Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/273972148?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, December 31, 2012
Slate Illustrated, 2012
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Sunday, December 30, 2012
Cheap Buy Wii Sports Resort Pack
The Nintendo Wii U ExperienceNintendo launched a Wii U Experience tour in major towns of the US.This tour wasn't for everyone.A number of Club Nintendo members and some of the older comrades were in...
http://www.zimbio.com/Nintendo+Wii/articles/KSZG5T2mgqt/Wii+U+Tour+in+United+States - Dec 30, 2012 7:44:55 AM - Aug 17, 2012 1:57:20 PM
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Former President Bush remains hospitalized
HOUSTON (AP) ? Former President George H.W. Bush remains hospitalized in Houston recovering from an illness that began with a bronchitis-related cough.
There was no update on his condition Sunday, but a family spokesman said Saturday that the 88-year-old had been moved back to a regular room at Methodist Hospital. Bush had spent a week in intensive care in order to knock down a fever.
Bush spokesman Jim McGrath said Saturday that Bush continued to improve and he and his family thanked everyone for their prayers and good wishes.
Bush was hospitalized Nov. 23 and moved to the intensive care unit Dec. 23 after developing a fever.
Bush, the 41st president, is the country's oldest living former president by a few months.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-president-bush-remains-hospitalized-184839699.html
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Who Should You Trust for Career Advice? YOU? | The Savvy Intern ...
Some time ago, Tim Murphy wrote a great post on Brazen Careerist about how there is no ?silver bullet? or secret weapon in a job search??no pill we can take that allows us to tap into insta-career-success.
There?s such a plethora of career advice out there targeting the uninformed or simply frustrated job seeker and career changer, that it?s hard to know what to follow and who to trust.
My thoughts?
Follow whoever you deem interesting and credible, and trust no one because every career ?expert? out there comes from their own school of thought in terms of determining what the best methods are.
Now that is not to say any of them are wrong ? in fact, I would say many of them offer incredibly valuable and sound advice. It isn?t important to try to sift through the articles, blogs and LinkedIn discussions and determine who?s right, who?s wrong, and who?s full of crap. Instead, find the key take-aways and identify opportunities to integrate those ideas into your own strategy to make it work for you.
There is no silver bullet, no secret, no tried and true roadmap experience to landing the perfect (or the next) job. If there were, my webinar would have been entitled ?6 Secrets to Getting Called Back, & Getting Hired? instead of ?6 Steps??. Because that is what makes a successful career move, understanding your motivations for change, creating a smart strategy chock full of the right resources, and then taking the right steps to make it happen.
So what does all that look like?
Understanding Your Motivations for Change
As someone who?s changed careers 4 times before the age of 30, and before settling upon what I feel is what I?m meant to do, I?ve learned something about the nature of career transition. It?s not necessarily about being lost around what you?re meant to do professionally. Rather it?s about understanding that with each new job, you recognize new skills and experiences that you?ve built upon that can potentially open new doors. Even the most passionate professional who loves what they do and swears they?ve found their calling would probably agree that who we are professionally is ever-evolving. We will continue to learn about ourselves and our capabilities and open our eyes to new paths/careers/ideas/revenue streams.
Don?t be afraid to look at those experiences and skills objectively and see what might be possible if you make a change. Hating your boss might be a valid reason to change jobs, but not necessarily for changing careers. Wanting a job that energizes you by capitalizing on what you do best, could go both ways. What?s your true motivation for making a change?
Utilizing the Right Resources
You have 20 bookmarked websites on how to write an effective resume (including mine). Are you a CEO, a sales executive or an Art Director? When you?re lapping up all the job search advice, it?s important to consider who is a subject matter expert in your field, and as a result caters their advice and resources to the specific needs, challenges and opportunities of your field. While I can probably advise on and construct an effective resume to suit any career field or level of experience, my core competency is understanding the marketability, branding and career challenges of professionals in creative industry- advertising, marketing, design and media.
I have plenty of clients from areas like social work, psychology, sales, academia, film, the arts, real estate and a slew of others, and I have enjoyed working with every one of them. I have even more to offer those job seekers and career transitioners who fall into my niche, based upon my hiring experience and knowledge of their industry.
Every career professional understands the idea of ?reinventing yourself professionally? it seems. But they don?t necessarily have any clue about the field you?re interested in transitioning into. That?s where it becomes important to partner with someone who knows their client.
I?ve been to coaching school. And while they do teach you to really listen well and home in on the challenges and opportunities in what your client is telling you, they don?t teach you how to identify what makes a really great Creative Director, or a stellar Copywriter, or what?s going to make HR salivate and dry heave over a truly phenomenal Project Manager resume.
Haha?the visual of that last one makes me laugh.
Same goes for working with recruiters. If you?re in the creative industry, you?re not going to have much success working with a generalized recruiter who places everything from light industrial to high-level administrative roles. Nor will you have much luck scouring generalized job boards that cater to everyone, instead of your niche.
Where you expend your time and energy in terms of the resources you?re utilizing, is a critical make-or-break part of your strategy. If you?re highly specialized and you know your opportunities aren?t abundant on the job boards, spend more of your time networking with strategic contacts, or maybe increasing your visibility as a subject matter expert in your field by blogging, tweeting, starting discussions and commenting on other people?s blogs. Take someone out to lunch (never underestimate the power of a good Chinese buffet). Or better yet ? put together a totally kick-a$$ self-promotional package that creatively and strategically displays your brand!
Taking the Right Steps
There?s a reason people hire career coaches and the like. It?s because job searching and changing careers is a process of transition. It?s very easy to get lost, demotivated or simply frustrated and stagnant in the process. That doesn?t mean you can?t do it on your own free will and chutzpa. But it?s important to enter into the process with the right expectations, and that you create a solid network of supporters to help you along the way.
That might include a career consultant or coach, a recruiter, several good butt-kicking friends, your spouse or significant other, and a couple colleagues and past supervisors who are open to feeding you viable leads and providing positive recommendations and references. All in all, taking the right steps toward effective change includes:
- Understanding your motivators for change
- Understanding the next steps to target, and creating a vision around them (who, what, where, why and when)
- Creating a diversified strategy that utilizes the right resources (how)
- Embracing your support network for motivation, accountability and idea sharing
- Having full faith and confidence in yourself, and your ability to navigate potentially rough waters
- Enjoying the process of making it happen, and not only living in the future of ?I?ll be happy when??
It?s about what works for you, and everyone?s path and strategy and method of execution will be completely different. So don?t necessarily look to the ?experts? for all the answers. Their job is to give you some really great jumping off points. Then it?s what you do with that information and how you apply it to your situation that will make all the difference.
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For this post, YouTern thanks our friends at Aspyre Solutions!
About the Author: Dana Leavy founded Aspyre Solutions, focusing on small business development and career consulting. Her mission is to support creative and socially-conscious small businesses, through career transition coaching and business consulting for creative professionals and entrepreneurs.
Dana has helped hundreds of professionals in advertising, marketing, design and other industries execute effective career plans to find and DO the work they are passionate about. She has presented seminars on navigating careers, transition and work-life balance to several colleges and universities, and her advice has been featured on MSN Careers, Fox Business News, NewsDay, CareerBuilder.com, GlassDoor and About.com. Follow Dana on Twitter!
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Saturday, December 29, 2012
UN envoy says Syrian collapse threatens region
MOSCOW (AP) ? The United Nations envoy for Syria warned Saturday that the country's civil war could plunge the entire region in chaos by sending an unbearable stream of refugees into neighboring countries, but his talks in Moscow brought no sign of progress toward settling the crisis.
Lakhdar Brahimi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov both said after their meeting that the 21-month Syrian crisis can only be settled through talks, while admitting that the parties to the conflict have shown no desire for compromise. Neither hinted at a possible solution that would persuade the government and the opposition to agree to a ceasefire and sit down for talks on political transition.
Brahimi, who arrived in Moscow on one-day trip following his talks in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad earlier this week, voiced concern about the escalation of the conflict, which he said is becoming "more and more sectarian."
Brahimi warned that "if you have a panic in Damascus and if you have 1 million people leaving Damascus in a panic, they can go to only two places ? Lebanon and Jordan," and that those countries could break if faced with half a million refugees.
Brahimi said that "if the only alternative is really hell or a political process, then we have got all of us to work ceaselessly for a political process."
Russia has been the main supporter of Assad's regime since the uprising began in March 2011, using its veto right at the U.N. Security Council along with China to shield its last Mideast ally from international sanctions.
Lavrov reaffirmed that Russia would continue to oppose any U.N. resolution that would call for international sanctions against Assad and open the way for a foreign intervention in Syria. And while he again emphasized that Russia "isn't holding on to Bashar Assad," he added that Moscow continues to believe that the opposition demand for his resignation as a precondition for peace talks is "counterproductive."
"The price for that precondition will be the loss of more Syrian lives," Lavrov said.
Both Brahimi and Lavrov insisted that peace efforts must be based on a peace plan approved at an international conference in Geneva in June.
The Geneva plan called for an open-ended cease-fire, a transitional government to run the country until elections, and the drafting of a new constitution, but it was a non-starter with the opposition because on Russian insistence it left the door open for Assad being part of the transition process and didn't contain any mention of possible U.N. sanctions.
Brahimi said that while some "little adjustments" could be made to the original plan, "it's a valued basis for reasonable political process."
With the opposition offensive gaining momentum, there was little hope that the initiative would have more chance for success than it had when it was approved.
Lavrov has said that Moscow is ready to talk to the main Syrian opposition group, even though it has earlier criticized the United States and other Western nations for recognizing the Syrian National Coalition for Opposition and Revolutionary Forces as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
On Friday, coalition leader Mouaz al-Khatib rejected the Russian invitation for talks and urged Moscow to support the opposition call for Assad's ouster. Lavrov said Saturday that al-Khatib's statement was surprising after his earlier contacts with Russian diplomats in Egypt in which they tentatively agreed on a meeting in a third country.
Lavrov argued that the coalition leader should "realize it would be in his own interests to hear our analysis directly from us."
Lavrov rejected the opposition claim that Russia's continuing weapons supplies to Assad's regime made it responsible for the massacre, saying that Moscow bears no responsibility for the Soviet-era weapons in Syrian arsenals. He said that defensive weapons like anti-aircraft missiles that Russia has continued to supply to Damascus couldn't be used in the civil war.
"We aren't providing the Syrian regime with any offensive weapons or weapons that could be used in a civil war," Lavrov said. "And we have no leverage over what the regime has got since the Soviet times."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/un-envoy-says-syrian-collapse-threatens-region-104613564.html
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Is Fifth Harmony The New One Direction?
'X Factor' contestants have taken a path similar to their male U.K. counterparts.
By Chris Kim
Fifth Harmony
Photo: MTV News
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1699458/fifth-harmony-x-factor-one-direction.jhtml
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NBC seizes ratings lead with football and 'Voice'
NEW YORK (AP) ? Powered by football and "The Voice," NBC took the lead in the ratings last week.
But even football couldn't tackle CBS' indomitable "NCIS," which edged out the Seahawks-49ers clash to become the week's most-watched show. It drew 19.6 million viewers, the Nielsen Co. said Thursday.
In third place was "NCIS: Los Angeles," followed by the season finale of "The Voice." The season finale of Fox's singing competition "The X Factor" ranked 14th.
Among several Christmas specials, "A White House Christmas: First Families Remember" was the most-watched, ranking 20th place.
A preview airing of a new NBC sitcom, "1600 Penn," ranked 23rd with 6.9 viewers. It premieres next month.
Overall for the week, NBC averaged 8.12 million viewers in prime time (4.9 rating, 8 share). CBS ranked second with 7.50 million viewers (4.9 rating, 8 share), while Fox had 5.64 million (3.3 rating, 6 share), ABC had 4.78 million (3.0 rating, 5 share), the CW had 1.43 million (.9 rating, 1 share) and Ion had 1.12 million (.8 rating, 1 share).
Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with an average of 3.21 million viewers (1.7 rating, 3 share). Telemundo had 1.24 million (0.6 rating, 1 share), TeleFutura had 740,000 (0.4 rating, 1 share), Estrella had 270,000 (0.1 rating, 0 share) and Azteca had 140,000 (0.1 rating, 0 share).
NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 9.1 million viewers (6.1 household rating, 11 share). ABC's "World News" was second with 7.9 million (5.3 rating, 10 share) and the "CBS Evening News" had 7.0 million viewers (4.6 rating, 9 share).
A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.
For the week of Dec. 17-23, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "NCIS," CBS, 19.59 million; NFL Football: San Francisco at Seattle, NBC, 19.50 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 15.48 million; "The Voice" (Tuesday), NBC, 14.13 million; "Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick," NBC, 13.67 million; "The Voice" (Monday), NBC, 13.37 million; "The Big Bang Theory," CBS, 10.95 million; "The OT," Fox, 10.94 million; "Mike & Molly," CBS, 10.79 million; "Hawaii Five-0," CBS, 10.54 million.
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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is a unit of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nbc-seizes-ratings-lead-football-voice-185644103.html
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Two new species of orchid found in Cuba
Dec. 27, 2012 ? Researchers from the University of Vigo, in collaboration with the Environmental Services Unit at the Alejandro de Humboldt National Park (Cuba), have discovered two new species of Caribbean orchid.
The Caribbean islands have been natural laboratories and a source of inspiration for biologists for over two centuries now. Suffice to say that the studies by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in the tropical archipelagos contributed to the emergence of the theory of evolution.
In this case, a Spanish research team from the University of Vigo has discovered two new species belonging to the orchid family (Orchidaceae: Laeliinae) in Cuba. They have been called Tetramicra riparia and Encyclia navarroi. The two plants were found in the eastern and western zones of the island respectively.
"The first species described, Encyclia navarroi, is an orchid with considerably large flowers. A year later we discovered the Tetramicra riparia species, with very small flowers. The latter is so named because it grows on the banks of stony streams in the mountains of Baracoa, one of the rainiest and least explored areas in Cuba," as ?ngel Vale explained. Vale is a researcher at the University of Vigo and co-author of the studies published by the journals Systematic Botany and Annales Botanici Fennici.
Darwin was very much drawn to the orchid family, and used it to propose certain hypotheses about the importance of the relations between flowers and pollinators for biodiversity. Between 25,000 and 30,000 species of these plants are estimated to exist. However, the mechanisms that explain this amazing variety are only now being discovered.
"We could highlight their extraordinary capacity to interact with different types of pollinators. Contrary to most plants, many orchids do not produce nectar or other substances to compensate insects and birds that visit them," explained the researcher.
Orchids' deceit pollination
Despite this, floral visitors are attracted by orchids' colours and shapes, which enables the plants' sexual reproduction. This is known as deceit pollination.
The University of Vigo Plant Ecology and Evolution research team, which Vale belongs to, is studying the ecological and evolutionary consequences of deceit pollination in orchids that are endemic to the Greater Antilles: Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. One of the mysteries they aim to solve is if the deceit orchids have a greater taxonomic and genetic diversity than other nectar-producing species.
Vale and his team are drawing up studies in the Antilles not only to reconstruct the evolutionary history of orchids but also to analyse the effect of pollinators in the reproduction of plants, and how this interaction has modelled the colourful aspect of these Caribbean flowers.
"Despite the fact that T. riparia's flowers have a complete central petal, just like other species that make up a subgenre endemic to Cuba; the way they grow is very similar to a more widespread group that seems to have diverged on the neighbouring island of Hispaniola. Our work provides molecular evidence of the greater relationship of T. riparia with these species on the neighbouring island. This is in consonance with the geological history of the Caribbean islands, according to which the eastern end of Cuba was in close contact with that land," pointed out Vale.
Scientists are currently trying to estimate how many millions of years ago this and other Caribbean species saw the light of day. This will enable them to test whether the ancestor of this species was already in Cuba, or if on the contrary, it evolved from an ancestor that colonised the island from neighbouring archipelagos.
"Just as with most orchids, which offer no compensation to their pollinators, Encyclia navarroi and Tetramicra riparia receive very few visits from bees. This is one of the basic reasons that guarantee the survival of these plants, and also help protect the populations of their pollinators," explained the scientist.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Plataforma SINC, via AlphaGalileo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal References:
- ?ngel Vale, Danny Rojas, Yosvanis Acanda, Natividad L. S?nchez-Abad, Luis Navarro. A New Species of Tetramicra (Orchidaceae: Laeliinae) from Baracoa, Eastern Cuba. Systematic Botany, 2012; 37 (4): 883 DOI: 10.1600/036364412X656491
- ?ngel Vale, Danny Rojas. Encyclia navarroi (Orchidaceae), a new species from Cuba. Annales Botanici Fennici, 49: 83 - 86, 26; 2012
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/UIue5KsHzb4/121227080048.htm
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Friday, December 28, 2012
Trains carrying more oil across US amid boom
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) ? Energy companies behind the oil boom on the Northern Plains are increasingly turning to an industrial-age workhorse ? the locomotive ? to move their crude to refineries across the U.S., as plans for new pipelines stall and existing lines can't keep up with demand.
Delivering oil thousands of miles by rail from the heartland to refineries on the East, West and Gulf coasts costs more, but it can mean increased profits ? up to $10 or more a barrel ? because of higher oil prices on the coasts. That works out to about $700,000 per train.
The parade of mile-long trains carrying hazardous material out of North Dakota and Montana and across the country has experts and federal regulators concerned. Rail transport is less safe than pipelines, they say, and the proliferation of oil trains raises the risk of a major derailment and spill.
Since 2009, the number of train cars carrying crude hauled by major railroads has jumped from about 10,000 a year to a projected 200,000 in 2012. Much of that has been in the Northern Plains' Bakken crude patch, but companies say oil trains are rolling or will be soon from Texas, Colorado and western Canada.
"This is all occurring very rapidly, and history teaches that when those things happen, unfortunately, the next thing that is going to occur would be some sort of disaster," said Jim Hall, a transportation consultant and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Rail companies said the industry places a priority on safety and has invested heavily in track upgrades, provided emergency training and taken other measures to guard against accidents. There have been no major oil train derailments from the Bakken, according to federal regulators.
Union Pacific Railroad CEO Jack Koraleski said hauling oil out of places like North Dakota will be a long-term business for railroads because trains are faster than pipelines, reliable and offer a variety of destinations.
"The railroads are looking at this as a unique opportunity, a game-changing opportunity for their business," said Jeffery Elliot, a rail expert with the New York-based consulting firm Oliver Wyman.
BNSF Railway Co., the prime player in the Bakken, has bolstered its oil train capacity to a million barrels a day and expects that figure to increase further. To accommodate the growth, in part, the railroad is sinking $197 million into track upgrades and other improvements in Montana and North Dakota.
BNSF is also increasing train sizes, from 100 oil cars per train to as many as 118.
Larger trains are harder to control, and that increases the chances of something going wrong, safety experts said. State and local emergency officials worry about a derailment in a population center or an environmentally sensitive area such as a river crossing.
Rail accidents occur 34 times more frequently than pipeline ones for every ton of crude or other hazardous material shipped comparable distances, according to a recent study by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank. The Association of American Railroads contends the study was flawed but acknowledges the likelihood of a rail accident is double or triple the chance of a pipeline problem.
The environmental fears carry an ironic twist: Oil trains are gaining popularity in part because of a shortage of pipeline capacity ? a problem that has been worsened by environmental opposition to such projects as TransCanada's stalled Keystone XL pipeline. That project would carry Bakken and Canadian crude to the Gulf of Mexico.
Wayde Schafer, a North Dakota spokesman for the Sierra Club, described rail as "the greater of two evils" because trains pass through cities, over waterways and through wetlands that pipelines can be built to avoid.
"It's an accident waiting to happen. It's going to be a mess and we don't know where that mess is going to be," Schafer said.
For oil companies, the embrace of rail is a matter of expediency. Oil-loading rail terminals can be built in a matter of months, versus three to five years for pipelines to clear regulatory hurdles and be put into service, said Justin Kringstad of the North Dakota Pipeline Authority. Although more pipelines are in the works, Kringstad said moving oil by rail will continue.
The surge comes at the right time for railroads: Coal shipments ? a mainstay of the rail industry ? have suffered because of competition from cheap natural gas.
In the eastern U.S., CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads haven't seen as much growth because oil from the Marcellus Shale area of Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York is close enough to refineries that trucks haul the crude.
Yet BNSF is beginning to haul Bakken crude east to Chicago, where it hands off the tank cars to CSX or Norfolk Southern for delivery to Eastern refineries. It has also sent oil to the West Coast, a trend that could increase if Alaska crude production falters, as some industry observers are predicting.
The growth will require significant upgrades to already congested rail lines, industry analysts said.
Overall, crude oil shipments still represent less than 1 percent of all carloads. And there are far more dangerous materials aboard the nation's trains, including explosives, poisonous gases and other industrial chemicals.
But emergency officials are increasingly wary of major accidents involving oil trains, which carry far more cargo than some other hazardous-material trains.
While oil is not as volatile as some other products, a rupture of just one car can spill 20,000 to 30,000 gallons, said Sheldon Lustig, a rail expert who consults with local governments on accidents and hazardous materials.
Recognizing the risks, Houston-based Musket Corp., an operator of oil train terminals in North Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah and Oklahoma, has donated spill equipment and provided training to fire officials.
"You want to be a good steward in that community," said Musket managing director JP Fjeld-Hansen.
Federal Railroad Administration officials said they have coordinated hazardous-material training seminars and sought more law enforcement patrols for rail crossings to increase safety.
Federal law requires railroads to select hazardous-material routes after analyzing the potential for accidents in heavily populated areas and environmentally sensitive spots. Those analyses are confidential for security reasons.
Lustig said the railroads have considerable sway over the process.
"Under federal guidelines, the railroad makes the analysis, the railroad decides what they want to do, and the railroad does it," he said. "There is no public accountability."
__
Funk reported from Omaha, Neb. Associated Press writer James MacPherson in Bismarck, N.D., contributed to this report.
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Americans from Central African Republic capital evacuated
Reuters
Hundreds protest in front of the French Embassy in the Bangui, Central African Republic, on Wednesday, expressing anger over the lack of response by the former colonial power to rebels advancing on the capital.
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By NBC News and wire services
U.S. diplomats and other American citizens have been evacuated from the Central African Republic and U.S. embassy operations have been suspended in the capital, Bangui, the State Department said Thursday. The move came as?rebel forces?advanced on the city.
"This decision is solely due to concerns about the security of our personnel and has no relation to our continuing and long-standing diplomatic relations with the (Central African Republic)," said State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell.
Insurgents on motorbikes and in pickup trucks have driven to within 45 miles of Bangui after weeks of fighting, threatening to end President Francois Bozize's nearly 10-year rule over the turbulent, resource-rich country.
Bozize appealed to the United States and France to help push back the rebels.
Some U.S. Special Forces are operating in the country, trying to track down the Lords Resistance Army, a rebel group responsible for killing thousands of civilians across four African nations.?There was no indication that these forces would be used to aid Bozize against the advancing insurgents.
Earlier a senior defense official told NBC News that there were "several hundred" civilians, including Americans and citizens of close U.S. allies who may be evacuated, but comments by the State Department's Ventrell suggested fewer had left:?
"Ambassador (Laurence) Wohlers and his diplomatic team left Bangui today along with several private U.S. citizens," according to Ventrell.
The non-combatant evacuation operation transported "U.S. citizens and designated foreign nationals to safe havens in the region," according to a statement from?Defense Department spokesman Todd Breasseale. The flight out of Bangui was "wheels up" at about 7:15 p.m. ET.?
Paris said its troops would protect French nationals, but not be involved in repelling the rebels.?
Some 1,200 French nationals live in the CAR, mostly in the capital, according to the French Foreign Ministry, where they typically work for mining firms or aid groups.
French nuclear energy group Areva mines the Bakouma uranium deposit in the CAR's south ? France's biggest commercial interest in its former colony.?
Bozize on Thursday appealed for French and U.S. military support to stop the SELEKA rebel coalition, which has promised to overthrow him unless he implements a previous peace deal in full.
France: 'Those days are over'
He told a crowd of anti-rebel protesters in the riverside capital that he had asked Paris and Washington to help move the rebels away from the capital to clear the way for peace talks which regional leaders say could be held soon in Libreville, Gabon.
"We are asking our cousins the French and the United States, which are major powers, to help us push back the rebels to their initial positions in a way that will permit talks in Libreville to resolve this crisis," Bozize said.
Georges Gobet / AFP - Getty Images file
Central African Republic President Francois Bozize in 2008.
France has 250 soldiers in its landlocked former colony as part of a peacekeeping mission and Paris in the past has ousted or propped up governments ? including by using air strikes to defend Bozize against rebels in 2006.
But French President Francois Hollande poured cold water on the latest request for help.
"If we have a presence, it's not to protect a regime, it's to protect our nationals and our interests and in no way to intervene in the internal business of a country, in this case the Central African Republic," Hollande said on the sidelines of a visit to a wholesale food market outside Paris.
"Those days are over," he said.
France is increasingly reluctant to directly intervene in conflicts in its former colonies. Since coming to power in May, Hollande has promised to put ties with its former colonies on a healthier footing.
The rebel advance has highlighted the instability of a country that has remained poor since independence from Paris in 1960 despite rich deposits of uranium, gold and diamonds. Average income is barely over $2 a day.
Regional African leaders, meantime, tried to broker a ceasefire deal and rebels said they had temporarily halted their advance on Bangui to allow talks to take place.
Officials from around central Africa were to meet in Bangui later on Thursday to open initial talks with the government and rebels.
A rebel spokesman said fighters had temporarily halted their advance to allow dialogue.
"We will not enter Bangui," Col. Djouma Narkoyo, the rebel spokesman, told Reuters by telephone.
Previous rebel promises to stop advancing have been broken, and a diplomatic source said rebels had taken up positions around Bangui on Thursday, effectively surrounding it.
The atmosphere remained tense in Bangui the day after anti-rebel protests broke out, and residents were stocking up on food and water.
Government soldiers deployed at strategic sites and French troops reinforced security at the French embassy after protesters threw rocks at the building on Wednesday.
Bozize came to power in a 2003 rebellion that overthrew President Ange-Felix Patasse.
The government holds little sway outside the capital, and in some parts of the country, the consequences of conflicts in troubled neighbors Chad, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo have spilled over.
This report includes reporting by Reuters and NBC News' Courtney Kube.
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Dogs of Culture: Poem About Violin Loving Dogs | Steve Dale's Pet ...
guest poetic blog by Classey Nehrke
Two violin players,
three enraptured dogs.
They all meshed together,
like peat n a bog.
?
The dogs were busy taking
their daily run in the park.
But this was very different from
their usual outdoor lark.
?
The violin music they heard
was, to them, like mean on a bone.
They stopped their running abruptly
and flatly refused to go home.
?
-- Let?s Listen as they tell it--
?
?We?ve paid all winter for this concert,? they said,
?Being out in the freezing cold.
Chilling our ears and numbing our paws,
as we battled the wind and the snow.?
?
Now, we get our comeback.
This music sounds so nice!
Who says that dogs do not enjoy
The finer things of life?
?
And our mistress needed some cheering up.
Her spirits were beginning to droop.
This violin music is so much nicer
than picking up poop with a scoop.
?
So we gave our mistress quite a start,
guess she didn?t really know her pets.
Perhaps, go to the Opera yet!
?
No, this was no our usual run.
This ?Friday in the park.?
Now, we?re dogs that have ?culture,?
and we?re having quite a lark.
?
They were two talented sisters;
we were three enraptured dogs.
You might say we meshed together
like peat that grows in the bog.
?
I thank Mrs. Nehrke for classing up my blog, 1,726 posts and my first poem.
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Thursday, December 27, 2012
In Mexico, 1,000-year-old mummified dog begs for attention
MEXICO CITY ? For nearly 50 years, the mummified remains of a dog believed to have lived 1,000 years ago sat forgotten in a school museum in north-central Mexico.
That meant, among other things, that no one got to admire the ancient dog's irresistible facial expression.
The canine, which has no name, appears in recently released photographs lying on its side as if relaxing. Its expression is serene and somehow friendly.
Archaeologists say the mummified male dog is about 1,000 years old, but other than that, little is known about it, including whether it is a xoloitzcuintle, the indigenous Mexican hairless dog, because of its curious shape.
The specimen was pulled from the Cave of the Candelaria, a 30-foot-deep ancient burial site in the semidesert region known as La Laguna, by government researchers in 1953. Along with the dog, archaeologists found textiles, ceramics, arrowheads and mummified figures such as a 3-year-old child wrapped in a rope.
The National Institute of Anthropology and History says it was eventually stored at the museum of the Escuela de Bachilleres Venustiano Carranza, a state school in the city of Torreon.
It lay there, in effect forgotten, until August, when the institute's archaeologists at the Regional Museum of La Laguna examined the school's holdings, found the dog and determined that it hadn't been properly studied. Authorities said the dog will soon undergo DNA tests and carbon-dating.
Jaime Alejandro Bautista, the institute's subdirector of public records, said the mummified remains would prove telling if they turned out to be those of a xoloitzcuintle ? pronounced "cho-los-kuint-leh." It would push the border of the breed's native region significantly farther north than the Mesoamerican region of central and southern Mexico. It could also suggest that nomadic northern peoples such as Chichimecas had earlier contact than previously thought with urbanizing pre-Hispanic societies such as the Aztecs.
"We know that dogs are associated with funeral rites in pre-Hispanic societies, so it is likely that it was deposited there intentionally," Bautista said. "The dog mummified naturally, due to the conditions of the microclimate in the cave."
Its skin, or what's left of it, is coated in a varnish, a preservation-minded mistake years ago by an unknown custodian, Bautista said.
"We just lost track of it. At the time, an adequate museum did not exist to receive it," he said.
Indeed, the northern region of Mexico is sorely understudied by anthropologists and archaeologists in comparison with the deeply studied Mesoamerican region. There are even fewer U.S. specialists ? "five or six," by one count ? who concentrate on the north and who might be able to independently comment on the rare mummified dog.
The dog could be put on display at the Regional Museum of La Laguna as early as mid-2013.
In the meantime, its friendly expression will remain out of public view.
Hernandez is a special correspondent.
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Shanghai to enact strict new food safety law - Xinhua
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Shanghai will introduce tough new laws to blacklist firms that flout food safety laws, the official Xinhua news agency reported, a significant move in China's consumer hub to end the food scandals that in recent years have killed children.
Under the proposed law, firms caught using banned substances in food, producing food from inedible ingredients, or illegally making, selling or using banned food additives, will be banned from operating in Shanghai, Xinhua reported late on Wednesday quoting city officials.
China's food safety record is abysmal. Frequent media reports refer to cooking oil being recycled from drains, carcinogens in milk, and fake eggs. In 2008, milk laced with the industrial chemical melamine killed at least six children and sickened nearly 300,000.
On Monday, Shanghai's food safety authority said the level of antibiotics and steroids in Yum Brands Inc's KFC chicken was within official limits, but found a suspicious level of an antiviral drug in one of the eight samples tested.
Yum faced criticism last week from China's state-owned broadcaster, which said Yum's KFC chickens in China contained an excessive level of antibiotics.
The planned regulation, expected to take effect next year, will see blacklisted firms barred from operating food businesses in the city, Xinhua reported, quoting Gu Zhenhua, deputy director of the municipal food safety committee's office.
(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shanghai-enact-strict-food-safety-law-xinhua-012647917--finance.html
B2B Lead Generation: The Power of Content Marketing | Business 2 ...
Without a doubt, social media participation has taken off in the B2B world in 2012.? We have seen a surge in business blogging, infographics, and online videos.? Businesses are learning how to harness the power of social media platforms to promote their content for increased reach.? Companies are successfully attracting leads and increasing conversions via inbound methods. The increased success for B2B inbound marketing in general stems from the marked improvement in the relationships between buyers and sellers during the sales process.? The primary, and probably most important goal of the inbound process ? lead generation ? has certainly seen growth.? The main reason for increased lead generation via inbound methods is attributable to the power of content.
B2B Inbound Marketing: Effective Content Required
B2B marketing is traditionally seen as rigid and structured.? Indeed, many companies still strongly adhere to the strategy of generating leads via direct marketing methods such as cold calling, trade shows, and email blasts. In direct marketing, a company may share its content through printed materials.? Inbound marketing is changing the game for B2B marketers.? Rather than generating leads through the ?interruption? methods described above, inbound marketing seeks to attract potential leads via online techniques such as social media and SEO (search engine optimization).? Inbound marketing cannot happen effectively without online content, so a blog for your website is a top priority. The nature of your company?s content will vary depending on your products and solutions, so it is crucial to identify your target market and niche.
In B2B Marketing, Relevant, Engaging Content is Key
Creating your content won?t happen easily at first. You may worry about your writing skills or the depth of your knowledge, for example.? A good piece of advice is to keep your audience, or target market, in mind, and this will assist you in creating content.? It may not happen naturally at first, but the writing process really does get easier the more you do it.? It may also help to remember that people are drawn to your content because they like it, not because they are forced to view it.? In other words, create content that you personally would enjoy reading, and steer away from sounding pushy or sales-y.? Lead generation is more likely to occur when your content appeals to the reader on a personal level.? Which leads me to another important piece of advice ? be yourself and be genuine when creating content.? It?s true that you need to produce good content when lead generation is your goal.? Creating content that resonates with your potential leads is the key to attracting them to your website.
Effective B2B Inbound Marketing Has Passion and is Consistently Branded
Inbound B2B buyers are a progressively savvy group who know what they are looking for and how best to find it.? To achieve the full power of your content for lead generation, it is imperative for your blog posts to be completely connected with your brand and what you represent.? Potential leads and buyers want to know what you can do for them, and how you can do it better than your competition.? I recently heard Jack Krawczyk, the Head of Monetization for?StumbleUpon, speak in person at the?2012 Dallas Digital Summit.? This is one thing he said that really stuck with me:? ?People don?t buy what you do ? they buy why you do it?!? In other words, your leads want to know what you stand for and why you stand for it.? I find this to be an important reminder as I create content for my own blog, since this sentiment resonates quite strongly with B2B buyers.? When you have passion for your company and its products or solutions, it is obvious to your leads.? The power of your content is affirmed through passion, and is something potential leads will certainly notice.
In summary, it remains important to remember the mantra, ?content is king? when planning your B2B lead generation strategy.? The more attractive your content is to your target market ? because it has resonated with them on some level ? the more likely you are to see measurable increases in lead generation. Never underestimate the power of content.
What are you doing to take your content marketing to the next level?
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The Music Club, 2012
Kacey Musgraves performs with Mike Eli and the Eli Young Band during the CMT Artists of the Year on Dec. 3, 2012, in Franklin, Tenn. Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for CMT.
Some scattershot final thoughts before I fold up the laptop for the year.
Thanks, Will, for helping me wrap my mind around The Mumford Perplex. Listening to the band?s bombastic skiffle hymns, I was struck again by how in this century, Brits, traditionally pop?s irony specialists, have become torchbearers for solemn anthemic rock. There?s Radiohead, Coldplay, Keane, Muse. And now, the Mumfords, who pin their quivering hearts to their capos like none since The Kingston Trio. My own taste in British folk revivalists runs more to Fairport Convention, so I want to mention that Richard Thompson, a man who has never released a bad record in a career than spans nearly 50 years, put out another fine one in 2012, the cast album for his ?folk oratorio? Cabaret of Souls. It?s worth tracking down.
Speaking of graybeards: The veteran who impressed me most in 2012 most was one I?d never heard before. I?m talking about the rapper Ka, age 40. (That?s 175 or so in hip-hop years, no matter what Jay-Z says.) Ka is a late bloomer. He began his career as a member of the ?90s rap crew Natural Elements but has admitted to interviewers that he wasn?t a very good MC. His second solo album, Grief Pedigree, is the fruit of patience, persistence, practice. It?s a complete auteurist feat; Ka produced every song and directed his own videos, some of the best I saw all year. The album is impressively of-a-piece, sustaining a mood as dank and ominous as the lamplit backstreets in the videos. The music is calm but menacing, and Ka?s flow is unhurried; he?s less a rapper than a hardboiled raconteur, a teller of tales that require no flashiness or ornamentation.
The result is a ?90s-style New York thug-rap album, totally deglamorized?an O.G. looking back at the hustle with a headshake, and without illusions. ?I admit, not from an environment that let a child flourish/ In the street, slim physique, wild courage/ Five deep, trying to eat, looking malnourished,? he raps in ?No Downtime.? ?Decisions? ponders the moral ambiguities of thugging, unfolding in a series of a) or b) questions. Occasionally, the rapper turns his attention to other matters, like sex. ?Nut?? he asks. ?Or reposition?? Ka?a man who likes to take his time?chooses b).
While I?m on the subject of old-timers: Have you guys heard the latest Prince songs? (Jason, if you?re looking for funky antidote to EDM, you could do worse than ?Extraloveable.?) There?s been much talk about Springsteen?s indefatigability, but let?s take a moment to marvel at the sylphine agelessness of the Purple One. In fact, I?ve been thinking about Prince a lot recently: For a forthcoming Slate piece, I?ve been listening (or trying to listen) to everything the guy has recorded. It?s been an astonishing experience?a reminder of Prince?s rampant genius, and of the wisdom of musical elders, generally. As critics, we spend so much time focused on the new, the now, the next. But pop has still not caught up with Prince. People are trying, though: cf. Miguel, Jai Paul, and Usher?s Looking 4 Myself bonus track ?Say the Words,? a For You-era Prince pastiche par excellence. Maybe these tyros will follow Prince back to the future, reviving the deep groove? Or will the catalyst be the resurgent D?Angelo, more of a Prince acolyte than ever with his newfound guitar chops?
Jason, I loved your tribute to Donna Summer and the scorn you heaped on ?bottle-serviced dance pop.? I have a question, though. Wasn?t glamour and aspirationalism a huge part of the disco story? And wasn?t Summer herself one of American pop?s great Europhiles, a woman who fled her pious Boston upbringing for Berlin?who came into her own musically when she went jet-set, teaming with a suave Italian record producer? (Seems to me ?Love To Love You Baby? and ?I Feel Love? gave soul and funk a kind of fizzy Eurotrash makeover.) I wonder, therefore, if EDM-propelled dance-pop isn?t actually a lot like disco: If the vogue for four-on-the-floor club beats is a kind of cyclical turning away from gutbucket African-American sound?in this case, what Sasha Frere-Jones called ?hip-hop?s blues-based swing??in favor of music that?s more upscale, with a fancy continental pedigree? Is Rihanna Donna?s daughter, after all?
I?m running out of time, so I?ll wind down with a few quick words about country.
Country is the most conservative and hidebound of all pop genres. It?s also the most challenging music I listen to: In a time of intense polarization, it pulls this blue-state-Brooklyn-secular-humanist-Jewish Obama voter into the lives of Americans who fit none of those categories. This can be painful. I love the heft and sweep of Trace Adkins? Great Recession anthem ?Tough People Do? and appreciate its large-hearted populism. But in this year of birtherism and the 47 percent, I couldn?t help but be wary hearing Adkins sing ?Tough people pull themselves up by the bootstraps.? And in the wake the Newtown tragedy, it?s even more difficult to stick with Adkins, a card-carrying member of country?s NRA brigade.
And yet: Conservatism, in the form of home-and-hearth subject matter, is one of country?s great attractions. To return to Lindsay?s first post: the flipside of #YOLO is #WADS, We?ll All Die Someday?a verity that hits you hard as you move into middle age, watch your love ones pass on, and have kids of your own. It's one of the reasons I love country so much: More than other music, it carries that #WADS realism, valorizing middle-class lives?marriages, kids, divorces, parents? deaths?by dramatizing them, in gory detail, and with wit. I vote differently than Trace Adkins; I like guns a lot less than Miranda Lambert and Justin Moore. But my day-to-day life is about loving and fretting over my kid; it?s about trying to throw some breakfast down his gullet and get him to school on time. Country records talk about that stuff. Other pop records just don?t.
Also, like Ann, I?m a song person, and if there?s one thing country musicians know how to do, it?s write them thangs. Enter Kacey Musgraves. I said my piece about Musgraves? amazing ?Merry Go Round? earlier this year. Since then I?ve heard a bunch more Musgraves music?some that?s out there on the Internet, some that I got after begging her record company. I can tell you this: She?s the real damn deal.
Musgraves can reel off witty genre numbers like an old Nashville hand. Her best songs, though, show mastery of Music Row form while giving a wide berth to its clich?s and pieties. Her music is pretty but tough; it has a leathery hide. She writes in a voice?young, female, white, Southern, working-class?you won?t hear elsewhere in pop: certainly not from country?s fairy princess, Taylor Swift, nor from Lindsay?s faves Katie Crutchfield or Grimes, nor from Fiona or Regina or any other (sorry, Ann) NPR-touted singer-songwriter. Musgraves is a millennial (she?s 24), but the young women in her songs face lives of sharply circumscribed possibilities?no #YOLO. They?re single, for the time being, but marriage (a bad one, almost certainly) is waiting around the corner, along with a few kids and a crappy wage-slave job. Listen to ?Blowin? Smoke,? a song about (among other things) waiting tables in Las Vegas and nicotine addiction. Here?s Musgraves? narrator, chatting and smoking with fellow waitresses after a shift:
Well, Janey got divorced again
Her ex-husband?s in the pen
For two to five or five to 10
Or longer
And Brenda?s trading smokes for cake
Still hasn?t lost that baby weight
And that?s baby?s ?bout to graduate
From college
I just flick an ash
Into the tray
And tell them both
It?ll be OK
But we?re just blowin? smoke
Songs like that make Mugraves my big One To Watch for 2013. So I?ll put a little bookmark here, in the hope that we?ll all meet again?same time, same corner banquette, next year. Bottle service optional.
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=dce1ad220ab62ab932b5e66099a5c23d
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Exercise for Multiple Sclerosis | Renal Disease & Dialysis
The French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot was the first person to recognize multiple sclerosis as a distinct disease in 1868. Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons in nerves of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination (damage to the myelin sheath) and scarring which leads to a broad variety of other signs and symptoms.
Communication between nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to is affected in people with MS. Nerve cells communicate by sending electrical signals called action potentials down long fibers called axons, which are contained within a protective, insulating substance called myelin. In MS, the body?s own immune system recognises myelin as a threat then attacks and damages it. When myelin is lost, the axons can no longer effectively conduct signals properly. This is what causes the symptoms of MS.
Multiple sclerosis can be difficult to diagnose because its signs and symptoms are similar to other medical problems. Medical organisations have created diagnostic criteria to ease and standardise the diagnostic process. These criteria are especially effective within the first stages of the disease. The Schumacher and Poser criteria were both popular but now the McDonald criteria is more commonly used.
Clinical data alone may be sufficient for a diagnosis of MS if an individual has suffered separate episodes of neurologic symptoms characteristic of MS like changes in sensation such as loss of sensitivity or tingling, prickling or numbness. The most commonly used diagnostic tools are neuroimaging and analysis of cerebrospinal fluid. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and spine also show areas of demyelination and the nervous system of a person with MS responds less actively to stimulation of the optic nerve and sensory nerves due to demyelination of such pathways. These brain responses can be examined using visual and sensory evoked potentials.
Although MS isn?t considered hereditary a number of genetic variations have been shown to increase the risk of developing the disease. The chances of inheriting MS is higher in relatives of a person with the disease than in the general population, especially in the case of siblings, parents, and children.
As well as the obvious benefits of exercise, the benefits to healthy individuals, the benefits of exercise for people with MS include:
- Improves muscle strength and tone to help maintain mobility and reduce muscle weakness
- Helps to keep people with more severe MS stay mobile
- Helps with weight management
- Can help with some symptoms of MS
There is no single exercise that ?cures? MS. Exercise is best thought of as merely a supplement or a preventative measure that aids your current therapy. Choosing what type of exercise you do depends on YOU! What do you enjoy doing? What sports do you like? Do you prefer to train with someone or go solo? Do you need help or instructions to start an exercise program? All these questions can help in choosing the right form of exercise for you and ensure your exercise programme is adhered to. Here?s a few ideas to get you going:
- Walking and aerobics have been shown to improve balance
- Yoga, T?ai Chi and stretching helps with muscle stiffness and spasms
- Pelvic floor exercises help with bladder and bowel problems
- Aerobic exercise has been shown to help improve the symptoms of depression
The Health Fitness Project is a free database for health professionals and fitness enthusiasts, continually growing and full of scientifically based fitness advice put in to words that EVERYONE can understand.
Tags: electrical signals, jean martin charcot, medical organisations, nerve cells, sensory nerves
Source: http://www.bepicolomboprize.org/exercise-for-multiple-sclerosis.html
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Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Gloomy predictions as Washington approaches the 'fiscal cliff'
It's still possible that the 'fiscal cliff' with its automatic?tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts can be avoided. But the clock is ticking toward Jan.1, and most lawmakers are pessimistic.
President Barack Obama speaks about the fiscal cliff in the briefing room of the White House Friday before leaving for Hawaii to spend Christmas with his family.
Kevin Lamarque/REUTERS
EnlargeThe New Year may be more than a week off, but realistically Congress and the White House have less than that as the clock ticks toward the ?fiscal cliff? with its automatic tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts that could throw an already-weakened economy into a tailspin.
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On the Sunday before Christmas, lawmakers worried and postured, with a few ? very few ? expressing just a bit of optimism that anything would be done in time.
"We can do better and we should do better," Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad said on ?Fox News Sunday.? "I would hope that we would have one last attempt here to do what everyone knows needs to be done: which is a larger plan that really does stabilize the debt and gets us moving in the right direction.?
For now, says Sen. Conrad (who?s retiring), Speaker John Boehner and the White House should ?split the difference? on the most recent offers from both sides, resulting in $1.45 trillion in spending cuts and $1.15 in revenue for a combination of $2.6 trillion.
?You couple that with the $1.1 trillion that?s already been done [in the Budget Control Act] and you?re at $3.7 trillion,? he said.
Recommended:?'Fiscal cliff' 101: 5 basic questions answered
That leaves a lot of heavy lifting, Conrad concedes: ?Is it perfect? No. Is it everything we?d hoped for? No. Does it match what Bowles-Simpson did? No.?
The general mood Sunday was well expressed by another senator about to retire, Joseph Lieberman.
"It's the first time that I feel it's more likely we'll go over the cliff than not,"?Sen. Lieberman said on CNN?s ?State of the Union.? "If we allow that to happen it will be the most colossal consequential act of congressional irresponsibility in a long time, maybe ever in American history because of the impact it'll have on almost every American.?
Joining Conrad on Fox News, Sen. Jon Barrasso, (R) of Wyoming, said tumbling off the fiscal cliff is inevitable.
?I believe the president is eager to go over the cliff for political purposes,? he said. ?He senses a victory at the bottom of the cliff.?
Obama already has scaled back his ambitions for a sweeping budget bargain. Before leaving the capital on Friday, he called for a limited measure that would extend the Bush-era tax cuts for most people and stave off federal spending cuts. The president also urged Congress to extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed that would otherwise be cut off for 2 million people at the end of the year.
But reverting to higher tax rates for even the wealthiest Americans remains a show-stopper for many tea party Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Judging by the latest twists in the drama ? including House Speaker John Boehner?s inability to get his own party behind his ?Plan B? ? plus public opinion polls showing Obama with a much better job rating than Boehner and the GOP seen as mostly to blame, Obama in fact may be more inclined to hang tough.
?The truth of the matter is, if we do fall off the cliff after the president is inaugurated, he?ll come back, propose just what he proposed ? and we?ll end up adopting it,? said Sen. Johnny Isakson, (R) of Georgia on Fox News. ?Why not go ahead and act now??
Why not, indeed said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, also speaking on Fox News.
"It is time to get back to the table," said the Minnesota Democrat. "And I hope if anyone sees these representatives from the House in line shopping or getting their Christmas turkey, they wish them a merry Christmas, they're civil, and then say go back to the table, not your own table, the table in Washington."
This report includes material from the Associated Press.
Recommended:?'Fiscal cliff' 101: 5 basic questions answered
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Video: George H.W. Bush spends Christmas in hospital
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Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50292768/
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Things You Want Know Before Building Wooden Garden Sheds ...
A wooden garden shed can provide you with many benefits. Many homeowners consider building their own garden shed to store garden tools, landscaping equipment and other supplies. Some will also use this building for a safe environment to establish seedlings before moving them outdoors. A garden shed may be larger or smaller in size, and it can add function and convenience alike to your gardening experience. Before you start building your own garden shed, however, there are a few things you should consider fully.
The Need for a Construction Permit
Many municipalities require homeowners to obtain a construction or building permit before adding a structure to their property. Depending on the size of your shed and where you live, this may not be required. However, if you build a shed in an area where a construction or building permit is required and without getting that required permit, the city or municipality could require you to remove it from your property. You may invest a lot of time, sweat and money into building your shed, so you do want to ensure your building plans comply with local laws.
The Type of Shed
If you only have plans to use your shed for storing lawn and gardening equipment and tools, a basic shed without insulation, electricity, water and more may be acceptable. You may not even need to install a window if the shed will be used for a basic storage purpose. However, if you are storing items that need to be kept at a steady temperature, insulation and possibly climate control capabilities may be required. If you will be using your shed to store extra large equipment, such as a riding lawn mower, you may need a double-wide door along with an entrance ramp. It may be necessary to have a pass-through experience with doors on opposite ends of the shed. If the shed will be used to raise seedlings, ample natural lighting with the installation of windows coupled with a sink for easier watering may be useful. You want your shed to conveniently meet all of your needs, so picking out the best shed plans possible is key.
The Location
Any time you build a new structure on your property, you want to consider the location carefully. This is even more true when building a wooden garden shed. Keep in mind that a structure will need to be placed in a relatively flat area without an incline. If you choose an area with an incline, this area will need to be leveled so that you can build on a flat surface. It should also be an area that is not prone to flooding or developing pools of standing water during wet times as a wooden shed could rot when exposed to significant water over time. Further, the contents inside the shed could be damaged.
The Cost
Many homeowners debate between building their own shed from scratch, often using do-it-yourself plans found online, and installing a pre-fabricated shed on their property. It can be difficult to fully estimate the cost of building a shed on your own from scratch. To start, you will need to find the right plans to utilize. The best plans include a list of all of the materials and tools you will need for the job. You can take this list to the local home improvement store, locate the items and calculate the cost. Keep in mind that any tools required will either need to be leased or purchased. In most cases, it is more affordable to build your own shed from plans found online.
Building your own wooden garden shed is not something that you want to undertake without diligent planning. It is wise to spend ample time finding the perfect location for the shed in your yard and researching the need to apply for a building permit. While you wait for your building permit to be approved, you can gather the needed supplies and materials for the project. Most sheds can be completed with a few days of diligent effort, but some may require you to work on them over the course of several weekends.
This post was written by
jason ? who has written 493 posts on Home Tips Plus.
I'm a father of three, married and a home owner since 2006. I've worked in fixing up homes and rental properties.
Source: http://www.hometipsplus.com/lawn-garden/things-you-want-know-before-building-wooden-garden-sheds/
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Not Just Cookies: Holiday Snack, Drink, and Dessert Ideas - Weston ...
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Source: http://weston-ct.patch.com/articles/not-just-cookies-holiday-snack-drink-and-dessert-ideas-cc8e59e1
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Monday, December 24, 2012
Gift Guide: Dyson DC44 Animal Wireless Vacuum Cleaner
The DC44 from Dyson is truly an Animal. It's as good as it gets in the land of vacuum cleaners, with a wireless base, multiple lightweight attachments, and a sleek design. Sure, it's on the expensive end of the spectrum, but when storing and using your vacuum cleaner is this easy, you realize it's well worth it. Plus, it does a damn good job of keeping the house clean.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/RSwQdqAvOsE/
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Humane Society Official Warns Against Giving Pets As Gifts ? CBS ...
ST. LOUIS (KMOX) ? If you are looking for that perfect last minute gift, you may be considering a pet.
The Missouri Humane Society?s Debbie Hill says the holidays can be the perfect time of year because people have extra time off and vacation. But she cautions to do your homework first.
?Research about what type of pet is right for you, your family, and your lifestyle,? she advised. ?Do you have a lot of kids and a lot of noise; is it quiet; do you want a pet to go jogging with you when the weather is good? Really consider what your needs are.?
Hill adds it is best not to surprise someone with an animal on Christmas morning because it can be a chaotic time. Instead you may want to purchase a gift certificate.
?That way, the whole family can visit the Humane Society together after the holidays to select their new pet and we have adoption counselors who would be happy to find them just the right pet,? she said.
Source: http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2012/12/24/humane-society-official-warns-against-giving-pets-as-gifts/
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