1. The Sect of Gadget HackwrenchGolly. If you're going to worship one of the main characters from Disney's long-canceled Chip 'N' Dale: Rescue Rangers, Gadget is probably the best option. A group of Russian individuals, apparently ignoring the fact that her inventions usually failed at particularly inconvenient moments in nearly every episode, decided that the animated begoggled tinkerer was worthy of more than mere admiration.Membership activities for the Sect of Gadget Hackwrench include plastering large Gadget stickers all about Russia, singing to and playing music for a Gadget poster under the cover of night, having group meals (attended by said poster), and maintaining utter devotion to a cartoon mouse. Followers, when asked "But why?" say Gadget Hackwrench is "strict, cute, optimistic and her level of technical knowledge is unachievable for a mortal being."

2. The Church of the Latter-Day DudeMaybe you think building a religious sect from the philosophy of a fictional movie character is silly. Yeah, well, y'know. That's just, like uhh... your opinion, man. And 150,000 ordained Dudeist priests would disagree.The self-proclaimed "slowest-growing religion in the world," based on Dude Lebowski from The Big Lebowski, is just like Chinese Taoism, "before it went all weird with magic tricks and body fluids." So sit back, abide, and whatever you do, don't call female Dudeists "dudette." That's not cool.

3. Matrixism / New MatrixismDo you have your own hacker alias and a lingering suspicion that our world is a simulated reality? You may be a Redpill. That's OK! The terms of Matrixism clearly state that students of the science and philosophy of the Matrix need not renounce any other religious views (or sports, or even pornography) in their quest to become the One. So go ahead and ponder the semi-subjective, multi-layered nature of reality, have a sandwich with Neo, but try to brush up on your quantum physics basics and elementary calculus skills before deciding if you really want to know whether the matrix is real. , an official "tool" of Matrixism, should help. For deeper philosophical reading, see The Promulgation of Universal Peace, which New Matrixists cite as the earliest explicit reference to the Matrix way back in 1911.

4. JediismIf you're thinking of becoming an ordained clergyperson of the Jedi faith, put away your childish dreams of lightsaber battles and Obi Wan cosplay. According to the official site for The Temple of the Jedi Order, "We are real Jedi... George Lucas' Jedi are fictional characters that exist within a literary and cinematic universe." True Jediism is for those who wish to be instruments of peace and as such all practitioners must agree to live by the Jedi Creed and an adapted list of beliefs from ReligiousTolerance.org. A 2001 census in Australia recorded 70,509 self-proclaimed Jedi Knights, but nearby New Zealand holds the record for highest per capita rate of Jedi citizens, with 1.5 percent of the population listing themselves as such in 2001.

5. ArceismIf you choose Pokmon, you can also choose to join the semi-serious (mostly-not) community of polytheists who worship Legendary Pokmon as deities and believe the world was created by Arceus, who was emerged from an egg in a place where there was nothing. Collecting Pokmon memorabilia is also strongly encouraged.

6. Society of CylonCylonism is a sort of philosophical takeaway from Battlestar Galactica. Odds are most members of the Society of Cylon more closely resemble the thirteen humanoid models than the robotic Centurions (or the reptilian race of creatures who created them), but at any rate there's no focus on the destruction of humankind; rather the Society focuses on the responsibility of all sentient beings to secure a healthy future for the human race, with a focus on scientific progress and the advancement of "liberty and knowledge of humanity."

7. Church of All WorldsIt turns out that a book about the first man from Mars to make his way to Earth can change the world, or at least the way some people look at it. When Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land was published in 1961, there was no expectation that a fictional church founded in the novel would be recognized in real life by the federal government six years later as a legitimate religion. The Church of All Worlds is a neo-pagan organization based on spiritual and social concepts outlined in Heinlein's work, emphasizing "living in harmony with Nature, self-actualization, deep friendship and positive sexuality." An interesting subsidiary group had a few minutes of fame in the 1980s after creating unicorns by manipulating the horn buds of (goat) kids. Ringling Brothers adopted a few and took them on tour.

8. The Church of Ed WoodThe followers of Woodism look to the life of late film director Ed Wood for guidance, seeing him as a savior and a religious entity. And if you're wondering: Yes, they are "TOTALLY serious," or so claims a pop-up on the church's site, . Created in 1996 by Reverend Steve Galindo, the Woodists just want to "lead happy, positive lives." And if 3,000 global members of the Church of Ed Wood can't convince you that this is a Real Thing, that's okay, too. Galindo says, "We don't expect you to believe in Woodism. We expect you to respect the OUR belief in Woodism."

9. Juggalo FaithA 2011 FBI report might call them a "loosely organized hybrid gang," but fans of Insane Clown Posse call themselves juggalos and each other family. But sharing a love for face paint and (alleged) random acts of vandalism isn't enough to classify a group as a religious organization. For that, there's JuggaloFaith.com, a group of Faygo soda-baptized ninjas who carry the quasi-mystical message of the Dark Carnival to juggalos everywhere. The site features regular sermons and counseling from a group of volunteer "reverends," who just want you to know that the message of the Carnival, behind the horrorcore and onstage Tila Tequila assaults, is "the gospels of Jesus Christ." ICP's stance on this message wavers a bit, saying liner notes from The Wraith: Shangri-La and lyrics in both "Miracles" and "The Unveiling," while overtly religious, aren't "hidden messages."

10. FestivusOK, so the Seinfeld-inspired observance isn't so much a religion as it is a holiday, but a strange legal precedent means that if you happen to be serving jail time, you can probably air your grievances in court to get better food. After a plea in the name of "healthism" failed, California inmate Malcolm Alarmo King was awarded double portions of kosher meals after arguing his case for better dinners as a requirement for followers of Festivus. He's since served his term and, thanks to a Festivus miracle, has been released. No word on whether he practices the Feats of Strength every Dec. 23.

11. Missionary Church of KopimiWhile file-sharing isn't precisely grounded in pop culture, it's highly likely that the majority of files shared are culturally popular. The Church of Kopimi, a congregation comprising filesharers who would rather not face jail time for downloading Napoleon Dynamite, gained recognition by the Swedish government in 2011. According to Isak Gerson, the founder of Kopimism, "information is holy and copying is a sacrament." The group's sacred emblems are CTRL+C and CTRL+V. Despite its official registration, Kopimi isn't expected to halt any government crackdowns on illegal sharing sites like The Pirate Bay.

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Will you please tell her that this probably is a fetish? Our sex life has not been the same since she discovered the images on the computer. What can we do about it in a way that will strengthen our marriage? -- NOT GUILTY AS CHARGED

DEAR NOT GUILTY: It's a shame you and your wife hadn't discussed what turns you on before she checked your browser history. A fetish is any object that turns someone on, and it can range from large breasts, to stiletto heels, to leather or rubber items of clothing, to full red lips. It is not pornography.

A way to strengthen your marriage would be for you to buy her a tube of bright red lipstick. And a way for her to improve your sex life would be to put it on.

DEAR ABBY: I'm a 13-year-old girl with a sister and a brother. I was recently told by my dad that I have to teach my brother how to read, but the problem is he has a learning disability and a behavior disorder. I don't know how I'm supposed to teach him to read, and it scares me.

On top of that, my dad got mad at my sister and me and said that when we were younger we were just like my brother, only worse. He said he was close to giving up on us. Sometimes Dad says we're worthless, stupid and asks why we're even in this world. He says we're not good for anything.

I have a slight form of autism, so I'm sort of slow doing certain things other kids do at my age. I feel like I'll never be as smart as anyone else, and I have no clue how I'm going to teach my disabled brother to read. Help! -- LOST, ALONE AND WORRIED IN URBANA, ILL.

DEAR LOST: It would be wonderful if you could teach your learning disabled brother how to read, but you are not equipped to do that. Your brother should be in a special education class with a teacher who has the specialized training -- and, possibly, a tutor.

Sometimes, when parents are extremely stressed or angry they can say things they don't mean without thinking of the lasting effect their words can have on a child. You are neither worthless nor stupid. You are an intelligent girl. Frankly, your father appears to be in need of some help, and I hope you will share with a counselor at your school what you have told me.

DEAR ABBY: My 13-year-old son is refusing to wear a bicycle helmet because he has decided it's "uncool." My husband and I have always worn them, but here in Texas many people don't. There's no state law requiring it.

I know how devastating the effects of a head injury can be and I want to prevent my son from getting one. How can I help my teenager see that protecting his brain is more important than looking "cool" to his friends who don't wear them? My son insists I am ... AN OVERPROTECTIVE MOM

DEAR OVERPROTECTIVE MOM: Contact your son's pediatrician and ask if he or she can facilitate a tour of a rehabilitation facility that treats people with traumatic brain injuries. If that doesn't convince your son, nothing will.

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby ator P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

What teens need to know about sex, drugs, AIDS and getting along with peers and parents is in "What Every Teen Should Know." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $7 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Teen Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

The free seminar, Adapting to an Evolving U.S. Economy: Charitable Giving and The Fiscal Cliff will be held on Monday, January 7th from 8:30 AM 10:00 AM at PresenTense Hub, Hillel 14, 4th Floor in Jerusalem, Israel.

As donors slowly recover from the Great Recession and re-prioritize their personal finances, nonprofit organizations around the world are significantly impacted, notes Mr. Lapin. How will the charitable marketplace in the U.S. be impacted by the outcome of the negotiations between the President and Congress around the so-called Fiscal Cliff, and what are the implications for Israel-based nonprofits?

Topics for the presentation will include:

Giving in Response to Possible "Fiscal Cliffs": Learning how factors such as tax breaks, politics, and charitable deduction limitations may impact the scope of giving in 2013...and beyond.

Smart nonprofits are finding ways to adapt to the New Normal. New technologies and techniques are being introduced into the marketplace. Our job is to ascertain if these strategies are working and to help perfect them, Mr. Lapin concludes.

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"Sometimes I don't sleep at all; I'm up 24 hours," says Bobo, a former soldier who doesn't use his given name for safety reasons. "I work to support my addiction, but I only use crack at night. That drug takes my mind away. I lose all notion of what I'm doing."

Bobo says balancing crack with cocaine keeps him working and sane. On the shantytown's streets, life can be hell: Addicts unable to strike Bobo's precarious balance use crack day and night, begging, stealing, prostituting themselves, and picking through trash to make enough for the next hit. For them, there's no going home, no job, nothing but the drug.

With a boom in crack use over the past decade, Brazilian authorities are struggling to stop the drug's spread, sparking a debate over the legality and efficiency of forcibly interning users. Brazil today is the world's largest consumer of both cocaine and its crack derivative, according to the Federal University of Sao Paolo. About 6 million adults, or 3 percent of Brazilians, have tried cocaine in some form.

Rio de Janeiro has taken the lead in trying to help the burgeoning number of users with an approach that city leaders call proactive, but critics pan as unnecessarily aggressive.As of May 2011, users living in the streets have been scooped up in pre-dawn raids by teams led by the city's welfare department in conjunction with police and health care workers. By Dec. 5, 582 people had been picked up, including 734 children.

The sight is gut-wrenching. While some people go meekly, many fight, cry, scream out in desperation in their altered states. Once they're gone, their ratty mattresses, pans, sweaters and few other possessions are swept up by a garbage removal company.

Adults can't be forced to stay in treatment, and most leave the shelters within three days. But children are kept in treatment against their will or returned to parents if they have a family. In December, 119 children were being held in specialized treatment units.

Demand for crack has boomed in recent years and open-air "cracolandias," or "crack lands," popped up in the urban centers of Rio and Sao Paulo, with hundreds of users gathering to smoke the drug. The federal government announced in early 2012 that more than $2 billion would be spent to fight the epidemic, allotting money to train health care workers, buy thousands of hospital and shelter beds, and create transitional centers for recovering users.

Mobile street units stationed near cracolandias are among the most important and visible aspects of the government's approach. The units, housed in metal containers, bring doctors, nurses, therapists and social workers to the areas where users concentrate. Slowly, by offering health care and other help, the units' workers gain the trust of users and refer them to treatment centers.

Studies suggest the approach can work: 47 percent of the crack users surveyed in Sao Paulo said they'd welcome treatment, according to the Federal University of Sao Paulo study.

Ethel Vieira, a psychologist on the raid team, thinks their persistence is paying off.

"Initially, they'd run away, react aggressively, throw rocks," she said of users. "Now most of them understand our intention is to help, to give them a chance to leave the street and to connect with the public health network."

Human rights groups object to the forced commitment of children, saying treatment delivered against the will of patients is ineffective. They also oppose the sweeps, which they describe as violent.

"There are legal procedures that must be followed and that are not being followed. This goes against the law and is unconstitutional," Margarida Pressburguer, head of the Human Rights Commission for Brazil's Association of Attorneys, said during a debate last year.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes suggested in October that the city would start forcing adults into treatment. "A crack addict isn't capable of making decisions," Paes said from the Jacarezinho shantytown in the week after police stormed the area and seized control of what was then Rio's largest cracolandia.

The Rio state Attorney General's Office responded by telling city officials "the compulsory removal of adults living in the streets has no legal foundation." It said adults can be committed only when they become a danger to themselves or others and outpatient treatment options have run out.

"They give us a place to sleep, food, clothes, everything," said Bobo. "I've been picked up by the city and I liked it. They are doing this for our good."

But even as Bobo endorsed the city's approach, a friend was stepping over to the drug stand for more cocaine. Bobo asked for $5 worth of drugs cocaine for now, crack for later. Then he rolled up a bill and dumped a small mound of white powder in his palm for snorting.

With a nose full of cocaine, he set off, ready for another day.

But they should be scared if a few weeks later, Washington fails to reach a deal to increase the nation's debt ceiling because that raises the threat of a default, another credit downgrade and a panic in the financial markets.

Market strategists say that while falling off the cliff for any lengthy period - which would lead to automatic tax hikes and stiff cuts in government spending - would badly hurt both consumer and business confidence, it would take some time for the U.S. economy to slide into recession. In the meantime, there would be plenty of chances for lawmakers to make amends by reversing some of the effects.

That has been reflected in a U.S. stock market that has still not shown signs of melting down. Instead, it has drifted lower and become more volatile.

In some ways, that has let Washington off the hook. In the past, a plunge in stock prices forced the hand of Congress, such as in the middle of the financial crisis in 2008.

"If this thing continues for a bit longer and the result is you get a U.S. debt downgrade ... the risk is not that you lose two-and-a-half percent, the risk is that you lose ten and a half," said Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. equity strategist at UBS Equity Research, in New York.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said this week that the United States will technically reach its debt limit at the end of the year.

INVESTORS WARY OF JANUARY

The White House has said it will not negotiate the debt ceiling as in 2011, when the fight over what was once a procedural matter preceded the first-ever downgrade of the U.S. credit rating. But it may be forced into such a battle again. A repeat of that war is most worrisome for markets.

Markets posted several days of sharp losses in the period surrounding the debt ceiling fight in 2011. Even after a bill to increase the ceiling passed, stocks plunged in what was seen as a vote of "no confidence" in Washington's ability to function, considering how close lawmakers came to a default.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's lowered the U.S. sovereign rating to double-A-plus, citing Washington's legislative problems as one reason for the downgrade from triple-A status. The benchmark S&P 500 dropped 16 percent in a four-week period ending August 21, 2011.

"I think there will be a tremendous fight between Democrats and Republicans about the debt ceiling," said Jon Najarian, a co-founder of online brokerage TradeMonster.com, in Chicago.

"I think that is the biggest risk to the downside in January for the market and the U.S. economy."

There are some signs in the options market that investors are starting to eye the January period with more wariness. The CBOE Volatility Index, or the VIX, the market's preferred indicator of anxiety, has remained at relatively low levels throughout this process, though on Thursday it edged above 20 for the first time since July.

More notable is the action in VIX futures markets, which shows a sharper increase in expected volatility in January than in later-dated contracts. January VIX futures are up nearly 23 percent in the last seven trading days, compared with a 13 percent increase in March futures and an 8 percent increase in May futures. That's a sign of increasing near-term worry among market participants.

The CBOE Volatility Index closed on Friday at 22.72, gaining nearly 17 percent to end at its highest level since June as details emerged of a meeting on Friday afternoon of President Barack Obama with Senate and House leaders from both parties where the president offered proposals similar to those already rejected by Republicans. Stocks slid in late trading and equity futures continued that slide after cash markets closed.

"I was stunned Obama didn't have another plan, and that's absolutely why we sold off," said Mike Shea, a managing partner and trader at Direct Access Partners LLC, in New York.

Obama offered hope for a last-minute agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff after a meeting with congressional leaders, although he scolded Congress for leaving the problem unresolved until the 11th hour.

"The hour for immediate action is here," he told reporters at a White House briefing. "I'm modestly optimistic that an agreement can be achieved."

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to convene on Sunday and continue working through the New Year's Day holiday. Obama has proposed maintaining current tax rates for all but the highest earners.

Consumers don't appear at all traumatized by the fiscal cliff talks, as yet. Helping to bolster consumer confidence has been a continued recovery in the housing market and growth in the labor market, albeit slow.

The latest take on employment will be out next Friday, when the U.S. Labor Department's non-farm payrolls report is expected to show jobs growth of 145,000 for December, in line with recent growth.

Consumers will see their paychecks affected if lawmakers cannot broker a deal and tax rates rise, but the effect on spending is likely to be gradual.

PLAYING DEFENSE

Options strategists have noted an increase in positions to guard against weakness in defense stocks such as General Dynamics because those stocks would be affected by spending cuts set for that sector. Notably, though, the PHLX Defense Index is less than 1 percent away from an all-time high reached on December 20.

This underscores the view taken by most investors and strategists: One way or another, Washington will come to an agreement to offset some effects of the cliff. The result will not be entirely satisfying, but it will be enough to satisfy investors.

"Expectations are pretty low at this point, and yet the equity market hasn't reacted," said Carmine Grigoli, chief U.S. investment strategist at Mizuho Securities USA, in New York. "You're not going to see the markets react to anything with more than a 5 (percent) to 7 percent correction."

Save for a brief 3.6 percent drop in equity futures late on Thursday evening last week after House Speaker John Boehner had to cancel a scheduled vote on a tax-hike bill due to lack of Republican support, markets have not shown the same kind of volatility as in 2008 or 2011.

A gradual decline remains possible, Golub said, if business and consumer confidence continues to take a hit on the back of fiscal cliff worries. The Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence fell sharply in December, a drop blamed in part on the fiscal issues.

"If Congress came out and said that everything is off the table, yeah, that would be a short-term shock to the market, but that's not likely," said Richard Weiss, a Mountain View, California-based senior money manager at American Century Investments.

"Things will be resolved, just maybe not on a good time table. All else being equal, we see any further decline as a buying opportunity."

(Wall St Week Ahead runs every Friday. Questions or comments on this column can be emailed to: david.gaffen(at)thomsonreuters.com)

(Reporting by Edward Krudy and Ryan Vlastelica in New York and Doris Frankel in Chicago; Writing by David Gaffen; Editing by Martin Howell, Steve Orlofsky and Jan Paschal)

Here are some excerpts selected by the publishers for early release.

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On Mary's role in world history:

Yet most important of all is the fact that the genealogy ends with a woman: Mary, who truly marks a new beginning and relativizes the entire genealogy. Throughout the generations, we find the formula: "Abraham was the father of Isaac . . ."

But at the end, there is something quite different. In Jesus' case there is no reference to fatherhood, instead we read: "Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ" (Mt 1:16).

In the account of Jesus' birth that follows immediately afterward, Matthew tells us that Joseph was not Jesus' father and that he wanted to dismiss Mary on account of her supposed adultery. But this is what is said to him: "That which is conceived in Mary is of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 1:20). So the final sentence turns the whole genealogy around. Mary is a new beginning. Her child does not originate from any man, but is a new creation, conceived through the Holy Spirit.

The genealogy is still important: Joseph is the legal father of Jesus. Through him, Jesus belongs by law, "legally," to the house of David. And yet he comes from elsewhere, "from above"-from God himself. The mystery of his provenance, his dual origin, confronts us quite concretely: his origin can be named and yet it is a mystery. Only God is truly his "father."

The human genealogy has a certain significance in terms of world history. And yet in the end it is Mary, the lowly virgin from Nazareth, in whom a new beginning takes place, in whom human existence starts afresh.

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On the historical and theological framework of the nativity story in Luke's Gospel:

"In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled" (Lk 2:1). With these words, Luke introduces his account of the birth of Jesus and explains how it came to take place in Bethlehem. A population census, for purposes of determining and collecting taxes, was what prompted Joseph to set off from Nazareth for Bethlehem, together with Mary, his betrothed, who was expecting a child.

The birth of Jesus in the city of David is placed within the overarching framework of world history, even though Caesar was quite unaware of the difficult journey that these ordinary people were making on his account. And so it is that the child Jesus is born, seemingly by chance, in the place of the promise. The context in world history is important for Luke.

For the first time, "all the world," the ecumene in its entirety, is to be enrolled. For the first time there is a government and an empire that spans the globe. For the first time, there is a great expanse of peace in which everyone's property can be registered and placed at the service of the wider community. Only now, when there is a commonality of law and property on a large scale, and when a universal language has made it possible for a cultural community to trade in ideas and goods, only now can a message of universal salvation, a universal Saviour, enter the world: it is indeed the "fullness of time."

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On the joy of Christmas:

The angel of the Lord appears to the shepherds and the glory of the Lord shines around them. "They were filled with fear" (Lk 2:9). But the angel takes away their fear and announces to them "a great joy, which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:10f. ).

They are told that, as a sign, they will find a child wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. "And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased'" (Lk 2:12-14).

According to the evangelist, the angels "said" this. But Christianity has always understood that the speech of angels is actually song, in which all the glory of the great joy that they proclaim becomes tangibly present. And so, from that moment, the angels' song of praise has never gone silent. It continues down the centuries in constantly new forms and it resounds ever anew at the celebration of Jesus' birth. It is only natural that simple believers would then hear the shepherds singing too, and to this day they join in their caroling on the Holy Night, proclaiming in song the great joy that, from then until the end of time, is bestowed on all people.

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On astrology and religion in the Magi story

Gregory Nazianzen says that at the very moment when the Magi adored Jesus, astrology came to an end, as the stars from then on traced the orbit determined by Christ (cf. Poem. Dogm. V 55-64: PG 37, 428-429).

In the ancient world, the heavenly bodies were regarded as divine powers, determining men's fate. The planets bear the names of deities. According to the concept prevailing at the time, they somehow ruled over the world, and man had to try to appease these powers. Biblical monotheism soon brought about a clear demythologization: with marvelous sobriety, the creation account describes the sun and the moon-the great divinities of the pagan world-as lights that God placed in the sky alongside the entire firmament of stars (cf. Gen 1:16f. ).

On entering the Gentile world, the Christian faith had to grapple once again with the question of the astral divinities. Hence in the letters he wrote from prison to the Ephesians and the Colossians, Paul emphasizes that the risen Christ has conquered all the powers and forces in the heavens, and that he reigns over the entire universe.

The story of the wise men's star makes a similar point: it is not the star that determines the child's destiny, it is the child that directs the star. If we wish, we may speak here of a kind of anthropological revolution: human nature assumed by God-as revealed in God's only-begotten Son-is greater than all the powers of the material world, greater than the entire universe.

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(Reporting By Philip Pullella)

"I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People. This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government. Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL. This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic. TT" Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas on his Facebook page Jan. 23.

The 2011 Stanley Cup champion Bruins were scheduled to meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House in late January, but the Conn Smythe winner skipped the photo op. Later that day, Thomas wrote on his official Facebook page decrying the growth of government.

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"To everyone in Canada outside of BC, you're welcome." Los Angeles Kings official Twitter feed (@LAKings), April 12.

The Kings' PR department got a little cheeky on Twitter after the Kings upset the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 in Game 1 of their first-round series in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Canucks fans were upset by the post, but the eighth-seeded Kings went on to beat Vancouver in five games and win the Stanley Cup on June 11.

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"Pretty sure someone just let off a round bullets in eaton center mall .. Wow just sprinted out of the mall ... Through traffic ..." Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie (@blawrie13), June 2.

Lawrie, from Langley, B.C., went shopping at Toronto's Eaton Centre to blow off some steam after the Blue Jays' 7-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox. He ended up making news as he tweeted about the shooting of five mall-goers in the downtown shopping centre's food court. Two of the victims were killed and Lawrie was widely credited with breaking the story on his popular Twitter feed.

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"With so many Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will be getting home food!!!" Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou (@papaxristoutj), July 25.

Papachristou was supposed to compete in the London Olympics but was expelled by the Hellenic Olympic Committee after her racist tweet about African immigrants in Greece. The posting was also in response to a small outbreak of the West Nile virus in Greece that killed one person and left at least five ill. She posted an apology online after her expulsion and hasn't tweeted since.

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"I would like to thank everyone back home for all the love and support. It means the world to us all. One more game to get on the podium" soccer forward Christine Sinclair (@sincy12), Aug. 6.

Canada's women's national soccer team captivated the country throughout the London Olympics. The biggest game of the tournament was Canada's 4-3 semifinal loss to the United States in extra time, with suspect calls by Norweigan referee Christiana Pedersen tilting the balance in the Americans' favour. Sinclair, of Burnaby, B.C., led Canada throughout the tournament and tweeted her thanks after the frustrating loss. The Canadians went on to win bronze.

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"I'm now medically cleared to compete in mixed martial arts events- Rendez-vous le 17 novembre, @ufc 154, Montreal!" Georges St-Pierre (@georgesstpierre), Aug. 20.

St-Pierre, the UFC's reigning welterweight champion, had been sidelined 19 months with an injured ACL. The Montreal native tweeted in August that he was ready to return to the Octagon, setting the stage for a championship bout at the Bell Centre in November. GSP went on to defeat interim champion Carlos Condit at UFC 154 to unify the welterweight title.

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"My official statement re: @usantidoping's pitiful charade http://bit.ly/Ozm7XZ" disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong (@lancearmstrong), Aug. 23.

Armstrong had won the prestigious Tour de France seven times but accusations of steroid use dogged him for years. In late August, Armstrong learned he would be stripped of all his cycling results by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, dating back to Aug. 1, 1998. He pre-emptively announced via Twitter that he would not contest the USADA's decision. Armstrong's official statement has since been removed from his website.

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"I love this league and love the game of football, but tonight's debacle hurts me greatly. This is NOT the league we're supposed to represent" New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees (@drewbrees), Sept. 25.

Replacement officials were used for the first three weeks of the NFL's regular season as the league negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement with the referees' union. Outcry among players and fans grew to a crescendo after replacement officials made conflicting calls, handing the Seattle Seahawks a 14-12 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football. Brees gave a voice to the frustrations of many with his critical tweet. A deal was announced between the NFL and its refs four days later.

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"I just bought OJ's gloves on eBay. Now all I need is a white girl named Nicole #maybealittletofar" Calgary Stampeders slotback Nik Lewis, (@nikel18), Nov. 12.

Lewis was in the CFL's doghouse after making a distasteful joke about the murder of Nicole Brown-Simpson, the ex-wife of former NFL star O.J. Simpson. Although Lewis soon deleted the message, he was fined an undisclosed amount by the league for violating its social media policy. Lewis apologized repeatedly and donated the paycheque from his next game the CFL's Western Final to a women's charity.

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".@realsports is not allowed to take reservations from Leafs players during the lockout but will continue selling our jerseys for $300 a pop" Toronto Maple Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul (@JLupul), Dec. 16.

In mid-December, Lupul tweeted that he was unable to make reservations at Real Sports, a popular Toronto sportsbar owned by Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment across from Air Canada Centre. Teammate James van Riemsdyk replied, saying "same thing happened to me a month ago #amateurhour," but he quickly removed that response from his feed. MLSE chief operating officer Tom Anselmi later denied that Real Sports barred Lupul because of the NHL lockout, saying the restaurant was simply full.

He also suggested he won't join an appeal calling for the release of the jailed 2010 Peace Prize laureate, Liu Xiaobo, a fellow writer and compatriot.

Mo has been criticized by human rights activists for not being a more outspoken defender of freedom of speech and for supporting the Communist Party-backed writers' association, of which he is vice president.

His comments Thursday, made during a news conference in Stockholm, appear unlikely to soften his critics' views toward him.

Awarding him the literature prize has also brought criticism from previous winners. Herta Mueller, the 2009 literature laureate, called the jury's choice of Mo a "catastrophe" in an interview with the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter last month. She also accused Mo of protecting the Asian country's censorship laws.

China's rulers forbid opposition parties and maintain strict control over all media.

Mo said he doesn't feel that censorship should stand in the way of truth but that any defamation, or rumors, "should be censored."

"But I also hope that censorship, per se, should have the highest principle," he said in comments translated by an interpreter from Chinese into English.

Mo is spending several days in Stockholm before receiving his prestigious prize in an awards ceremony next Monday.

He won the Nobel for his sprawling tales of life in rural China. In its citation, the jury said Mo "with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary."

In addressing the sensitive issue of censorship in China, Mo likened it to the thorough security procedures he was subjected to as he traveled to Stockholm.

"When I was taking my flight, going through the customs ...they also wanted to check me even taking off my belt and shoes," he said. "But I think these checks are necessary."

Mo also dodged questions about Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Peace Prize winner. Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for co-authoring a bold call for ending China's single-party rule and enacting democratic reforms.

China's reception of the two Nobel laureates has been worlds apart.

While it rejected the honor bestowed on Liu, calling it a desecration of the Nobel tradition, it welcomed Mo's win with open arms, saying it reflected "the prosperity and progress of Chinese literature, as well as the increasing influence of China."

Although Mo has previously said he hopes Liu will be freed soon, he refused to elaborate more on the case.

"On the same evening of my winning the prize, I already expressed my opinion, and you can get online to make a search," he said, telling the crowd that he hoped they wouldn't press him on the subject of Liu.

Some, however, have interpreted Mo's October comments as if he hoped the release of Liu would make the jailed activist see sense and embrace the Communist Party line.

Earlier this week, an appeal signed by 134 Nobel laureates, from Peace Prize winners such as South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Taiwanese-American chemist Yuan T. Lee, called the detention of Liu and his wife a violation of international law and urged their immediate release.

But Mo suggested he had no plans of adding his name to that petition. "I have always been independent. I like it that way. When someone forces me to do something I don't do it," he said, adding that has been in his stance in the past decade.

Mo is to receive his Nobel prize along with the winners in medicine, physics, chemistry and economics.

The Nobel Peace Prize is handed out in a separate ceremony in Oslo on the same day.

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Associated Press writers Gary Peach in Riga, Latvia and Alexa Olesen in Beijing contributed to this report.

"It's disappointing that the web didn't have more effect," said Dr. David Weinberg of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, the report's lead author.

Although the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends that adults between ages 50 and 75 get screened regularly for colorectal cancer, about 40 percent of people don't follow those guidelines.

To raise awareness of the recommendations and encourage people to go get screened, researchers have developed a variety of approaches, Weinberg said, including videos and printed materials. But none of these "have been tremendously successful," he added.

Dr. Hamant Roy, director of gastroenterology research at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Illinois, said one method that has been shown to be effective is simply having doctors spend time with their patients to talk about the cancer tests.

"But one of the issues is they have to see more and more people with less and less time, so it gets really hard to have these discussions with patients," said Roy, who was not involved in the new study.

To see whether the web might provide an easily accessible and inexpensive alternative for getting people to comply with screening recommendations, Weinberg and his colleagues asked 865 women who were coming in for routine gynecology appointments to participate in the study.

Of those, 171 saw their doctor as normal, 349 also received printed materials about colon cancer screening at the time of their visit and 345 were offered access to a web site that contained the same information as the printed matter.

Included in the materials was information about the benefits of screening and harms of going unscreened, as well as background on the various types of colon cancer screen available: a stool test once a year, a sigmoidoscopy every five years or a colonoscopy every 10 years.

All the women were eligible to get screened for colon cancer based on their age and health status.

Four months after the doctor visit, however, roughly 12 percent of the women - regardless of whether they received the extra information or not - had gotten a colon cancer screen.

Roy called the numbers "dismal."

"At the end of the day, something is better than nothing," he said, but compared to screening rates for breast cancer, the uptake for colorectal cancer screening was quite low.

Among the women in the study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 73 percent had received a mammogram in the past year.

On the other hand, Weinberg said, "you might argue their participation in the study did manage to raise their interest level enough" to get screened.

Not enough, however, to get most of the women to even access the website Weinberg's group had developed.

Only 24 percent had logged on, according to the researchers' records, and just 16 percent of the women remembered going to the website.

Weinberg still thinks there might be ways that the web could be helpful.

"I think that the web has great promise...the question is, how do you get people to look at it in the first place?" he said.

Perhaps following up with people to ask them about their experience on the website might improve their participation, he suggested.

Roy agreed that it would be premature to toss out the web as a potential tool for increasing screening rates.

"It seems like the energy to get people over the hump to get colorectal screening is higher than simply passively going to a website. I think the website is maybe helpful, but there needs to be more help to get them over the edge," he said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/VizaRR Archives of Internal Medicine, online December 17, 2012.

Emily Lucero and Allan Toole boarded a plane in Tooele, Utah, as just another couple engaged to be married. After parachuting from 13,000 feet in the air, however, they safely landed as husband and wife. What happened in between? A wedding, of course.

"It takes about 10 minutes in our plane from takeoff to jump," Phil Liu, manager at Skydive Utah, who hosted the nuptials, said. "The pastor did a quick two- or three-minute ceremony, the instructors tightened the harnesses and then they all jumped."

It was also an intimate affair. The bride and groom, the pastor, and two bridesmaids were each strapped to instructors.

Like most weddings, this one had professional cameramen. They take footage of all the tandem jumpers, Liu said, and the company offers to sell customers footage of their jump, for whatever the occasion. The wedding was extra special, though.

"When people get married in your plane," Liu said, "you throw in the pictures for free."

This is not the first time Skydive Utah has played host to a wedding, Liu said. A previous manager, he said, was married mid-jump after the "I dos" were replaced by nods and a quick kiss was exchanged in the air. Still, this is a rare event.

"We get a lot of proposals," he said, "but not too many marriages."

Lovebirds Lucero and Toole have been sharing many adventures in the five years since they met, so a skydiving wedding might have been an obvious choice.

"We've made it a point to do other fun things like paragliding, snorkeling and scuba diving," the new bride told ABC News affiliate KTVX-TV in Salt Lake City, "so I think it symbolizes that we like to play."