Baby Name Report Card: Beneficial and Harmful Baby Names

 by Albert Mehrabian, Ph.D.

 Part One: Preliminaries

 Preface

 Chapter 1: What is in a Name?

 Chapter 2: What Impressions are Made by Names?

 Chapter 3: Names: Lifetime advantage versus handicap

 Chapter 4: How to change a name

 Chapter 5: Common issues in name selection

 Chapter 6: General guidelines for selecting names

 Chapter 7: Name scores explained

 Part Two: Girls' Names

 Chapter 8: Girls' names that connote an ethical-caring person, or its opposite

 Chapter 9: Girls' names that connote a popular-fun person, or its opposite

 Chapter 10: Girls' names that connote a successful person, or its opposite

 Chapter 11: Girls' names that connote femininity, or its opposite

 Chapter 12: Girls' names that connote a generally attractive person, or its opposite

 Chapter 13: Alphabetical list of girls' names

 Part Three: Boys' Names

 Chapter 14: Boys' names that connote an ethical-caring person, or its opposite

 Chapter 15: Boys' names that connote a popular-fun person, or its opposite

 Chapter 16: Boys' names that connote a successful person, or its opposite

 Chapter 17: Boys' names that connote masculinity, or its opposite

 Chapter 18: Boys' names that connote a generally attractive person, or its opposite

 Chapter 19: Alphabetical list of boys' names

 References

 Experimental findings show that people with desirable or attractive names are treated more favorably by others than are those with undesirable or unattractive names. Also, persons with undesirable or unattractive names tend to be handicapped in their personal, social, and work-related activities. Accordingly, it behooves parents to discover the impressions that will be generated by the names they select for their children.

 Our large-scale surveys conducted for more than a decade identified desirable, attractive and beneficial names versus undesirable, unattractive, and harmful ones. Positive-negative impressions created by various types of names (e.g., given names vs. nicknames) are reported in the publications referenced below. In addition, "Baby Name Report Card" provides summary descriptions of impressions created by most commonly used names. In effect, the volume provides scientifically-based information for choosing baby names. It supplies guidelines for selecting names that will impart positive and beneficial, rather than negative and harmful, impressions to others; that is, names that will be assets rather than liabilities throughout a lifetime. It also includes useful information for adults who are dissatisfied with their first or last names and would like to assume new names.

 Ethical-Caring (e.g., trustworthy, loyal, sincere, kind, generous, respectful, warm, patient, responsible)

 Popular-Fun (e.g., playful, humorous, cheerful, outgoing, good-looking, adventurous, athletic, healthy)

 Successful (e.g., ambitious, intelligent, independent, confident, assertive, creative)

 Masculine-Feminine

 Overall Attractiveness (a statistical combination of the first three dimensions)

 Average ratings from all respondents who rated a given name are summarized using scores that range from zero to 100, with 50 being an average score. For example, "John" received an average Success score of 98 (extremely high) whereas "Knut" received a Success score of 11 (extremely low). These two names differ substantially in terms of the impression of Success (which includes connotations of intelligence, creativity, ambition) they impart.

 Mehrabian, A. (1992). Interrelationships among name desirability, name uniqueness, emotion characteristics connoted by names, and temperament. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 22, 1797-1808.

 Mehrabian, A. (1994). The Name Connotation Profile. (Available from Albert Mehrabian, 1130 Alta Mesa Road, Monterey, CA, USA 93940)

 Mehrabian, A. (1997). Impressions created by given names. Names, 45, 19-33.

 Mehrabian, A. (2001). Characteristics attributed to individuals on the basis of their first names. Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs, 127, 59-88.

 Mehrabian, A., & Piercy, M. (1993). Positive or negative connotations of unconventionally and conventionally spelled names. The Journal of Social Psychology, 133, 445- 451.

 Mehrabian, A., & Piercy, M. (1993). Differences in positive and negative connotations of nicknames and given names. The Journal of Social Psychology, 133, 737-739.

 Mehrabian, A., & Piercy, M. (1993). Affective and personality characteristics inferred from length of first names. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 755-758.

 Mehrabian, A., & Valdez, P. (1990). Basic name connotations and related sex stereotyping. Psychological Reports, 66, 1-2. ||||| Photo Advertisement Continue reading the main story

 When Frank Hudock, 35, a restaurant manager in the Chicago area, first told his wife, Jennifer Hudock, 30, an executive assistant, that his grandparents wanted them to name their son Frank, per generations of family tradition, her response was, “That’s never going to happen.”

 They had just decided on a name they both agreed on — Max — after arguing about dozens of others, and that had been a big relief.

 But then the grandparents threw in a sweetener: an offer of $10,000 in exchange for choosing Frank.

 Ms. Hudock’s company didn’t have a maternity leave policy, and she wasn’t going to get paid for several months. She agreed to think it over.

 This may seem like an unusual proposal, but several professional baby-name watchers report seeing others along those lines. Maryanna Korwitts, a naming consultant also based near Chicago, said one client’s grandfather offered a family business if a baby could be named for him. Another’s in-laws, she said, suggested a dream wedding the mother never had and could not afford on her own — the price being the right to name the firstborn.

 Linda Murray, the editor in chief of the website BabyCenter, which maintains a database of 40,000 possible names, believes such offers are a salvo from the old guard fired against a general millennial disregard for tradition when christening their children.

 “For thousands of years, choosing a family name was really how it was done,” Ms. Murray said. “Now parents are really trying to choose a name that is unique, that suits their child and that says something about their personality.”

 They are paying consultants such as Ms. Korwitts to choose a name, testing ideas as if they were marketing slogans with college admissions officers, and creating new monikers just because they like the sound.

 But older relatives have some leverage against such flights of fancy — in part because now, living longer, they can actually see themselves memorialized with the next generation. One of Ms. Korwitts’s clients faced pressure to give her son her grandfather’s name, she said, because they wanted him to die in peace.

 And “this generation of young parents are more likely to live with their parents or take financial support,” Ms. Murray said. “So if you are living in their house or they are helping with your rent or a down payment on a house, you may feel beholden to their wishes.”

 A 35-year-old graphic designer in Great Neck, N.Y., who didn’t want to be named for fear of ruffling relatives’ feathers, said she was conflicted when her mother-in-law asked how much money it would take to name her daughter after her side of the family.

 “If I really believed I could have gotten her to pay for college, it really seems foolish of me not to put my discomfort aside,” she said. “I would probably always resent that person, but to be able to take care of that anxiety, that would be nice.”

 The graphic designer ultimately said no — “you only get to do this once,” she said — but other parents are coming up with creative solutions.

 Julia Wang, site director of another baby website, The Bump, said she sees parents using part of a name of family members and combining it with something else to make it unique. Others let family members choose middle names, Chinese names or Hebrew names. Still others give their child one official name and then call him or her something else. “You might be able to have your cake and eat it too,” Ms. Murray said.

 The Hudocks, though, stuck with Max. In their case, they chose to honor another grandparent: Jennifer Hudock’s father, also named Max, who died when she was 7.

 “It was a decision we made together as husband and wife,” she said. |||||

Write a summary.

– Crib, car seat, baby wipe warmer—there are so many things expectant parents need to buy. Here's something else for the shopping list: a baby-naming consultant. And "the ultimate exercise in personal branding," as Quartz puts it, is not cheap. Swiss branding firm Erfolgswelle, for instance, charges more than $29,000 to choose the perfect moniker for a soon-to-arrive bundle of joy, Bloomberg reports. Agency head Marc Hauser says his team spends about 100 hours coming up with the perfect name, which includes verifying there's no trademark on the name and consulting historians to determine whether a potential name has "an aggravating past." He uses his own name—Marc—as an example, saying his firm wouldn't suggest it because it's linked to an ancient Roman god of war. If you'd rather squirrel away that 30 grand, say for a college fund, New York-based My Name for Life will help you name junior starting at several hundred dollars. If a baby namer knows what they're doing, "it's worth every penny," Albert Mehrabian, who wrote The Baby Name Report Card, tells Bloomberg's Polly Mosendz. (He gave her name a B-, and here he explains why "Chad" scores a 98 but "Bud" scores a 2.) Quartz quips that instead of paying, you could just turn to your in-laws, who "will probably be happy to provide you with loads of advice for free." Or maybe for something sweeter: In October the New York Times reported on cases in which would-be grandparents have given their own kids everything from $10,000 to the promise of a family business in exchange for the right to name their grandchild. (Here are some free suggestions for unusual baby names.)


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– The biggest stars of Wednesday's Senate Intelligence Committee hearing seem to be an empty chair and Alex Jones of InfoWars. The former was reserved for Google's leadership, which unlike Twitter and Facebook was a no-show. The latter got into it with Sen. Marco Rubio outside the hearing, which Fast Company notes is open to the public; Politico reports Jones sat in the first row just behind Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey. During a hearing recess, Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer tweeted that Jones went into the hallway outside the room and got into a "heated exchange" with Rubio. Video Sommer tweeted of the exchange shows Rubio speaking with reporters as Jones keeps interrupting with questions and statements before moving on to calling Rubio a "snake" and "frat boy." Rubio replies, "I swear to God, I don't know who you are, man." As Jones tries to clarify, Rubio tells him "not to touch me again." Replies Jones, "I'm just patting you nicely," before suggesting Rubio wants to get him arrested. Rubio says, "You're not going to get arrested man. I'll take care of you myself." Jones tells him, "You are literally like a little gangster thug." As Rubio excuses himself to go back to the committee, he refers to Jones as "this clown." Responds Jones, "Go back to your bathhouse."

This morning, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg faced questions from the Senate Intelligence Committee about how their companies handle myriad issues, including misinformation, content moderations, and foreign intrusion. And since it happened at a congressional hearing, it was open for anyone to attend.

 So it shouldn’t have been entirely surprising that Infowars host Alex Jones decided to stop by. The well-known conspiracy theorist was recently banned on platforms including Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook. Though he claims these banned only made his online presence stronger, data shows that Infowars’s audience is shrinking.

 This is perhaps why Jones attended the hearing–to, once again, enter the spotlight. He didn’t just want to hear what the technology giants had to say, but also intended to make his presence known. And he made quite the statement to Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.

 According to Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer, Jones found Rubio in the hallways giving an interview during a hearing recess. He began talking over Rubio, accusing the United States of censorship akin to China’s. Rubio first attempted to answer his questions, then tried to ignore Jones’s heckling, but the troll kept going.

 “Is that a heckler or the press?” Rubio asked.

 Realizing Rubio was no longer going to answer his questions, Jones started calling Rubio a snake while laughing like a disturbed schoolboy. The online broadcaster then went to touch the senator on the shoulder, and Rubio recoiled. “Don’t touch me again, man,” he said with a death stare.

 Ultimately, Rubio left to go back to the hearing while reporters asked Jones some questions. ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| The exchange quickly went downhill when Sen. Marco Rubio warned Alex Jones, who was standing beside him in the hallway, to “not touch me again.” | Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO 'Frat boy': Alex Jones taunts Rubio in tense Senate standoff

 Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and InfoWars host Alex Jones clashed outside a Senate Intelligence committee hearing today, with the lawmaker saying he’d “take care of” Jones as the far-right provocateur mockingly called him a “little gangster thug" and "frat boy."

 Rubio, addressing reporters outside the hearing room, was badgered with questions by Jones, who made a surprise appearance at the Senate hearing devoted to foreign interference on social media.

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 The exchange quickly went downhill when the senator warned the conspiracy-peddling host, who was standing beside him in the hallway, to “not touch me again.”

 “I’m just patting you nicely,” Jones responded, before accusing Rubio of trying to get him arrested.

 Rubio rebuffed the charge, adding: “I’ll take care of you myself.”

 "Rubio just threatened to physically take care of me," Jones replied, an insinuation that Rubio disputed.

 As Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey began their testimony before the committee, Jones livestreamed his entrance into the building and later took a seat in the first row of the hearing room, sitting mere feet away from the tech executives.

 Internet companies including Facebook and Twitter removed or suspended Jones’ content last month for violating their terms of service. The action came as many conservatives, including President Donald Trump, accuse Silicon Valley of being biased against their views. ||||| Tweet with a location

 You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more |||||


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– A Labor Day disappointment on Cape Cod: Beaches have shut down along much of the coast thanks to shark trouble. Officials have banned swimming at several top sites after a pair of sightings, CBS News reports. The animals seem to be appearing more frequently lately; earlier this summer, a man was reportedly bitten by a great white off Truro for the first time in 75 years. "White sharks have probably been drawn into the area by a really large increase in the number of grey seals that are in the area," says an expert. And the sightings aren't limited to the Cape: A 1,500-pound shark turned up dead this weekend on the Massachusetts side of the Massachusetts-Rhode Island border. A biologist performed a necropsy, but officials aren't sure what killed the creature. They're going to leave it on the rocky shore, hoping the tide might eventually carry it out to sea: "There's really no means to move an animal of that size," a spokeswoman tells the AP.

A Massachusetts marine biologist who examined a 13-foot great white shark carcass found ashore near the Rhode Island state line wasn't able to determine how the shark died, state officials said Sunday.

 Researchers investigate the carcass of a great white shark that washed up in Westport, Mass., just over the state line from Little Compton, R.I., Saturday Sept. 1, 2012. A Massachusetts marine biologist... (Associated Press)

 State biologist Greg Skomal performed a necropsy on the 1,500-pound male shark Saturday and found no signs of trauma. A fisherman discovered the carcass Saturday morning on a rocky shoreline in Westport, less than a half-mile from public beaches in Little Compton, R.I.

 "They will have a difficult time, if at all, figuring out how he was killed," said Krista Selmi, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries.

 Little Compton officials closed Goosewing and South Shore beaches after the shark was found. Both beaches reopened Sunday and police sent out a patrol boat to watch for other sharks.

 Selmi said officials plan to leave the shark's body where it is.

 "There's really no means to move an animal of that size," she said.

 The shark appeared to have washed ashore Friday night, Selmi said. The carcass is below the high tide level, and officials hope the tide drags the shark back out to sea.

 Shark sightings have been rare in the area. But further east, there have been numerous reports of sharks off Cape Cod. In July, a man was bitten on his legs by a great white shark while swimming off Ballston Beach in Truro, Mass. ||||| Shark sightings shut down Cape Cod beaches

 Christie on "unthinkable" N.J. boardwalk fire: "I feel like I want to throw up"

 (CBS News) Beach goers in Cape Cod, Mass. found themselves with some unwanted company this Labor Day weekend.

 Two sharks were spotted, prompting officials to raise the red flag, banning swimming at some of the areas most popular beaches. From South Beach in Chatham, to the northern tip of Nauset Beach in Orleans, shark sightings are keeping bathers out of the water.

 One swimmer said, "Someone told me they can't come close to the edge, but I don't believe that anymore, so I'm just staying out."

 The sightings aren't the first of the summer. In July, a man bodyboarding off Truro said he was bitten by a great white shark, the first known attack in those waters in over 75 years. He survived, but the incident led many to question why so many sharks are lurking off the cape.

 Biologist and shark expert Simon Thorrold said the sharks are likely responding to an increased number of mammals - but not of the human variety.

 "I think we're probably seeing more white sharks in the area at the moment," Thorrold said. "And the white sharks have probably been drawn into the area by a really large increase in the number of grey seals that are in the area."

 That suspicion may have been confirmed this week when a family captured dramatic video of a shark attacking a seal off Monomoy Island.

 Seals are a staple of a shark's diet. It is estimated 350,000 of them live along the North-Atlantic coast. They have been protected since the 1970s by the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.

 With the resident seal population showing no signs of slowing down, beach goers will have to share the shore with the sharks... at least until the great whites migrate to warmer waters this winter.

 For Terrell Brown's full report, click on the video player above.

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Article:
In this photo released by the Israeli Defense Ministry, released Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, second right, walks with his father Noam, right, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second left, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, left, at the Tel Nof Air base in southern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011. / HO, Ariel Hermoni,AP Photo/ Defense Ministry

 In this photo released by the Israeli Defense Ministry, released Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, second right, walks with his father Noam, right, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, second left, and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, left, at the Tel Nof Air base in southern Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011. / HO, Ariel Hermoni,AP Photo/ Defense Ministry

 Updated 2:45 PM EST

 MITZPE HILA, Israel - The father of the Israeli soldier freed in a swap for Palestinian prisoners said his son will need time to recover from psychological and physical wounds after five years in Hamas captivity.

 But he said the family of Gilad Schalit hopes the young man will lead a normal life.

 Noam Schalit spoke to reporters outside the family home in the Israeli town of Mitzpe Hila.

 Schalit said his son is still suffering from shrapnel wounds he suffered during his 2006 abduction by Hamas militants. He said his son is struggling with all the attention after spending the last few years in "isolation."

 "Naturally he can't be exposed to so many people because he was in isolation so many days and years and couldn't interact with people in his language, and all he could do was communicate with his abductors and guards," Noam Schalit said.

 He said his son hadn't said much about his captivity, only that his treatment was poor at the beginning but improved in recent years.

 Looking thin, weary and dazed, Gilad Schalit had earlier emerged from more than five years in Hamas captivity on Tuesday, surrounded by Gaza militants with black face masks and green headbands who handed him over to Egyptian mediators in an exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. After a medical examination, Israeli officials said Schalit showed signs of malnutrition.

 Mass rallies celebrate freed Palestinians

 Netanyahu issues warning to freed Palestinians

 Before he was flown to an Israel air base where he reunited with his parents, Schalit spoke to Egyptian TV in an interview Israeli officials later called "shocking." The gaunt, sallow and uncomfortable looking Schalit appeared to struggle to speak at times, and his breathing was noticeably labored as he awkwardly answered questions.

 Still he said he felt good and was "very excited" to be going free. But the circumstances of his release, along with the awkward TV interview, raised questions about the conditions the 25-year-old had endured.

 After a tumultuous day that included a reception with the prime minister and an emotional reunion with his family, Schalit touched down in his hometown of Mitzpe Hila in northern Israel late Tuesday on board a military helicopter.

 Thousands of people jammed the streets and stood on rooftops to celebrate Schalit's return. The ecstatic crowd sang songs, waved Israeli flags, popped champagne bottles, embraced and cheered him on. A smiling Schalit -- the first Israeli soldier returned home alive in 26 years -- briefly waved to the crowd before ducking into his family's house. Police blocked access to the street to give the family privacy.

 The White House welcomed the release of Schalit.

 Spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama has long called for Schalit's release and is pleased that he's been reunited with this family.

 Schalit, who had not been seen in public since his capture, was whisked across Gaza's border into Egypt early in the morning by armed Hamas militants in an SUV, setting the swap into motion.

 Wearing a black baseball hat and gray shirt, he was seen for the first time emerging from a pickup truck and turned over to Egyptian mediators by a gang of top Hamas militants, some with their faces covered in black masks with the green headband of the Qassam brigades -- Hamas' military wing. Among those around Schalit in those first moments was Ahmed Jabari, the shadowy head of Hamas' militant wing, one of Israel's most wanted militants.

 Schalit, still escorted by Hamas gunmen, was then taken to a border crossing, where an Egyptian TV crew waited to interview him before he was finally sent into Israel.

 Stumbling over his words, he spoke in the interview of missing his family and friends, said he feared he would remain in captivity "many more years" and worried that the deal might fall through after learning about it last week.

 "Of course I missed my family. I missed friends, meeting people to talk to people, and not to sit all day, to do the same things," he said.

 In one picture taken of the interview, a Hamas gunman with black face mask and green headband of the Hamas military brigade could be seen lurking in the background.

 Israeli officials reacted angrily to the interview, saying it was inappropriate to force Schalit to answer questions in such difficult circumstances. But the interviewer, Shahira Amin, said he had not been coerced.

 Later, video released by the Israeli military showed the weak Schalit being helped into an army jeep after crossing the border into Israel, and walking gingerly down some steps as he exited a military caravan after changing into a fresh army uniform. Military officials said a physical exam had found him to be in "good" condition, though he showed signs of malnutrition and lack of exposure to the sun.

 Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit (C) and his father Noam (L) arrive near their home town following Gilad's release after over five years of captivity by Gaza-based militant groups, following a landmark deal with Hamas, on October 18, 2011. / Getty Images

 Schalit was then flown to an air base in central Israel, where he was hugged by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's military chief, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, and reunited with his family. Video footage showed Schalit's father, Noam, hugging and kissing his son, before saying "come see your mother" and leading him away for a family reunion.

 Speaking afterward, Netanyahu said he understood the pain of Israeli families who lost relatives in Palestinian violence, but that Israel's ethos of doing everything possible to bring its soldiers home safely forced him to act.

 He also issued a staunch warning to the freed militants.

 "We will continue to fight terror and every released terrorist who returns to terror will be held accountable," he said.

 More than 450 Palestinians were transferred from Israeli prisons to the West Bank and Gaza, where massive celebratory rallies festooned with green Hamas flags were held. In Gaza City, tens of thousands crammed into an open lot where a huge stage was set up, decorated with a mural depicting Schalit's capture in a June 2006 raid on an army base near the Gaza border. The crowd exhorted militants to seize more soldiers for future swaps.

 The rest of the prisoners -- about 550 more -- are to be released in a second phase in two months.

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 next ||||| The question of whether the exchange would lead to more abductions of Israeli soldiers hung in the air on Tuesday for both Israelis and Palestinians.

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 The armed wing of Hamas made clear that for it the conflict with Israel was hardly over. “We will not give up until prisons are shut down,” a masked spokesman for the group, who identified himself as Abu Obaida, said in a televised statement in Gaza. “A chapter has ended but there are other chapters.”

 Abu Obaida also said that Hamas treated Sergeant Shalit “according to the Islamic morals,” while Israel “deliberately dealt with our prisoners with torture, compulsion and revenge.”

 One of the freed prisoners, Yehya Sinwar, a co-founder of an early security wing of Hamas, was defiant. He promised “to work hard to free all prisoners, especially those who serve high sentences, whatever the price was.”

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 Another was Wafa al-Bass, who has been in prison since 2005 when she used the chance for treatment at an Israeli hospital as a pretext to bring a suicide belt through the Erez crossing — trying to explode it when caught. Upon arrival in Gaza, she said that Palestinians should “take another Shalit” every year until all the remaining 5,000 Palestinians prisoners in Israeli jails went free.

 Israel displayed a calibrated mix of relieved celebration and acknowledgment — both of the pain and death that the released Palestinians caused many families and of the risk that their release may pose to Israelis.

 Several petitions to block or alter the exchange had been rejected by Israel’s high court on Monday. The scene at the courtroom was emotionally charged, with some families who lost members in terrorist attacks assailing the Shalit family and the government.

 Mr. Netanyahu wrote letters to the bereaved families saying he understood their heartache.

 “I know that the price is very heavy for you,” he wrote. “I understand the difficulty to countenance that the evil people who perpetrated the appalling crimes against your loved ones will not pay the full price that they deserve. During these moments I hope that you will find solace that I and the entire nation of Israel embrace you and share your pain.”

 On Tuesday, Mr. Netanyahu, in his remarks at Tel Nof base, said Israel would continue to fight terrorism and warned that any released prisoner who returned to violence was “taking his life into his hands.”

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 The deal is likely to strengthen Hamas within Palestinian politics, adding to the difficulties for President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and efforts to revive the peace process with Israel. Egypt, a key broker of the deal, will likely gain, as will Turkey, a supporter of Hamas. Hamas may even move its headquarters to Egypt from the Syrian capital, Damascus, where President Bashar al-Assad is facing strong popular revolt. And if the prisoner exchange emboldens Hamas to carry out more actions against Israel, that would likely empower the hawkish right in Israel.

 Sergeant Shalit, the first captive Israeli soldier returned home alive in 26 years, was unexpectedly interviewed on Egyptian television before being handed over to Israel. Sitting in a blue checked shirt and speaking Hebrew, he smiled and reflected on the questions before answering them.

 Asked if he had feared that he would never get out, Sergeant Shalit answered that he worried it would take many more years although in the past month he had suspected a deal was in the works. He said he was told of his release a week ago.

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 Asked what he missed most in prison, he replied, “My family and my friends and seeing and talking with people. The worst was having to do the same thing every day over and over.”

 He was told that Israel still had thousands of prisoners and was asked if he would like them released. “I will be happy for them to be released if they don’t return to fight us,” he said. “I very much hope that this deal will advance peace.”

 Rafah, the most isolated part of Gaza, was where the Shalit saga began and ended. In June 2006, Hamas and two other militant factions raided an Israeli military post at Kerem Shalom via a long tunnel beneath the Rafah sands under the border, capturing the young soldier, then a corporal. He was never seen in public during his captivity. On Tuesday, Egyptian television showed Sergeant Shalit being rushed through the Rafah crossing terminal from Gaza into Egypt accompanied by Hamas and Egyptian officials.

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 Soon afterward, an Israeli military statement said: “Gilad Shalit crossed the border into Israel, ending over five years in captivity.”

 Sergeant Shalit — who was promoted twice while in captivity — was brought to the Tel Nof base after his medical check, which took longer than expected, raising concern about his health. At the base where he reunited with his family and met Mr. Netanyahu, he also met Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, the military chief of staff.

 After a more extensive medical examination and some time with the officials and his family, Sergeant Shalit and his family were transported by helicopter to their home in northern Israel. Reporters and onlookers were barred from his neighborhood to give the family a measure of privacy. Chiefs of major Israeli news organizations vowed to respect the restrictions.

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 Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, told Al Jazeera television that the first step of the agreement was complete. Speaking from the Rafah crossing point, Mr. Barhoum warned Israel against “maneuvering or playing with any article of the agreement.” He added that Egyptian mediators had assured Hamas that they would not allow Israel to violate the agreement.

 Both Israel and the divided Palestinian leadership — Fatah runs the West Bank while Hamas controls the Gaza Strip — had made elaborate preparations for the handover of the prisoners, many of them held far longer than Sergeant Shalit.

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 Throngs of excited Palestinians woke to mosque loudspeakers crying “God is great!” and “Victory to God!” as they awaited the arrival of buses carrying the 477 prisoners. Another 550 are expected to be released in two months. Two female prisoners due to be sent to Gaza were demanding instead to be sent to Egypt. Turkey was expecting to receive about 10 prisoners, according to its foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. The Anatolian news agency reported that around 40 Palestinians would be relocated to Turkey, Syria and Egypt and Turkey.

 Shortly after dawn, the Hamas-run government took busloads of journalists in a tightly controlled media operation to the Rafah crossing Armed members of Hamas’s militant wing, the Qassam Brigades, lined the main highway to the crossing, wearing black and green bandanas and balaclavas. Some carried Kalashnikov assault rifles while others bore rocket-propelled grenade launchers.

 Many hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the guards — at some points posted every 15 feet — had apparently been deployed to forestall disruptions. A celebratory rally was planned at Brigades Park in one of Gaza’s largest open spaces. There a stage had been erected for the Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniya, to address the crowd and welcome the returnees.

 The buses carrying the prisoners drove through a huge crowd of Hamas police and a drum band and honor guard. The men disembarked one by one and ran a gantlet of people who cheered them, held up camera phones, saluted and patted them on the back. Some were given sashes with the Palestinian colors.

 All along Salahuddin Street, the main north-south road that runs the length of the Gaza Strip, Hamas activists had attached Islamist banners to streetlights on Monday.

 Dozens of the released prisoners attended a reception given by President Abbas in Ramallah in the West Bank. Although the exchange was negotiated by his rivals in Hamas, the release of prisoners was a source of national celebration. School was canceled so that children could participate.

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 “We thank God that you returned safe and sound to your families, your brothers, and your homeland after this forced disappearance because you struggled for your homeland,” Mr. Abbas told the freed prisoners and well wishers. “We pray that God enables us to see the rest of our sisters and brothers freed in this yard. Your sacrifices, and efforts and work were not in vain. You worked and struggled and sacrificed. You will see the results of your sacrifices in the independent Palestinian state.”

 At Rafah, a woman arrived with a photograph of her son, who was killed in the raid that captured Gilad Shalit. He was Mohammad Azmi Firwana, 23, from Khan Younis.

 “I have come to greet the prisoners because they are all like my sons and daughters,” said the woman, Ahlam Firwana. “We have not got Mohammad’s body back yet. We have heard nothing.” ||||| Gilad Schalit's father says his son has begun a long healing process; says Gilad suffered from a lack of sunlight, interaction with others.

 Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad

 Noam Schalit said that Gilad's homecoming from captivity in the Gaza Strip was like experiencing the rebirth of his son, speaking with reporters outside the family home in Mitzpe Hila on Tuesday, and shared some details of his captivity.

 "Gilad is happy to be at home," Noam said, explaining that the public exposure was difficult for his son.

 Schalit stressed that Gilad was suffering after being "in isolation so many days and years." "He had no connection with his people, with his own his language."

 Noam said the family felt as if it "was experiencing the rebirth of their son," and thanked supporters for their efforts in the long campaign to bring his son home.

 Noam

 said he hoped his son's healing process would be as quick as possible, after more than five years in captivity.

 Gilad said that at the beginning he was held in difficult conditions, Noam recounted, adding that his conditions later improved.

 Noam said that Gilad feels well, but suffers some health problems due to his lengthy solitary confinement and maltreatment, including problems related to a lack of sunlight.

 He is being treated by the IDF, Noam said.

 "We, of course, thank the public that supported us all this way and all the activists who were with us this whole time, accompanying us until the very last step," Noam said.

 "We want to thank IDF officials, and the government, who helped complete this operation."

 Schalit said that he appreciated the hard work of "the government, prime minister, and defense minister."

  ||||| TEL NOF AIR BASE, Israel (AP) – Looking thin, weary and dazed, an Israeli soldier returned home Tuesday from more than five years of captivity in the Gaza Strip in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners whose joyful families greeted them with massive celebrations.

 Sgt. Gilad Shalit, in a brief but controversial interview with Egyptian TV before being transferred to Israel, said he was "very excited to taste freedom and had missed his family and friends." He said he feared he would remain in captivity "many more years" and worried since being told of the deal last week that last-minute hitches might cause it to collapse.

 "Of course I missed my family. I missed friends, meeting people to talk to people, and not to sit all day, to do the same things," he said.

 SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS

 In a press conference at the Tel Nof airbase in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted Gilad Shalit with "Shalom Gilad. Welcome back to Israel. How good to have you back home," the BBC reports.

 Shalit was later flown to his home in Mitzpe Hila, in the north of Israel, where thousands were waiting to welcome him. According to the BBC, Shalit told his grandfather that he is really tired and wants to sleep.

 Shalit's father told reporters outside the family's home in Mitzpe Hila that his son will need time to recover from psychological and physical wounds after five years in Hamas captivity. Shalit's father also said his son is still suffering from shrapnel wounds he suffered during his 2006 abduction by Hamas militants. He says his son is struggling with all the attention after spending the last few years in "isolation."

 In Gaza, tens of thousands of flag-waving Palestinians celebrated the homecoming Tuesday of hundreds of prisoners swapped for an Israeli soldier, as political leaders jockeyed for credit for the most significant prisoner release by Israel in nearly three decades.

 In Gaza City, a large crowd crammed into a sandy lot, where a huge stage was set up, decorated with a mural depicting Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit's capture in a June 2006 at an army base near the Gaza border. Thousands hoisted green Hamas flags.

 Many in the crowd were overcome with joy.

 Azhar Abu Jawad, 30, celebrated the return of a brother who had been sentenced to life for killing an Israeli in 1992. She said she last saw him eight years ago, before Israel banned visits by Gazans.

 "My happiness is indescribable," she said. "We'll get him a bride and everything. I just spoke to him. He's so happy. This is a reminder, God doesn't forget anyone."

 In the West Bank, released prisoners were taken to the grave of iconic Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas greeted them, and several thousand people filled the courtyard outside his headquarters to celebrate.

 Abbas addressed jubilant crowds from his compound, Ma'an News Agency reports: "We pray that God enables us to see the rest of our sisters and brothers freed in this yard. Your sacrifices, and efforts and work were not in vain. You worked and struggled and sacrificed. You will see the results of your sacrifices in the independent Palestinian state."

 Israeli Sgt. Gilad Shalit was kidnapped in June 2006 by Hamas militants and held captive in the Gaza strip. The most recent video message shows the soldier in September 2009, saying he had been "waiting and yearning" a long time for his release, according to a BBC translation.

 Last week, Israel and the Palestinian organization Hamas reached an agreement on Shalit's release, exchanging over a thousand Palestinian prisoners for the soldier. Israel released 477 Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday. 550 other Palestinians will be freed in the next two months. The majority of those released today will return to the Gaza Strip. Some 30 of them will be deported to countries such as Jordan, Turkey and Qatar. About a hundred will go to the West Bank. The deal is perceived as an important political victory for Hamas, despite the fact that the organization was unable to include the release of prominent Palestinian Marwan Barghouti in the negotiations.

 The deal that arranged for Shalit's release sparked controversy in Israel, as the list of Palestinians who will be released includes some convicted of killing Israelis in the past. According to the Associated Press, the deal was the most lopsided prisoner swap in Israel's history. Families of terror victims petitioned against the deal before the Israeli High Court on Monday, hoping to delay the prisoners' swap.

 Last week, 27-year-old Shvuel Schijvenschuurder, whose parents and siblings were killed in a suicide bombing, defaced a memorial for former president Rabin to protest the agreement.

 However, according to Haaretz, Israeli president Shimon Peres said in a meeting with the victims' families on Monday that he understood the families' pain, yet that it was his duty to save Shalit's life.

 In his press conference at Tel Nof airbase, Netanyahu reiterated this sentiment. "Today is a happy day and a sad day for Israel. When I returned to the position of Prime Minister in 2009, I had a important task waiting for me: to return our soldier Gilad Shalit home," he said, according to Haaretz.

 Netanyahu also issued a staunch warning to the freed Palestinian militants. "We will continue to fight terror and every released terrorist who returns to terror will be held accountable," he said.

 Those concerns were underscored with comments by one of the freed prisoners, Hamas militant leader Yehia Sinwar, who called on the movement to kidnap more soldiers.

 In the video above, watch footage of Gilad Shalit posted by the Israel Defense Forces.

 Below, Netanyahu's address: |||||Summary:

– Israel soldier Gilad Shalit is home and “happy,” but he’s still recovering from five years’ imprisonment, his father says. “In isolation,” Gilad “had no connection with his people, with his own language,” Noam Shalit told members of the media, including the Jerusalem Post. Lack of sunlight and mistreatment in captivity have contributed to health problems, Shalit said, though he noted that prison conditions improved over the years. Before Gilad’s release, he was interviewed by Egyptian TV, and speaking seemed difficult for him, CBS News notes. Media attention has been difficult for Gilad, his father said. “Naturally he can't be exposed to so many people because he was in isolation so many days and years.” Noam Shalit thanked supporters and acknowledged “the price we are paying for Gilad’s release,” an exchange of some 1,027 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. One freed prisoner said Palestinians should kidnap "another Shalit" every year until all Palestinians are released, notes the New York Times. For video of the release and homecoming, click here.


News article:

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- A Jefferson County judge has dismissed the capital murder charge against Gabe Watson, ending his prosecution in the death of his wife, Tina, while scuba diving during their Australian honeymoon in 2003.

 Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tommy Nail said there was no evidence that a reasonable person could consider to be proof beyond a reasonable doubt that Watson, 34, committed an Alabama crime by intentionally killing Tina Thomas Watson for monetary gain on Oct. 22, 2003.

 "The evidence is sorely lacking that it was an intentional act," Nail said this afternoon in a response to a defense motion for acquittal after the prosecution completed its case. "The only way to convict him of intentional murder is to speculate. Nobody knows exactly what happened in the water. I'm sure we'll never know."Nail also said the prosecution's evidence that Watson hoped to benefit financially by killing his bride of 11 days was a stretch and he heard no evidence proving a profit motive.The courtroom erupted in cheers from Watson's supporters. Watson, holding hands with his wife, walked out of the Jefferson County criminal justice building at 2:25 p.m. today. He stood silent as his attorney, Brett Bloomston, made a brief statement to a crowd of news reporters.Bloomston said he hopes this gives closure to Gabe Watson and both families. "It has been a nightmare for Gabe and his family and a nightmare for Tina's family," he said.Watson, his wife, and attorneys then quickly jumped into an awaiting black SUV and drove off.David Watson, the defendant's father, said he was relieved."I'm just thrilled for Gabe," he said. "I think he can finally start the healing process and put his lilfe together. We are so sorry for the Thomases' loss. I'm sure they'll never get over it."The Thomas family left without commenting.The prosecution rested its case following a lunch break today. Then defense lawyers Brett Bloomston, Joe Basgier and Mike Hanle asked Nail to dismiss the case, a motion that routinely is made before the defense case begins.Bloomston said the only eyewitness who saw Gabe and Tina Thomas Watson together underwater testified he thought Gabe Watson was trying to save his wife's life. The witness even said he was shocked when he was subpoenaed to a murder trial, Bloomston said."The state is relying on speculation, suspicion and opinion," Bloomston told Nail. "The state failed to show Gabe Watson revceived any economic gain or attempted economic gain in this jurisdiction."Watson was charged in 2008 with intentional murder in Australia, and pleaded guilty in 2009 to the lesser charge of negligent manslaughter. He served 18 months in prison there before he was released and sent to face the Alabama charge.To convict him in Alabama, prosecutors had to show some element of the crime occurred in the state. Prosecutors claimed Watson talked about insurance with his wife before the honeymoon, including a policy from her job in Hoover, and he tried to collect on insurance after her deathEarlier today, Tina Thomas Watson's father fought tears as he described to a Jefferson County jury how he found out his daughter died on her honeymoon and why he became suspicious that defendant Gabe Watson killed her.Watson did not call his in-laws to tell them she died while diving inside the Great Barrier Reef in Australia on Oct. 22, 2003, testified Tommy Thomas. The Thomas family found out from the defendant's father more than a day after the death, he said.The dismissal by Nail came this afternoon after the prosecutors had rested their case against Watson.Tommy Thomas was the last witness for the prosecution.

 More in the Gabe Watson Files

  ||||| A judge on Thursday acquitted a man accused of drowning his newlywed wife during a honeymoon diving trip to Australia eight years ago, saying in an unusual ruling that prosecutors did not prove the man intentionally killed his wife to collect on a life insurance policy.

 Tommy Thomas identifies a picture of his daughter Tina Thomas Watson for Prosecutor Don Valeska, right, and the jury during the Gabe Watson capital murder trial at the Mel Bailey Criminal Justice Center... (Associated Press)

 Gabe Watson, left, stands during a break in his capital murder trial at the Mel Bailey Criminal Justice Center in Birmingham, Ala., Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. An Alabama judge acquitted Watson, accused... (Associated Press)

 Circuit Judge Tommy Nail issued his ruling before the defense had even presented its case in the two-week-long trial and before jurors were given the case to deliberate. Prosecutor Don Valeska, head of the violent crimes division for the state attorney general's office, said he never before had a trial end in a judge's acquittal in 41 years of trying cases.

 Gabe Watson, 34, had faced life in prison without parole if convicted of murdering his wife, Tina Thomas Watson, in 2003. He already served 18 months in an Australian prison after pleading guilty there to a manslaughter charge involving negligence.

 Nail agreed with defense arguments that prosecutors failed to show Watson intentionally killed the woman. Prosecutors claimed he drowned her for insurance money, but the only eyewitness testified he thought Watson was trying to save the woman.

 The state's evidence was "sorely lacking" and did not prove Watson had any financial motive.

 "I don't think anyone knows for sure what happened in the water down there," Nail said. He repeatedly clashed with prosecutors during both the trial and earlier hearings.

 Defense attorneys had argued that Watson didn't stand to gain anything monetarily because Tina Watson's father was the beneficiary of her life insurance policy. They contended her death was an accident.

 Gabe Watson's father, David, hugged his son in the courtroom after the judge made his ruling. He said every court that had looked at the case determined Gabe did not intentionally kill his wife.

 "I'm just so relieved. Hopefully he can put his life back together," David Watson said.

 "I hope everyone can begin to heal. The rest of his life will determine his legacy. Gabe is a good kid."

 Gabe Watson left the courtroom hand-in-hand with his second wife without commenting to reporters.

 Tina Watson's father, Tommy Thomas, had testified earlier in the day. He described how his family's grief and shock over Tina Watson's death turned to suspicion of Gabe Watson.

 Valeska, the prosecutor, walked with his arm around Tommy Thomas, who appeared to be in shock and stunned by the judge's decision.

 "It should have gone to the jury for them to decide," Thomas said of the judge's decision.

 Thomas had testified earlier that shortly after the death, his wife, Cindy, was worried about Gabe Watson's condition. However, evidence showed relations between Watson and his wife's family frayed quickly as the Thomases began having doubts about what happened and Gabe Watson began asking for Tina Watson's belongings.

 Gabe Watson's father called to tell them about the woman's death more than 15 hours after she drowned, Thomas said, and Tina Watson's family never heard from Gabe Watson until they attempted to contact him through the U.S. consulate in Australia.

 Thomas said that in a phone call from Australia, Watson claimed his wife gave him a thumbs up underwater, indicating she wanted to go back to the surface. Watson said he was leading her back to a rope when she panicked, knocked off his mask and air hose, and began sinking, according to Thomas.

 But during a later talk at a lawyer's office, Thomas said, Watson changed his story and said the woman indicated she wanted to go back to the rope leading to the top rather than go directly to the surface. Staring directly at Watson from the witness stand, Thomas said he asked his former son-in-law at that time: "When Tina gave him the thumbs up sign to go to the surface, why didn't he just take her to the surface?"

 The judge blocked Thomas from testifying about Watson's alleged desire to increase the woman's life insurance policy, a blow for prosecutors who earlier had been barred from presenting other evidence about Watson's actions after the death.

 Montre Carodine, a law professor at the University of Alabama, said the judge's decision to end the trial without the defense even presenting evidence was a "serious indictment" of the prosecution's case, particularly considering it was a capital trial.

 "It means the evidence was weak," she said. |||||
What is a shorter version of the above article?

– It's normally just a legal routine: After the prosecution rests, the defense stands up and asks the judge to dismiss all charges. Today, though, a judge in Alabama surprised everyone and agreed to do just that. As a result, Gabe Watson, accused of drowning his wife on their honeymoon in Australia in 2003, is a free man, reports the Birmingham News. "The evidence is sorely lacking that it was an intentional act," said Judge Tommy Nail. "The only way to convict him of intentional murder is to speculate. Nobody knows exactly what happened in the water. I'm sure we'll never know." Tina Watson drowned while they were scuba diving, and the only witness thought Gabe was actually trying to save her life underwater. Watson served 18 months in prison in Australia after pleading guilty to a manslaughter charge related to negligence, notes AP.


Article:

/ Updated By Stephany Bai

 When Robert Wang was laid off from his software engineering job in 2008, he took his extra time to solve a personal problem that had been bothering him and several of his peers: dinner.

 Busy with work, Wang said he and his friends would often resort to fast food or takeout at night.

 "We all had young children at the time and found it rather challenging to fix healthy dinners when we got off of work," Wang recalled. "We all knew those are not healthy for the children, and not a good habit."

 “From our experience, cooking is not a solitary event. You really cook for your family, you cook for your friends."

 The result of Wang's tinkering was the first version of a device he calls the "Instant Pot." Equipped with pressure and heat sensors, as well as a microprocessor, Wang said the appliance can serve as a rice cooker, a pressure cooker, a steamer and a slow cooker, among other functions.

 The device has become a hit. Versions regularly rank as top sellers in Amazon's rice cooker and electric pressure cooker categories, and an official Instant Pot Facebook group for sharing recipes has attracted more than 750,000 members.

 Earlier this year, the appliance received praise from J. Kenji López-Alt, the James Beard award-winning author of "The Food Lab" cookbook, as well as James Beard award-winning New York Times food columnist Melissa Clark.

 While other companies also produce "multi-cookers," Joe Derochowski, a market analyst at The NPD Group, told NBC News that the growth of the market has been "dramatic" — 68 percent in the last year and 90 percent in 2016 — and shows no sign of stopping.

 "There are more and more players going into this market in part because it's hitting on the key needs consumers have," Derochowski said. "I think Instant Pot had a big part to do with that."

 But while Wang believed in his product, he said it was difficult to bring it to life. The first problem he and his team had to solve was how to prevent novice cooks from burning their food. Their solution, a burn detection mechanism, took months of engineering and "burning a lot of food" to perfect, he said. In total, the team's research, design and development required 18 months to bring their first product to market.

 Wang — now chief executive of the Canada-based Double Insight, the company the produces the Instant Pot — calls the first iteration, launched in 2010, the "five-in-one," in reference to the five functions of the device. The latest version is a "10-in-one," updated to include functions such as yogurt making, sautéing and sterilizing.

 "Every time we add any function, we make it better than anything currently available on the market," Wang said. "We need to make sure that the food produced, that's cooked in this pot, is the most delicious."

 Wang said that he makes "a lot of Greek yogurt" and that ribs and chili are also among his favorite recipes. Wang's parents-in-law have diabetes, he added, and because his family could be genetically predisposed to the disease, they are taking precautions to consume fewer carbohydrates.

 Double Insight became profitable in 2012, two years after the release of the first Instant Pot, and according to Wang, it has doubled in revenue every year since. The company sold 215,000 units in a single day last year, he added, as part of a promotion on Amazon Prime Day.

 But despite the company's success on social media, Wang said he and his team started with no marketing strategy, deciding to let the product "speak for itself," with an additional focus on customer service.

 "From our experience, cooking is not a solitary event," Wang said. "You really cook for your family. You cook for your friends. When people try your food and they're happy about it, you will be bragging about how you used a miracle appliance like Instant Pot to do the cooking."

 “Every time we add any function, we make it better than anything currently available on the market. We need to make sure that the food produced, that’s cooked in this pot, is the most delicious.”

 Wang said he feels grateful to his customers for spreading the word and pays close attention to what they say online. When one customer asked whether there was a way to sterilize baby bottles using the appliance, a sterilization function was added to the next model, he noted.

 More recently, Wang said he noticed customers from Florida and Texas posting to the Instant Pot Community after hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

 Wang said that seeing his product help people in need was "really rewarding." While he did not intend for his product to be used specifically for emergency purposes, he said, the goal has always been to help people and families.

 "Back in 2012, when our sales had reached just over 10,000, we had an internal mission statement," Wang said. "An Instant Pot in every kitchen. That is the objective of the company. We are out to change the world in a positive way."

 Follow NBC Asian America on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr. ||||| A Canadian innovation is poised to be the top-selling product on Amazon — both in Canada and the U.S. — during this week's Black Friday sales event.

 The Instant Pot "smart cooker" — a high-tech pressure cooker that promises to help you make tasty, homemade meals fast — was already the biggest seller on Amazon's Prime Day this past July. Close to 250,000 units were purchased on that day alone.

 Only Amazon's own products, such as the Echo smart speaker, saw a bigger response from consumers. But Robert Wang, the Ottawa-based inventor of the Instant Pot, still considers his product's performance a triumph — and one that's about to be repeated.

 Instant Pot inventor Robert Wang was recognized and congratulated by a shopper recently, during a visit to a kitchen supply store in Ottawa. (CBC) "It's impossible to beat the sales numbers of Amazon devices on Amazon's own day," said Wang. It's no surprise that the e-commerce giant features its own merchandise more prominently than anything else. Even so, he was thrilled to be at the top of the charts.

 "To sell 250,000 units in 24 hours is close to a miracle," he says with pride. "It's like that saying about when the time for an idea has arrived, nothing can stop it."

 Half a million orders

 Now the former Nortel engineer is forecasting another miracle: that on Black Friday, the Instant Pot will double its sales record. Wang placed a massive order with his manufacturer in China five months ago, anticipating a potential 500,000 orders from Amazon alone.

 A massive order of Instant Pot had to be placed with the manufacturer in China months before Black Friday. (CBC) "The sale is happening on one day, and the product has to be in the warehouse," he explains. "Amazon has the promise of delivery within 48 hours."

 It's hard to imagine an unglamorous, electric cooker generating the kind of excited stampede that's more commonly seen for a hot Christmas toy, or fun electronic gadgets. Just what's so great about the Instant Pot anyway?

 "What's not so great about the Instant Pot?" asks Carole Nelson Brown. She's a chef who also teaches Instant Pot cooking classes, sharing her boundless enthusiasm for the device.

 Fanatical devotion

 "This is healthier, it's cheaper and it tastes amazing. And I really think people have a sense of pride when they make their own meal."

 Brown notes that frozen meat can be savoury and ready to eat in just over 30 minutes.

 But even as a super-fan herself, she's astounded at the devotion some consumers feel for the pot. Many of the 750,000 members of the Instant Pot Community on Facebook are "cult-like worshippers," in her opinion.

 "They are obsessed," claims Nelson Brown. "They don't use their stove anymore, they don't use their microwave anymore, they don't use anything else. If someone comes in and says 'I'm not loving it, I tried a few things, they didn't really work out', these people go insane at the thought that someone might not love their Instant Pot as much as they do."

 Solving dinner time-crunch

 The Instant Pot arrived on the market seven years ago. Wang and his business partners Yi Qin and Dongjun Wang had all worked in Ottawa's tech sector before deciding to put their engineering smarts to work on a problem in their own homes.

 Robert Wang, right, and his partner Yi Qin inspect components at the Chinese factory that has been contracted to manufacture the Instant Pot. (CBC) "Many kitchen appliances were designed for the lifestyle of our parents, of our grandparents," says Wang, standing in an office at the company's headquarters on the outskirts of Ottawa. "Now our generation lives a different lifestyle, so we need to rethink those legacy devices and make sure they adapt."

 The pair realized that the speed of a pressure cooker could solve the time-crunch so many families experience when it comes time to make dinner at the end of the workday. But old-school pressure cookers had to be watched, and they could explode if not monitored and adjusted properly.

 Wang and Qin developed a "smart" device with multiple sensors — to ensure the lid is sealed properly, that the pressure is perfect, and to guarantee food won't burn. And of course they added Bluetooth, so that consumers can control and monitor the pot remotely.

 "Have you seen The Big Bang Theory episode where they say everything is better with Bluetooth?" asks Wang playfully. "It's true."

 More popular in U.S.

 Americans caught on to the Instant Pot well before most Canadians. The momentum south of the border started in 2012, helped along by food bloggers and influencers who were recruited to use the Instant Pot. Word spread quickly that the device did all it promised, and by that summer Wang saw his invention become a "category No. 1" on Amazon, with thousands of positive reviews.

 During Prime Day in 2016 — Amazon's summer sales event for its Prime members — Wang was overwhelmed by demand, and didn't have enough inventory.

 "After 23 hours they were all gone," he says. This summer he made sure the company was better prepared and able to fill every order.

 The Instant Pot was featured in a lengthy segment on the popular daytime TV program The Dr. Oz Show. (Harpo Studios/Sony Pictures Televisioni) The Instant Pot's fame continues to pick up speed in the U.S. Last month, Jimmy Fallon bantered about the product with his sidekick on The Tonight Show ("I'm excited, I want to get one of these things"), and The Dr. Oz Show featured a lengthy segment about how to cook with it.

 "Now Americans realize that eating healthy has become more and more important — and they also understand eating fast food, manufactured food, is not good for their health," says Wang, explaining his thoughts on why the invention is surging in popularity in the U.S. "Also, consumer culture is very strong there."

 Word of mouth

 Now Canadians are starting to catch on, too. This year, Instant Pot hit the No. 1 spot during Amazon Prime Day in Canada as well.

 "It's developed a cult following so quickly," says Candace Sutcliffe of CA Paradis, a kitchen supply store in Ottawa.

 "They've put zero advertising into getting it out into the public, and so really everything is created either through Facebook groups, or people are exchanging recipes on other social media. It's developed its fan base just through word of mouth, which is incredible."

 But could the Instant Pot craze fade fast, and become just another over-sized gadget gathering dust in a closet — along with the bread-making machine and waffle iron?

 Wang believes the device is still in its infancy, citing a statistic that only five per cent of North American households have a device similar to the Instant Pot. "So 95 per cent of them still don't have a smart cooker yet. That's our objective, putting an Instant Pot in every kitchen."

 He also says the company has a "large cache of new products" ready to be launched starting in 2018, but is tight-lipped about what they will be. "Unfortunately I can't disclose that at the moment," he says with a smile.

 "We see lots of opportunities in improving what we call the legacy devices in your kitchen." ||||| The Farm Cooking School in Titusville, NJ, is a proponent of steaming foods in new-fangled pressure-cooker machines like the Instant Pot (right).

 Last holiday shopping season, one kitchen gift ruled them all: the Instant Pot. The device (an electric pressure cooker that doubles as a slow cooker, rice cooker, and yogurt maker) debuted in 2010, but it took until the end of 2016 to become a best seller. Spurred on by popular food bloggers, the craze reached full frenzy over the summer, when more than 200,000 of the units were sold on Amazon’s Prime Day.

 This autumn, many Instant Pot-themed cookbooks were published, and what recently seemed like just another passing fad started to feel like a new classic, a modern-day must-have. The Instant Pot is here to stay. Its promise to make slow-cooked foods, like braised meats, stewed beans, and hearty soups faster (if not instantly) has proved irresistible to a nation of time-strapped home cooks.

 For all its bells and whistles, the Instant Pot is nothing new. It’s an electric pressure cooker made over with digital controls, modern safety features, and a few extra functions that go largely unused. Its most notable innovation has been taking the fear out of pressure-cooking.

 “People think pressure cookers will explode,” says Ian Knauer, a former Gourmet magazine food editor who now runs the Farm Cooking School in Titusville, N.J. During the school’s first hands-on Instant Pot workshop, Knauer reassured his students.

 “The only way it will explode is if you put dynamite in it,” he says.

 The cooking class is designed to show off the things the Instant Pot does best — which, it should be noted, is not everything. In spite of the many pasta recipes you’ll see online and in the new wave of cookbooks, pasta cooked under pressure has an unpleasant, mushy texture. Fish is too delicate for this kind of high heat. Because you can’t exactly keep a close eye on food inside a sealed pot, chicken breast easily becomes a dried-out, stringy mess. (Chicken thighs, on the other hand, are an Instant Pot’s BFF.)

 One splashy recipe Knauer and his co-instructor, Shelley Wiseman, teach in their Instant Pot class is octopus salad with gigante (or large lima) beans. This dish is a good teaching tool because octopus normally requires hours of gentle braising to achieve a tender texture. In the Instant Pot, it’s cooked in 30 minutes under pressure, though the time required to reach pressure brings the total time closer to an hour.

 Cooking beans, especially when you start with unsoaked dried beans, can take all afternoon on the stove. The Instant Pot renders most dried beans tender in 20 to 40 minutes. Dense, slow-cooking vegetables like beets are ready in as little as three to five minutes versus the half hour or hour they would take to bake or steam. And though only the most adventurous cooks are likely to wrangle a whole octopus, most Instant Pot aficionados love the convenience of a spontaneous weeknight pot of beans.

 One Farm Cooking School student, Kathy Hoffman, 42, of Delaware Township, admits that though she’s owned an Instant Pot for several months, she hasn’t take it out of the box. That’s why she signed up for the class. An hour in, her perspective on the appliance had shifted from anxiety to eagerness. “I’m going to start using it this weekend,” she says after tasting the octopus salad. “My kids would actually love this.”

 Another student, KC DelPlato, 46, of Doylestown, has been cooking in her Instant Pot up to four times a week for several years. She is active in the official Instant Pot Community Facebook group, which has more than 750,000 members. (There are dozens of Instant Pot groups, one for every culinary niche or special diet imaginable, but the general group is the largest and most active.)

 “I use it mostly for bone broth and chicken thighs. I came to the class looking for new things to try with it,” DelPlato says. Like all the students, she was excited to add a fast and easy technique for risotto to her weeknight repertoire.

 Risotto recipes appear in almost all of the new Instant Pot cookbooks for a reason. Cooking this classic dish under pressure frees you up to do other things as the rice becomes rich, tender, and creamy without the traditional constant stirring. You sauté a few ingredients right in the pot, add everything else at once, flip a switch, and walk away. The machine will even hold the finished risotto at a food safe temperature for up to 10 hours if you aren’t ready to have dinner when it’s done.

 Dinner in an Instant (Clarkson Potter) by Melissa Clark will walk you through her version of saffron risotto. The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook (Ten Speed Press) by Coco Morante offers risotto infused with lemon and dotted with green peas. But Daniel Shumski’s aptly named How to Instant Pot (Workman Publishing Co.) is your next best bet to crack the code of Instant Pot risotto if you can’t make your way to a hands-on cooking class.

 For risotto and an array of other dishes, Shumski provides a master method plus several variations, making it likely you’ll be able to create your own versions of risotto with whatever you have on hand. This approach of pairing adaptable methods with variations and ideas makes How to Instant Pot the most useful book of the bunch. It also helps the new user decode the various functions, buttons, and programs.

 Best of all, Shumski reveals the Instant Pot’s greatest tricks — quick ways of whipping up long-lasting, flavor-boosting flourishes that can make all the difference in your home cooking. For example, you can make a cup of buttery faux-roasted garlic paste in less than 10 minutes. Shumski provides a method for speedy, hands-off caramelized onions. His master recipe for all-purpose chicken stock leaves you with the kind of concentrated, gelatinous stock that would make a case for owning an Instant Pot even if this were the only thing the machine could do.

 For the moment, the Instant Pot brand has cornered the multi-cooker market, but other companies now make rival machines — a sure sign the thing is with us for keeps. Fans of Breville’s multi-cooker claim its controls are simpler to use (though it costs roughly $250 — more than twice as much as an Instant Pot). Crock-Pot just rolled out its own version at a lower price (about $70) than the Instant Pot, whose most popular six-quart model sells for about $90, though you can frequently find it on sale for less.

 If you’ve been holding out, thinking this is a fad, it might be time to keep your eye on the internet for post-Thanksgiving sales. It isn’t often that something comes along that changes the way we cook — but the Instant Pot, like the slow cooker before it, seems destined to be a cooking craze that doesn’t quit. |||||
What is a summary?

– Robert Wang has a simple goal: "an Instant Pot in every kitchen." And CBC reports the Canadian inventor is poised to make significant strides toward that goal this Black Friday. Wang invented the Instant Pot in 2008 after getting laid off from his software engineering job, according to NBC News. The device is essentially an electric pressure cooker that also serves as a rice cooker, steamer, slow cooker, and more. It has sensors to prevent burning and make sure everything's cooking properly and Bluetooth for remote monitoring. Now, seven years after the Instant Pot hit the market, Wang has a legitimate phenomenon on his hands, selling nearly 250,000 units on Amazon's Prime Day. "To sell 250,000 units in 24 hours is close to a miracle," Wang tells CBC. "It's like that saying about when the time for an idea has arrived, nothing can stop it." And the Instant Pot's popularity is still growing. It's predicted it will be Amazon's biggest seller during the company's Black Friday sales event in the US and Canada this week. Wang thinks he'll move 500,000 units on Amazon alone. He chalks the Instant Pot's popularity up to people's growing desire to make healthy, home-cooked food while avoiding fast food—and because "everything is better with Bluetooth." The Inquirer states the Instant Pot's biggest innovation is "taking the fear out of pressure-cooking." Whatever the reason for its popularity, Instant Pot owners are fanatical. The Instant Pot community on Facebook has 750,000 members, and a chef who teaches an Instant Pot cooking class describes some fans as "cult-like worshippers." But they probably said the same thing about all those people buying Tickle-Me Elmos.


Article:
NEW YORK (AP) — Rescue crews are searching Indonesian waters for AirAsia Indonesia Flight 8501, which disappeared Sunday with 162 passengers and crew onboard. The plane was flying from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, and was about halfway to its destination, Singapore, when it vanished from radar.

 ___

 Q: WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED?

 A: It is way too early to know for sure, but here are some options. The plane was in the safest part of flight: Just 10 percent of fatal crashes from 2004 through 2013 occurred while a plane was at cruise elevation, according to a safety study published by Boeing in August.

 Passing through bad weather such as severe thunderstorms could have been a factor. Airbus jets have sophisticated computers that automatically adjust to wind shears or other weather disruptions. But weather — combined with pilot errors — has played a role in past air disasters that occurred at cruise elevation, including the 2009 Air France Flight 447 crash over the Atlantic Ocean.

 Another possibility is some type of catastrophic metal fatigue caused by the cycle of pressurization and depressurization associated with each takeoff and landing cycle. This A320 had had 13,600 takeoffs and landings. Many occurred in humid climate, which speeds corrosion. Still, metal fatigue is unlikely because this plane is only 6 years old.

 Finally, there's the possibility of terrorism or a mass murder by the pilot. There's no evidence of either action, but neither can yet be ruled out.

 ___

 Q: WHAT DID THE PILOTS SAY TO AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS?

 A: The last communication between the pilot and air traffic control was at 6:12 a.m. Sunday (6:12 p.m. EST Saturday) when the pilot "asked to avoid clouds by turning left and going higher to 38,000 feet (11,582 meters)." The last radar contact occurred three minutes later. There was no distress call. But pilots are trained to focus first on the emergency at hand and then communicate only when free.

 ___

 Q: ISN'T THIS THE THIRD MALAYSIAN JET TO CRASH THIS YEAR?

 A: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared with 239 people aboard soon after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8. Its whereabouts and what happened remain one of the biggest mysteries in commercial aviation. Another Malaysia Airlines flight, also a Boeing 777, was shot down over rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine while en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17. All 298 people aboard were killed. AirAsia is also based in Malaysia. Flight 8501 was operated by AirAsia Indonesia, a subsidiary that's 49 percent owned by the Malaysian parent company. So technically, it's an Indonesian airline. But the AirAsia brand is closely tied to the people of Malaysia.

 ___

 Q: IS THERE A CONNECTION AMONG ALL THESE CRASHES?

 A: No. It's just a very unfortunate year for Southeast Asia. But that doesn't stop conspiracy theories from sprouting. Ideas about what happened to Flight 370 — both logical and bizarre — keep appearing. The unsolved nature of that disappearance could generate more attention for Flight 8501 and create a new batch of hypotheses.

 ___

 Q: HOW FAR COULD THE JET HAVE FLOWN?

 A: Looking at the flight's paperwork, the plane had more than 18,000 pounds of jet fuel at takeoff, enough to fly about 3½ hours, according to Phil Derner Jr., the founder of aviation enthusiast website NYCAviation.com and a flight dispatcher for a U.S. airline. He notes that that's less fuel than most flights tend to carry from New York to Florida.

 ___

 Q: WHAT'S NEXT?

 A: Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia are conducting a search-and-rescue operation near Belitung island in the Java Sea, the plane's last known whereabouts. Assuming that the jet didn't veer far off course, the searchers should find wreckage, which can provide clues about what happened. Investigators will also try to recover the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, which often have the most detailed information about the plane's final moments. Those so-called black boxes have homing beacons that help searchers find them.

 ___

 Q: IS THE AIRBUS A320 A SAFE JET?

 A: The plane is a workhorse of modern aviation. Similar to the Boeing 737, the single-aisle, twin-engine jet is used to connect cities that are between one and five hours apart. Worldwide, 3,606 A320s are in operation, according to Airbus, which also makes nearly identical versions of the plane: The smaller A318 and A319 and the stretched A321. An additional 2,486 of those jets are flying. The A320 family has a good safety record, with just 0.14 fatal accidents per million takeoffs, according to the Boeing safety study.

 ___

 Q: WHAT ABOUT AIRASIA?

 A: Low-cost AirAsia has a strong presence in most of Southeast Asia, and it recently expanded into India. Though most of its flights are just a few hours long, it has tried to expand into long-distance flying through its sister airline AirAsia X. None of its subsidiaries has lost a plane before, and it has a generally good safety record. But it does fly in a part of the world where air travel has expanded faster than the number of qualified pilots, mechanics and air traffic controllers.

 ___

 Q: WHAT ABOUT FLYING IN INDONESIA?

 A: The country has had a bumpy safety record. In 2007, the crash rate and safety standards were so bad that the European Union barred all of Indonesia's airlines from flying into any of its member countries. Than ban was lifted in 2009. But Indonesia's main airline — fast-growing Lion Air — is still banned by the EU.

 ___

 Q: WHAT'S IT LIKE TO FLY THROUGH A THUNDERSTORM AT 34,000 FEET?

 A: Planes flying through thunderstorms experience severe turbulence, with the aircraft moving up, down, sideways and rolling. Anything not secured can float around in the cabin, bouncing off things and people. Overhead bins can open up, spilling contents. Airsickness is common.

 ___

 Q: WHAT DO PILOTS DO TO AVOID THUNDERSTORMS?

 A: If at all possible, airline pilots fly around thunderstorms, even if it means going far out of their way. Airliners like the A320 typically are equipped with radar that provides highly accurate weather information. Pilots can see a thunderstorm forming from over 100 miles away, giving them time to plot a way around the storm cluster or to look for gaps to fly through. It's usually not a problem for commercial planes to go 100 or more miles out of the way.

 ___

 Q: HOW HIGH CAN AN A320 SAFELY FLY? AND WHAT IF IT EXCEEDS THAT LIMIT?

 A: The A320 is certified to fly up to 39,000 feet, its maximum altitude before its rate of climb begins to erode. The plane has an absolute flight limit of 42,000 feet. But it can begin to experience problems as low as 37,000 feet, depending on temperature and weight, including fuel, cargo and passengers. The plane's computers should reveal the maximum altitude at which the plane can fly at its current weight and temperature. Planes that exceed their maximum altitude may lose lift, causing an aerodynamic stall. Or they can experience a pressurization blowout, damaging the plane.

 ___

 Q: HOW DOES A PLANE JUST FALL OFF RADAR?

 A: It's still unclear what traffic controllers saw on their screens when the plane disappeared from radar. Authorities haven't said whether they lost only the secondary radar target, which is created by the plane's transponder, or whether the primary radar target, created by energy reflected from the plane, was lost as well. If a plane came apart in the air or suffered a loss of electrical power, the secondary target would be lost, but the primary target is often still visible on radar. But if the plane were descending at rate of over 6,000 feet a minute — typical of a plane about to crash — the primary target might be lost as well.

 ___

 Q: HOW VITAL IS AIR TRAVEL TO THE REGION?

 A: For many people, it's the only option. Indonesia is a sprawling archipelago of 250 million people. To get from one island to another, the easiest way is to fly. As the region's economy has grown, so have the number of people flying. The International Air Transport Association recently named Indonesia as one of the world's five fastest-growing air travel markets, predicting an additional 183 million passengers would take to the sky within two decades.

 Routes to, from and within the Asia-Pacific region are predicted by the industry trade group to see an extra 1.8 billion annual passengers by 2034, for an overall market size of 2.9 billion. Within two decades, the region is expected to account for 42 percent of global passenger traffic.

 The increase in regional airline traffic reflects rapid economic growth. The International Monetary Fund expects the Southeast Asian economies of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to grow faster this year and next than anywhere except China, India and sub-Saharan Africa.

 ___

 Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott

 ___

 Lowy contributed from Austin, Texas. Paul Wiseman in Washington also contributed to this report. ||||| (CNN) -- An oil slick, the sound of a distant "ping," objects in the water, and now this: smoke spotted rising from an island in the Java Sea.

 As ships, planes and helicopters scour the waters off Indonesia's coast for missing AirAsia Flight QZ8501, there have been several reports of possible signs of the missing plane.

 So far, officials say, none of them have panned out.

 On Tuesday, search teams will be checking the area where Indonesian navy helicopter crews saw the smoke, the head of search and rescue in the province of Bangka-Belitung told CNN Indonesia. But authorities don't know whether there's any connection to the missing jet.

 Local media in Indonesia reported the smoke was seen on Long Island, one of thousands that make up the archipelago that forms Indonesia.

 Searchers have been scanning the water's surface for signs of the plane, which went missing with 162 people aboard on Sunday as it flew between the islands of Belitung and Borneo, a heavily traveled shipping channel with shallow waters.

 "Our early conjecture is that the plane is in the bottom of the sea," said Bambang Sulistyo, the head of Indonesia's search-and-rescue agency. That belief is based on the plane's flight track and last known coordinates, he said.

 Several possible signs of the missing plane, including an oil slick within the search zone and the sound of a faint "ping," have been discounted, according to Indonesian authorities, who are heading the search.

 Indonesia Vice President Jusuf Kalla said there were "some reports from Australia" about possible objects found, but it was unclear whether they were from the plane.

 Because there is a great deal of traffic along the water in the search area, authorities have cautioned that objects found might have nothing to do with the missing aircraft.

 Rescuers say weather was probably a factor in the plane's disappearance, and it has made finding traces of the plane more difficult.

 Large waves and clouds hampered the search for the plane on Sunday and Monday.

 "It is not easy, of course ... the operation in the sea, especially in the bad weather like this," Kalla said.

 But Kalla said his country will not give up or set a time limit for the operation.

 The search area is expanding, with six zones added to the operation on Tuesday, Sulistyo told reporters.

 Now, he said, teams in the air, on sea and on land are searching 13 zones over an area that stretches about 156,000 square kilometers (60,200 square miles).

 What role did weather play?

 Report: Higher altitude request denied

 AirAsia says air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft at 7:24 a.m. Sunday, Singapore time (6:24 a.m. in Indonesia).

 The plane, flying from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, went missing as it flew over the Java Sea between the islands of Belitung and Borneo -- a heavily traveled shipping channel with shallow waters -- Indonesian authorities said.

 Before the plane, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic controllers, one of the pilots asked to change course and fly at a higher altitude because of bad weather, officials said. Heavy thunderstorms were reported in the area at the time.

 Air traffic control approved the pilot's request to turn left but denied permission for the plane to climb to 38,000 feet from 32,000 feet, Djoko Murjatmodjo, an aviation official at the Indonesian Transport Ministry, told the national newspaper Kompas.

 The increased altitude request was denied because there was another plane flying at that height, he said.

 Djoko suggested that Flight 8501 ascended despite air traffic control denying it permission.

 AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said storm clouds caused the pilot to ask for a flight plan change. But he added, "We don't want to speculate whether weather was a factor. We really don't know."

 Once the aircraft is found, there will be a proper investigation, Fernandes said.

 AirAsia CEO takes to Twitter

 Relatives to be flown over search area

 Amid the anxious wait, family members of the passengers have attended closed-door briefings with airport and airline officials at the airport in Surabaya.

 Oei Endang Sulsilowati and her daughter were looking for information about her brother, his wife and their two children.

 "We don't know what to do," Sulsilowati said. "We are just waiting for news."

 A specially chartered plane will fly relatives of passengers over the search area Wednesday, AirAsia Indonesia CEO Sunu Widjatmoko told reporters in Surabaya on Tuesday.

 The chartered Airbus A320 that will take families from Surabaya over the zone has room for as many as 180 people, he said.

 Some police said authorities were seeking additional materials to help identify passengers, such as photos with close-ups of teeth, DNA, or fingerprints. But police officials later told CNN they were not immediately seeking these materials.

 East Java Police have set up a disaster victims identification area at the Surabaya airport.

 Of the people on board the passenger jet, 155 are Indonesian, three are South Korean, one is British, one is French, one is Malaysian and one is Singaporean, the airline said.

 Eighteen children, including one infant, are among the passengers, the carrier said. Seven of the people on board are crew members.

 Families of AirAsia flight passengers given support through the 'nightmare'

 International search team

 Since the flight disappeared in Indonesian airspace, Indonesia is heading up search efforts.

 More than 1,100 search and rescue personnel from Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and New Zealand are joining the search alongside Indonesia's teams, CNN Indonesia reported.

 The missing plane is made by Airbus, a French company. And France has dispatched two investigators to Indonesia. They are due to arrive in Jakarta on Monday, France's Foreign Ministry said.

 Malaysia's transportation minister said his country has deployed three vessels and three aircraft to assist in the search. And the Royal Australian Air Force said Monday that it was deploying a patrol plane to help.

 The USS Sampson is on its way to the Java Sea to assist in the search for the missing AirAsia plane, a senior U.S. military official told CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto. The Sampson, a guided-missile destroyer based in San Diego, deployed in October to take part in "maritime security exercises and training" in the Pacific.

 China will dispatch aircraft and ships to participate in search and rescue efforts, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday.

 The MH370 mystery

 AirAsia, a successful budget airline group headquartered in Malaysia, had a clean safety record until the disappearance of Flight 8501. The missing plane is operated by the company's Indonesian affiliate.

 The loss of contact with the plane comes nearly 10 months after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which dropped off radar over Southeast Asia on March 8 with 239 people on board.

 AirAsia and MH370 cases are very different

 Searchers have yet to find any remains of Flight 370, which officials believe went down in the southern Indian Ocean after mysteriously flying thousands of kilometers away from its planned route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

 But some aviation experts don't think the search for Flight 8501 will be as challenging as the hunt for MH370.

 "We are not talking about the deep Indian Ocean here," CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest said. "We are talking about congested airspace around Southeast Asia. There will be much better radar coverage. There's certainly better air traffic control coverage."

 CNN's Susanna Capelouto, Andrew Stevens, Paula Hancocks and Lucia Isman contributed to this report. Azieza Uhnavy also contributed to this report. |||||Summary:

– The disappearance of another jet in Southeast Asia while the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 remains a mystery comes as a shock to the aviation world, but experts stress that the two cases are very different. The New York Times runs through some of the differences with AirAsia Flight 8501: Unlike with Flight 370, there has been no sign that anybody on Flight 8501 intentionally disabled any onboard systems, meaning that investigators should have the normal automatic transmissions from the flight to help the search. Flight 370 disappeared on a clear night, while Flight 8501 was believed to have encountered stormy weather, with weather agencies having reported lightning strikes along its route. The AirAsia pilot's last communication with air traffic control was a request "to avoid clouds by turning left and going higher to 38,000 feet." Flight 370's pilot was very experienced, with more than 18,000 hours of flying time, while the combined experience of Flight 8501's pilot and co-pilot is believed to be less than half that. Neither Flight 370 nor Flight 8501 issued an emergency distress call, but, as the AP notes, "pilots are trained to focus first on the emergency at hand and then communicate only when free," and there's no sign that the AirAsia flight diverted sharply from its intended course the way the Malaysia Airlines flight did. Another major difference is the search area for Flight 8501, which is much smaller and shallower than the vast area that has been searched for Flight 370. "We are not talking about the deep Indian Ocean here," says CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest. "We are talking about congested airspace around Southeast Asia. There will be much better radar coverage. There's certainly better air traffic control coverage."