Friday, August 31, 2012

Pre-caffeine tech: Reddit politics, Big Brother budget!

31 min.

Our?pre-caffeine roundup is a collection of the hottest, strangest, and most amusing stories of the morning. Here's everything that you need to know before taking that first sip of coffee.?

President Barack Obama stole fire from the RNC and totally freaked out the Internet when he did a surprised AMA (ask me anything) on Reddit yesterday.?

In fact, it was the biggest day for Reddit, ever!?

How did Reddit score a presidential visit? White House Redditors, that's how!?

That said: "The Reddit AMA is a terrible format for extracting information from a politician."

Speaking of the government, here's a story you should read:?"Big Brother on a budget: How Internet surveillance got so cheap."

On Facebook,?Brits --? and now those from around the world, who want to "show" their support for Prince Harry -- are bearing it all on Facebook.?

In other news,?Sony ?announced a whole flock of new products at the IFA tech?trade show in Berlin. Practically every line of consumer electronics is?refreshed.

Also, Samsung introduced the Galaxy Note II -- and it's a surprise hit!?

Meanwhile, at Burning Man, attendees?played Street Fighter using real fireballs.

Old Spice goes viral again with an interactive ad in which Terry Crews plays music with his muscles.?

This?software engineer will happily spend an afternoon working on your?iPhone or iPad app idea for free. You just need to have access to an Aston Martin and take the young man and his father for a ride.

Compiled?by?Helen A.S. Popkin,?who invites you to?join her on?Twitter?and/or?Facebook. Also,?Google+. ?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/pre-caffeine-tech-reddit-politics-big-brother-budget-971822

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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Michael Keaton cast as "RoboCop" CEO in remake

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Michael Keaton is joining the cast of the upcoming remake of Paul Verhoeven's 1987 cult classic, "RoboCop," for MGM and Columbia Pictures, MGM announced Wednesday.

Keaton will play the CEO of the corporation that builds RoboCop. He joins previously announced stars Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson in the film, which is being directed by Jos? Padilha.

The project is due to begin filming next month, and is scheduled to be released on August 19, 2013.

Recent reports noted that British actor Hugh Laurie was in the running to take on the role, as was Clive Owen. The film is set in a crime-ridden city in which a wounded cop returns to the force as a cyborg haunted by his memories.

"Michael is the final addition to the amazing cast we have assembled for this film and it is so great to have the last puzzle piece in place," said Padilha. "We've got a great script, a great cast, some killer ED-209's and I can't wait to get Alex Murphy back on the streets."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/michael-keaton-cast-robocop-ceo-remake-001034950.html

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Uncoiling the cucumber's enigma: Biological mechanism for coiling, and unusual type of spring discovered

ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) ? In the creeping plant's tendrils, researchers discover a biological mechanism for coiling and stumble upon an unusual type of spring

Captivated by a strange coiling behavior in the grasping tendrils of the cucumber plant, researchers at Harvard University have characterized a new type of spring that is soft when pulled gently and stiff when pulled strongly.

Instead of unwinding to a flat ribbon under stress, as an untwisted coil normally would, the cucumber's tendrils actually coil further. Understanding this counterintuitive behavior required a combination of head scratching, physical modeling, mathematical modeling, and cell biology -- not to mention a large quantity of silicone.

The result, published in the August 31 issue of Science, describes the mechanism by which coiling occurs in the cucumber plant and suggests a new type of bio-inspired twistless spring.

Led by principal investigator L. Mahadevan, Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and Professor of Physics at Harvard, and a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard, the researchers were motivated by simple curiosity about the natural world.

"Nature has solved all kinds of energetic and mechanical problems, doing it very slowly and really getting it right," says lead author Sharon Gerbode, a former postdoctoral fellow at SEAS who has now advanced to a faculty position in the physics department at Harvey Mudd College. "But few people have studied biological mechanisms from the point of view of a physicist or an engineer. We barely had to scratch the surface with this question about the cucumber -- how does it coil? What could be a simpler question? And what we actually found was this new kind of spring that no one had characterized before."

Well known to botanists and gardeners, the coiling tendrils of climbing plants like cucumbers, sweet peas, and grape vines allow the plants to hoist themselves up towards sunlight and secure themselves tightly to existing structures like trees or trellises. Yet the biological and physical mechanism of this coiling, at the level of the plant's cells and tissues, has remained a mystery.

A cucumber tendril begins as a straight stem that elongates until it finds something to latch onto. Then, secured at both ends, it forms a left-handed helix and a right-handed helix, joined at the center by a "perversion" -- Charles Darwin's strikingly Victorian term for the point at which the coiling changes direction.

"It's easy to create one of these twistless springs with a telephone cord," says Gerbode, "and they're annoying. But with the phone cord, you can pull on both ends and it will straighten out into a flat ribbon. What's strange about the cucumber tendril is that if you pull on the ends, it actually overwinds, adding more turns to both helices."

To explore the mechanism for this behavior, Gerbode and her Harvard colleagues took a closer look at the cells and tissue types inside the tendril.

A fibrous ribbon, made of thread-like cells called gelatinous fiber (g-fiber) cells, runs the length of each tendril. Two cell layers thick, this ribbon appears to provide the force required for the tendril to form a helix without the benefit of muscles. If the cells on one side of such a ribbon were to contract, the researchers thought, it would force the ribbon to curve and coil.

Gerbode and her coauthor Joshua Puzey (Ph.D. '12), who was studying organismic and evolutionary biology in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) at the time, tried to reconstruct this fiber ribbon with a silicone model. They stretched a sheet of elastic silicone, secured the ends, and then spread a thin layer of silicone caulk across its surface. When the caulk cured, they cut a thin strip off the model, held both ends, and watched it coil into a pair of perfect helices. When they pulled on both ends, however, it simply unraveled and lay flat, adding no extra coils as they had hoped.

"This is when I spent a lot of time pulling on telephone cords," Gerbode admits.

The clue, as it turns out, was inside the g-fiber cells. These cells have been studied extensively in trees; they have the ability to shrink or elongate, thanks to a special type of architecture in the cell wall.

"What we think may be happening is that the inner cell layer of the tendril has more lignin in it, which is a sort of glue that gives cell walls stiffness and holds together the cellulose microfibrils, which are like rebar in the cells," explains Puzey. "We thought this stiffness must be related to the coiling somehow."

To test this idea, Gerbode and Puzey glued a fabric ribbon to one side of their silicone model and a copper wire to the other side. At last, the silicone strip formed a pair of helices that overwound, just like the cucumber tendril.

The structure they stumbled upon is a spring made of two joined, opposite-handed helices whose bending stiffness is higher than their twisting stiffness. In other words, to form this specific structure, the materials involved have to make it easier for the ribbon to twist axially than to change its curvature. Through mathematical models developed by Mahadevan and coauthor Andrew McCormick (a physics graduate student in GSAS), the team was able to fully understand the parameters and synthesize a simple principle for the design of these springs.

The final stage in the research was to address the biological implications. By extracting the fiber ribbon from a cucumber tendril, Mahadevan's group had already noticed that moisture was playing a role in the spring's behavior. As the extracted ribbon dried out, its stiffness increased and it coiled more tightly. Lignin is also known to be hydrophobic, repelling water. What's more, Mahadevan's team measured the mechanical response of young tendrils and older ones, finding that the older tendrils put up much more resistance to pulling, a fact that they explained using a combination of theory and computer simulations.

Though the group has not yet explored these findings from an evolutionary perspective, they hypothesize that the mature coil structure allows the climbing plants just the right amount of structural flexibility.

"You want the plant to make a nice strong, secure connection, but you also don't want it to be too stiff or to snap," explains Gerbode. "You want it to have a little bit of flexibility so that if the wind blows or an animal brushes past it, it doesn't break. So one possibility is that this overwinding allows the plant to easily accommodate small motions, but then if something really serious happens it can get very stiff and protect itself."

To further study the evolutionary significance of the tendril's morphology, researchers would have to study the coils in numerous species and attempt to reconstruct the evolutionary history of that characteristic. Mahadevan suggests that such a project could provide important ecological insights.

"The advantage of using a tendril is that the plant saves on complex machinery to build structural supports such as trunks and branches," Mahadevan says. "The disadvantage is that it must depend on other species to build these supports. Thus, tendrils are an adaptation that is likely to develop only in regions replete with vegetation that can provide supports and where competition for resources is intense.

"The real question remains this: how difficult is it to evolve such tendril-like solutions?"

Now that nature has done the hard work, though, Mahadevan suggests that the benefits of understanding cucumber coils might be useful in technology -- but hastens to add that this work was driven by pure curiosity, not with an end product in mind.

"This is likely to be useful anywhere we need a spring with a tunable mechanical response," he says.

This work was supported by the MacArthur Foundation, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard, and the Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology at Harvard. The researchers are now pursuing a patent on the technology, through the Wyss Institute.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. S. J. Gerbode, J. R. Puzey, A. G. McCormick, L. Mahadevan. How the Cucumber Tendril Coils and Overwinds. Science, 2012; 337 (6098): 1087 DOI: 10.1126/science.1223304

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/strange_science/~3/Z4M3NU3teg4/120830141223.htm

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Dawn spacecraft leaving huge asteroid

NASA's Dawn probe is gearing up to depart the giant asteroid Vesta next week and begin the long trek to the dwarf planet Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt.

The Dawn spacecraft is slated to leave Vesta on the night of Sept. 4 (early morning Sept. 5 EDT), ending a 14-month stay at the 330-mile-wide (530 kilometers) body. The journey to Ceres should take roughly 2.5 years, with Dawn reaching the dwarf planet in early 2015, researchers said.

"Thrust is engaged, and we are now climbing away from Vesta atop a blue-green pillar of xenon ions," Dawn chief engineer and mission director Marc Rayman, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement. "We are feeling somewhat wistful about concluding a fantastically productive and exciting exploration of Vesta, but now have our sights set on dwarf planet Ceres."

Dawn is spiraling away from Vesta as gently as it arrived last year. The spacecraft uses super-efficient ion propulsion, which generates thrust by ionizing xenon atoms with electricity. [ Photos: Asteroid Vesta by Dawn Probe ]

The $466 million Dawn mission launched in 2007 to explore Vesta and Ceres, huge and ancient objects that have borne witness to most of the solar system's history. Scientists hope Dawn's observations of these two bodies can shed light on our cosmic neighborhood's earliest days.

Dawn's stay at Vesta revealed that the massive space rock is a complex, layered body with an iron core. Based on these observations, researchers have concluded that Vesta is actually a long-surviving protoplanet ? a planetary building block like those that coalesced to form rocky planets such as Earth and Mars.

Vesta appears to be the only such building block left, as the others were incorporated into planets or destroyed by collisions long ago, researchers said. Vesta itelf has taken a beating, with Dawn spotting craters from two colossal impacts over the past two billion years.

One of these craters, called Rheasilvia, spans 314 miles (505 km) ? nearly Vesta's entire diameter.

"We went to Vesta to fill in the blanks of our knowledge about the early history of our solar system," said Dawn principal investigator Christopher Russell, of UCLA. "Dawn has filled in those pages, and more, revealing to us how special Vesta is as a survivor from the earliest days of the solar system. We can now say with certainty that Vesta resembles a small planet more closely than a typical asteroid."

  1. Space news from NBCNews.com

    1. Saturn changes color with the seasons

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: Saturn's shades of blue and butterscotch are changing along with the planet's seasons, as illustrated by true-color photos from the Cassini orbiter.

    2. Uwingu space-game venture boosts SETI
    3. Curiosity begins first long Mars road trip
    4. NASA discovers black hole 'bonanza'

Dawn traveled about 1.7 billion miles (2.7 billion km) to reach Vesta, and the trip to the 590-mile-wide (950 km) Ceres will roll the probe's odometer reading up to 3 billion miles (5 billion km) or so, officials said.

Follow Space.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcomand on Facebook.

? 2012 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48847219/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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Goal of united Syrian opposition still elusive

Syrian girl, Haya Khalil, 8, who fled her home in Homs with her family due to fighting between the Syrian government forces and the rebels, looks up, as she and her family take refuge at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing, in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey, near the Syrian town of Azaz, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Syrian girl, Haya Khalil, 8, who fled her home in Homs with her family due to fighting between the Syrian government forces and the rebels, looks up, as she and her family take refuge at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing, in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey, near the Syrian town of Azaz, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

Syrians, who fled their homes due to fighting between the Syrian army and the rebels, shout slogans as they march toward the Turkish side of the border, during a protest asking the Turkish government to let them enter to their refugee camps, at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing, near the Syrian town of Azaz, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A Syrian child, whose family fled their home due to fighting between the Syrian army and the rebels, lies in a child safety seat, while his family takes refuge at the Bab Al-Salameh border crossing, in hopes of entering one of the refugee camps in Turkey, near the Syrian town of Azaz, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A Syrian woman walks past a government tank which was destroyed by the rebels in Azaz, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

A Free Syrian Army soldier, center, looks on while he and other fighters check the area next to houses destroyed after Syrian government forces shelling, in Azaz, on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

(AP) ? In the foreign halls of power, the strategy is clear: Syria's opposition should unite to present an alternative to Bashar Assad's rule ? a step France's president says would lead to diplomatic recognition.

As a move toward unity, Syrian exiles from the main opposition Syrian National Council and other groups unveiled a blueprint Tuesday in the German capital of Berlin for transition to a democratic, transparent society free of religious and ethnic favoritism.

But rebels and civilians in the bomb-shattered Syrian town of Azaz near the Turkish border view such talk as hollow. They are deeply skeptical of all exiled leaders and believe what really matters is their fight on the ground to overthrow the regime.

"They have never come up with a united position that will save the people," said Fadi Hajji, 25, who had been camped out along the Syrian border with Turkey with his wife and two infant daughters for five days. "All they are good at is arguing. They don't represent anyone here and they don't help."

There was more bloodshed Tuesday as a car bomb ripped through a Damascus suburb, killing 12 people, according to the state news agency. Activists also said an airstrike in the town of Kfar Nabl killed at least 13 people as fighting raged nationwide.

With no end to the carnage in sight, French President Francois Hollande called on the Syrian opposition Monday to form a provisional government, saying France would recognize and support it.

Hollande's statement, believed to be the first of its kind, was quickly shot down by U.S. officials who said talk of a provisional government was premature given the deep divisions within the opposition movement.

The head of the main Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Council, criticized the U.S. stand, saying that efforts were under way to forge a united front but that the process takes time ? especially in the midst of a raging civil war.

"It seems to me as if the international community is not prepared to take decisive decisions and blames the Syrian opposition for its own shortcomings," Abdelbaset Sieda told The Associated Press by telephone Tuesday from Switzerland.

"Yes, there are differences within the Syrian opposition, and this is normal in any country. But as long as we are agreed on a common vision, these differences can be overcome," he added. "The international community must make a move before it's too late."

Those comments were echoed in Berlin by opposition exiles who drafted the 122-page transition blueprint during six months of consultations funded by governments of the United States, Germany, Switzerland and private groups in Norway and the Netherlands.

"It is quite easy to say the opposition is fragmented and the opposition has not done enough," said Murhaf Jouejati, a U.S.-based professor and SNC member. "But we really should start facing realities ... to get the international community behind this national uprising against a totalitarian, authoritarian, brutal regime."

Although neither expressed a concrete demand, many in the SNC have been hoping the world community would impose a safe zone along the Turkish border, possibly extending to a no-fly zone over at least some areas, and would more openly supply weapons and ammunition to rebels. The disparate groups are also each hoping for support in any power struggle that might follow a collapse of the Assad regime.

Since the uprising began in March last year, Syria's opposition has been plagued by divisions and infighting. In addition to the SNC, several other opposition groups are known to be making similar plans for a provisional government, including a new alliance headed by veteran opposition figure Haitham Maleh.

The strains within the opposition were also evident on Tuesday when the Paris-based SNC spokeswoman Bassma Kodmani, a founding member of the group, resigned. She said the SNC had veered off course.

"The project has not achieved its goals and the council has not earned the required credibility and did not safeguard the trust placed in it by the Syrian people when it was first created. It steered away from the course that we wanted for it when we created it. "

She said she would continue to work for the opposition, just from outside the council.

"I see more space than inside it."

Sieda said his group has been contacting other opposition figures and the Free Syrian Army rebels to consult over a transitional government, but admits they have not started discussing names yet.

Even if the opposition were to unite, there are serious questions whether the disparate groups have enough popular legitimacy to take control of a revolution and rebuild the nation. The men with guns inside Syria have little use for the political figures or even for Free Syria Army commanders who live in the safety and comfort of Paris and Istanbul.

"The SNC is a naive group of people who consider themselves politicians," said Ahmed al-Ghazali, commander of rebels who control Azaz, the town in northern Syria. "To this day, the SNC hasn't done anything ... Count how many people you see here from the SNC. People here are taking their rights for themselves."

Abu Hassan, a bus driver who fled the nearly deserted town of Anadan in northern Syria because of frequent government shelling and airstrikes, complained that "we hear promises" from exiled leaders "but we're not seeing anything on the ground."

"The only people who do anything are the people inside, the officers and the fighters who are in the front lines. The SNC and the Free Army who are abroad, we've never seen anything from them, not aid, not weapons, not ammunition."

As the war inside Syria appears to be grinding to a stalemate, so too is the political struggle. Most foreign powers want to see unity before giving support but the opposition is unable or unwilling to put aside their differences and unite.

Absent a united opposition, the dilemma facing the United States and its Western allies is uncertainty over who inside Syria might emerge with real power after Assad.

Their fear is that the collapse of the four-decade regime ruled by the Assads ? Bashar succeeded his father Hafez 12 years ago ? could unleash a fierce power struggle in which al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists could gain a foothold. With Syria bordering NATO member Turkey, combustible Lebanon with its powerful Hezbollah militia, unstable Iraq, and a nervous Israel with which it has a territorial dispute over the Golan Heights, that is a daunting prospect.

Repeated efforts to unite the opposition have fallen short.

An opposition conference in Cairo last month broke down in shouting and shoving matches over such key questions as whether to ask for foreign military intervention and what role religion would play in a post-Assad Syria.

Some activists complain that SNC is little more than a front for the Muslim Brotherhood, seeking a comeback after the Islamist movement was largely crushed by Hafez Assad in the 1980s.

News reports of bearded fighters inside Syria demanding an Islamist state and the increasing number of car bombs have led to fears in the West that the new Syria would follow the model of Iran or Taliban-run Afghanistan.

At the Berlin news conference, activists took pains to minimize the Islamist character of the revolt. Amr al-Azm, a professor who lives in the U.S., said fears of Islamist influence were widespread during the Libyan uprising but most voters gave their support to secularist leaders in the July election.

Afra Jalabi, a political scientist who lives in Montreal, said the increase in religious symbolism in Syria was "actually a silent protest against a regime that presented itself through its own propaganda as a secular system when it was a macho military system."

__

Reid reported from Berlin. Associated Press correspondent Zeina Karam contributed to this report from Beirut, Lebanon.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-08-28-Syria/id-405a0abb02e042f8b3b353dfd382ae06

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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

YOUR BLOG / WEB SITE - nectarMEDIA

When developing an online strategy for a business, there is one key component that should always be at the center. I would even go so far as to say that it is the MOST important component to driving business online. With all the focus on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, insert new trend here, the focus of your online strategy should be?

Yep, you read it right. Building your online presence begins with your web site. While it may be the most time intensive part of your strategy, that commitment will pay off in the long run. Let me explain why:

1. CONTENT ? As if you haven?t heard it enough, content is king. Without content on your web site you have nothing to drive people back to. Content builds trust, content drives traffic, content provides marketing. Your content is the only piece of the internet that you own. Your 485 Facebook fans are not yours. The amazing Pinterest boards could all go away, but your content will live forever.

2A. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) ? Traditional marketing efforts are at best fading and as some would have you believe are dead. The Harvard Business Review states, ?Buyers are no longer paying much attention (to traditional marketing). Several studies have confirmed that in the ?buyer?s decision journey,? traditional marketing communications just aren?t relevant. Buyers are checking out product and service information in their own way, often through the Internet, and often from sources outside the firm such as word-of-mouth or customer reviews.

2B. SEARCH Being found is key. According to the web site mobithinking. More than 1/3 of all searches are performed from a mobile device with 61% calling the business found and 59% visiting. You can either be one needle in a haystack with your web site, or you can increase the needles by writing blog content that is rich in the key words that pertain to your brand. This content has a greater likelihood of being syndicated on other people?s sites as they look for content too. At a recent wine writers conference when a panel of wine marketers were asked, ?What is the benefit of reaching out to wine bloggers?? The response was simply, ?SEO, linkbacks and the opportunity for increased internet traffic.? These marketers got the power of being found in search engines. Content on your blog/web site increases this.

3. CONVERSION ? Social networks are great for building customer loyalty, continuing engagement, real time customer service and driving traffic to web sites. They, however, are not always the greatest tool for converting a customer to a sale or getting customer data like email. Your web site and the content needs to be driven by a conversion strategy. How can you convert those eyeballs looking at the page at that moment to action (buy a product or subscribe to a list).

Blogging with regular content can be very time intensive. Not every post has to be a 1,000 word essay. At a minimum use a blog to talk about your product, post your press releases, and share your events. Enlist the help of other writers by inviting them to write about you (with the critical back link) and try writing on other industry web sites as a guest writer. The content is king and you will soon see your name rising to the top of search engines.

Let?s connect and develop an online strategy for your business. Contact me, Josh, mayhem@nectarmedia.co

Don?t forget GO SOCIAL, Winning and Building Business Online conference is September 25, 2012. Tickets are only $149. Great conference to get motivated, educated and equipped for your online success.

Source: http://www.nectarmedia.co/my-top-recommendation-for-online-strategy/

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The Do's and Don'ts of Do It Yourself Home Improvement | ej ...

The Do?s and Don?ts of Do It Yourself Home Improvement

Deciding to take on home improvement tasks on your own is both courageous and honorable. It can save you lots of money, teach you a valuable set of skills and leave you with a very satisfied feeling. Tackling the wrong home improvement project can also be the worst decision you?ve ever made in your life. So before you pick up that hammer, you might want to read this article on what to do and what not to do with taking on a do-it-yourself project.

Do take a step back

First thing you want to do is really access the project you need to do. It?s admirable to grab a set of instructions you found online and dive in but you could be opening up the possibility for irreversible damage and in some cases safety concerns. Access your understanding of what needs to be done and compare it with past experiences with similar or lesser projects. Ask friends, neighbors or co-workers if they?ve been in a similar situation and ask for tips and things to avoid. A good rule of thumb is that if there are major safety questions, best to look into other options. Once safety is reviewed and understood, it?s time to?

Do Get Prepared

Whether you need plans, tools, safety gear or even a ladder ? make sure you have everything you need. It?s cool when MacGyver makes a gun out of a pen on TV but in real life, the last thing you want to do is cut corners or use the wrong materials when dealing with your home. Create a detailed Excel spreadsheet or open a Google Document (docs.google.com) and list product, number needed, and expense. Use online resources to price out as needed to give you fairly accurate estimate of cost.

Do Set a Budget

Let me repeat that. Set a budget. It?s ok if you need to peer over the surface, but if you start pulling out your second charge card, you might want to stop and think about what you?re spending and if it is worth the cost. There are many cases where Do-It-yourself projects are started with the intention of saving money, but after many trips to the hardware store, repairing mistakes, the cost of the DIY project starts to get closer to what a professional would cost.

A quick tip could be: meet with a professional and pay him/her to consult with you on the best way to tackle a project. Paying someone to oversee or give guidance or solve problems with you doing the work would save time and costs considerably, but still get that professional oversight.

Don?t Ignore Safety Concerns or Codes

This is the most important thing to remember. No one will applaud your gusto if you hurt yourself, someone else or end up causing major damage to your home or rental property. Make sure you understand and adhere to all safety precautions, identify and protect yourself from hazardous materials and make sure you look into your county?s building codes and regulations. Do-over?s are fun in mini golf, not home improvement.

Don?t Be Afraid to Ask for Help

No one learns anything without asking questions. Guys at your local hardware store are usually more than happy to share their knowledge with you. If you have a handy friend, see if they?ll help. Two heads are always better than one and can also help you avoid frustration when there is someone else there to bounce ideas off of. And there?s almost always a few articles or videos online that may be able to shed some light on your project.

One good example of a DYI website with great resources and tips can be found here, http://www.familyhandyman.com/.

To learn more about buying wood furnaces, please visit our website.

Source: http://ej-fransen.com/the-dos-and-donts-of-do-it-yourself-home-improvement/

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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Bellingham Traverse Shifts Fundraising Model after 10 Years of ...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, August 27th, 2012

MEDIA CONTACT:

Todd Elsworth, Director
Bellingham Traverse
360-739-8458
todd@nwtraverse.com
NWTraverse.com

Bellingham Traverse Shifts Fundraising Model after 10 Years of Operations.

For the past 10 years Bellingham Traverse, a multi-sport race that celebrates the life cycle of salmon, has helped raise over $100,000 for the local and regional non-profit community. The Traverse has offered incentives, called Bait, for individuals to raise money.

In 2012, Bellingham Traverse evaluated its fundraising model and business practices to increase satisfaction with the community. ?We have been paying attention to how our participants have been behaving over the past with regards to fundraising and how they also respond to the prizes that have been given out. While a noble effort to encourage the fundraising for others, it was not a message that resounded loud enough,? says Todd Elsworth, Director.

The results of the evaluation have created a shift in the fundraising model for the Bellingham Traverse. Whereas in the past, the Traverse was open to a large group of fundraising beneficiaries, in 2012, only ONE organization will be selected.

As the ONE beneficiary, the chosen organization will receive a percentage of the surplus revenue for the event. They will also receive a complimentary registration to the event so they can raise money on their own behalf as a fundraising opportunity for their organization.

We have chosen the ONE non-profit that will be the beneficiary of the 2012 Bellingham Traverse. The selection criterion was three fold: Mission, Community Involvement, and Fundraising. Our panel reviewed the list and rated their effects in the three categories. The final list came down to Conservation Northwest, Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, Kulshan Community Land Trust, RE Sources (Power Past Coal), Sustainable Connections, Whatcom Independent Mountain Peddlers (WHIMPS), Whatcom Land Trust, Whatcom Parks and Recreation Foundation.

We are fortunate to have such a strong representation of interests in our efforts of sustainability both locally and regionally. To cut to the chase: Kulshan Community Land Trust (KCLT) is the chosen ONE for 2012. We are excited to make this announcement to the community and encourage people to choose KCLT as one of their personal or professional beneficiaries as well.

###

Source: http://www.nwtraverse.com/site/bellingham-traverse/bellingham-traverse-press-release/bellingham-traverse-shifts-fundraising-model-after-10-years-of-operations/

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Republican National Photo-Op Time

Photographer Richard Kalvar of Magnum is covering the convention for Slate. He sent back these photos from the first 24 hours. ?You can also get images from the convention on Slate?s brand new Instagram stream, @slatemagazine.

USA. Tampa, Florida. Republican National Convention 2012. Photographing the arena set-up.

Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photo for Slate.

Tropical Storm Isaac cancelled events at the Republican National Convention on Monday. It did not kill the desire to take cellphone pictures.

Republican National Convention

Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photo for Slate.

Women present their version of the definition of bold Republican casual while snapping away at the Welcome Event at the Tropicana Field sports arena in St. Petersburg, Fla.

USA. Tampa, Florida. Republican National Convention 2012. The "Welcome Event" at the Tropicana Field sports arena

?Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photo for Slate.

Employees of the Busch Gardens amusement park pose with eager Republicans at the Welcome Event at the Tropicana Field sports arena.

USA. Tampa, Florida. Republican National Convention 2012. Trying to do better.

Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photo for Slate.

?We can do better? gets placed on the wall.

USA. Tampa, Florida. Republican National Convention 2012. Preparing a C-Span TV feed.

Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photo for Slate.

A woman tweaks the wires for the C-Span TV feed.

USA. Tampa, Florida. Republican National Convention 2012. Fox News news feed.

Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photo for Slate.

Fox News takes on Tampa on Sunday. Note: This is what a man looks like without TV makeup (left) and this is what a man looks like with TV makeup (right.)

convention_07

USA. Tampa, Florida. Republican National Convention 2012. Exploitation of Neil Armstrong's death.? Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photo

Neil Armstrong got incorporated into opening day events.

USA. Tampa, Florida. Republican National Convention 2012. Color guard rehearsing.

Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photo for Slate.

The color guard prepares for its presentation.

USA. Tampa, Florida. Republican National Convention 2012.

Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photo for Slate.

Police and other law enforcement officers have been gathered from across Florida for the Tampa convention.

USA. Tampa, Florida. Republican National Convention 2012. Outside the entrance to the St. Pete's Times Forum, where the convention is taking place.

Richard Kalvar / Magnum Photo for Slate.

The entrance to the St. Pete's Times Forum, where the convention is taking place.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=41c70863a473a2b257174e0285b4a220

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Having A Great Commercial Real Estate Agent Is Critical To Your ...

Find out what type of fee your broker charges before entering the agreement with him. They can require fees that include a percentage of the total price that the property sells for. They may not charge you a percentage but charge you a flat fee for services. Finding this out prior to contract is crucial.

Lenders are going to want to be assured that you are successful in running a business. You are going to need to prove this to them by providing financial statements for you, as well as your business. If you can show that you are good at what you do, the lender is more likely to offer you the loan that you need.

Look for a real estate broker that lets you remain in control of the transaction. Even if you are relying on their guidance, you are still the one making the decisions. If you feel like your broker is pushing you or making decisions before consulting you, look for another broker.

if you would like to open up a business and you do not have all of the money that you need to invest in a commercial property, you should do your best to find a funding partner. You have to set up a contract with definitive rules though, because everyone needs to know where they stand in this deal.

When you consider investing in a real estate property remember that you are not just making the initial investment in the property, but rather will be investing in the property over the course of its lifetime. What is your long-term plan for maintaining the property?s upkeep over the course of the years?

When you are renting out a property, try to be prepared for a vacancy. Having a vacancy in one of your properties can cost you a lot of money. If you have a vacancy, try to fill it as fast as possible. You should always remember that you may need to have some money set aside in case of a vacancy because you will probably experience one at some time.

When dealing in commercial real estate, don?t fly solo. Properties valued highly fall outside the investment range of most individuals, but if you partner up with a few others, a group investment becomes possible. Besides, the more folks there are in your network, the more likely it is you will hear of a deal before it gets listed. Many sell before they ever get listed to those with their ear to the ground.

When purchasing an investment property, don?t forget to think sensibly. If a deal really is to good to be true if it appears that way. Make sure you have all of the facts and understand the information you?re given completely. Don?t rush through a process without fully understanding what you?re getting into, and being comfortable with it as well.

An apartment doesn?t have to be your only choice for commercial real estate. A lot of buyers tend to think that running an apartment building is the simplest choice, however let yourself be open to other investment opportunities. Office buildings, land, industrial warehouses are all possibilities you should be open to.

Commercial real estate is a whole different ball game. If you are looking to purchase or sell a piece of property in this category, make sure that you have a professional agent who specializes in this field. Their contacts and knowledge will be essential in the transaction and marketing.

When dealing with commercial real estate, you will have to develop a plan, well in advance. This will allow you to establish exactly what you want, so that you will have more time to scope out what is available to you. A solid plan of action helps to benefit you significantly.

Be sure to have money in hand when considering investing in commercial real estate. You are going to need a down payment and the money to pay for closing costs. You will also need money to cover other fees that will be required to finalize the deal. Banks are more willing to lend the money to someone who has money invested that they could lose.

When you are financing your commercial real estate endeavors, you want to ensure you can make all the necessary payments that are needed to keep your business running. If you can not make all the payments or you are not sure if you can, then you should search for other investment opportunities because it is inevitable that you will go bankrupt.

As we mentioned above, be very cautious that you?re not using outdated information to help guide your decision. The real estate market constantly changes, and for every change in the residential market, the commercial market changes tenfold. Read and use these current tips wisely to help you make the best decision possible.

Isidro Donchez looks into Tustin Realtors

Source: http://lmaureen.com/having-a-great-commercial-real-estate-agent-is-critical-to-your-purchase/

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Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols sit with injuries

Los Angeles Angels' Albert Pujols (5) rubs his leg as he stands on third base next to third base coach Dino Ebel during the fourth inning against the Boston Red Sox in a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012. Pujols was replaced in the bottom of the inning. (AP Photo/Jim Davis, Boston Globe) NO SALES, MAGS OUT, INTERNET OUT BOSTON HERALD OUT QUINCY OUT

Los Angeles Angels' Albert Pujols (5) rubs his leg as he stands on third base next to third base coach Dino Ebel during the fourth inning against the Boston Red Sox in a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012. Pujols was replaced in the bottom of the inning. (AP Photo/Jim Davis, Boston Globe) NO SALES, MAGS OUT, INTERNET OUT BOSTON HERALD OUT QUINCY OUT

Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera talks with manager Jim Leyland and athletic trainer Steve Carter during the second inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays, Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012, in Detroit. Cabrera left the game. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

(AP) ? The Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels each sat a star in the hopes of keeping them healthy for rest of the season.

Miguel Cabrera and Albert Pujols were not in the lineup because of injuries Sunday in the Angels-Tigers series finale, giving them two days off because both teams are off Monday.

Cabrera played in Detroit's first 126 games this season. The third baseman has a sore right ankle that limited him to being a designated hitter on Friday and Saturday.

"What's best for Miguel is best for the Tigers," Detroit manager Jim Leyland said.

Pujols hasn't played since Wednesday when he left a game against Boston in the fourth inning with tightness in his right calf.

"I'm feeling better," he said. "But they want to give me another day off ? whatever they want to do."

The Tigers and Angels are both potentially vying for an AL wild card with 30-plus games left in the regular season. They need Cabrera and Pujols to avoid going from having day-to-day soreness to a long-term injury.

Cabrera ranks among the AL's best with a .324 batting average, 32 homers and 106 RBIs. Pujols is hitting .283 and has 28 homers and 86 RBIs.

"When Albert is ready to play, he's going to play," Los Angeles manager Mike Scioscia said. "We're not holding him out to get him ready for the stretch. If he was available and could play, he would be playing."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-08-26-Angels-Tigers%20Injuries/id-14b282b52dc44ee99db1283936872c93

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Sales Management Business Development Resume Sample ...

The sample below is for a Sales Management Business Development Resume. This resume was written by a ResumeMyCareer professional resume writer, and demonstrates how a resume for a Sales Management Business Development Candidate should be properly created. Our Certified Professional Resume Writers can assist you in creating a professional document for the job or industry of your choice.

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SALES MANAGEMENT

Accomplished and dynamic professional, recognized for consistently achieving company goals, effective client relationship management, and ability to develop sales and marketing strategies, delivering profitable solutions to attract and maintain accounts and customers, and propel company growth. Highly motivated and efficient with a valuable track record in business development and account management strategies, with proven ability to work effectively in busy environments with positive results. Proactive with excellent interpersonal and communication skills, experienced in working with different personalities including clients and vendors as well as working on own initiative.

Core Competencies
Organizational Leadership ? Sales & Account Management ? Business Development ? Client Relationship
Marketing Strategies ? Staff Training & Development ? HR & Administrative Functions ? Inventory Management

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
MASTERBRAND CABINETS INC. ? Jacksonville, FL 02/2007 ? Present
Territory Sales Manager, 11/2011 ? Present
Oversee performance of territory with approximately 40 accounts and develop business in the North East Florida territory. Implemented various programs including COOP, SPA?s, and Marketing Strategies. Develop the company?s customer intimacy model and establish strong working relationships with customers.
Key Highlight:
? Significantly increased six cabinet brands by 30 to 40 percent.

Area Sales Manager, 02/2007 ? 11/2011
Supported sales, marketing, and field service projects. Developed sales through customer visits and delivery of quality customer service. Facilitated multiple Installation and Product Knowledge training classes including training of sales managers in the southeast region.
Key Highlights:
? Represented MBCI in 36 different box retailers.
? Increase sales from $800,000 in 2007 to $2.25 million in 2011.

LOWE?S HOME IMPROVEMENT ? Lafayette, IN & Jacksonville, FL 06/2002 ? 05/2007
Assistant Store Manager ? Jacksonville, FL, 05/2006 ? 02/2007
Oversaw the entire store?s daily operations including supervision of 150 employees. Managed store budgets and income statements. Tracked and controlled expenses by monitoring payroll, store use items, and shrinkage. Developed programs to increase operational efficiency, and coordinated How-To clinics and merchandising projects.

Department Manager ? Lafayette, IN/Jacksonville, FL, 02/2004 ? 05/2006
Directed inventory and sales budgets and managed staff with 20 members. Monitored and processed payroll budgets.

Team Leader (Assistant Dept Manager) ? Lafayette, IN, 06/2002 ? 02/2004
Managed a staff with six members. Handled sales of in-stock products and special order projects. Developed initiatives to increase sales and meet budgets

OTHER EXPERIENCES
Teller Industrial Federal Credit Union ? Lafayette, IN 05/2001 ? 05/2002
Produce Clerk Kroger Grocery ? Lafayette, IN 08/1996 ? 05/2001

EDUCATION & CREDENTIALS

Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership, 08/2001-12/2004
PURDUE UNIVERSITY ? West Lafayette, IN
Concentration in Supervision/HR
3.1 GPA, Semester Honors 2003; National German Honors Society

INDIANA UNIVERSITY ? Bloomington, IN, 08/2000-05/2001

Source: http://www.resumemycareer.com/sales-management-business-development-resume-sample-2/

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These Mobile Alabama Lawyers Want to Help Car Accident Victims

August 27th, 2012 by admin

Are you in the Mobile, Alabama area, and have been hurt in a car accident? If so, call these leading Mobile Alabama Lawyers before you make any oral or written promises to anyone. You need to get the best representation so you can get the compensation you need and deserve for your unpaid medical bills, loss of wages, and pain and suffering. You should not have to pay for someone else?s negligent driving. Please call today to request a free initial consultation.

Posted in Latest News About Education

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Source: http://www.forefrontcurriculum.com/latest-news-about-education/these-mobile-alabama-lawyers-want-to-help-car-accident-victims/

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Thursday, August 23, 2012

CCS-Inc. Releases New Panel PC, the Seppala-T New Cost-Effective

Source: Comprehensive Computer Solutions

Christiansburg, VA, August 22, 2012 --(PR.com)-- CCS-Inc., a leader in industrial computer, enclosure, and networking solutions for harsh environments and mission-critical applications, recently introduced the Seppala-T, a more cost-effective panel PC for Human Machine Interface (HMI) applications.

Designed with flexibility in mind, the Seppala-T can be integrated with the current programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and automation systems already in place on factory floors. This capability gives users the option to upgrade their automation systems without having to replace all the individual components (such as PLCs/HMIs). The Seppala-T can also be standardized to interface with some existing automation vendors? technology, thereby increasing efficiencies in training and ease of use.

The concept began on the floor of PACK EXPO 2011, a major trade show for the processing and packaging industry. Factory owners, machine builders, and systems integrators at the show complained that they felt restricted by the leading proprietary technology and disappointed with the quality of support being offered.

CCS recognized a need in the marketplace for a more cost-effective panel PC for HMI applications. The Seppala-T, developed in less than a year through a partnership with InduSoft, is available pre-loaded with InduSoft Web Studio HMI software, an easy-to-use SCADA application designed for turning data into high-yield production.

?Seppala-T ? named for sled dogs that work as a team in harsh conditions with high endurance ? is not just a solution for the factory floor. It?s a model of how teams came together to turn a problem into a solution,? said Marty Muscatello, president and CEO.

The package includes an import wizard, which enables the solution to easily replace proprietary legacy systems. Available in 10-, 12-, and 15-inch models, this rugged computer has a touchscreen display built on Intel? Atom? technology.

The Seppala-T utilizes solid state drives and a fanless configuration, enhancing reliability and durability. Capable of withstanding harsh conditions, the Seppala-T?s front panel is IP-65 compliant and designed to meet NEMA 4/4x standards. The unit has also passed InduSoft?s hardware certification testing.

?InduSoft is delighted to partner with CCS to develop a dependable, user-friendly unit that helps factories focus on what they do best,? said Andre Bastos, Vice President of Quality Assurance, InduSoft.

The Seppala-T panel PC is available now. For more information, please visit
www.ccs-inc.com/portfolio/computers-profile/seppala-t or contact the CCS Team for help determining the most suitable feature set.

About CCS-Inc.
Located in Christiansburg, VA, CCS-Inc. offers a wide range of industrial computer, enclosure, and networking solutions for harsh environments and mission-critical applications. Solutions include industrial rackmount, node, fanless, and panel PCs as well as NEMA-rated computer and printer enclosures and integrated network racks. To learn more, visit www.ccs-inc.com.

Contact Information:
CCS-Inc. (Comprehensive Computer Solutions)
Jamie Kuhn
540-382-4234 x230
Contact via Email
www.ccs-inc.com

Click here to read the full story: CCS-Inc. Releases New Panel PC, the Seppala-T New Cost-Effective Alternative for Industrial Settings

Press Release Distributed by PR.com

Source: http://www.manufacturingdigital.com/press_releases/ccs-inc-releases-new-panel-pc-the-seppala-t-new-cost-effective-alternative-for-industrial-settings

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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Paul Ryan takes heat for waving the Terrible Towel

(Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

Paul Ryan could learn a lesson from Rick Santorum. In April, then presidential candidate Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator and lifelong Steelers fan, made a campaign trip to Wisconsin. Despite the pressure from Wisconsinites and members of the media, he refused to don the famous cheesehead, the cap of Green Bay Packers fans.

"I am not going to put this on," Santorum said when he was handed the yellow foam hat in Appleton. "I am a Steelers fan."

Fast forward to this past Tuesday. While campaigning for vice president in Pennsylvania, Ryan, a Wisconsin congressman and lifelong Packers fan, waved over his head a yellow Terrible Towel, the symbol of the Steelers and city of Pittsburgh. The crowd in Carnegie loved it. Wisconsinites, though, were not so thrilled.

Now, even though the Packers and the Steelers are in different conferences, the Wisconsin Democratic Party took the opportunity to slam Ryan for embracing the Towel.

"Packers fans don't wave 'Terrible Towels' any more than they'd get a tattoo of Mike Ditka or blow that annoying Vikings trumpet thing," said Mike Tate, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. "Paul Ryan can call himself a fan of ending Medicare, but it doesn't look like he can call himself a Packers fan after this shameful episode."

The state party even immortalized the moment in a GIF that's making the rounds on Packers fan sites:

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/paul-ryan-takes-heat-waving-terrible-towel-201135248.html

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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Luxury home market follows upward trends | Hawaii Real Estate - A ...

By Lisa Lee

Those who follow the Hawaii real estate market have been trumpeting a turnaround: Indicators such as low inventory, number of sales, and sales-over-asking-price are signaling the return of a competitive market.

The luxury market appears to be following suit.

?The numbers are encouraging and our agents are seeing renewed activity in the high-end neighbor-hoods,? says Robin Markle, vice president of New Home Sales at Prudential Locations.

Sales in the luxury home category declined significantly in 2009, but have been rebounding since then. Sales for the first half of 2012 show a solid increase of 18 percent over the same period in 2011.

The biggest sign of change is the continued reduction in the number of homes for sale. ?One in every five Fine Homes neighborhoods has no available inventory? says Markle.

In Kahala, the leading luxury neighborhood, the months of remaining inventory is unusually low at 5.5 months. Glen Fujihara, a Fine Homes Premier Specialist at Prudential Locations, says Kahala is even hotter than it looks.

?Although you see ?for sale? signs on the street, so many of these homes are actually in escrow. Once they close, the next move you?ll see will be price increases,? he says. ?It?s inevitable.?

Judith Jackola, who specializes in luxury condominiums at Prudential Locations, agrees that falling inventory is creating bigger demand. She is seeing luxury condos in Ala Moana and Kakaako spend very little time on the market.

?There?s no problem selling here,? she says. ?If you?ve got an ocean or Diamond Head view and you?re priced right, you?re pretty much guaranteed to sell within 30 days. I?ve seen some units sell in a week, or even a day.?

Fujihara believes the sudden burst of activity is due to a combination of factors. ?Human nature is to see where the bottom of the market is, and we?re now on the rebound,? he says. ?Buyers sitting on the fence see that it?s time to get off. They see that the inventory is changing.?

According to Fujihara, market turnarounds happen quickly and the market is turning now. ?The general public is at a disadvantage, because they can only see what?s closed, not what?s about to close. Once a buyer learns from their agent that all the listings they see are actually in escrow, they realize that the market is changing. They don?t want to get left behind, so they start taking action. Where just a few months ago buyers had the luxury of taking their time and making selections, they don?t have that time now. The velocity has picked up,? he says.

Fine Homes specialists agree that market trends usually begin in or near town and flow down the east corridor. Julie Meier, another Fine Homes specialist at Prudential Locations, is seeing that eastward movement now.

?There are still some nice properties close to town, but it?s a matter of the buyers? priority lists,? she says. ?My buyers are looking for ocean views, ocean access, and ready-to-move in conditions. But, everything (near town) that?s nice and new is in escrow. So for oceanfront and ocean-access homes, we?re also looking at Portlock.?

As for ridge-top communities, ?Waialae Iki was one of the last undervalued ridges, but we?ve seen it move up a notch with the prices that have closed recently,? Meier says. ?Waialae Iki is realizing its true values.?

While local buyers are getting off the fence, international buyers may be growing, too. For Jackola, the Japanese market is rebounding. ?In the past two to three years, we had growing numbers of buyers from China,? she observes. ?But in the past three months, I?ve seen many more Japanese buyers in town. Last week almost all my showings were for Japanese clients.?

What does all this market activity mean for buyers? ?Buyers need to get serious now,? Fujihara says.

?Whether buying or selling, in a market with multiple offers,? says Markle, ?there is such benefit to working with a Fine Homes agent. They have the expertise to craft the best offers, to identify the best deals, and they have the established relationships that make for fast, smooth, successful transactions.?

Source: http://www.hawaiiislandhomes.com/luxury-home-market-follows-upward-trends/

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Tennis referee arrested in LA death of husband

(AP) ? A professional tennis referee from Los Angeles has been arrested in New York City on a felony warrant charging her with murdering her elderly husband in April.

The district attorney's office said Tuesday that 70-year-old Lois Ann Goodman was taken into custody as she prepared to work as a referee at the U.S. Open tennis tournament.

She was charged with murdering her 80-year-old husband, Alan Goodman, in their Woodland Hills home. Prosecutors allege she bludgeoned him to death with a coffee mug on April 17.

Goodman is in custody in New York awaiting extradition proceedings to return her to Los Angeles. Prosecutors said they would ask that her bail be set at $1 million. A warrant for her arrest was issued on Aug. 14.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-08-21-Tennis%20Referee%20Arrest/id-10cbfdffbbe24530a3e94dceb7ce3fd3

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Online Payday Loans ? Superb Mode to Get Finance Just in 24 ...


Finance | Loans | * Written by Bob Moore | Sunday, 19 August 2012 23:39 | Word Count: 433

Have you been caught in fiscal catastrophes all of a sudden? If you are facing small fiscal catastrophes in the middle or end of the month and you have no enough finance left in your hands. Online payday loans can be the important loan choice for you. This is unproblematic and instant financial relief assistance for the victim people to solve the financial complications that come about owing to inadequate monthly salary. It is very suitable monetary support for those folks who often keep away from taking a financial support because of tedious faxing fuss.
In order to apply for online payday loans in unproblematic and fast manner, you just need to opt for the online mode that is free from faxing and credit check formality. You are not required to waste your precious time in standing in long queues and nor required to organize any sort of major of documents to fax. You are required to complete a single online application form with the information as regards your monthly salary and checking account number. The finance is transferred directly into your active bank account within the least span of time just after confirming of your details.
Online payday loans are categorized short term financial facilities that carry very less formalities and get you finance within the least span of time. You can take many advantages of its features for instance simple online application, instant approval and minimal paper work. You are not required to place any valuable collateral as it is small loan aid. ?But keep in mind that these loans are secured against your upcoming payday. Under the online payday loans you can get hold of the finance ranging from ?100 to ?1000 for the easy and flexible repayment term of 14 to 31 days. The rate of interest charged a bit high as compared to the standard finance.
Ahead of applying for online payday loans you have to fulfill some basic grounds such as you should be permanent citizen of UK, you must be above eighteen years of age, you must be a regular employee in a reputed firm from last six months, you are earning up to ?1000 per month and you are holding a current active checking account. After that you will not restricted from availing these loans because of your bad credit history. Past payments faults like insolvency, foreclosures, CCJs, arrears, defaults, arrears, due payments are also acceptable. This is reason that there is no credit record verification.

?

Bob Moore is ace writer who has vast experience has been prominent as well as pioneer. He has been searching on payday loans since many years. Quick payday loans, online payday loans, etc.

?

Article Source: Article Directory - http://www.freearticleforyou.com


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Author of this article: Bob Moore.

Bob Moore joined FAFY - Free Article For You on Wednesday, 23 November 2011.

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Re-Publish: Online Payday Loans ? Superb Mode to Get Finance Just in 24 Hours You have permission to re-publish this article electronically or in print, as long as you are able to follow the Publishers Guidelines.

Source: http://www.freearticleforyou.com/Finance/Loans/online-payday-loans-superb-mode-to-get-finance-just-in-24-hours.html

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Creative and Easy Ways to Decorate Your Outdoor Leisure Spots ...

The seasons in the year that can be captivating are the spring time and summer seasons. The added burst with the coloration and flowers is without a doubt astonishing. Another thing that?s nearly as inspiring is setting up backyard party decor locations for hanging out with ones friends and family over the warm weather season with the help of garden decorations.

Outdoor garden decor pertains to the decoration of a backyard or living area using assorted decorative accents consisting of windchimes, lawn gnomes, garden stake, faux boulders, outside wall art, outdoor rugs, and mailboxes. Other items such as outdoor bench, solar gazing ball, and trellises are also ways to customize outdoor locations.

Beautifying your outdoor living area may bring out your creativeness in you. A person may be extremely creative with color and flower pot of one?s favorite flowering plants. These can beautify wishing well, line a walkway, or an entry to the patio, deck or metal arbor.

Another means by which to adorn and enhance a garden living space is by using garden lights. Why don?t you showcase your evenings by having tiki torches? Environmentally friendly and painless on your wallet, these lighting effects supply ambiance with stylish outdoor garden illumination. Additionally a ideal way to spruce up by using lighting is with outdoor stringed lighting. String lights are obtainable in tubular arrangements, or with outdoor candle lantern. Lantern light sets are obtainable in several themes for example tropical, patriotic, mardis gras and wedding. The multitude of theme choices provides you with lighting effects to match a range of party and gathering themes. Also appealing may be the use of full size outdoor lamps on your outdoor furniture sets. These kinds of lamps are made of fabric to withstand being left outdoors, happen to be resistant to harsh weather conditions, and most have completely removable and washable shades. Using a moveable and stylish outdoor floor lamps to highlight an outdoor patio or living area is always an even better strategy.

What more appropriate way in which to successfully decorate an outdoor family area than with mother nature itself? Take pleasure in the visions and sounds of singing birds actively playing in a strategically positioned birdbath while rejuvenating on your outdoor swings. Birdbaths come in various substances such as those that resemble rust-free cast iron, or weathered copper.

Getting garden wall clocks, rain chain and rain gauges is another good way to improve an outdoor living area. Welcome visitors with a travel pathway lined by using stepping stones for garden. Available in numerous patterns and forms this is a resourceful way for you to improve an entrance or path. Tree plaques may improve a patio area with positioning upon a ledge, across a flower bed, or perhaps near the top to a gate. Perched upon a display, or carefully installed on a wall or metal arbor, plaques can easily call attention to the attractiveness of any plant or flower arrangement. lawn gnomes can captivate and welcome. They can be fun and original or stately and peaceful.

If decorating for your own benefit or for one of a kind festivities along with friends and family, outdoor decor offers an artistic way to flaunt your extremely creative style and imagination.

Source: http://800heroin.net/?p=248

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Monday, August 20, 2012

Lorillard Announces Pricing of $500 Million Debt Offering

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://pr-canada.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=578528&Itemid=36

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Fitness Keys consultants can help you with weight loss and physical ...

Fitness Keys consultants specializes in educating individuals on what they need to do in order to become physically fit.

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Tweet This There are many ways to get into shape. Some people run others do aerobics at home. But there is no one method or technique that will lead you to fitness. The truth is diet, exercise, and general life style are all part of what it takes to stay fit and healthy. At Fitness Keys consultants, we help you discover this simple truth for yourself. We specialize in educating individuals on what they need to do in order to become physically fit.

Trying to work out, eat right, and maintain mental balance is difficult. With the shifting burdens of work and the time you need to dedicate to family, it can seem almost impossible to actually live a well-balanced life. And not everyone has the luxury of going to the gym or being serviced by a professional trainer. It is therefore necessary for busy people who want to stay in shape to acquire the knowledge themselves, so that they can apply it in a more flexible way.

Fitness Keys consultants aim to give you the tools you need to build your own fitness regimen and practice. You can get into the best shape of your life by using the tools of a program that will take you from strength to strength in both the bodily and spiritual realms. If you are a busy professional, you may not necessarily have time to for a daily work out. That is okay. Losing weight and getting fit include more than just hitting the gym everyday! At Fitness Keys consultants, we help you understand how you can shape your overall lifestyle to meet your weight loss and physical fitness goals.

It has never been more important to look after your health through fitness. We are all well aware of the obesity crisis in America and the part that unhealthy eating has played in it. However, eating habits are only part of what contributes to weight gain and unhealthiness. Stress and the sedentary nature of most of our jobs are also partly to blame for why so many of us find it difficult to manage our weight. The problem is as much social and economic as it is individual. But since none of us can do anything about the nature of work and business we must focus on our individual lives.

You don't have to live with the knowledge that you are not in good health. Getting fit will help you not only look good but also feel good. Indeed, getting in shape can be helpful to all aspects of your life, including work. If you are feeling run down at the end of the day or even by mid-afternoon, getting into an exercise routine can help. Shedding those extra pounds and getting your blood circulation up can give you the energy you need to get through the day and night.

Enjoying life to the fullest should be the aim of everyone who is happy and successful. Now you can ensure you're able to do so by developing the physical stamina that such a life requires.

About the Submitter
If you are looking to get physically fit, then Fitness Keys can help you do so--by just telling you the truth! For more information please visit: http://www.fitnesskeys4u.com

Contact:
FitnessKeys4U .com
hakinsbrown@ymail.com

Fitness Keys consultants can help you with weight loss and physical fitness

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