Some questions, answers about the NBA labor deal

MIAMI (AP) ? No, the NBA lockout is not over. Not yet, but soon ? once owners and players approve the deal that would have NBA games resume on Christmas Day. Here's a look at some of the most prevalent questions about the state of things in the league right now.

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Q: What happened to get this deal done?

A: As one person involved in the talks told The Associated Press, "sanity prevailed." Neither side was winning. Owners were losing money. Players were losing money. Fans were getting angry. Because Christmas is traditionally the day when the public really start watching NBA games, there was a late push to try and to salvage the Dec. 25 schedule.

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Q: So it's done?

A: Well, no. There's still a slew of issues to work through, and then there's the not-so-small matter of having owners and players actually vote on the deal. Though the deal's expected to be approved, it won't be unanimous as there are factions of hard-liners in both camps who will be unhappy with substantive portions of the deal.

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Q: How could union chief Billy Hunter and president Derek Fisher "negotiate" with the NBA if the players' union had been disbanded?

A: When players dissolved the union that meant Hunter and Fisher no longer had the power to negotiate and agree to terms for the players. What could happen and what did happen with the NBA, as it did with the NFL this summer, is that lawyers and representatives for both sides can hold discussions under the guise of antitrust settlement talks. Hunter is an attorney. He knew the rules and the risks. Certainly, this could have blown up for the players and risked their antitrust lawsuit in Minnesota.

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Q: What happens to that lawsuit?

A: Barring something crazy, the players will ask that it be dismissed. The league also must dismiss its New York lawsuit about the legality of the lockout.

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Q: When will training camp start?

A: Dec. 9. Free agency is expected to begin then, too, meaning some locker rooms may as well start installing revolving doors now.

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Q: And the first games?

A: The league wants three games on Christmas Day, and it's a safe bet the previously scheduled matchups ? Boston at New York, Miami at Dallas in a finals rematch, and Chicago at the Los Angeles Lakers ? will go on as planned. The Dec. 26 schedule and beyond? Get out your erasers. A lot will be changing.

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Q: I don't understand. If there's a deal, why is nothing happening for two weeks?

A: Only the framework of a deal is in place. Now the rules, the language, the nuances, they all must be put to paper by the lawyers who will be charged with actually writing the new collective bargaining agreement. Until that's done, no players can be signed, traded, etc., since there are still no real operating rules by which teams would have to abide.

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Q: How will the schedule work?

A: Still unclear. The easiest way to fill a 66-game schedule would be for teams to play four games against each divisional opponent (16 games) and two games against every other team in the league (50 games). It would also ensure that every team makes at least one appearance in every league arena, which is what fans would want anyway. A season without Kobe Bryant going to Madison Square Garden? Not happening.

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Q: Will there be preseason games?

A: A person involved with the process tells The AP there will be, but details are still pending. (A good guess: Teams would play two games, probably against a nearby rival.) It's a strong possibility that those games will have reams of low-priced tickets, a gesture of apologizing to fans for the delay in getting basketball going again.

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Q: What about the players who signed overseas? Can they come home?

A: In most cases, yes. New Jersey guard Deron Williams said on Twitter early Saturday that he would soon be leaving his Turkish club, Besiktas. That team will not be thrilled to see him leave ? Williams had a 50-point game a few days ago. Some players who signed deals with Chinese clubs may have to work a bit harder (or, well, pay) to escape those contracts.

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Q: What happens to these scheduled charity games, like the "Homecoming Tour" featuring LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony, or Mario Chalmers' game in Alaska on Dec. 1?

A: Organizers were working Saturday to salvage at least some of them. Wade said he wanted to use the planned four-game tour he's involved with as a way to play competitive basketball before the season, even though he didn't know at the time when the season would begin. Although most players are in great shape, there's a big difference between that and "game shape." A two-week training camp might not be enough time to get them there, either.

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Follow Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-11-26-BKN-NBA-Labor-Q-and-A/id-d41c4c8e76e74781b65723d9721b377d

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This Year, Give Them Brains

Advances | More Science See Inside

Each year we poll scientists and educators on ideas for books, puzzles and toys that foster inquiry. This season's picks range from a top that never stops spinning to a build-it-yourself skull.

By Anna Kuchment ?| November 25, 2011

Image: Photograph by Lucas Zarebinski

1. Your Body puzzle
$24.95 at fatbraintoys.com; ages 4 and up
A five-layer birch puzzle lets kids peer inside the human body, revealing the digestive tract, nerves and skeleton. Katy Shepard, a Ph.D. candidate in neuroscience at Emory University, says her three-year-old cousin received this puzzle after he pointed to his skin and asked, ?What comes next??

2. Life Cycle Stacking Blocks
$19.95 at forsmallhands.com; ages 2 to 6
Paperboard boxes that stack nearly three feet high and feature beautiful illustrations of the life cycles of the butterfly and frog are accompanied by an informative poem, says Julie Frey, a fifth grade teacher at Stuard Elementary School in Aledo, Tex.

3. Skull puzzle
$23 at theevolutionstore.com; ages 8 and up
This 39-piece 3-D puzzle comes with a removable brain. ?This puzzle is educational, challenging and, most important, fun,? says Kent Kirshenbaum, a chemistry professor at New York University. ?Bonus: the jaw swings open and shut hauntingly after you complete it.?

4. Bones: Skeletons and How They Work
by Steve Jenkins (Scholastic, 2010); ages 7 and up
Michelle Nijhuis, a biologist and author, recommended this book and the two following ones. (For more of her suggestions, go to lastwordonnothing.com.) Bones, she writes, has fantastic illustrations and ?is also great for inspiring hands-on research.?

5. Far from Shore: Chronicles of an Open Ocean Voyage
by Sophie Webb (Houghton Mifflin, 2011); ages 9 to 12
This book chronicles the author?s four-month-long Pacific research voyage. ?Webb describes her work in some depth, but she emphasizes not the results but the experience: the starlit nights on deck, the sightings of dolphins and whales and seabirds, and daily life with her fellow scientists,? Nijhuis writes.

6. Tuesday
by David Wiesner (Clarion, 1997); ages 5 to 8
?Late one Tuesday evening a mob of frogs flies through town on lily pads, disappearing as quickly as it came. Why? This almost wordless story doesn?t say, leaving kids free to form their own theories about spontaneous frog flight,? Nijhuis says.

7. Evolution: How We and All Living Things Came to Be
by Daniel Loxton (2010); $18.95 at kidscanpress.com; ages 8 to 13
Eugenie Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, touts this book as ?an excellent introduction to a topic not frequently covered in children?s books. There?s more to evolution than dinosaurs, after all!?

8. Magic Briks bristle blocks
$26.95 at kaplanco.com; ages 3 and up
Never underestimate simple building blocks. Noah Cowan, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University?s Whiting School of Engineering, says they are ?an essential component in developing a child?s ability to reason about space, time and even challenging concepts like entropy. Bristle blocks are particularly good for young children who don?t yet have the dexterity for Legos?and, frankly, bristle blocks are even more open-ended because the connector density is higher.?

9. Shark in a Jar?Squalus acanthias
$29 at theevolutionstore.com
This real baby shark taken from an adult caught by a commercial fisher ?offers a launching point for discussions about the differences between sharks and bony fish, the diverse ways sharks bear their young, and the importance of conservation for threatened shark species,? N.Y.U.?s Kirshenbaum says.

10. Science kits
from Thames & Kosmos
From $13.95 at thamesandkosmos.com; ages 5 and up
Christof Koch, a professor of cognitive and behavioral biology at the California Institute of Technology, grew up playing with these designer sets, many made by a 189-year-old German company. ?These days kids see computer simulations and watch YouTube but don?t do that much with their own hands anymore,? he says. More than 60 different kits are available for various ages and specialties?from chemistry and biology to energy and forensics.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=85c4ddb60ea6cf2452031974529ab392

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