at gov brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot." Emma Sullivan was called into the principal's office, reprimanded and asked to write the governor a formal apology. Sullivan refused, and Brownback later issued an apology for his staff "overreacting" to the Tweet.

Disciplinary action for disagreeable online posts are not unique to students. A Florida high school's "Teacher of the Year" was suspended last August for an anti-gay post he wrote on his Facebook page. On the west coast, a new policy at the Los Angeles Unified School District states that teachers can be disciplined for "posting inappropriate, threatening, harassing, racist, biased, derogatory, disparaging or bullying comments toward or about any student, employee or associated person on any website."

Madonna At Ultra: Pop Icon Makes Surprise Appearance At Electronic Dance Music Festival (VIDEO)

Madonna is pulling out all the stops in advance of her new album's release. The singer took to the stage Saturday at Miami's Ultra Music Festival, one of the biggest electronic dance music events in the United States.

"How many people in this crowd have seen molly?" Madge asked the crowd before introducing Avicii, the night's headlining act. "Molly" is the slang term for MDMA, or ecstasy, a drug that's popular among rave goers.

Avicii, the 22-year-old house music phenom behind the cross-genre hit song "Levels," then debuted a new remix of "Girl's Gone Wild," a new cut of Madonna's upcoming album, MDNA.

The album is due out in stores Monday, and the pop icon's surprise appearance at an event that was not only attended by as many as 150,000 dance music fans but simultaneously streamed online certainly can't hurt sales.

"I've been here in spirit for many years, but it's good to finally be standing on the stage, looking at all you people who have come here from all around the world," she added. "In my world the words 'music' and 'dance' are not separated. Electronic music has been a part of my life since the beginning of my career. I can honestly say that a DJ saved my life."

While the fact that she showed up in person was unexpected, Madonna's ties to the electronic dance community span decades. The entirety of her catalogue has a strong electro current running through it, and classics like "Vogue" still fit comfortably in any contemporary DJ's set. For MDNA, Madonna even corralled French house music producer Martin Solveig (of "Hello" fame) to provide the instrumentals for a number of songs.

Just last week, Madge released the visuals for "Girls Gone Wild." The video begins with Madonna reciting the Catholic Act of Contrition, a prayer of repentance, and quickly moves to a group of nearly-naked male dancers grinding up on the singer. Later, one dancer dons a crown of thorns.

YouTube put an age restriction on the video, a move which Madonna brushed aside as petty in a live chat with Jimmy Fallon. "I'm supposed to be a girl gone wild in the video," she said. "How could you go wild and not grind? This is the question that people should be asking."

So far, the album has received mixed reviews. Entertainment Weekly called it "exhausting," bashing tracks such as "I Don't Give A" as "ridiculous." Still, it's unlikely that the queen of pop's album will be a total flop.

And with song titles like "I F----d Up," at least she's still making waves.

Angelina Jolie Responds To Leg Meme: 'I Didn't Pay Attention To It'

Much ado was made post-Oscars about Angelina Jolie's bare leg emerging from her inky black Versace gown, spawning one of the Internet's silliest memes: Jolie-ing. The leg (right, if you must know) subsequently generated its own Twitter handle and was even superimposed onto great artworks like Leonardo da Vinci's "Vitruvian Man," all to hilarious effect.

 Angelina Jolie

But what does the actress have to say about it? Turns out, not much. In an interview with The Huffington Post, Jolie says good-humoredly:

   I honestly didn't pay attention to it. You know what I mean? I don't watch those TV shows and if I go online and see something about myself, I don't click on it. And the people I surround myself with don't really talk about that kind of stuff. [Laughs]. I heard something, but I didn't pay any attention. It's as simple as being a woman picking a dress you like and having a night, and not really thinking about anything else.