After Newtown, a president unleashed

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama came across like a president unleashed on Wednesday as he invoked the Connecticut shooting tragedy not only to address gun violence, but to tell Republicans to "peel off the partisan war paint," accept that he won the election and get on with the job of averting a fiscal calamity.

After Newtown, he suggested, the world looks different to him. Why not to everyone else?

"Goodness," he said, "if this past week has done anything, it should just give us some perspective."

Obama's news conference - on the day he was named Time Magazine's "Person of the Year," - was billed as an announcement of a new drive to tackle the problem of violence. But it ranged over the "fiscal cliff," the National Rifle Association, partisanship in America and the Republican Party's troubles with the conservative Tea Party movement.

While saying he was willing to compromise with Republicans on reaching a deal to avoid a year-end fiscal cliff of economy-shaking tax increases and spending cuts, he offered no concessions of his own even as he scolded them for intransigence.

With Americans' feelings still raw over last week's deadly shooting rampage at a Newtown elementary school, Obama signaled a willingness to take on the nation's powerful gun lobby in a way he had always avoided in his first term.

His stance was much tougher than the more conciliatory approach he took on November 14 at his first news conference after defeating Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

It also appeared to reflect the emerging confidence of a president who, without the need to ever again seek re-election, is now thinking more about his legacy.

Speaking of Republicans still spurning his offers to resolve the standoff over the cliff, he said: "They keep on finding ways to say 'no' as opposed to finding ways to say 'yes.' I don't know how much of that just has to do with (that) it is very hard for them to say 'yes' to me."

He understood, he said, that some Republicans are "more concerned about challenges from a Tea Party candidate or challenges from the right."

But, he added: "If they're not worried about who's winning and who's losing, did they score a point on the president, if they extract that last little concession, did they force him to do something he really doesn't want to do just for the heck of it, and they focus on actually what's good for the country, I actually think we can get this done."

"If you kind of peel off the partisan war paint, then we should be able to get something done," Obama said.

TAKING ON THE GUN LOBBY?

After previously speaking only vaguely on the need to address gun violence, Obama ordered a high-level Cabinet group headed by Vice President Joe Biden to give him concrete policy recommendations within a month and vowed to move swiftly to submit them to Congress.

"This is not some Washington commission. This is not something where folks are going to be studying the issue for six months and publishing a report that gets read and then pushed aside. This is a team that has a very specific task to pull together real reforms right now," Obama said.

Obama himself has done little to rein in America's gun culture in his four years in office. Gun control has been a low priority for most U.S. politicians due in large part to the clout of the National Rifle Association, the powerful gun industry lobby.

But the Democratic president appears to sense a possible tipping point in Americans' attitude toward guns after the horror of the Newtown killings, and made clear he will put the issue high on his second-term agenda.

Challenged by one reporter to explain "where have you been" on gun control until now, Obama sternly stared down his questioner, saying: "I've been president of the United States dealing with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, an auto industry on the verge of collapse, two wars. I don't think I've been on vacation."

But he said the Connecticut shooting, just the latest of a string of such incidents on his watch, "should be a wake-up call for all of us."

Whatever steps the Biden group comes up with are likely to face some criticism because many Republicans see the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to bear arms as sweeping and sacrosanct.

Obama also did not mince words about the gun lobby, which has often succeeded in blocking gun legislation but this week said it also wanted to help prevent a repeat of Newtown.

"The NRA is an organization who has members who are mothers and fathers, and I would expect that they've been impacted by this, as well. And, hopefully, they'll do some self- reflection," he said.

Touting his approach to the fiscal cliff as the best way to prevent tax hikes on the middle class, Obama also bluntly warned Republicans that he would not negotiate with them over raising the national debt ceiling, which will need to happen in the first few months of next year, as leverage for a fiscal deal.

"The idea that we lurch from crisis to crisis, and every six months, or every nine months that we threaten not to pay our bills on stuff we've already bought, and default and ruin the full faith and credit of the United States of America, that's not how you run a great country," he said.

(Editing by Fred Barbash and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-says-still-wants-fiscal-cliff-deal-christmas-172615741--business.html

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Hulu announces 2012 results: $695M revenue, 3 million Hulu Plus subscribers

Hulu announces 2012 results $695M revenue, 3 million Hulu Plus subscribers

It looks like Hulu has rounded out 2012 with some very solid figures. The company's CEO, Jason Kilar, has announced revenue of $695 million -- a 65-percent jump over 2011. Kilar also shared subscriber numbers, adding that 3 million users fork over fees for the Hulu Plus service, which is double last year's paying viewers total. Throughout the year, Hulu boosted content offerings by 40 percent, with 430 current content partners, 2,300 TV series with some 60,000 episodes, and a total of 50,000 hours of video -- since Hulu launched in 2007, it has generated more than $1 billion in revenue for content partners. Kilar ended on another high note, stating that the site's Japanese version has quadrupled content offerings this year, and is now accessible from 50+ million devices in Japan. You'll find full details at the source link below.

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IBM Prediction: In 5 Years, Your Touch Screen Will Simulate Textures

Attempting to peer into the future is a dicey proposition for even the biggest of brains?weren?t we supposed to have flying cars by now??but that doesn?t stop IBM?s best and brightest from compiling a ?5 in 5? list year-in and year-out, consisting of five ?innovations that will change our lives in the next five years.?

Today, the company unveiled this year?s picks, which all sport a decidedly human element: each is tied to computers and technology exploring new frontiers with the five human senses.

Hit the link for each sense to see IBM?s long and detailed explanation for its predictions.

Touch ? What if you could feel that cashmere before you bought it online? That day might not be far off. IBM?s associate director of retail analytics, Robyn Schwartz, predicts that within five years, touchscreens will use a mixture of close-range vibrations and temperature variations to accurately convey the feel of objects you?re viewing. ?It?s already possible to recreate a sense of texture through vibration,? she writes. ?But those vibrations haven?t been translated into a lexicon, or dictionary of textures that match the physical experience.? Yet.

Sight ? Currently, computers ?see? pictures as a collection of pixels, not the image those pixels represent when taken as a whole?but IBM?s senior manager of intelligent information management, John Smith, says that vision is coming to PCs, with the aid of machine learning and thousands of repetitive examples. Once it does, the speed of computerized image recognition should increase dramatically.

Sound ? IBM master inventor Dimitri Kanevsky predicts that within five years, a flood of computerized sensors will help humans identify imminent environmental disasters before they happen by picking up on subtle sonic cues, such as the slight groaning of a stressed tree or bridge?or the inaudible (to humans) scraping of tectonic plates underfoot. Computers could be taught to learn what the variations in sound means, he claims, eventually leading to a baby monitor that could accurately identify whether a baby is crying because he?s hungry, teething or, well, pooped.

Taste ? ?But mom, I know I won?t like the taste of broccoli! I don?t have to try it!? The familiar whine sends shivers down the spines of parents around the globe. But if IBM research scientist Dr. Lav Varshney is correct, the old excuse will be scientific truth within five years. Varshney thinks PCs will increasingly?again, with the help of machine learning?be able to ?taste? food (or, more specifically, the chemical elements that comprises all food) to identify and create recipes designed for optimal taste and nutrition.

Smell ? IBM?s Dr. Hendrik F. Hamann predicts that five years from now, smartphones (and other technologies) will be able to analyze the thousands of molecules you expel with each and every breath to identify if you?re getting sick, before you?re sick. The cold is an obvious example, but Hamann says the technology could work for ?liver and kidney disorders, diabetes and tuberculosis, among others.? If olfactory tech wants to really be useful, hopefully it?ll also be able to let you know when to pop an Altoid before knocking on your hot date?s door.

Source: http://blog.laptopmag.com/ibm-prediction-in-5-years-your-touch-screen-will-simulate-textures

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Massachusetts fines Morgan Stanley over Facebook IPO

BOSTON (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley , the lead underwriter for Facebook Inc's initial public offering, will pay a $5 million fine to Massachusetts for violating securities laws governing how investment research can be distributed.

Massachusetts' top securities regulator, William Galvin, on Monday charged that a top Morgan Stanley banker had improperly coached Facebook on how to disclose sensitive financial information selectively, perpetuating what he calls "an unlevel playing field" between Wall Street and Main Street.

Morgan Stanley has faced criticism since Facebook went public in May for revealing revised earnings and revenue forecasts to select clients before the media company's $16 billion initial public offering.

This is the first time a case stemming from Morgan Stanley's handling of the Facebook offering has been decided.

Facebook had privately told Wall Street research analysts about softer forecasts because of less robust mobile revenues. A top Morgan Stanley banker coached Facebook executives on how to get the message out, Galvin said.

A Morgan Stanley spokeswoman said on Monday the company is "pleased to have reached a settlement" and that it is "committed to robust compliance with both the letter and the spirit of all applicable regulations and laws." The company neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing.

Galvin, who has been aggressive in policing how research is distributed on Wall Street ever since investment banks reached a global settlement in 2003, said the bank violated that settlement. He fined Citigroup $2 million over similar charges in late October.

"The conduct at Morgan Stanley was more egregious," he said in an interview explaining the amount of the fine. "With it we will get their attention and begin to take steps in restoring some confidence for retail investors to invest."

Galvin also said that his months-long investigation into the Facebook IPO is far from over and that he continues to review the other banks involved. Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan also acted as underwriters. The underwriting fee for all underwriters was reported to be $176 million at the time, or 1.1 percent of the proceeds.

Massachusetts did not name the Morgan Stanley banker in its documents but personal information detailed in the matter suggest it is Michael Grimes, a top technology banker.

The state said the banker helped a Facebook executive release new information and then guided the executive on how to speak with Wall Street analysts about it. The banker, Galvin said, rehearsed with Facebook's Treasurer and wrote the bulk of the script Facebook's Treasurer used when calling the research analysts.

A number of Wall Street analysts cut their growth estimates for Facebook in the days before the IPO after the company filed an amended prospectus.

Facebook's treasurer then quickly called a number for Wall Street analysts providing even more information.

The banker "was not allowed to call research analysts himself, so he did everything he could to ensure research analysts received new revenue numbers which they then provided to institutional investors," Galvin said.

Galvin's consent order also says that the banker spoke with company lawyers and then to Facebook's chief financial officer about how to prove an update "without creating the appearance of not providing the underlying trend information to all investors."

The banker and all others involved with the matter at Morgan Stanley are still employed by the company, a person familiar with the matter said.

Retail investors were not given any similar information, Galvin said, saying this case illustrates how institutional investors often have an edge over retail investors.

(Reporting By Svea Herbst-Bayliss with additional reporting by Suzanne Barlyn and Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio and Andrew Hay)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/morgan-stanley-fined-over-facebook-research-185242957--sector.html

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Iran says it, world powers must end nuclear stalemate

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister said on Monday a way must be found to end the deadlock with major powers over its nuclear program, an Iranian news agency reported, but he offered no new initiative on how to achieve this.

Ali Akbar Salehi's comments came ahead of an expected resumption of diplomacy, perhaps next month, aimed at preventing the decade-old nuclear dispute from degenerating into a Middle East war that could damage an already fragile world economy.

Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power, has threatened military action to prevent its arch-enemy from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran denies any such goal and says it would hit back hard if attacked.

"The two sides (Iran and world powers) have reached a conclusion that they must exit the current stalemate," Salehi was quoted as saying by the Iranian Students' News Agency.

The West suspects Iran is trying to develop the means to build atomic bombs under the cover of a declared civilian nuclear energy program. The Islamic Republic says it is enriching uranium as fuel for civilian energy, not bombs.

Iran and the six powers - the United States, Russia, France, China, Britain and Germany - have expressed readiness to revive efforts to find a negotiated solution. But Salehi said he did not know when the next meeting would be held.

The powers, known as P5+1, said last week they hoped soon to agree with Iran on when and where to meet. There have been suggestions it could happen already this month, though January now seems more likely, Western officials say.

Analysts and diplomats believe there is a window of opportunity for a new diplomatic initiative with Iran after last month's re-election of U.S. President Barack Obama.

The powers want Iran to scale back its uranium enrichment program and cooperate fully with U.N. nuclear inspectors.

The priority for Iran, a major oil producer, is for the West to lift punitive sanctions increasingly hurting its economy.

Three rounds of negotiations earlier this year - the last one in Moscow in June - failed to achieve a breakthrough.

The big powers have prepared an updated version of package that was rejected by Tehran in the previous talks, Western diplomats say, without giving details.

Their immediate priority is for Iran to halt higher-grade enrichment that could relatively quickly be further processed to bomb-grade material, close the Fordow underground plant where this work is carried out and ship out the stockpile.

SHUTTING FORDOW "NOT ENOUGH"

Iran has hinted at flexibility regarding its enrichment to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, but it wants substantial sanctions easing in return, something the powers say would be premature before Tehran makes significant concessions.

Iran also wants recognition of what it says is its "right" to refine uranium, which can have both civilian and military purposes. "Iran demands its inalienable, legal and legitimate right and wants nothing more," Salehi said.

One Western official said it was too early to say whether the new diplomatic attempt may yield results: "We see that sanctions do have an economic impact on Iran and it is a matter for Iran to really take this offer seriously."

Iran's economic minister was quoted on Sunday saying the country's oil revenues had been cut in half as a result of sanctions.

Another Western diplomat said the powers were increasingly concerned about Iran's expanded enrichment capacity at Fordow, and wanted to address this issue in the new proposal. This could mean, he said, asking Iran to partially dismantle the facility.

"Shutting Fordow is not enough," the diplomat said, adding it would take longer to restart the facility if the enrichment installations had been taken apart.

The world powers hope to gain momentum in dealings with Iran by introducing "confidence-building measures" before approaching a final agreement at a later date, diplomats say.

They say the powers are likely to offer Iran some form of sanctions relief in return but any measures may be limited.

Salehi spoke a few days after the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran both said progress was made in talks last Thursday on resuming a long-stalled IAEA investigation into suspected atomic bomb research in the country.

A senior Iranian legislator said on Monday that Iran would expect some sanctions relief in return for granting IAEA inspectors access to the disputed Parchin military complex.

The IAEA believes Iran has conducted explosives tests with possible nuclear applications at Parchin, a facility southeast of the Iranian capital, and has repeatedly asked for access.

"They must certainly give some incentive in return, and in my opinion a reasonable and equal incentive would be lifting the sanctions," said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who chairs the national security and foreign policy committee in the Iranian parliament.

(This story has been refiled to add dropped word "to" in lede paragraph)

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Vienna and Justyna Pawlak in Brussels)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-says-world-powers-must-end-nuclear-stalemate-104915293.html

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Mexico's Mayas face Dec. 21 with ancestral calm

Amid a worldwide frenzy of advertisers and new-agers preparing for a Maya apocalypse, one group is approaching Dec. 21 with calm and equanimity ? the people whose ancestors supposedly made the prediction in the first place.

Mexico's 800,000 Mayas are not the sinister, secretive, apocalypse-obsessed race they've been made out to be.

In their heartland on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, Mayas continue their daily lives, industriously pedaling three-wheeled bikes laden with family members and animal fodder down table-flat roads. They tell rhyming off-color jokes at dances, and pull chairs out onto the sidewalk in the evening to chat and enjoy the relative cool after a hot day.

Many still live simply in thatched, oval, mud-and-stick houses designed mostly for natural air conditioning against the oppressive heat of the Yucatan, where they plant corn, harvest oranges and raise pigs.

When asked about the end next week of a major cycle in the 5,125-year Mayan Long Count calendar, a period known as the 13th Baktun, many respond with a healthy dose of homespun Maya philosophy.

"We don't know if the world is going to end," said Liborio Yeh Kinil, a 62-year-old who can usually be found sitting on a chair outside his small grocery store at the corner of the grassy central square of the town of Uh-May in Quintana Roo state. "Remember 2006, and the '6-6-6' (June 6, 2006): A lot of people thought something was going to happen, and nothing happened after all."

Reflecting a world view with roots as old as the nearby Ceiba tree, or Yax-che, the tree of life for the ancient Maya, Yeh Kinil added: "Why get panicky? If something is going to happen, it's going to happen."

A chorus of books and movies has sought to link the Mayan calendar to rumors of impending disasters ranging from rogue black holes and solar storms to the idea that the Earth's magnetic field could 'flip' on that date.

Archaeologists say there is no evidence the Maya ever made any such prophesy. Indeed, average Mayas probably never used the Long Count calendar, neither today nor at the culture's peak between A.D. 300 and 600. The long count was reserved for priests and astronomers, while average Mayas measure time as farmers tend to do ? by planting seasons and monthly lunar cycles.

Mayan priests, or shamans, at the temple of the Talking Crosses in the town of Felipe Carrillo Puerto say they don't know when, or if, the world will end. The church was the focus and last bastion of the 1847-1901 Mayan uprising in Mexico and perhaps the most sacred site for average Mayas. Its name comes from the conspirators who hid behind the crosses and whispered instructions to incite the revolt.

Mayan priest and farmer Petronilo Acevedo Pena says God may punish humanity someday, because people have stopped going to church.

"When people planted their corn fields 50 years ago, everybody from all the towns around would pray" for good harvests, he said. "But when the government started giving out aid, seeds and fertilizer ... what do the people do now? They go to the government to ask for help."

"The

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world is going to end, but we don't know when it will end, nobody ever gave a date," said Acevedo Pena. "They said it would be in 2000, but nothing happened."

Still, advertisers are running wild with the doomsday theme.

One beer-company billboard near the resort of Tulum proclaims, "2012 isn't the end, it's just the beginning ? of the party!"

The Mexico subsidiary of Renault is running "end of the world" promotions with interest-free loans for car sales: "Given that the world is ending, we're ending interest rates!"

Oprah Winfrey's website got into the act by publishing a list of "Apocalypse Dinners." It says: "Whether the world is really ending or whether you're just having a busy week, these six make-ahead meals from cookbook author Lidia Bastianich freeze well and feed many."

The Caribbean coast resort of Xcaret issued "million-dollar reward" certificates for anybody who survives the end of the world. "In case the world ends on Dec. 21, 2012, the beneficiary must be in Xcaret the day after the cataclysmic event with a valid photo ID in order to request payment," the certificate reads. "In case the world comes to an end, the beneficiary will be fully responsible for repopulating the world."

Sandos Hotels and Resorts, a Spanish-owned all-inclusive resort chain, is promoting a "New Era" celebration at its Sandos Caracol hotel in Playa de Carmen, near Tulum. "We invite guests to celebrate a transition to the beginning of what we, and many Mayan leaders and scholars hope will evolve into a new era of environmental sustainability and cultural consciousness," the hotel's website says.

Expectations are also running high in New Age circles.

Shantal Carrillo helps her mother, The Venerable Mother Nah-Kin, run the Kinich-Ahau spiritual center in Merida, and hopes to lead hundreds of people in an energy-renewing ceremony at the "dawn of the new era" at the Mayan ruins of Uxmal. They hope Uxmal, whose rounded-edge pyramid is unique in the Maya world, will act as an "antenna" for cosmic energy.

"We have performed ceremonies for many years to reactivate the pyramid at Uxmal as an antenna, because it had been unused for many years," said Carrillo, who expects Dec. 21 "to give the world an injection of this energy" by having hundreds of people hold hands at the foot of the pyramid.

It's unclear whether archaeological authorities will allow such ceremonies.

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Jose May, of the Merida tourism office, expects all of the city's hotel rooms to be full Dec. 21.

"I'm worried that there are going to be more people than (hotel) rooms," he said. "The people who are coming are basically spiritual, and that could be a problem as well, because those people like to form circles to receive energy, and there is no way to reserve space for that kind of thing at the ruin sites."

Moises Rozanes, who runs the run-down Hostal Zocalo in an old building on Merida's main square, says he once saw a flying saucer and spoke with an extraterrestrial who identified himself as Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec equivalent of the chief Maya god, Kukulkan, the bringer of wisdom.

He "told me the world was going to change, but he didn't say when," Rozanes said, recalling the 1997 encounter. He doesn't know what's going to happen Dec. 21, but is happy his hotel is getting business. "Everything's filling up" as far as bookings for the date, he said.

In all the fervor, Mayas rely on an ancestral calm built of good humor, calmness and the fact that it's too hot to get all worked up about things.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50213560/ns/world_news-americas/

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Quiet town wonders, 'How can we be protected'?

John Makely / NBC News

Residents of Newtown, Conn., embrace outside St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church prior to a vigil for victims of Friday's massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School -- the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

By Miranda Leitsinger and John W. Schoen, NBC News

NEWTOWN, Conn. ? Unexpected and unwelcome, gun violence tore through this hilly, wooded New England town on Friday, claiming more than two-dozen lives ? many of them just beginning -- and shaking what one resident called a ?small lovely village? to its core.

?How can we be protected from people like this?? Jack DeFumeri wondered out loud, saying he moved to Newtown -- founded in 1711 -- years ago from much-larger Danbury because he wanted to raise his three daughters in a safe environment.

?I don?t know anymore,? he said before entering a vigil Friday night at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church, as the church's bell's tolled from above. ?You take precautions, but how can you see this coming? ?I can?t imagine what the parents are going through, especially this time of year.?


Friends and family from nearby towns flocked to Newtown to share the town?s grief and offer support. This small city of 28,000, with its tidy clapboard homes and steeple-topped churches, feels farther from New York City than the 90 minutes it takes to reach the metropolis. Residents from surrounding villages expressed similar disbelief that this most modern of crimes had intruded on their quiet corner of the world.?

?It?s a picture-book, storybook town,? said Joan Demato of nearby Brookfield, who was part of the overflow crowd that attended the St. Rose vigil, running the gantlet of news trucks bathing the church entrance with floodlights. ??I don?t know if there are any safe places left in this world.?

After the vigil, Monsignor Robert Weiss told reporters gathered outside that six or seven kids who had attended the church were among the 20 children who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

?I think the families are very broken,? he said. ?I?m sure that they?re still wondering and questioning. I think some of them are still hoping that this really didn?t happen. The rough days are just ahead of them.? ?

The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed more than two dozen, 20 of them children, left the quiet community of Newtown, Conn., desperately trying to understand what happened. NBC's Kate Snow reports.

Just a short drive away, parishioners at Trinity Episcopal Church shed tears and wrapped their arms around one another during a solemn prayer service. The quiet crying grew louder when the Rev. Kathleen Adams-Shepherd announced that two children, members of the congregation, were among those killed.

Adams-Shepherd had spent much of the day at the fire station with the families of some of the presumed victims -- though formal identification hadn't yet been made.?

"You've got to keep them in your prayers," she said, later adding,?"I don't think we'll ever be the same."

See more video on the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary on NBCNews.com

"There are no words,? the Rt. Rev. James Curry said in the prayer service. ?There is nothing that we can say but instead we cry out. We cry out in shared grief and pain for the loss of so many children, so many adults .... We do not understand, and we cannot imagine why someone would murder. We cannot comprehend."

Among those attending the service were the Elken family.

John Makely / NBC News

Heather and Karl Elken and their daughter Liia, 17, talk about life in Newtown, Conn., scene of Friday's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, as they leave a prayer service at Trinity Episcopal Church.

"We just really felt the need to come in and say a prayer for all of the families," said Heather Elken, 47, an elementary school nurse, who attended with her husband, Karl, 48, and daughter Liia, 17.

"We moved here 10 years ago,? she said. ?We researched where to go for months and picked Newtown over anywhere else in Connecticut, and this is where we've raised our kids from seven years old through high school. We've lived here for the most important 10 years of our lives. We just don't understand."

She said she and her husband learned about the shooting when Liia texted her from her high school at 9:46 a.m.: "Lockdown. Not a drill." ?

"It was the longest day, just the longest day," Heather Elken said.

Earlier, Peter Hugens, 78, had a hard time finding words to describe how the unspeakable tragedy that? unfolded hours earlier at the nearby school would change the town that he has called home for 11 years, since moving from Brooklyn, N.Y.

?We moved up here ? like many people -- to get away from the so-called horrors of the city," he said, standing on his front lawn and looking out over the undulating Connecticut countryside.

He said his new hometown, just a couple miles from the Housatonic River, has ?gotten bigger? over the years. ?But people work very hard to keep a place like this a small lovely village,? he said. ?... They move here with a sense of optimism and hope. And they have every right to feel that way.?

Outside a Dunkin Donuts store at a local shopping center, Kenneth Knapp said he was only beginning to process the horrific crime.

?It's going to take a long time to soak in, that's for sure,? he said. ?Last night I'm looking in the sky for meteors, tonight I'm watching helicopters flying around.?

Knapp, an inspector in a machine shop, said Newtown wasn?t paradise, citing a criminal case still widely known locally as the ?wood-chipper murder.? ?In that grisly case from the late 1980s, local resident Richard B. Crafts, a 50-year-old airline pilot, was convicted of murdering his 39-year-old Danish wife, Helle, then dismembering her body and disposing of it in the dead of night with a wood-chipper.

The heartbreaking mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School was met with disbelief and tears as people across the country reacted to the tragic news. NBC's Kevin Tibbles reports.

?You'll see a lot of things this town has probably gone through, a lot of things, but nothing to this magnitude,? he said.

His friend, Tom Adams, 66, who has lived in Newtown since he was 8, said that his 5-year-old granddaughter was in a classroom adjacent to the ones where Adam Lanza, a troubled 20-year-old, allegedly carried out the massacre, but she escaped unharmed and, so far, untroubled by the horrific crime.

?She doesn't know anything,? he said. ?There was some noise. They took her out of school. That's all.? ?

He said that he was on his way to see her. ?I just want a hug, that's all I want,? he said.

John Makely / NBC News

Theresa Swift and her son, William, outside St. Rose of Lima church in Newtown, Conn.

But older, more-aware youngsters, even some who were far from the shooting, weren?t immune to the trauma.

Theresa Swift, 47, and her 10-year-old son, William, who attends another Newtown school, were already contemplating what would happen when the alarm sounded on Monday morning.

Asked outside the St. Rose vigil if he would feel OK about going to school again next week, the clearly shaken boy replied, ?I?m afraid they?re going to come for me.?

His mom quickly reacted, reaching to touch William with a steadying hand.

?I don?t know,? she said of the school question. ?We?ll cross that bridge when we get there.?

NBC's Alex Moe contributed to this report.

Michelle Mcloughlin / Reuters

The second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history sent crying children spilling into the school parking lot as frightened parents waited for word on their loved ones.

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