Man survives 180-foot plunge over Niagara Falls

In this photo provided by Jared Fisk, Niagara Falls emergency officials rescue a man who plunged over Niagara Falls and survived in an apparent suicide attempt, Monday, May 21, 2012. The man is only the third person known to have gone over without a safety device and live. A waiting helicopter flew him to Hamilton General Hospital, where a spokeswoman says he has critical but non-life-threatening injuries. (AP Photo/Jared Fisk)

In this photo provided by Jared Fisk, Niagara Falls emergency officials rescue a man who plunged over Niagara Falls and survived in an apparent suicide attempt, Monday, May 21, 2012. The man is only the third person known to have gone over without a safety device and live. A waiting helicopter flew him to Hamilton General Hospital, where a spokeswoman says he has critical but non-life-threatening injuries. (AP Photo/Jared Fisk)

Niagara Falls emergency officials rescue a man who plunged over Niagara Falls and survived in an apparent suicide attempt, Monday, May 21, 2012. The man is only the third person known to have gone over without a safety device and live. A waiting helicopter flew him to Hamilton General Hospital, where a spokeswoman says he has critical but non-life-threatening injuries. (AP Photo/Harry Rossetani)

Niagara Falls emergency officials rescue a man who plunged over Niagara Falls and survived in an apparent suicide attempt, Monday, May 21, 2012. The man is only the third person known to have gone over without a safety device and live. A waiting helicopter flew him to Hamilton General Hospital, where a spokeswoman says he has critical but non-life-threatening injuries. (AP Photo/Harry Rossetani)

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (AP) ? A man survived a plunge of at least 180 feet over Niagara Falls in an apparent suicide attempt Monday ? only the third person known to have lived after going over the falls without a safety device.

Niagara Parks Police said witnesses reported seeing the man climb over a railing 20 to 30 feet out over the Horseshoe Falls at 10:20 a.m. and "deliberately jump" into the Niagara River. Seriously injured, he surfaced in the lower Niagara River basin near the Journey Behind the Falls observation platform and managed to make it to shore on his own.

"He waded ashore," said Platoon Chief Dan Orescanin of the Niagara Falls, Ontario, Fire Department. "He must have gotten swept into an eddy, floated over there and was able to get out on his own.

"That's another stroke of luck," Orescanin said. "If he was in the main current, he would have been swept down river."

Orescanin said the man was conscious and talking at first but got quiet. He appeared to have chest injuries, including broken ribs and a collapsed lung, Orescanin said.

The man was airlifted to Hamilton General Hospital with what police initially said were life-threatening injuries. Hospital spokeswoman Agnes Bongers said later that the man was critically injured but was expected to survive.

Authorities did not release the man's name.

Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side of the river, is the tallest of the three main falls, higher than the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.

The man, believed to be in his 30s or 40s, was rescued about two hours later after fire department rescuers rappelled down the steep and rocky gorge and pulled him in a basket back up the cliff.

"It was very difficult. Between the shale and the boulders, and everything is wet and slick. It's slimy," Orescanin said.

About seven rescuers struggled to carry the basket up to a point where it could be lifted with ropes suspended from an aerial truck.

"We had to basically hand carry him back up, a foot at a time, up the rope," the chief said.

The rescue came weeks before daredevil Nik Wallenda plans to walk over Niagara Falls on a tightrope after convincing United States and Canadian officials to grant an exception to laws prohibiting stunting.

Although several daredevils have survived trips over the falls in barrels or other contraptions, beginning with Annie Edison Taylor in 1901, few have survived unprotected. In 1960, 7-year-old Roger Woodward was swept over the falls wearing a life jacket and survived.

Authorities don't believe Monday's plunge, on a warm and sunny Victoria Day holiday in Canada, was a stunt.

"Based on witness statements and surveillance video, it doesn't appear in any way, shape, or form that this was anything other than a suicide attempt," Niagara Parks Police Sgt. Chris Gallagher told WIVB in Buffalo.

More than 6 million cubic feet of water go over the brink of the falls every minute during peak daytime tourist hours, according to the Niagara Parks Commission.

The last person to go over the falls unaided and live was a 30-year-old Canadian man in March 2009. In October 2003, Kirk Jones, an out-of-work auto parts salesman from Michigan survived his plunge over the falls.

After getting the call Monday, rescuers didn't immediately know whether the man at the bottom of the gorge had gone over the brink or entered the water at the base.

"When we heard that he had gone over the falls we were shocked," Orescanin said.

Associated Press

sxsw crystal cathedral st. patrick s day brandon lloyd brandon lloyd celtic thunder fabrice muamba collapse

CrunchFund Took A Stake In Tumblr, Buying From Existing Investors

Today at TechCrunch Disrupt, CrunchFund's M.G. Siegler took the stage to interview Tumblr CEO David Karp. But not before disclosing that his fund was now an investor in the New York City-based blogging platform. Neither provided further details of the investment on stage, but we've been able to find out a little bit more about the CrunchFund's stake in Tumblr. For one thing, the CrunchFund investment wasn't part of a follow-on round or a new fund raise for Tumblr, but a purchase of common stock from some of Tumblr's early-stage investors. And while it isn't taking a huge stake in Tumblr, relative to the startup's overall investor base, the investment has been described as "significant" to CrunchFund, which had raised $20 million before launching.

vince young evan longoria mothers day 2012 cinco de mayo osama bin laden death spinal muscular atrophy brooklyn nets

Q&A: Dinty W. Moore on Buddhism, creativity, kindness & taming the ...

Listen to where the writing wants to take you. Understand that the writing itself will often provide far richer material than your logical, predictable mind. Even more ?intellect-driven? writing?for instance, a dissertation?can benefit from the cognitive leaps that occur when you stand back from the manuscript a moment and listen to your intuition.?Dinty W. Moore

?The Mindful Writer by Dinty W. Moore. Wisdom Publications, 152 pp.

?A popular image of the writer is of someone with heavy baggage and a disturbed ego. This stereotype does not fit Dinty W. Moore, though it would slight him, and ignore the dark notes in his memoirs, to paint him as blessedly free of background noise, as naturally ebullient.

Having gotten to know him at Ohio University, where he is now head of creative writing, I can say that, while Dinty doesn?t levitate?to my knowledge?he can bring the balm of a light touch?technically known as a nonreactive ego?to an English department?s creative writing unit.

And that?s really something to see. Because anyone can write a book, but leading a bunch of writers? That?s herding cats.

The Mindful Writer, his latest book?short, sweet meditations on writing?explains, as much as anything can, the source of his powers: an effort at spiritual discipline, an approach to writing that emphasizes exploration and discovery, a love of revision.

The book is divided into four parts: The Writer?s Mind; The Writer?s Desk; The Writer?s Vision; The Writer?s Life. Within each are brief chapters, each headed by a quote that Dinty loves about writing and which he then writes a few pages reflecting upon. For instance, this classic bon mot by Thomas Mann: ?A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.? Writers, Dinty reflects, care about finding ?the precise word, the clearest expression, and we understand that sometimes a thought needs to be revised tens or hundreds of times.?

The Mindful Writer proceeds on two tracks at once by also inquiring into the challenges of being human. This is from the Introduction:

???? Life is full of discontent, the Buddha told us, and that discontent (sometimes translated as suffering) comes about due to our grasping at things, our craving and clinging?the desire to make permanent what will always be fleeting. There is, however, a way to make the inescapability of discontent less problematic in our lives. The Way, the Path, is through right action, right speech, right livelihood; through living a deliberate and intentional life.

???? As a writer, I had learned the power of releasing my control of a story, of letting the words, the characters, the images, the mysterious underpinnings of a piece of prose take me in unexpected directions. The less I grasped at and choked my writing, the more it seemed to expand into areas that surprised and pleased not just me but the reader as well. Even my ?noncreative? writing?business memos, application letters, proposals, and reports?were strengthened by this realization.

???? From the other end, I had seen how my ego and desires would inevitably lead me toward writer?s block and self-loathing, how worrying about critical responses or negative reactions would eventually dry up whatever creative flow I had managed to bring forth.

Dinty makes all that he does look so effortless?get an idea, write a book, move on; edit Brevity, the online journal of concise nonfiction; teach and mentor and lead workshops around the world?that it?s salutary to hear of his struggles. He tells about the time he worked on a book for four years and then abandoned it because it posed a storytelling problem he couldn?t solve. He was confused and angry, but then realized that the project had been making him miserable and he should move on. He shelved it and soon published his favorite book (which he doesn?t name but which sounds like The Accidental Buddhist).

The Mindful Writer offers these core principles, based on Buddhism?s four major precepts, for lessening angst by admitting difficulties and letting them go:

The Four Noble Truths For Writers

?? The writing life is difficult, full of disappointment and dissatisfaction.

?? Much of the dissatisfaction comes from the ego, from our insistence on controlling both the process of writing and how the world reacts to what we have written.

?? There is a way to lessen the disappointment and dissatisfaction and to live a more fruitful writing life.

?? The way to accomplish this is to make both the practice of writing and the work itself less about ourselves. To thrive, we must be mindful of our motives and our attachment to desired outcomes.

Despite the seeming astringency of these precepts, The Mindful Writer emphasizes the writer?s joy of creating and discovering at least as much as it does the writer?s struggle and pain. I?ll reread it many times, I?m sure, for inspiration and solace.

Dinty answered some questions for Narrative:

You were Catholic, born and bred, according to The Accidental Buddhist. Yet Buddhism seems to have given you the spiritual tools you needed, as it has so many westerners. Why?

?For me, Catholicism was all about the negative?you are bad, you were born bad, you are not grateful enough for the death of Jesus, you will always be bad, you are being bad right now.? This has much to do with having gone through Catholic school in the 1960s and 1970s, however, and is not necessarily an accurate reflection of the Catholic experience. I speak to contemporary Catholics and hear stories of a church which seems entirely foreign to me, and one much more open to the beautiful teachings of Jesus, rather than just the stern warnings of the Pope. But for me, there was nothing spiritual in the Catholic faith of my childhood, and nothing to guide me in any positive way. I?m not arguing that Buddhism is a better spiritual path, just that it was open to me at the right time in my life, and thank goodness for it.

If someone wants to begin a Buddhist practice, or one based upon its proven methods, such as meditation and mindfulness, what?s a good way to learn enough to go about it? In your experience, would it be best seek out teachers, or can books be sufficient?

Books are a good start?the works of Thich Nhat Hanh are wonderful and accessible, as are the books and tapes of Pema Chodron. There is also a wonderful book called Mindfulness in Plain English, by Bhanta Gunaratana. These are good places to start, but eventually I recommend finding a group to sit with, folks to talk to, and, if possible, a teacher.

Beware of any teacher that begins by over-complicating the practice, however. There are thousands of years of Asian culture wrapped up in Buddhism?Japanese or Tibetan or Sri Lankan, depending in which school of Buddhism you encounter?but cultural trappings are not the heart of Buddhism. The teaching of the man we call the Buddha, and what others have discovered through that teaching over the centuries, is what matters. There is nothing wrong with the ritual of Zen or of Tibetan Buddhism, but don?t mistake it for the spiritual message.

How has your Buddhist practice helped you live with yourself and others in more harmony?

Dinty W. Moore, in black and white

The most powerful lesson for me is that I?not others?create my own anger and annoyance, and I?not outside forces?create most of my reality.? So if these phenomena are of my own creation, I have much more control over them than I previously thought.

If a co-worker is driving me up a wall, as the saying goes, it is my wall, I have assembled the wall, and I can take that wall down, brick by brick, if I choose to. Or to put it another way, I can?t expect to have any control over how my co-worker acts or what annoying remarks he repeats time and again in meetings, but what I can control is my own reaction. So instead of choosing to get all tied up in knots over certain things, that knot-tying being much of what makes me miserable and frustrated, I just shrug, literally or figuratively, and move on to the next thing. This seems so simple, but it is powerful once you internalize it, and see how easily it works to dissipate many?not all, but many?daily annoyances.

The second step?compassion?is trying to understand why the other person is acting in the way he or she acts.? This person does not wake up in the morning thinking, ?Gee, I?m going to annoy Dinty today and make him miserable.? The reality is something very different.? Being open to hearing what the person is really asking, or what the person is really worried about, or why the person repeatedly misreads the situation, makes you open to finding a solution, and that solution may alleviate suffering for both of you, which is a good thing indeed.

What is your practice exactly?

I?m getting uncomfortable offering advice here. Understand that I am a struggling, beginning Buddhist who appreciates what he has learned but has no claim to enlightenment or self-righteous superiority. My practice is to try to do what I outlined in the answer above more often than not, and to attempt mindfulness?being in the moment?rather than constant distraction.? I meditate sometimes but not on a disciplined schedule, and I don?t do much else. I don?t burn incense, chant, or wear robes. This is not a religion for me, but a way of living, of thinking, and of trying to retain some control over my own life. Modern man is buffeted by so many outside forces and stimuli that I think we have to be deliberate about finding our center.

I?ve been impressed by your creativity, meaning not just by your published books or their diversity but by the range of your essays?even in cutting-edge noncommercial forms like your Google Maps essay and your video essay?on your genetic roots in Scotland?and by your photography. Once you even showed me a neat graphic essay about your father and grandfather. Can you speak to your efforts to be an artist in the larger sedigital essay?nse, as someone who creates, as opposed to being someone who is a ?writer? and who wants to ?get published??

?I tried to be a filmmaker once, and did make a handful of small, experimental movies, and then dabbled in acting and modern dance, even performed with a small experimental dance troupe for four years. I still want to be a painter. I?d love to be a stand-up comic.

Writing seems to be the one art form I have any real talent for, however, or maybe it is just the one that I put most of my discipline and effort into. I regularly daydream about making a life in one of the other art forms. I don?t know what that means, or if it even addresses your question.? But to me creativity is the asking of questions, and trying to find answers to those questions in some manner other than the purely cognitive or logical.? Sure, getting published feels darn good, especially because it means more and more eyeballs are looking at what you do, but there is actually more joy in the creative process?on the good day?then there is on the publishing end of the activity.

You?ve mentioned that you write for a few hours each morning. What role does reading play in your writing practice?

Not enough lately: a common complaint of those of us who teach regularly and rigorously.? I read a lot of student work, which I?m happy to do, privileged really, but my eyes aren?t getting any younger, and it is more and more difficult to keep up with all of the great writing that is out there, and the great writing that will be coming out next week. But I try. That?s all I can do.? I try to read writers who don?t write like me. I try to expand my taste, to create as wide a net as possible.

?My previous interview with Dinty Moore about his book on essay writing is here.

Like this:

Be the first to like this post.

camille grammer us supreme court breaking dawn part 2 trailer mississippi state chris carpenter chris carpenter dick cheney

APNewsBreak: 22 states join campaign finance fight

FILE - Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock is seen at an event in which he announced the start of his 2012 gubernatorial campaign on in this Sept. 7, 2011 file photo taken in Billings, Mont. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending. Bullock argues that political corruption in the Copper King era led to the state ban on corporate campaign spending. A clarification of Citizens United is needed to make clear that states can block certain political spending in the interest of limiting corruption, he said. On Friday, May 18, 2012 Montana's case was given a boost when U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-D-R.I., signed on in support. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

FILE - Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock is seen at an event in which he announced the start of his 2012 gubernatorial campaign on in this Sept. 7, 2011 file photo taken in Billings, Mont. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending. Bullock argues that political corruption in the Copper King era led to the state ban on corporate campaign spending. A clarification of Citizens United is needed to make clear that states can block certain political spending in the interest of limiting corruption, he said. On Friday, May 18, 2012 Montana's case was given a boost when U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-D-R.I., signed on in support. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

FILE - Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock is seen at an event in which he announced the start of his 2012 gubernatorial campaign on in this Sept. 7, 2011 file photo taken in Billings, Mont. Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending. Bullock argues that political corruption in the Copper King era led to the state ban on corporate campaign spending. A clarification of Citizens United is needed to make clear that states can block certain political spending in the interest of limiting corruption, he said. On Friday, May 18, 2012 Montana's case was given a boost when U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-D-R.I., signed on in support. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

HELENA, Mont. (AP) ? Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia are backing Montana in its fight to prevent the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision from being used to strike down state laws restricting corporate campaign spending.

The states led by New York are asking the high court to preserve Montana's state-level regulations on corporate political expenditures, according to a copy of a brief written by New York's attorney general's office and obtained by The Associated Press ahead of Monday's filing.

The Supreme Court is being asked to reverse a state court's decision to uphold the Montana law. Virginia-based American Tradition Partnership is asking the nation's high court to rule without a hearing because the group says the state law conflicts directly with the Citizens United decision that removed the federal ban on corporate campaign spending.

The Supreme Court has blocked the Montana law until it can look at the case.

The Montana case has prompted critics to hope the court will reverse itself on the controversial Citizens United ruling. The 22 states and D.C. say the Montana law is sharply different from the federal issues in the Citizens United case, so the ruling shouldn't apply to Montana's or other state laws regulating corporate campaign spending.

But the states also said they would support a Supreme Court decision to reconsider portions of the Citizens United ruling either in a future case or in the Montana case, if the justices decide to take it on.

Legal observers say don't count on the Supreme Court reconsidering its decision.

"It is highly unlikely that the Court would reverse its decision in Citizens United," said law professor Richard L. Hasen of the University of California-Irvine.

At best, the court would listen to arguments and might agree a clarification is needed to allow the Montana law to stand. But even that is a long shot, Hasen said.

Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock argues that political corruption in the Copper King era led to the state ban on corporate campaign spending. A clarification of Citizens United is needed to make clear that states can block certain political spending in the interest of limiting corruption, he said.

American Tradition Partnership argues that the state bans unfairly restrict the ability of corporations to engage in the political process that also affects them.

Bullock wrote in a brief to be released Monday that the state does not "ban" corporate political speech, rather, it regulates that speech by requiring the formation of political action committees.

The Democrat, who is running for governor, said the upstart political corporations hoping to take advantage of unfettered spending are merely "an anonymous conduit of unaccountable campaign spending."

Montana and the other states are asking the court to either let the Montana Supreme Court decision stand or to hold a full hearing. They argue laws like the one in Montana that bans political spending straight from corporate treasuries are needed to prevent corruption.

The other states, many with their own type of restrictions hanging in the balance, argue local restrictions are far different than the federal ban the court decided unconstitutionally restricted free speech. Further, state elections are at much greater risk than federal elections of being dominated by corporate money, requiring tailored regulation, the states' court filing says.

"The federal law struck down in Citizens United applied only to elections for President and U.S. Congress," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wrote on behalf of the states. "By contrast, Montana's law applies to a wide range of state and local offices, including judgeships and law enforcement positions such as sheriff and county prosecutor."

The joining states, unlike Montana, ask the court to go further and reconsider core findings in Citizens United. They argue, for instance, it was wrong for the court to say unlimited independent expenditures rarely cause corruption or the appearance of corruption.

And other critics of the Citizens United decision who believe the court was wrong to grant corporations constitutional rights, have intervened and asked the court to reverse itself.

"There is a growing bipartisan consensus that Citizens United needs to be overturned, and Montana is leading the way," said Peter Schurman, spokesman for a group called Free Speech For People. "The Supreme Court has an opportunity to revisit Citizens United here. That is important because there is evidence everywhere that unlimited spending in our elections creates both corruption and the appearance for corruption."

On Friday, Montana's case was given a boost when U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-D-R.I., signed on in support. The senators argue evidence following the Citizens United decision, where millions in unregulated money has poured into presidential elections, shows that large independent expenditures can lead to corruption.

The states who filed the brief in support of Montana are New York, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.

___

Associated Press writer Mark Sherman in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

jose reyes college football bowl schedule college football bowl schedule double mastectomy 2011 bowl schedule bcs games heath bell

Free Pets to Good Home ? Blog Archive ? How To Say Goodbye To ...

Any dog keeper will confirm that watching a loved canine age and then having to say goodbye is one of the most difficult things that we ever have to do.

Our dogs simply do not live long enough. The loyal companion that has long been with us is no more. We are never actually prepared to say bye bye to a dog. One of the hardest things about losing a dog is the view of people who miss the blessing of a human/canine relationship. The phrase ?only a dog? will twist the stomach of any mourning dog lover.

Grief for a loved pet dog is dissimilar somehow to any other. It wrenches the center of the bereaved owner. The routine is damaged, especially if the dog was the only one in the home. Taking care of and training an older dog ceases right away. Dog beds lay empty, bowls need not be filled and the home seems desolate on your return.

Alongside the loss of the loved dog will often be the shock of saying goodbye. Mercy killing is mostly a light and physically easy way to end the life of a suffering dog. It is not easy on the owner though. Continuing self-questioning is normal when deciding on the right time for saying goodbye. You're feeling that you do not want to make the decision too soon or cause your dog to suffer.

Flashbacks in your mind's eye to the instant of your dog?s death or grim sickness are a part of the grief process. You can feel that you are coping sufficiently but then unhappiness hits you in a massive wave. This too is part of the mourning process. It is sadly something we must handle for the love our dogs gave us all though their lives. It is usual to feel that you never desire another dog. The discomfort is too great. Most of the time, this feeling will change.

For more information on existing with and training an older dog and the advantages of positive dog training visit The Dog Trick Academy.

solar storms uganda the parent trap invisible children kony 2012 space weather sunspots pac 12 tournament

Target Using Stores Human Resources Business Partner - (Job ...

Job Title : Stores Human Resources Business Partner - (Job Number: 110003U)
Company : Target
City :
State : Ontario
Country : CA
Location : Ontario
Date : 2012-05-20 03:50:50
latitude :
longitude :
Status Active
Job key be99cb3ccb2f8fe2

Declared at May 20, 2012. Is presently Target for this period give job to Stores Human Resources Business Partner - (Job Number: 110003U). The job nestled from the state Ontario middle of nowhere of Ontario ON.

Also the condition of the job is Active. So besure to start reading the job criteria below and continue hit the APPLY THE JOB button to get further.

The summary of job description of Stores Human Resources Business Partner - (Job Number: 110003U) :

Stores Human Resources Business Partner - (Job Number: 110003U) Job criteria provided by Target. If you can quick apply this job you only click the Apply the job button at the bottom of this information.

Description Join us as a Stores Human Resources Business Partner Similar Industry Titles and Key Words: Stores, Human Resources, Operations About This Opportunity Acts as highest-level HR leader for a District within the Target Canada Stores organization, coaching and supporting a team of store HR leaders responsible for staffing, performance management and team culture. Ensures Store executive...

MAP OF JOB LOCATION :

If you can view the location of Target company you only click View The Map button. Zoom in to acquire a closer glance in the where about of job and execute a Street View, to provide oneself a lil small sight from the where about of job prior to going there.

---

Related Job to Stores Human Resources Business Partner - (Job Number: 110003U)

brine turkey brine turkey uc davis super committee walmart black friday ad 2011 nl mvp nl mvp

MF Global customer deemed "frivolous" in fee fight

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co , under scrutiny for its ties to collapsed commodities firm MF Global, will return $168 million to the estate of MF's broker-dealer, the estate's trustee announced on Friday.

James Giddens, tasked with winding down the estate and recovering as much money as possible for its trader clients who lost money when the firm went bust, said JPMorgan will return "excess collateral" that was held in its estate when the bankruptcy began.

Giddens said the returned funds will help with get money back to customers, but is separate from ongoing discussions with JPMorgan over potential legal claims from Giddens that the bank could be holding customer money.

MF Global declared bankruptcy on October 31. Commodity traders with personal accounts lost millions of dollars when, according to Giddens, the firm improperly used client money to cover corporate transactions as the firm sank.

Giddens has said customer accounts could be short about $1.6 billion.

JPMorgan has retained a security interest in the returned collateral so it can seek to recover it if certain allegedly secured positions in MF Global's capital structure turn out to be uncollateralized, according to Giddens' statement.

JPMorgan was the lead lender on MF Global's $1.2 billion loan, and was also one of its primary clearing banks. Customer advocates, primarily Commodity Customer Coalition leader James Koutoulas, have expressed suspicion that customer money could be at JPMorgan.

A spokeswoman for the bank declined to comment.

KOUTOULAS DEEMED 'FRIVOLOUS'

Separately on Friday, Koutoulas was rebuked by a judge for filing "frivolous" court papers attacking the mounting fees of Louis Freeh, the trustee unwinding the MF Global parent company.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn rejected arguments from Koutoulas that Freeh should not be allowed to extend a Friday deadline to file financial data about the company. Koutoulas had argued the postponement would allow Freeh, a former FBI director, to rack up unreasonable fees.

Glenn stopped short of granting a request by Freeh's attorney, Brett Miller, to sanction Koutoulas, but warned he may impose such punishments for future frivolous acts.

"Be fair warned," Glenn told Koutoulas, a fund manager and lawyer who has assumed the de facto role of representing MF Global's former customers.

Miller said Freeh planned to file the bulk of the data that sparked the controversy, which lays out information on MF Global's debts, assets, transactional history and personnel, later on Friday.

Koutoulas' fight began when Freeh estimated this week that professionals in MF Global's bankruptcy have accrued nearly $25 million in fees. Freeh's report did not say how much of that figure was accrued by Freeh and his lawyers.

Freeh, who has not yet submitted formal compensation requests, would be paid from money he ultimately recovers on behalf of the MF estate through litigation and other means.

Freeh separately asked the court to extend by one month a Friday deadline to file financial data about the company's debts, assets, transaction history and personnel.

Koutoulas objected that Freeh, who had been granted five similar extensions in the past, acted in bad faith by drawing out his work while continuing to rake in fees.

In bankruptcy, legal fees are paid before other creditor claims, meaning each dollar Freeh accrues is a dollar taken away from creditors, Koutoulas said.

Glenn, though, said Koutoulas did not back up his "bad faith" claims with evidence that Freeh actually had an impure motive for seeking the extension.

There is also the question of whether customers would be eligible to be paid back from money recovered by Freeh. Money he recovers is designed to pay back creditors of MF Global's parent estate, not customers of its broker-dealer unit.

Koutoulas said after the hearing that his group, the Commodity Customer Coalition, will soon file a motion seeking to convert MF Global's bankruptcy from a Chapter 11 to a more streamlined liquidation, known as Chapter 7. The move, he says, would save the estate money.

In Chapter 7, a bankrupt estate is put in the hands of a trustee whose job is to sell assets as quickly as possible and distribute money to creditors.

Koutoulas said he initially planned to make the request at Friday's hearing but after being called "frivolous," the moment didn't seem right.

"The plan was to get that into today's hearing, but I ended up having to be a little more defensive than I thought," he said.

The case is In re MF Global Holdings Ltd, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 11-15059.

(Reporting By Nick Brown; Editing by Martha Graybow, Jeffrey Benkoe and David Gregorio)

free ecards flying car masters golf tournament the replacements how to hard boil eggs new nfl uniforms easter