[OOC] Through Monstrous Eyes

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--> Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.

Thanks for your interest and remember there are no bad questions. Except for: What kind of underwear are you wearing? Seriously, why would you ask me that... jeez what a freak.

Last edited by Scumbag_Brain on Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Scumbag_Brain
Member for 1 years



Hi there, just came across this and it sounds like it'd be a lot of fun, though I'd thought I'd check on the OOC first.

Would you say a wererat would come under stereotypical high fantasy monsters? Ive seen them a few times in fantasy settings, but they're a bit underrepresented. I have a wererat character that I'd rather like to develop if they'd suit the setting.

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VitaminHeart
Member for 2 years


This is actually pretty interesting and refreshing roleplay premise. I hope you find much support in your indeavors.

I'm a dreamcatcher but only nightmares I caught.

User avatar
ZeroTolerance
Member for 1 years


@Vitaminheart Yes wererats are fine, though, if you are the first lycanthrope to apply you would need to cover the basics of lycanthropy as well. Likewise if someone playing a werewolf beat you to the punch you would have to abide by the rules for lycanthropy created by them.

@Zerotolerance Thanks, dude. I am crossing my fingers. This is my third try on this site so perhaps it will be the charm.

User avatar
Scumbag_Brain
Member for 1 years


I would be fine with that. I have a rough therianthropy mythos in mind anyway, so it shouldn't to be too tough, thanks.

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VitaminHeart
Member for 2 years


If you would allow, I'd love to write up a gnoll character.

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Vio-Lance
Member for 2 years


@Vio Gnolls are classic and therefore fine. There are really only two types of monsters I'd refuse, one are the random fellows like weresheep, animate furniture, and carnivorous broccoli. The other are out of genre creatures like tanuki, chupacabra and xenomorphs.

@Vitamin Sounds good and don't assume from my use of the word 'lycanthropy' that it has to be a disease. They need to be shapeshifters, of course, because that's at the core of the mythos, but how you explain the shapeshifting whether curse, disease, inherited gift or animal soul, is your call.

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Scumbag_Brain
Member for 1 years


Interresting idea, just a couple questions one is their a cs? as i didn't notice one and two can i make a ghost char?

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Iced Fire
Member for 4 years


I must say, I'm very interested in taking part in this. I'd like to do a background for Orcs if you'll allow.

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AgelasticBoy9
Member for 0 years


If I need to edit my character in any way, just tell me, okay? ^-^

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Cerberus1616
Member for 1 years


WHAT?! No carnivorous broccoli!? That's RACIST man, RACIST. I'mma go get all my broccoli homies, and we gonna fu-

Hah. Great. I'll try and stitch up a character soon.

User avatar
Vio-Lance
Member for 2 years


I've always wanted to play as an undead character that had problem keeping their limbs attached, and now I can :D

I'll try to make part of a character tonight, a zombie warlock maybe, I like the look of this rp so far.

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Wake
Member for 1 years



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Woods hoping to resume good play in Abu Dhabi

(AP) ? Tiger Woods says he's starting a season healthy for the first time in at least eight years.

"It's been quite a few years since I've been physically fit," Woods said on Tuesday in his first appearance at the Abu Dhabi Championship.

"So I'm looking forward to getting out there and giving it a full season, which I haven't done in a while."

Woods' confidence got a boost when he ended 2011 by winning his Chevron World Challenge in December for his first title in more than two years.

He's hoping to pick up where he left off against a tough field that includes top-ranked Luke Donald, second-ranked Lee Westwood, defending champion Martin Kaymer and U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy.

"I'm looking forward to this year," Woods said. "That's something that I have to say, because I was able to prepare and get fit enough to prepare last year and towards the end of the year. I demonstrated to myself what I can do with implementing what (coach Sean Foley) wants me to do on the golf swing."

Woods took part in traditional Emirati ayala dancing earlier in the day with Westwood and McIlroy, and was in good spirits for most of the news conference. But he appeared slightly agitated when the questions turned to a book written by Hank Haney, his swing coach for six years.

The book, due out in March, chronicles the time Haney began working with Woods at the Bay Hill Invitational in 2004 until they parted a month after the 2010 Masters, where Woods made his return to golf after being exposed for multiple extramarital affairs that shattered his image and led to divorce.

Woods said he was unhappy that those he had worked with, including Haney and former caddie Steve Williams, had spoken out.

"Certainly it's something that I have to deal with. I get asked at press conferences what these guys have done, and that's just part of it," he said. "Am I disappointed? Yes. Frustrated? Certainly, because I have to answer the questions. ... So I've answered them and I guess I'll have to continue doing it. Hopefully, this will come to an end."

After missing much of 2011 with injuries, Woods said he finally was "healthy enough to practice" toward the end of last season and it paid off.

He finished third at the Australian Open, and then delivered the clinching point for the American team in the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne before winning the Chevron. With the win, Woods moved up to 25th in the world after falling outside the top 50 last year.

"I think Australia was pretty big for me to go down there for two weeks and play in that type of wind, and to hit the ball as well as I did, I really controlled my golf ball for two weeks, and you know, I think that led to what I did at the World Challenge," Woods said. "I hit the ball just as well there, and made a couple of putts, and especially on the last two holes there. You know, consequently, got a W."

The 14-time major winner would only say his goal this year was to win more than he had last year, and was hopeful one of those victories would be another major. He is four short of Jack Nicklaus' record.

Woods has switched his season-opener from San Diego to Abu Dhabi this year and acknowledged his scheduling decisions are influenced by the appearances fees he's offered. Woods refused to say how much he was getting at Abu Dhabi, but unlike the U.S. PGA Tour, the European Tour allows for appearance fees which can reach into the millions of dollars.

"You know, I'd have to say yes, it certainly does," he said on the influence of appearance fees. "That's one of the reasons why a lot of the guys who play in Europe, they do play in Europe, and they do get paid. I think the only tour that doesn't pay is the U.S. tour. But, you know, a lot of the guys play all around the world and they do get appearance fees."

Woods praised Donald, calling his winning the money titles on the U.S. and European Tours last season a "heck of an achievement." But he saved his highest praise for the great Seve Ballesteros, who died in May following a three-year battle with a brain tumor.

Woods said the five-time major winner was the most talented golfer he ever played alongside.

"Never seen a person do the things with the golf ball that he was able to do and the creativeness that he was able to do," Woods said. "To me, he certainly had the most talent that I had ever seen in person. I never saw (Ben) Hogan hit a golf ball. Never saw (Byron) Nelson hit a golf ball. I never saw Jack in his prime. But I did see Seve when I first came out here, and I was able to play with him a few times; it was impressive."

___

Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mcasey1

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-24-GLF-Abu-Dhabi-Championship-Woods/id-9da8141bf08844e0a4f75aa7cdf43ef1

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Comodo Antivirus 2012

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Between its straight antivirus and behavior-based Defense+ system, Comodo Antivirus 2012 blocked all threats in testing. It's not so good at cleaning up, though, and it also blocked valid programs.


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Dr. Drew gets juiced up on 'Lifechangers'

The CW

Dr. Drew has an adverse reaction to Go-Go Juice.

By Randee Dawn

Dr. Drew Pinsky of "Dr. Drew's Lifechangers" is pretty unflappable -- and why not? He's had years of experience dealing with celebrities and their sometimes off-the-wall addictions, and is usually the composed, cool-headed center of rationality.

But you haven't seen Dr. Drew until you've seen him try some of Honey Boo Boo Child's Go-Go Juice, as he does in the clip below, from "Lifechangers."

"It tastes like apple juice!" says Child, whose birth name is Alana, and who stars in "Toddlers & Tiaras."

OK, he doesn't exactly get down on the floor and spin around (as the pageant princess has been known to do). But having had a small sip of the "energy drink and caffeine drink" combo Alana's mom put together, he starts immediately stumbling over his words.

"I'm kind of starting to sweat a little bit ... I can't speak, my tongue is getting thick ... I can't talk because I've got this Go-Go juice making my mouth thick," he said.

"I'm having trouble, I'm starting to lose it," he added, spitting a little out.

Talk about a life-changer!

Honey Boo Boo Child, her mother and the Go-Go Juice make an appearance on "Dr. Drew's Lifechangers" on Feb. 2 on The CW.

What do you think about giving a young child an energy/caffeine drink combo? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10215721-dr-drew-chokes-up-over-go-go-juice-on-lifechangers

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Magnetic soap hope for oil spills

An international team of scientists has demonstrated the first soap that responds to magnets.

This means the soap and the materials that it dissolves can be removed easily by applying a magnetic field.

Experts say that with further development, it could find applications in cleaning up oil spills and waste water.

Details of the new soap, which contains iron atoms, are reported in the chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie.

It is similar to ordinary soap, but the atoms of iron help form tiny particles that are easily removed magnetically.

"If you'd have said about 10 years ago to a chemist: 'Let's have some soap that responds to magnets', they'd have looked at you with a very blank face," said co-author Julian Eastoe of the University of Bristol.

He told BBC News: "We were interested to see, if you went back to the chemical drawing board with the tool-kit of modern synthetic chemistry, if you could...design one."

Iron clad

Soap is made of long molecules with ends that behave differently: One end of the molecule is attracted to water and the other is repelled by it.

The "detergent" action of soap comes from its ability to attach to oily, grimy surfaces, with the "water-hating" end breaking up molecules at that surface. The soap molecules then gather up into droplets in which all the "water-loving" ends face outward.

Prof Eastoe and his team started with detergent molecules that he said were "very similar to what you'd find in your kitchen or bathroom" - one of which can be found in mouthwash.

The team found a way to simply add iron atoms into the molecules. The droplets that the soap formed were attracted to a magnet, just as iron filings would be.

But single iron atoms would not behave as tiny individual magnets, so some other process had to be at work. To get a look at what was going on in the chemical process required a view at the molecular level.

So the team sent their samples to the Institute Laue Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble, France, where an intense beam of the sub-atomic particles known as neutrons shed light on the matter.

They saw that the iron particles were clumping neatly together into iron nanoparticles, tiny clumps of iron that could in fact respond to a magnetic field.

Prof Eastoe said the research was still at the laboratory stages but was already the subject of discussion.

"The research at the University of Bristol in this field is about how we can take the ordinary and give it extraordinary properties by chemical design," he said.

"We have uncovered the principle by which you can generate this kind of material and now it's back to the drawing board to make it better."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16681106

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France passes genocide law, faces Turkish reprisals (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? France approved on Monday a bill making it illegal to deny the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago was genocide, sparking angry retaliation from Turkey which threatened a "total rupture" of diplomatic ties.

Lawmakers in the upper house (Senate) voted 127 to 86 in favor of the draft law outlawing genocide denial after almost six hours of debate. The lower house had backed it in December, prompting Ankara to cancel all economic, political and military meetings with Paris and recall its ambassador for consultations.

The bill had been made more general so that it outlawed the denial of any genocide, partly in the hope of appeasing the Turks. But Ankara condemned the bill's approval and said it would take permanent steps against France, a NATO ally.

The bill now goes to President Nicolas Sarkozy to be ratified. Turkey says the bill is a bid by Sarkozy to win the votes of 500,000 ethnic Armenians in France in the two-round presidential vote on April 22 and May 6.

"Turkey is committed to taking all the necessary steps against this unjust disposition which reduces basic human values and public conscience to nothing," Turkey's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Turkish ambassador in Paris, Tahsin Burcuoglu, said the vote would lead to a "total rupture" of relations between the two countries. Ankara could seek to downgrade its diplomatic presence in Paris.

"When I say total rupture I include things like I can leave definitively," he told reporters.

"You can also expect that now diplomatic relations will be at the level of charges d'affaires not ambassadors anymore."

Charge d'affaires is the lowest rank of diplomatic representative recognized under the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.

Armenia, backed by many historians and parliaments, says about 1.5 million Christian Armenians were killed in what is now eastern Turkey during World War One in a deliberate policy of genocide ordered by the Ottoman government.

The Ottoman empire was dissolved after the end of the war, but successive Turkish governments and the vast majority of Turks feel the charge of genocide is a direct insult to their nation. Ankara argues there was heavy loss of life on both sides during fighting in the area.

"This day will be written in gold not only in the history of friendship between the Armenian and French peoples, but also in the annals of the history of the protection of human rights," said Armenia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edward Nalbandian.

Earlier, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg that Ankara would take new and permanent measures unless the bill was rejected and compared it to the Inquisition in the Middle Ages which was created by the Catholic Church to stamp out heresy.

Arinc said Turkey could take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights.

It mandates a maximum 45,000-euro ($58,000) fine and a year in jail for offenders. France passed a law recognizing the killing of Armenians as genocide in 2001.

WAVING VOTING CARDS

About 200 Franco-Turks protested outside the Senate. They waved their French voting cards and banners with slogans including: "It's not up to politicians to invent history".

The Socialist Party, which has a majority in the upper house, and Sarkozy's UMP party, which put forward the bill, backed the legislation.

A non-binding Senate recommendation last week said the law would be unconstitutional and, after weeks of aggressive Turkish lobbying, there were suggestions the outcome would be closer.

Opponents in the Senate said the law would not encourage the Turks to recognize the Armenian genocide and would do nothing to help relations between the two nations.

"It is an unbearable law which calls into question historical research," said centre-left senator Jacques Mezard.

Sarkozy is expected to ratify the bill before parliament is suspended in February ahead of the presidential election.

It could still be rejected if some 60 lawmakers agree to appeal the decision at the country's highest court and that body considers the text unconstitutional. The Constitutional Council would have one month to make its decision.

Sarkozy wrote to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan last week saying the bill did not single out any country and that Paris was aware of the "suffering endured by the Turkish people" during the final years of the Ottoman empire.

European Union candidate Turkey could not impose economic sanctions on France, given its World Trade Organisation membership and customs union accord with Europe.

But the row could cost France state-to-state contracts and would create diplomatic tension as Turkey takes an increasingly influential role in the Middle East.

(Additional reporting by Lucien Libert in Paris, Gilbert Reilhac in Strasbourg and Daren Butler in Istanbul; editing by Robert Woodward)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_france_turkey_genocide

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Compounds in mate tea kills cancer cells | ScienceBlog.com

Could preventing colon cancer be as simple as developing a taste for yerba mate tea? In a recent University of Illinois study, scientists showed that human colon cancer cells die when they are exposed to the approximate number of bioactive compounds present in one cup of this brew, which has long been consumed in South America for its medicinal properties.

?The caffeine derivatives in mate tea not only induced death in human colon cancer cells, they also reduced important markers of inflammation,? said Elvira de Mejia, a U of I associate professor of food chemistry and food toxicology.

That?s important because inflammation can trigger the steps of cancer progression, she said.

In the in vitro study, de Mejia and former graduate student Sirima Puangpraphant isolated, purified, and then treated human colon cancer cells with caffeoylquinic acid (CQA) derivatives from mate tea. As the scientists increased the CQA concentration, cancer cells died as a result of apoptosis.

?Put simply, the cancer cell self-destructs because its DNA has been damaged,? she said.

The ability to induce apoptosis, or cell death, is a promising tactic for therapeutic interventions in all types of cancer, she said.

de Mejia said they were able to identify the mechanism that led to cell death. Certain CQA derivatives dramatically decreased several markers of inflammation, including NF-kappa-B, which regulates many genes that affect the process through the production of important enzymes. Ultimately cancer cells died with the induction of two specific enzymes, caspase-3 and caspase-8, de Mejia said.

?If we can reduce the activity of NF-kappa-B, the important marker that links inflammation and cancer, we?ll be better able to control the transformation of normal cells to cancer cells,? she added.

The results of the study strongly suggest that the caffeine derivatives in mate tea have potential as anti-cancer agents and could also be helpful in other diseases associated with inflammation, she said.

But, because the colon and its microflora play a major role in the absorption and metabolism of caffeine-related compounds, the anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects of mate tea may be most useful in the colon.

?We believe there?s ample evidence to support drinking mate tea for its bioactive benefits, especially if you have reason to be concerned about colon cancer. Mate tea bags are available in health food stores and are increasingly available in large supermarkets,? she added.

The scientists have already completed and will soon publish the results of a study that compares the development of colon cancer in rats that drank mate tea as their only source of water with a control group that drank only water.

This in vitro study was published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, vol. 55, pp. 1509-1522, in 2011. Co-authors include Sirima Puangpraphant, now an assistant professor at Kasetsart University in Thailand; Greg Potts, an undergraduate student of the U of I; and Mark A. Berhow and Karl Vermillion of the USDA, ARS, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois. The work was funded by the U of I Research Board and Puangpraphant?s Royal Thai Government Scholarship.

Source: http://scienceblog.com/51739/compounds-in-mate-tea-kills-cancer-cells/

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States are all over the map on health overhaul (AP)

A list of states and their uninsured population, grouped according to the progress they have made in establishing health insurance exchanges, a linchpin for expanding coverage under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law.

ADOPTED A PLAN

State Uninsured Population (Est.)

California 7,471,382

Colorado 817,264

Connecticut 390,862

Washington, D.C. 65,253

Hawaii 102,115

Maryland 734,044

Massachusetts 214,894

Nevada 555,193

Oregon 677,599

Rhode Island 121,675

Utah 424,220

Vermont 61,152

Washington 812,012

West Virginia 265,677

SUBSTANTIAL PROGRESS

State Uninsured Population (Est.)

Alabama 696,118

Arizona 1,305,846

Delaware 114,609

Illinois 1,794,685

Indiana 855,635

Iowa 291,718

Maine 146,161

Michigan 1,336,484

Minnesota 453,310

Mississippi 529,703

Nebraska 225,830

New Jersey 1,333,880

New Mexico 506,466

New York 2,780,202

North Carolina 1,583,235

Pennsylvania 1,319,094

Virginia 1,023,247

OUTLOOK UNCLEAR

State Uninsured Population (Est.)

Alaska 128,074

Georgia 1,992,002

Idaho 239,073

Kansas 361,310

Kentucky 726,674

Missouri 780,077

Montana 178,785

North Dakota 74,092

Ohio 1,578,061

Oklahoma 596,817

South Carolina 753,650

South Dakota 108,011

Tennessee 981,670

Texas 6,654,183

Wisconsin 562,376

Wyoming 83,587

NO SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS

State Uninsured Population (Est.)

Arkansas 545,192

Florida 3,951,924

Louisiana 810,894

New Hampshire 136,023

___

Sources: Associated Press, Urban Institute

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_us/us_health_overhaul_states_list

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Baseball analogies dominate media?s debate analysis (The Cutline)

Gingrich lines up King's fastball as Romney looks on. (AP/File)

The Republican primary debate in Charleston, South Carolina on Thursday night was a slugfest, with Newt Gingrich leading off the ballgame with a home run off CNN starter John King, who tried to slip an "open marriage" fastball by the former House Speaker.

That is, if you were to borrow a baseball analogy--which the media has been all-to-eager to do lately.

"I think Gingrich saw a fastball coming," CNN's David Gergen told Anderson Cooper. "And in front of this audience, he smacked it right out of the park."

Gergen wasn't the only pundit mining the national pastime for quips.

"Newt did knock it out of the park," Ari Fleischer said later on CNN. "Well, I think, putting it in baseball terms, Mitt Romney is a doubles hitter. He hit more doubles tonight, but he's not hitting enough doubles to win South Carolina. Rick Santorum had his best night yet -- he hit a triple."

Fleischer wasn't done.

"Newt swings for the fences, and he connected tonight," he said. "Also, when he swings, he can have some spectacular whiffs. And we don't know from day to day if he's going to hit one or strike out."

John Baldoni of CBS' "Money Watch" thought Newt cleared the fences, too: "Newt Gingrich hit a home run the other evening in South Carolina when he took moderator John King's question about his former wife's allegation of his request for an open marriage and turned it into a media bashing moment."

Boston.com's Garrett Quinn put it another way: "Gingrich has found a way to turn what should be a single into a home run. Tonight, though, was a grand slam for him."

Of course, Thursday's debate was not the first time the media likened Gingrich to Babe Ruth. Earlier this week, Ed Rollins said Gingrich smacked a "home run" during Saturday's Fox News-hosted debate, turning around a question about race from Juan Williams.? "I think it's put him back in the game," Gingrich said. "He looks strong."

A blogger for Norcalblogs.com took the baseball analogy even deeper:

Gingrich hit home run after home run, but his biggest hit came at the expense of Juan Williams. Juan pitched a race baiting fast ball that Newt hit with the sweet spot of his bat. When he finished, the crowd erupted [in] the first ever standing ovation at a debate. Fox News was forced to take a commercial break to calm things down. It wasn't his only big hit, but it was his best.

On Thursday, Fleischer added: "To use the baseball expression we started with here, I think we're into the fourth inning with too many players on the field, maybe three. So people thought maybe the game would be over here after three races, three innings, and Romney would win it. If he wins in South Carolina, that's the likelihood. I don't think that's going to happen."

Then again, it's anybody's ballgame.

Other popular Yahoo! News stories:
? No joke: Stephen Colbert ahead of Gary Johnson in national poll
? Questions about Gingrich's personal life, Romney's wealth dominate debate
? Newt Gingrich mauls CNN's John King for asking about 'open marriage'

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20120120/bs_yblog_thecutline/baseball-analogies-dominate-medias-debate-analysis

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Blues singer Etta James dies at 73 (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Etta James, the influential 1950s rhythm-and-blues singer best known for her show-stopping hit "At Last," died on Friday from complications of leukemia in a California hospital surrounded by her family. She was 73.

Her death prompted tributes from numerous musicians and artists who were influenced by her singing, from pop star Mariah Carey to Aretha Franklin and legendary rock band The Doors.

James died in her home town of Riverside, California, east of Los Angeles, said her manager and friend of some 30 years, Lupe De Leon. She would have turned 74 on Wednesday.

"She passed away this morning. She was with her husband and her sons," said De Leon.

James was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago and had been in failing health for a number of years. Her live-in doctor said in December she was terminally ill with leukemia. James also suffered from diabetes, kidney problems and dementia and was hospitalized late in 2011 because she was struggling to breathe.

The three time Grammy-award winning R&B singer saw numerous ups-and-downs in her career and personal life. She struggled with obesity and heroin addiction, ran a hot-check scheme and had troubled relationships with men, including some gangsters. Her weight ballooned, and in 2003 she underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost more than 200 pounds.

Yet in the music industry, among fellow R&B artists and rock icons, James' career was legendary. With songs like "The Wallflower" and "Good Rockin' Daddy," the three-time Grammy winner was a key figure in the early days of rock 'n' roll, and her signature song, the 1961 ballad "At Last," proved her mastery of the blues.

Carey, one of dozens of musicians paying tribute on Twitter on Friday, said, "Rest in peace to one of the world's most influential singers Etta James, you will be missed."

Beyonce, who was slammed by James in 2009 for singing "At Last" at the inaugural ball for U.S. President Barack Obama, said on Friday she was fortunate to have met "such a queen."

"Singing her music inspired me to be a stronger artist. When she effortlessly opened her mouth, you could hear her pain and triumph," Beyonce said on her official website.

Aretha Franklin called James "an American original." "When Etta SUNG, you heard it!" Franklin said in a statement.

The Recording Academy, which gives out the Grammys, said James left behind a dynamic legacy. "She will forever be remembered for her timeless ballad 'At Last,' and a powerful voice that will echo around the world for generations to come," academy president Neil Portnow said in a statement.

Other tributes came from LeAnn Rimes, Pink, Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill, Chaka Khan, Simon LeBon of Duran Duran, hip-hop producer Russell Simmons and British blues-rock singer Steve Winwood. The Doors called James "one of the world's legendary R&B icons."

POWER AND PAIN

James sang with a mixture of power and pain that led veteran musical producer Jerry Wexler to call her "the greatest of all modern blues singers ... the undisputed Earth Mother."

But throughout her long career she diversified into mainstream blues, soul and R&B. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

"Etta James is simply one of the best singers I've ever heard," singer-guitarist Bonnie Raitt wrote in Rolling Stone magazine. "... Etta is earthy and gritty, ribald and out-there in a way that few performers have the guts to be."

James' last album, "The Dreamer," was released in 2011. She spent the latter part of her life at home in California.

She was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles on January 25, 1938, to an unmarried teenager who told her that her father was legendary pool shark Rudolph Wanderone, better known as Minnesota Fats. James told CNN she introduced herself to Wanderone in 1987 but was unable to confirm he was her father.

James sang gospel in the church choir and stood out even as a 5-year-old. By 1954, she recorded "Roll With Me Henry" with two other girls in a trio called The Peaches.

The group was discovered by bandleader Johnny Otis, and their song, renamed "The Wallflower," topped R&B charts in 1955. The Peaches eventually split up, but James continued recording and later that year "Good Rockin' Daddy" hit the charts.

Otis died on Tuesday in the Los Angeles area, age 90.

In the 1960s, James signed with Chicago's legendary Chess Records label and sang songs like "At Last" and "Trust in Me" that were backed by orchestras. But she never strayed too far from her gospel roots, as evidenced by 1962's "Something's Got a Hold of Me."

Over the decades, James' hit the R&B charts with 30 singles, and placed nine of those songs in pop music's top 40. She has often been cited as influencing singers including Raitt, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner.

James won her first Grammy in 1995 for her album, "Mystery Lady: The Songs of Billie Holiday." She also won Grammys in 2003 and 2005, as well as a lifetime achievement award in 2003 from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Grammys.

She is survived by her husband, Artis Mills, two sons Donto and Sametto who played in James' backing band, and four grandchildren.

(Reporting By Bill Trott and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/en_nm/us_ettajames

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