Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/kBamkn05bko/
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Monday, October 29, 2012
Lilian Garcia: WWE Announcer Hit By Car
WWE announcer Lilian Garcia has been hit by a car. The accident occurred on Friday and she is currently listed in stable condition. On Friday Garcia was struck by a car and has now been hospitalized. Thankfully it looks like the singer will be ok. According to GossipCop website she has sustained?contusions and lacerations on the left side of her body. She was kept in the hospital over night for simple observations but she is reportedly set to be released today. The details of exactly what happened have not been released other than she was simply hit by a car. At this time neither a rep for Lilian or a spokesperson for the WWE have released any kind of statement regarding the accident. All the information that we know is basically what I stated above. I am willing to be that it will only be a matter of time before some kind of comment is released by someone in her camp. No word yet either on if the injuries she sustained will keep her from her announcing duties. Lilian is best known for being an announcer on the famous WWE show “Smack Down”, she joined the show back in 1999. [...]
Friday, October 26, 2012
Health Tip: Enjoy a Healthier Halloween - Drugs.com MedNews
-- If you're planning a Halloween party for the neighborhood kids, candy and other "junk food" aren't your only options.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests these healthier alternatives:
- For trick-or-treaters, offer low-calorie drinks and treats. For party guests, serve veggies, fruit and cheese.
- Encourage kids to get as much exercise as possible during party games and trick-or-treating.
- Clear all walking areas, including any stairs, to reduce the risk of falls.
- Make sure all lit jack-o'lanterns and candles are placed on sturdy tables and out of the reach of children.
- Encourage family drivers to be especially careful of walking trick-or-treaters.
Posted: October 2012
Source: http://www.drugs.com/news/health-tip-enjoy-healthier-halloween-41138.html
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Voice software helps study of rare Yosemite owls
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) ? In the bird world, they make endangered condors seem almost commonplace.
The unique Great Gray Owls of Yosemite, left to evolve after glacial ice separated them from their plentiful Canadian brethren 30 millennia ago, are both a mystery and concern to the scientists charged with protecting them.
With fewer than 200 in existence in this small pocket of the Sierra Nevada, the slightest disturbances by humans can drive the extremely shy birds from their nests, disrupting sporadic mating cycles that ebb and flow annually depending upon food availability.
So this summer, researchers found a way to abandon their traditional heavy-handed trapping, banding and the blasting of owl calls in favor of the kind of discrete, sophisticated technology used by spies and forensic scientists.
They hope to lessen human influence on this subspecies of owls prized for the potential insights their survival offers into habitat-specific evolution.
"Even if it takes only 15 minutes to trap a bird, it's traumatic for them in the long term," said Joe Medley, a PhD candidate in ecology at UC Davis who perfected computer voice recognition software to track the largest of North America's owls. "With a population this small, we want to err on the side of caution in terms of the methods we use to get data."
Medley placed 40 data-compression digital audio recorders around the mid-elevation meadows typically favored by the owl known as Strix nebulosa Yosemitensis, hoping to identify them by their mating, feeding and territorial calls.
He ended up with 50 terabytes of owl calls mixed with airplanes flying overhead, frogs croaking, coyotes yipping, bears growling and even the occasional crunch of fangs on pricy microphones ? so much data it would have taken seven years to play back.
He then designed algorithms for an existing computer program that would search for the specific frequency and time intervals of the Great Gray Owls' low-pitched hoot "whooo-ooo-ooo-ooo." The program could discern males and females from juveniles, and even identify nesting females calling for food to help determine reproduction success. The results are still being analyzed.
"It's capable of searching a week's worth of data in an hour. What I was left with was owls and a host of other things that fell in the same bandwidth," Medley said.
Most of the world's Great Gray Owls make their homes in northern hemisphere boreal forests, though a few live as far south as Oregon and Idaho. The giants with piercing yellow eyes and 5-foot wingspans have adapted so well to snow that they can dive face-first through up to a foot of it to catch the voles they hear creeping underneath. Their dish-shaped faces work to amplify sound.
During the last ice age 30,000 years ago, a small population in and around what would become the glacially carved landscape of Yosemite was cut off from the others to evolve on their own in a warmer, less snowy climate.
Those owls, now numbering just a couple of hundred, are on California's endangered species list. The giant condors, once nearly extinct, number around 400 in California and the Southwest, and are on the federal endangered list.
"These (owls) exist nowhere else in the world, and where they do occur is a pretty amazing location," said Joshua Hull, a researcher with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and adjunct professor at the University of California, Davis. "These are going in a different evolutionary direction than the others, and we don't know where that is right now."
Scientists from Yosemite, the U.S. Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife, with funding from the Yosemite Conservancy, are working to gain a greater understanding of what those differences mean. So far, DNA studies have noted distinct genetic variations between the separated groups in addition to the different food sources and nesting patterns the southern birds have adapted. The birds have very subtle differences in color.
"That's important to know because if it's genetically different, we should try to keep it that way," Hull said. "You wouldn't want to bring in individuals from Oregon to supplement a unique population."
The major threats to their continued survival are the mosquito-borne West Nile Virus ? and humans. A female believed to be the cohort's most reliable breeder was struck and killed by a car in the park in August, prompting slower speed limit warnings to protect the low-flying raptors that rarely lift more than 20 feet above ground.
Because of their rarity, they are highly sought out by birdwatchers whose presence in meadows can deter mating and food foraging, the researchers say. That's why no one will reveal exactly where in the park they are.
"They will abandon their nests if disturbed," said Steve Thompson, Yosemite's branch chief of wildlife management. "It's an extremely low population very vulnerable to natural- and human-caused events. They don't have the ability to rebound the way more abundant species do. We're very protective of them."
So protective that the owls will no longer be trapped to draw blood for studies. Instead researchers are collecting molted feathers to extract and amplify DNA to track lineage, mating patterns, population size, survival rates and even genetic mutations that might occur as the climate changes yet again.
"Genetic mutations occur randomly. It's just chance whether those mutations are advantageous or deleterious to the population," Thompson said. "And all of this is happening over tens of thousands of years, so to me as a biologist it's really exciting to have this demonstration of how evolution occurs."
____
Reach Tracie Cone on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TConeAP
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/voice-software-helps-study-rare-yosemite-owls-205526943.html
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Honor U.S. Veterans at Parade & U.S. Army Golden Knight Demonstration
WHAT:?????? ???? Miami Beach Veterans Day Parade & Wreath Laying Ceremony
Including the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team Landing on Field and a?? flyover by the U.S. Air Force F-16 Mako jetfighters squadron
WHEN:?????? ???? Veterans Day, Sunday, November 11, 2012
9:00 a.m.:? Parade with approximately? 50+ participating groups
10:30 a.m.: Ceremony
WHERE:???? ??? Parade spectator locations:
Washington Avenue from 17Street to 11 Street
11Street from Washington Avenue to Alton Road
Alton Road from 11 Street to 12 Street
??????????? Ceremony: ?, 999 11th Street, Miami Beach
WHO:??????? ????? Miami Beach Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3559 & American Legion Post 85
Military Officials including VFW State Commander Wayne W. Carrignan
CONTACT: ??? Enid Rodriguez at 305.673.7106 or enidrodriguez@miamibeachfl.gov
Source: http://browardnetonline.com/event/honor-u-s-veterans-at-parade-u-s-army-golden-knight-demonstration/
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LeAnn Rimes to Katie Couric: I'm Starting Over
LeAnn Rimes isn't embarrassed that she sought treatment for stress and anxiety. Just weeks after completing a voluntary 30-day rehabilitation program, the country star is opening up about how the experience has changed her life. Rimes spoke candidly about her emotional breakdown and recovery in two new interviews with Katie Couric: one for the daytime chat show Katie, the other for a special "All Access Nashville" edition of 20/20. (Watch a preview below!)
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Monday, October 22, 2012
No signs of life from Lake Vostok - so far
Nothing to see here ? at least not yet. Lake Vostok, the vast body of water hidden beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, has so far shown no signs of life.
Isolated from the rest of the planet for 14 million years, Lake Vostok might be the only body of water on Earth to contain no life whatsoever. However, if life is found, it will be a big boost for researchers hoping to find microorganisms on icy moons like Europa.
A Russian team became the first to breach Lake Vostok on 5 February, after drilling down through over 3.5 kilometres of ice. To avoid contaminating the lake, their drill bit automatically withdrew as soon as it struck water. That water rose 30 to 40 metres up the borehole, forcing the drilling fluid away from the lake. The water then froze.
Sergey Bulat of the Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute in St Petersburg, Russia, and colleagues have now analysed the water ? contaminated with some drilling fluid ? that froze onto the drill bit at a depth of 3714 metres. He counted cells and looked for traces of DNA.
Bacteria detected
In preliminary results, reported at last week's 12th European Workshop on Astrobiology in Stockholm, Sweden, Bulat says there were only about 10 cells in every millilitre. There was also DNA from four species of bacteria, three of which were known to exist in the drilling fluid. The fourth was able to degrade the hydrocarbons within fluid to release energy, suggesting it had adapted to life inside the fluid. Bulat thinks none of the bacteria came from the lake.
He cautions that we cannot yet be sure that the upper layers of Lake Vostok are devoid of life, as microorganisms could be living at low densities that he could not reliably detect. "The concentrations expected for indigenous stuff are very low," Bulat says.
It will not be possible to draw firm conclusions until the team returns to the area in December. They should be able to pull up more ice from the depths of the borehole, most of it uncontaminated by the drilling fluid.
Sediment target
Lake Vostok is one of many subglacial lakes in Antarctica. There are plans to drill into two others, Ellsworth and Whillans.
Ellsworth could yet become the first Antarctic lake to yield life. A British team plans to drill into it within the next few months, and will lower in a probe that will collect samples of sediment from the bottom.
That gives them an advantage over the Russian team. Lake sediments are the most promising places to find life, but the Russians do not have a firm plan to drill into them as yet.
The sediments are produced as the ice sheet grinds slowly over the underlying rocks, and will contain mineral nutrients from the rocks that could sustain microorganisms. The pitch-black water will contain little for the bugs to eat, so it's unlikely there is much life there.
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Monday Tip ? Sticking to The Rules | Business 2 Community
Final word On List Building ?For Now
Hopefully you will have read the last two blog posts and you?ll now have a good idea of what type of emails you should be writing and how to construct them. However all that means nothing if you aren?t building a list.
The biggest regret I have is not building a list earlier and I know that is the same for many marketers. Learn from out mistakes? Start building a list NOW!
Derek Halpern recently did a blog post and in it he said, If you aren?t building a list you are an idiot, I am too polite to say that out loud or in a blog post but I do agree with him 100%. He sent a tweet and an email to a similar number of people the tweet drove 300 people to his blog post the email 2400.
Thats 8 times as many if that was a promotional email that would be 8 times as much money?
Thats the difference between beans and a great steak for dinner tonight, it?s the difference between an apartment and a really nice house. I hate bringing things down to money but it?s what a lot of people understand. If you build a list you?ll make more money it?s as simple as that. I don?t care if you just get 1 subscriber a day thats still 365 a year and I know someone who made over $20,000 for a 200 strong list.
Don?t think about it do it! (I?ve set up a free private email marketing Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/emailmarketingmastermind/ come and join us!)
The Rules
Which brings us rather nicely on to what I really wanted to talk about today and that is ?Rules?. Not the type you need a referee to enforce but the ones that allow you to thrive and prosper as an internet marketer. This was brought to mind by a conversion I was reading in a private mastermind group and it got me thinking what rules do I live & work by.
We should all have a set of rules that we market by, rules we are loath to break and rules that guide the way we work. Once you have those decision making becomes so much easier.
1. Money isn?t the driving force
It?s all too easy to think short term in terms of money. You should be thinking in terms of what is best for your subscribers and what will help them to succeed. You need to look long term, which would you prefer a few quick $9 sales or a customer who sticks with you for years and grows and prospers and goes onto buy regularly from you over several years?
Both aims need not be mutually exclusive, I recently promoted Michael Christon?s WAAR report and I got great feedback from people who purchased, I made money, Michael made money and my customers got high quality information that will help them to earn more money on a regular basis (if they Implement what they learned!)
Promote if you feel its a Win Win for both you and your customers.
2. Work from a Stable Basis.
Before investing in tools and programs make sure that you are financially secure, don?t spend your rent on the latest greatest tool? there will be another along shortly. Initially work to ensure that you have enough to live on comfortably, if that means writing for people and charging 1 cent a word or providing a service on Fiverr do it!
Even though I can pretty much afford to get any program or tool that comes out I still use this to this day. I always ask myself
Do I need this product now?
Will I use it in the next few days?
Do I have something that can already do the job?
Will it potentially improve my profits
3. How can I provide the greatest value to my customers while still providing for my family.
This is quite closely related to rule number 1, but there is a subtle difference, in the past I?ve gone months without creating any new products or promoting anyones products, while I am sure many of my subscribers appreciate that I don?t promote everything that comes along Internet Marketing is still the way I make my income. There has to be a balance between promoting too much and promoting too little and thats the reason I try to focus on this rule a little more often than I used to.
Ensure you have enough for sudden disasters and crisis?s ? they can happen at the worst possible time!
4. Maintain a Sensible Life / Work Balance
It?s all too easy to put customers first, up to recently I would often be checking emails at 2am and working 7 days a week, I am trying to change that a bit at the moment and try to only work between the hours of 9am and 9pm Monday to Friday, outside those times I do monitor emails and deal with anything important. On the other hand I will happily take an afternoon a week off and play some golf and maybe take my wife shopping or go for a walk or cycle.
You need to have a sensible balance, there is no point in working too hard to build a better life for your family if you never see them.
5. Market to people the way you want to be marketed to!
That goes without saying If you hate getting emails from marketers who promote everything then don?t send emails promoting everything, if you hate emails with headlines saying ?Important Open Now? then don?t use them yourself. Just because other people do it it doesn?t mean that they are right!
Be sensible in your marketing and you?ll do ok!
Over to you now..
What Rules do you live by in your business life?
Competition
How is the image I used related to this post?
Simply post the answer as a comment and I?ll pick the first right answer.. I won?t publish the answers until midday tomorrow (CET)
The winner gets one of my products..
If you want a bonus point share the post on FB and I?ll give you 2 products ;) (Ya? can?t beat a good bribe!)
If you enjoyed this post and learned anything? share it!
Have an awesome week
Source: http://www.business2community.com/strategy/monday-tip-sticking-to-the-rules-0312150
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Vienna platform launches opera live stream
VIENNA (AP) ? Vienna's opera scene is going live on the web for the first time with the launch of the first Internet-based platform for streaming classical productions from the Austrian capital.
The venture kicks off Sunday with the premiere of Gioachino Rossini's "La cambiale di matrimonio" ? "The marriage contract" ? at Vienna's Kammeroper.
The production stars an international cast of singers, including Lithuanian bass-baritone Igor Bakan, American tenor Andrew Owens, Australian baritone Ben Connor, and soprano Anna Maria Sarra and mezzosoprano Gaia Petrone, both of Italy. The production is conducted by Konstantin Chudovsky and directed by Jacopo Spirei.
Bakan, in the role of Tobia Mill, says he hopes "both avid fans and newcomers" will tune in online at www.sonostream.tv.
The free performance begins at 1730 GMT.
____
Online: www.sonostream.tv
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vienna-platform-launches-opera-live-stream-123115688.html
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Sunday, October 21, 2012
Cameron on ropes after "catastrophic" week
LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure to reassert his authority over a Conservative Party reeling after a week which saw the resignation of a senior minister and claims of incompetence and elitism at the heart of his government.
After one of the most bruising weeks for the centre-right party since it took power in a coalition in 2010, the Conservatives have slipped further behind their Labour rivals, polls showed on Sunday. The next election is due in 2015.
Cameron will try to regain the initiative on Monday with a speech setting out a tougher stance on crime after a series of policy missteps, U-turns and embarrassments since an unpopular budget in March.
Veteran Conservative member of the Lords Norman Tebbit, one of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher's closest allies, attacked what he called "this dog of a government".
"The abiding sin of the government is not that some ministers are rich, but that it seems unable to manage its affairs competently," he told the Observer newspaper.
Education Secretary Michael Gove dismissed headlines talking of "Meltdown" and a "Catastrophic Week" as the passing "froth of political life" that affects all leaders, including ex-Labour prime minister Tony Blair, who won three elections.
"I remember reading about Tony Blair's worst week ever. No matter how many of these worst weeks he had, no matter how many apparently tough headlines there were, he came surging through with landslide majorities because the fundamental policy decisions...mattered more than the reporting of personality issues," he told Sky News.
Voters are more interested in the improving economy and falling hospital waiting lists, he added. Figures on Thursday are likely to show Britain has emerged from recession.
MINISTER RESIGNS
Cameron's judgement was questioned after he backed Andrew Mitchell, the minister accused a month ago of swearing at police and calling them "plebs", a class-laden word for working people.
Opponents seized on the affair as evidence senior Conservatives form an arrogant elite, adrift from ordinary Britons hit by the recession.
Mitchell finally resigned on Friday, still denying he had used the word "pleb", but apologising for swearing at police who refused to open the main security gates at Cameron's Downing Street office to allow him through on his bicycle. That did not end the debate about Conservatives and class.
On Friday, Chancellor George Osborne sat in a first class train carriage with a second class ticket. Aides said he paid for an upgrade, but the story still dominated headlines and fuelled a perception the Conservatives are out of touch.
Opponents accused Cameron of incompetence over a botched rail franchise process on October 3 [ID:nL6E8L3218] and an unclear announcement on energy bills on Wednesday.
A Sunday Mirror poll put the Conservatives down two points from last month on 33 percent, behind Labour, up three on 41 percent. A second poll had Cameron's party on 30 percent, down five percent in 10 days, with Labour on 43 percent.
Labour said Cameron's crime pledges were designed to help him win back support from disgruntled members of parliament.
"This is empty rhetoric from a weak prime minister who is pandering to the backbenchers that forced out Andrew Mitchell," said Labour justice spokesman Sadiq Khan.
(Editing by Ron Askew)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/british-pm-cameron-ropes-catastrophic-week-094952241.html
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Source: No deal yet on US-Iran nuclear talks
Digital Globe / AP file
A 2004 satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe and the Institute for Science and International Security shows the military complex at Parchin, Iran, about 19 miles southeast of Tehran.
By Andrea Mitchell, NBC News
A senior administration official told NBC on Saturday that there have been backchannel talks between the U.S. and Iran about meeting bilaterally on the Iranians? nuclear program ? but that no meeting has been agreed to.
Expanding on a statement issued by the White House after The New York Times reported that there was an agreement, the official says that the backchannel talks have been done in full consultation with the allies ? the P5 + 1 and Israel.
The official pointed out that there have been bilateral talks in the past ? but that Iran refused to even meet with the P5 +1 during the recent United Nations meetings. He said the Iranians know there will be no agreement unless they give up their nuclear program.
Asked about the impact on Monday's foreign policy debate between President Barack Obama and Republican nominee Mitt Romney, the official said the administration is not happy that the story came out before the debate, but said the American people might be happy to know the administration is willing to explore all possibilities to get Iran to give up its nuclear program.
The Times, citing a senior administration official, said Iranian officials had insisted that the talks wait until after the presidential election so that they would know which president would be negotiating with them. The Times said: "Reports of the agreement have circulated among a small group of diplomats involved with Iran."
But in a statement Saturday evening, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said the U.S. and Iran had no such agreement:?
It's not true that the United States and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections. We continue to work with the P-5+1 on a diplomatic solution and have said from the outset that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally. The President has made clear that he will prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and we will do what we must to achieve that. It has always been our goal for sanctions to pressure Iran to come in line with its obligations. The onus is on the Iranians to do so, otherwise they will continue to face crippling sanctions and increased pressure.
World powers accuse Iran of covertly using its uranium enrichment program to produce nuclear weapons. The Iranians insists the research and development is for projects to generate electricity and produce medical isotopes.
EU agrees on wider Iran sanctions
A six-country alliance of Western powers, including the United States, has been attempting to negotiate with the Iranians, with?occasional concessions by Iran and assertions that it?s willing to engage with the alliance. Despite the protracted dialogue,?diplomats hope that a negotiated settlement can be reached, with international sanctions providing an incentive.
In October 2009, the U.S and the Iranians agreed in Geneva that Iran would send its enriched uranium to Russia for safekeeping, in exchange for an agreement for enough nuclear fuel for its Tehran medical research reactor. However, the deal fell apart when Iran's negotiators returned home. Iranian officials told NBC News that their supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini, told them they had gone beyond their instructions. That experience has made the White House wary of any agreement that is not blessed by the supreme leader, the sole authority over nuclear decisions in Iran.?
The sanctions began to bite this summer. Hyperinflation in Iran is pushing up prices daily and the dramatic slide in the value of the rial against the U.S. dollar led to unrest in Tehran earlier this month, when angry currency traders clashed with security forces.
The?European Union on Monday ratcheted up its sanctions,?prohibiting transactions between Iranian and European banks and banning imports of Iranian natural gas, among other measures.?
Netanyahu: Draw 'clear red line' to stop Iran
Israel, believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal, sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its existence and has expressed frustration over the failure of diplomacy and sanctions to rein in Tehran. Western nations fear that a possible strike against Iran's facilities by Israel would lead to wider conflict.
More world stories from NBC News:
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
?
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Saturday, October 20, 2012
For Sale By Owner - Mint
Stabilizing housing prices have some homeowners who were once reluctant sell during the downturn now considering putting their homes on the market. One factor to consider when estimating the pros and cons of selling is how much you?ll pay a real estate agent to sell your home.
At 5 percent to 7 percent of the sale price, an agent?s commission can make the difference between being able to sell and having to stay put.
One possible answer? Sell it yourself.
Deciding to market your home as a FSBO ? the acronym stands for ?For Sale By Owner? and is pronounced ?FIZZ-bow? ? can save more than $15,000, based on a 6 percent commission and today?s average selling price of $256,000. And the more your home sells for, the more you save.
FSBO on the Decline
FSBO isn?t always the only or best choice, however. Real estate agents offer valuable expertise when it comes to pricing, marketing, negotiating and handling paperwork.
And, increasingly, agent commissions aren?t take-it-or-leave-it. Home sellers today can negotiate for lower commissions in return for a lower level of service, or even just by asking.
About 10 percent of homes sold in 2011 were FSBOs, according to the National Association of Realtors. Another 87 percent were conventional agent-assisted deals, while approximately 3 percent were sold through other means.
Over the last decade, the percentage of residential sales that were FSBOs has declined from 14 percent, with agent-assisted sales expanding to make up the difference.
Will the trend reverse?
One reason that trend could reverse is the relatively narrow margins that many sellers are working on. When they had a lot of equity in their homes, they could more easily afford to pay 6 percent or so of the sale price to an agent.
Although home prices have climbed in many markets to about the same levels seen in 2009, they are still below their peaks and are, in fact, about where they were in 2003.
That means homeowners may be selling for just about what they owe on their homes, or even less. In some cases, the agent?s commission may make the difference between having to dip into savings at closing or getting some cash from selling your home.
At best, not having to pay an agent commission also lets a seller price a home more attractively.
A homeowner who lists his or her home with an agent, however, may sell for a higher price. The NAR figures show the typical FSBO home sold for $150,000, compared to $215,000 for agent-assisted home sales.
That difference is considerably more than the seller would pay an agent in commission.
Setting the Sale Price
One of an agent?s most valuable contributions is in helping to set the sale price. A good price generates maximum return while meeting the sellers? time frame requirements.
However, many agents will do a free market analysis even for a FSBO, in the hope of getting the listing if the FSBO ultimately does decide to go the agent-assisted route.
Marketing
Agents also typically mount a more sophisticated marketing effort. In fact, according to the NAR, more than one-third of FSBO sellers took no action to market their homes.
Only agents can post homes on the Multiple Listing Service, a powerful online tool used by licensed agents in the industry. Agents also tend to be more energetic and systematic about using yard signs, open houses, newspaper ads and other marketing methods.
Paperwork
An agent can also help a lot with the paperwork. The NAR study found 11 percent of FSBOs found handling contracts, inspections, offers, titles and other documents were primary challenges.
A FSBO seller can hire an attorney to review documents for less than an agent?s typical commission, but whatever is paid will cut into the proceeds.
Time
Time is one of the big reasons for using an agent. FSBO sellers will need to devote time to learning the process, marketing their property and closing the deal ? jobs an agent largely handles for them.
However, for sellers with attractive properties in healthy markets, who can afford to price their homes for a reasonably rapid sale, or who are in no hurry to sell and have the time to do it themselves, a FSBO might be a sensible and cost-effective way to sell a home.
?For Sale By Owner: The Pros and Cons of Selling Your Home Yourself? was written by Mark Henricks.?
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Softbank not ruling out a possible Sprint bid for MetroPCS
Sprint has finally confirmed that it will be taking a controlling stake in previous partner Clearwire. Now, even more interesting statements are coming out in regards to a possible bid for MetroPCS. Most assumed that with a confirmed buyout by Japanese carrier Softbank, Sprint was done trying to get in between a T-Mobile / MetroPCS merger. According to statements by CEO of Softbank Masayoshi Son and CEO of Sprint Dan Hesse, this may not be the case. Hesse, in a quote obtained by The Wall Street Journal, indicated that the structure of the Softbank buyout is set up in a way that gives Sprint cash to work with if a possible deal with MetroPCS arises:
"Think of it almost as an insurance policy. It's some money in the bank until the deal closes that, for some reason, if we wanted to do something we could."
Hesse continued, speaking to assumptions that in the future Sprint and T-Mobile could potentially merge to take on rivals AT&T and Verizon:
"We've got a transaction that's pending with Softbank, and then when we get together we'll take a look at the landscape and make our decisions then. If it's accretive and makes sense for our shareholders, I would do what it takes."
The U.S. wireless industry seems to be making some serious changes. It will be interesting to see what the carrier landscape in the states looks like in the next year.
Source: WSJ
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/kgBJvQhl08M/story01.htm
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Palestinian push for U.N. upgrade likely to succeed: Jeremic
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The push by the Palestinians for upgraded status at the United Nations is likely to succeed, the president of the U.N. General Assembly said on Friday, while warning the United States against cutting U.N. funding over the issue.
In his first major interview since winning a divisive campaign for the largely ceremonial U.N. post in June, former Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic also said he was seeking to improve coordination between the world body and the Group of 20 bloc of key developed and developing nations.
Having failed last year to secure full U.N. membership due to U.S. opposition, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said last month he would ask the 193-nation General Assembly to approve a less-ambitious promotion of the Palestinian Authority's observer status to "non-member state," like the Vatican. It is currently considered an "entity.
Jeremic said Abbas is consulting with U.N. member states and is expected to call for a meeting on the Palestinian issue as early as next month, after the November 6 U.S. presidential election.
"Most people expect that it is going to be the second half of November," the 37-year-old former Serbian foreign minister told Reuters.
"If they decide to go for it after these consultations, which is what President Abbas announced in his speech in September, most people expect that this is going to pass," Jeremic added.
The United States and Israel have warned the Palestinians against seeking a status upgrade, saying it would be a setback for the peace process and suggesting that it could have financial implications for the Palestinian Authority.
Some U.N diplomats say that the Palestinians have not made a final decision to go for the upgrade and are under intense pressure from Washington and European nations to call it off.\
U.N. diplomats and officials say they are also worried about a possible reduction of U.N. funding from the United States, which supplies 22 percent of the regular U.N. budget.
Jeremic said he does not want to lecture the United States, but voiced concern about a possible American suspension of U.N. funding due to the Palestinian issue. Such a suspension, he said, would have "dire financial implications" for the United Nations.
"I don't think this would be in the interests of the United States to cut the financial aid, but I am not in a position to say to the United States what is it they should do," he said. "They know what is best for them, and that's what they are going to do."
NEXT U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL?
The U.S. Congress froze some $200 million in financial aid to the Palestinians after they took their statehood campaign to the United Nations last year. Western officials say further aid reductions by the United States are likely, along with a possible freezing of U.N. funding.
The United States cut funding to the U.N. education and science agency, UNESCO, last year after it admitted the Palestinians as a full member.
A 1990s U.S. law prohibits American funding to U.N. organizations that grant full membership to any group that does not have "internationally recognized attributes" of statehood.
The Palestinians are not seeking U.N. membership. But an upgrade of their observer status could nevertheless be uncomfortable for Israel.
Being registered as a state rather than an entity would mean the Palestinians could join bodies such as the International Criminal Court and file complaints against Israel for its continued occupation.
The Palestinians need a simple majority in the General Assembly for the status upgrade, and predict that between 150 and 170 nations out of the 193 U.N. member states will vote in favor.
Handling the Palestinian debate will likely be the first major U.N. test for Jeremic, the youngest General Assembly president in the history of the United Nations. But he also intends to dedicate much of his time to finding a way to improve cooperation between the G20 and the United Nations.
Jeremic said this could make the assembly more relevant and give some legitimacy to the G20, an informal group that smaller countries often criticize for its lack of transparency.
He said his plan was to "create a consultation mechanism between the G20 and the rest of the world." Jeremic will discuss it with Russia, which chairs the G20 next year, and plans to hold a high-level meeting on U.N.-G20 cooperation in early 2013.
Previous attempts to boost ties between the G20 and United Nations have failed. Jeremic's predecessor in 2008-2009, Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, made an attempt to do the same but made little headway. D'Escoto, a left-wing former foreign minister, was a fierce critic of the United States, Israel and the G20, and envoys said that alienated some delegations.
Jeremic made clear he would take a different approach and would be seeking consensus. "This must not be an antagonistic exercise," he said. "This is not about bashing."
A number of U.N. diplomats have mentioned Jeremic as a potential candidate to succeed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon when his term ends in December 2016. The next U.N. chief is expected to come from Eastern Europe in keeping with a tradition of rotation among the six regional groups of the United Nations.
Jeremic, who became a familiar face in New York at regular U.N. meetings on Serbia's former province of Kosovo, declined to comment on his future plans apart from returning to Serbia, where he remains a member of parliament. But he did not rule out the idea of running for the top U.N. post.
(Additional reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Will Dunham)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-push-u-n-upgrade-likely-succeed-jeremic-083427606.html
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Friday, October 19, 2012
Chinese auto parts maker vows to top Johnson deal for A123
WILMINGTON, Delaware (Reuters) - A lawyer for Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang Group Corp said on Thursday it plans to make a superior bid for the battery business of A123 Systems than what a U.S. company has offered.
Wanxiang intends to bid at the auction for A123, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this week, Bojan Guzina said at a court hearing in Delaware. The Chinese company also plans to fight Johnson Controls Inc
A123, a maker of lithium-ion batteries used in hybrid and electric vehicles, declared bankruptcy amid a backdrop of quality-control problems and a disappointing market for electric vehicles. The company had won a $249 million U.S. government grant in 2009.
Wanxiang has been pursuing A123 for months. The bankruptcy came after a $465 million rescue deal by the Chinese company unraveled after the U.S. battery maker was unable to meet some conditions of the agreement.
"My client feels it has been left at the altar a couple of times," Guzina, a lawyer for law firm Sidley Austin, which represents Wanxiang, said in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington.
A123 entered bankruptcy with an agreement to sell its automotive operations, including two factories in Michigan, to Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls
But that deal is subject to a court-supervised auction, and Wanxiang plans to contest Johnson Controls as the initial bidder -- or "stalking horse" -- in the sale process. Funds raised in the auction will go to repaying A123's creditors.
"We believe our stalking horse proposal will be materially better than Johnson Controls'," Guzina said.
A spokesman for Johnson Controls did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Judge Kevin Carey, who welcomed competitive bidding for A123, is scheduled to rule on the initial bidder on October 30.
"It's nice that the debtor has become the popular girl at the dance with at least two bidders, maybe more," he said.
A123 also has attracted bidders for its non-automotive operations, which includes grid storage batteries.
Wanxiang must receive approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and the government of China to acquire A123. The Chinese company will submit its proposals next week, Guzina said.
The A123 bankruptcy has quickly became politicized with less than four weeks before the U.S. presidential election. Republican candidate Mitt Romney said the government grant awarded to A123 was an example of the Obama administration "gambling away billions of taxpayer dollars."
The White House has allotted about $90 billion for various clean-energy programs as part of its economic stimulus plans.
Obama campaign spokesman Adam Fletcher said this week that the investments helped to more than double renewable energy production from wind and solar, "creating good-paying jobs and bringing manufacturing back to our shores."
Wanxiang arrived in court armed with its own proposed bankruptcy loan, known as a debtor-in-possession (DIP) loan, to counter the financing Johnson Controls arranged with A123. Carey approved on an interim basis the Johnson Controls loan after concessions were made to bring it in line with Wanxiang's proposal.
DIP loans often place stringent requirements on a bankrupt company, such as ordering asset auctions on tight deadlines. The loans give a lender influence over the outcome of a case.
Guzina said Wanxiang would seek to replace the Johnson Controls DIP loan at the October 30 hearing, when A123 will also seek final approval for its bankruptcy finance.
The attorney also said Wanxiang wants to extend the bidding period for the battery maker's business closer to the end of the year, compared to A123's proposed auction on November 19. Given the time it needs for approvals, Wanxiang has an interest in slowing down the bidding process.
The case is A123 Systems Inc, Delaware Bankruptcy Court, No. 12-12859.
(Reporting By Tom Hals; Editing by Martha Graybow and Phil Berlowitz)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-auto-parts-maker-vows-top-johnson-deal-233815501--finance.html
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No Comments - SAFE ALTERNATIVES? ? Blog Archive
This is a "trigger-free" site. Please do not use language containing graphic descriptions of Self Injurious behaviors. Words such as self injury, self harm, and the initials S.I. will be approved. Be mindful of swear words which are inappropriate and offensive to minors and others. This site is monitored and anyone found to continually violate these conditions will be removed from this entire blog site. Please follow S.A.F.E. A LTERNATIVES' philosophy and help us maintain a "trigger-free" blog. Thank you.
If you have thoughts of suicide call: 911, 800 - SUICIDE (784-2433), or go to the nearest emergency room.
Posted by barista.steph on October 17th, 2012
I accidentally injured myself at work today in a place I used to injure intentionally. I got a secret pleasure out of seeing it there on me. I felt like i was doing something wrong and sneaky. Like I was cheating on recovery by finding some sick comfort in the sight of an injury on my body and pretending I did it. Except I didn?t and I had a sense of relief that It was really an accident. I just wanted to get that out of me. I feel like it?s a confession. I guess it is. Im confessing I like that I was accidentally hurt in a way that looks like what i used to do. It would be weird to say that anywhere other than here.
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Source: http://selfinjury.com/blog/?p=23920
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Thursday, October 18, 2012
Isis makes October 22nd mobile payment launch official, vows 20 capable phones by year's end
While we could easily see this coming, it's still good to hear the news more directly: Isis has confirmed that its delayed mobile wallet system will arrive on October 22nd. The company's marketing lead Jaymee Johnson tells us that the NFC-based commerce should start in the previously mentioned Austin and Salt Lake City areas. We haven't been given a formal device list, but "as many as" 20 smartphones should be compatible by the end of the year. We can think of at least four. More details will follow on the day in question, although we already know that the cash-averse will need an Isis app, a special SIM card and compatible SmartTap terminals at stores. That's a lot of conditions that have to be satisfied just to lighten the strain on our pockets -- all the same, we'll take it when the alternatives are moving slowly.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile
Isis makes October 22nd mobile payment launch official, vows 20 capable phones by year's end originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 12:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/iWkOvsOAxhU/
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Video: Latest polls show Romney favorability with women rising
8 ingredients you never want to see on nutrition labels
The year was 1950, and The Magic 8-Ball had just arrived in stores. It looked like a toy, but it wasn't. It was a future-telling device, powered by the unknown superpowers that lived inside its cheap plastic shell.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/49440256#49440256
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Crows don't digest prions, may transport them to other locations
ScienceDaily (Oct. 17, 2012) ? Crows fed on prion-infected brains from mice can transmit these infectious agents in their feces and may play a role in the geographic spread of diseases caused by prions, such as chronic wasting disease or scrapie.
The new research published Oct. 17 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Kurt VerCauteren from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other colleagues, shows that prions can pass through crows' digestive systems without being destroyed, and may be excreted intact after ingestion by the birds. According to the authors, their results demonstrate a potential role for the common crow in the spread of infectious diseases caused by prions.
Prions are infectious proteins that cause diseases in humans and other animals. Studies so far have suggested that insects, poultry and scavengers like crows may be passive carriers of infectious prions, but this is the first demonstration that prions can retain their ability to cause disease after passing through the avian digestive system.
The authors fed crows with brain samples from mice infected with prions, and found that the crows passed infectious prions up to 4 hours after eating the infected samples. When healthy mice were injected with the infected crow excretions, all the mice showed signs of prion disease. The authors state that their results support the possibility that crows that encounter infected carcasses or consume infected tissue may have the capacity to transport infectious prions to new locations.
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Journal Reference:
- VerCauteren KC, Pilon JL, Nash PB, Phillips GE, Fischer JW. Prion Remains Infectious after Passage through Digestive System of American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos). PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (10): e45774 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045774
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/most_popular/~3/osOGUCY5cyE/121017181250.htm
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Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Ancient Armored Fish Had First Bad Bite
Sculpture of placoderm Dunkleosteus; image courtesy of Esben Horn, 10tons; supervised by Martin R?cklin, John Long and Philippe Janvier
The ancient ocean was a frightening place. But the emergence of the armored placoderm fish would have made it even more terrifying. These fish were no great whites?some weren?t much bigger than a goldfish. But they were some of the first vertebrates to have jaws, and new research shows that they were probably the first to brandish teeth as well.
The emergence of pearly whites has been a bit of an evolutionary mystery, with some pointing to these early armored fish, which lived some 430 million to 360 million years ago, and others suggesting that teeth didn?t emerge until later groups of vertebrates.
New analysis of fossil Compagopiscis croucheri placoderm specimens reveals that these ancient jawed fish did indeed already have teeth to gnash. The findings were published online October 17 in Nature (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group). With individual teeth present in these basal vertebrates, it suggests a very early origin of these assets for the rest of us?rather than them developing multiple times in different lineages.
Model of the front of a toothy placoderm; CT scan courtesy of Phil Anderson, University of Massachusetts Amherst; Michael Ryan and Eric Snively, Cleveland Museum of Natural History; model and images Martin R?cklin, University of Bristol.
?This is solid evidence for the presence of teeth in these first jawed vertebrates,? study co-author Philip Donoghue of the University of Bristol?s Department of Earth Sciences, said in a prepared statement.
The placoderms examined for this study likely had teeth that developed shallowly in the jaw, like many of today?s boney fish. These toothy fish, however, hadn?t perfected all of the options of modern dentition. For example, they don?t appear to have been able to replace choppers when they wore out.
The researchers used x-ray tomographic microscopy and computational algorithms to generate detailed 3-D models of the ancient fossils. ?This technique allows us to obtain a perfect digital model and very detailed insight views of the old fossil without destroying it,? Marco Stampanoni, of the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland and study co-author, said in a prepared statement.
Indeed, much of the reason the origins of teeth has remained so obscured is that few studies have been able to dig into these important fossils. ?These wonderfully preserved fossils from Australia yield many secrets of our evolutionary ancestry but research has been held back waiting for the kind of nondestructive technology that we used in this study,? study co-author Zerina Johanson, of London?s Natural History Museum, said in a prepared statement. ?Without the collaborations between paleontologists and physicists, our evolutionary history would remain hidden in the rocks.?
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=227edbd5cf1f1c7dfbf5631694bb38da
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Microsoft Surface Prices - Business Insider
Microsoft announced the prices of its Surface tablet this morning.
The pricing is right in line with the iPad, with the cheapest Surface costing $499, and the most expensive Surface costing $699.
Really, the Surface is a better deal than the iPad because the $499 iPad is only 16 GB. The $499 Microsoft Surface is 32 GB. (From a consumer's perspective, we're not sure the storage differentiation matters. It's about price.)
There's a catch, though. The Touch Cover keyboard is $120. That's the fancy keyboard that Microsoft is heavily promoting in connection with the Surface. If you buy the keyboard, then the full price of the Surface comes to $618. An iPad with a cover costs $538.
There's two ways to look at this. On the one hand it's good because the basic pricing is right in line with the iPad. On the other hand, it's not a significant discount and so it's going to be hard to entice people to pick the Surface over the iPad. Especially since the iPad owns the market. Further, the keyboard makes it so expensive that people might end up skipping it.
Update: It looks like Microsoft screwed up and didn't want to reveal the pricing. The site that listed the prices is down now. Luckily we took screengrabs.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-surface-prices-2012-10
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Germany's Schaeuble urges big leap forward in euro integration
ABU DHABI (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has called for a great leap forward in European integration ahead of a summit of EU leaders, urging the creation of a new commissioner with power over budgets and reform of European Parliament decision-making.
Schaeuble, a longtime advocate of closer EU integration who is not shy about voicing his personal views, said he had spoken with Chancellor Angela Merkel about his proposals and that she was "somewhat more cautious".
"We must now make bigger steps in the direction of a fiscal union," Schaeuble told reporters on his way back from a trip to Asia. "We must use this chance."
He said a new "currency commissioner" should have the power to reject national budgets that were not in line with the euro zone's strict fiscal criteria, without specifying whether such a figure should have the power to impose penalties.
The model for the position would be the bloc's competition commissioner, who Schaeuble said was "feared in the whole world".
He also called for more flexible voting arrangements in the European Parliament to accommodate closer integration between euro zone states.
European officials are looking for ways to boost the democratic legitimacy of their drive towards a closer union, but have run up against the dilemma that the European Parliament includes countries from outside the euro zone.
"In the European Parliament lawmakers only from countries directly affected by a given issue should vote on it," Schaeuble said.
Such a reform would accelerate the trend towards a two-speed Europe, with the euro zone as an inner core.
UNEASE
Some of Schaeuble's ideas are likely to stir unease even within the euro zone, where countries such as France are reluctant to surrender more sovereignty to EU institutions.
Weaker economies such as Greece, reeling from German-backed austerity programs, will also be wary of entrenching the power of outsiders to run their financial affairs.
A previous proposal from Schaeuble for a "Sparkommissar", or savings commissioner, was quietly dropped after it stirred fury in recession-mired Greece and got a cool reception from Germany's other European partners.
Undaunted, Schaeuble said it was important to build momentum for greater fiscal and political integration, saying the bloc could launch a convention by December if it made good progress.
Merkel has previously said she would like the EU's December summit to agree a concrete date for the start of a convention.
The idea recalls the 100-plus strong gathering of EU lawmakers set up in 2001 - inspired by the Philadelphia Convention that led to the adoption of the U.S. federal constitution - charged with preparing a European charter.
The document that emerged was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005 and a watered down version ended up forming the basis of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, which is in force today.
Many member states, recalling the lengthy disputes and setbacks that preceded the Lisbon treaty's entry into force, are reluctant to embark on another process of institutional reform.
But Germany believes a much closer fiscal and political union is needed to ensure the success of painful economic reforms and the long-term survival of the euro currency.
"We need a lasting solution," Schaeuble said.
(Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Noah Barkin)
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