Ranulph Fiennes pulls out of 'Coldest Journey' expedition

British polar adventurer Ranulph Fiennes, known as the oldest person to summit Mount Everest in 2009, couldn't continue his winter Antarctica crossing expedition, dubbed 'The Coldest Journey,' due to frostbite.

By Danica Kirka,?Associated Press / February 25, 2013

In this 2009 file photo, British explorer Ranulph Fiennes, who became the oldest Briton to scale Mount Everest, is seen relaxing on his return from the mountain in Katmandu, Nepal.

Binod Joshi/AP/File

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British explorer?Ranulph?Fiennes on Monday pulled out of an expedition to cross Antarctica during the region's winter after developing frostbite ? a bitter disappointment for an adventurer who had spent years preparing for one of the last great polar challenges.

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The explorer and his five-member team had hoped to traverse nearly 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) in a place where temperatures often dip as low as minus 70 Celsius (minus 94 Fahrenheit). The expedition, dubbed "The Coldest Journey," will continue without him.

"The condition is such that he has very reluctantly decided ... to withdraw from Antarctica while the possibility to do so still exists, before the onset of the Antarctic winter," the expedition said in a statement.

Fiennes, who has been going where others fear to tread for decades and in 2009 became the oldest person to summit Mount Everest, already is missing parts of his fingers on his left hand because of frostbite suffered on a North Pole expedition a decade ago.

"This will be my greatest challenge to date," he had said on his website before the journey began. "We will stretch the limits of human endurance."

The polar trek is especially dangerous because no aircraft can travel inland in the winter due to the darkness and risk that fuel will freeze. That means that there would be virtually no chance of a search and rescue operation if disaster strikes.

The team is working toward evacuating Fiennes from Antarctica, but that evacuation is being hampered by a blizzard. The team said he was transported by snowmobile to the Princess Elisabeth Station, about 70 kilometers (45 miles) from his current position. From there, he will be flown to Novo to get a connecting flight to Cape Town in South Africa.

But he will be unable to leave until there is a let-up in weather conditions. The remaining members of the team plan to start the crossing as scheduled March 21.

"This decision has not been taken lightly and it is, naturally, a huge disappointment to Fiennes and his colleagues," the statement said.

The expedition is trying to raise $10 million for the charity "Seeing is Believing," which seeks to prevent blindness.

Polar adventurer and balloonist David Hempleman-Adams, who walked unsupported to the South Pole in 1996, said he believed the winter crossing would be unprecedented.

"The crossing's definitely been done before," he said. "However that was very different. That was in summer months. And that was hugely supported with aircraft and things like this. As far as I know this will be the first winter crossing."

The team has been outfitted with high-tech equipment that prompted comparisons to the preparations for a flight into space, including special breathing apparatus. The expedition will use 20-ton tractors to transport sledges with mounted living quarters and fuel that is designed not to freeze in the extreme temperatures.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/dTYJJNhfMi0/Ranulph-Fiennes-pulls-out-of-Coldest-Journey-expedition

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Facebook's main app for iOS adds free voice calls inside North America

Facebook has been spreading voice messaging throughout its mobile apps for awhile, but it's clear the Palo Alto crew is no longer happy leaving interaction to canned speeches. Following a quiet rollout of live voice calls to Facebook Messenger earlier in the year, a version 5.5 update to Facebook's core iOS app is giving social networkers a similar chance to talk to each other for free. The only stipulations are that users have the bandwidth to burn and live in either the US or Canada. Otherwise, the interface and functionality are dead ringers for the Messenger equivalents we tried in January. There's still no word on when full voice calls will reach Android or other platforms, although they typically get feature parity before too long.
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Pope clears decks with appointments, tweaks

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Benedict XVI is clearing the decks of his pontificate, tweaking the rules of the conclave, finessing the religious rites used to launch the next papacy and making some eyebrow-raising final appointments before he retires next week.

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano said in editions published late Friday that Benedict had signed a decree earlier in the week making some changes to the papal installation Mass, separating out the actual rite of installation from the liturgy itself.

He is also studying the text of a separate document governing the rules of the conclave, though it's not known if it will address the thorny issue of whether the election can begin earlier than March 15, by some interpretations the earliest the vote can start under the current rules.

And on Friday, the Vatican announced Benedict had transferred a top official in the secretariat of state, Monsignor Ettore Balestrero, to Colombia ? an appointment that came amid swirling media speculation about the contents of a confidential report into the Vatican's leaks scandal.

Italian newspapers have been rife for days with unsourced reports about the contents of the secret dossier that three cardinals prepared for Benedict after investigating the origins of the leaks. The scandal erupted last year after papers taken from the pope's desk were published in a blockbuster book. The pope's butler was convicted in October of aggravated theft, and later pardoned.

The Vatican has refused to comment on the reports, which have claimed the contents of the dossier, delivered to Benedict in December, were a factor in his decision to resign. Benedict himself has said he simply no longer has the "strength of mind and body" to carry on.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, has indicated that Benedict would meet with the three cardinals before stepping down Feb. 28, in one of his final private audiences.

Given the rivalries, turf battles and allegations of corruption exposed by the leaks themselves, there is some speculation that cardinals entering the conclave might want to know the contents of the dossier before choosing a new pope.

Balestrero was head of the Holy See's delegation to the Council of Europe's Moneyval committee, which evaluated the Vatican's anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing measures. He has had a hand in the efforts by the Vatican bank to be more transparent and is close to Benedict's No. 2, the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

The Vatican submitted itself to Moneyval's evaluation in a bid to improve its reputation in the financial world.

The Vatican passed the test on the first try in August, and Moneyval said it had made great progress in a short amount of time. But the Holy See received poor or failing grades for its financial watchdog agency and its bank, long the source of some of the Vatican's more storied scandals.

Some of the documents leaked in the midst of the "Vatileaks" scandal concerned differences of opinion about the level of financial transparency the Holy See should provide about the bank, the Institute for Religious Works. However, Balestrero himself wasn't named in any significant way in the leaks.

The Vatican is now working to comply with Moneyval's recommendations before the next round of evaluation. Lombardi said the lengthy Moneyval process would simply be handled by someone else now that Balestrero is leaving.

Lombardi said Balestrero's transfer had been months in the works, was a clear promotion and had nothing to do with what the Vatican considers baseless reporting.

Lombardi noted that the nunciature in Bogota is one of the most important in Latin America, with the headquarters for the Latin American bishops' conference as well as the regional organization for religious orders, and is usually headed by someone who has had experience as a nuncio in at least two other postings.

"The procedure for this nomination was started some time ago, as evidenced by the fact that the agreement (with Colombia) has already been reached," Lombardi told The Associated Press. "It was started well before the pope's resignation, so it's completely unfounded to link it to the news articles in recent days."

Asked if the transfer had anything to do with the broader Vatileaks investigation, Lombardi said he was declining comment in line with the Vatican's decision not to confirm or deny any specifics of the investigation.

Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, the Opus Dei canon lawyer who headed the cardinal's commission, has spoken in vague terms about the report and the well-known divisions within the Vatican Curia that were exposed by the leaks.

"Certainly, it has been said that this was a hypothesis behind the pope's resignation, but I think we need to respect his conscience," Herranz told Radio24 last week. "Certainly, there are divisions and there have always been divisions, as well as clashes along ideological lines. These aren't new, but yes, they have a weight."

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-clears-decks-appointments-tweaks-174227293.html

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'No. 1 deadbeat parent' in jail after 11 years on the run

No. 1 deadbeat parent: The New York dad who prosecutors call the "No. 1 deadbeat parent" pleaded guilty Thursday to owing more than $1.2 million to three children from two failed marriages.

By Frank Eltman,?Associated Press / February 21, 2013

Robert Sand, labeled the 'No. 1 deadbeat parent' by prosecutors, pleaded guilty today to owing more than $1.2 million to three children from two failed marriages.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services / AP Photo

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A New York man once dubbed by prosecutors as the government's most wanted deadbeat?parent pleaded guilty Thursday to owing more than $1.2 million to three children from two failed marriages.

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Robert Sand, 50, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Central Islip on Long Island to two counts of failing to pay child support. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Bode said in court that the child support orders, which were issued on Long Island, have been in arrears since at least 2002.

The figure cited by Bode includes interest and penalties. The prosecutor declined to comment to reporters after the court proceeding.

Sand told the judge he fled first to Florida and then to Thailand. Sand's attorney, Glenn Obedin, said his client had grown tired of living on the run and contacted authorities late last year.

Sand left Thailand, where he had worked in an assortment of odd jobs, and flew to the Philippines. He was arrested and then deported from the Philippines in November 2012 because he lacked proper identification, prosecutors said. He was sent to Los Angeles, where he was arrested by federal marshals, and then extradited to New York, where he has been held without bail since December.

"He had enough and wanted to come back and have the opportunity to make it right," Obedin told reporters after the court proceeding on Long Island.

Sand faces up to four years in prison when he is sentenced in May.

"Neither court orders nor the familial bond meant anything to him as he fled to avoid his obligations," U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.

The two mothers of Sand's three children were not in the courtroom for Thursday's proceeding, but Obedin has said he has contacted them and claimed their priority is for Sand to be free to earn a living so he can repay his debt. As part of the plea agreement, Sand is required to make full restitution. He waived his right to appeal the guilty plea.

Obedin said Sand has worked in the past as a car salesman and has an offer to work in that field when he is released.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/vkaTYaKGvwE/No.-1-deadbeat-parent-in-jail-after-11-years-on-the-run

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Bomb rips through Pakistan market, killing 65

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) ? A bomb hidden in a water tank ripped through a crowded vegetable market in a mostly Shiite neighborhood in a southwestern Pakistani city Saturday, killing at least 65 people and wounding nearly 200, officials said.

Police said many of those wounded in the explosion in Quetta remain in critical condition. The blast, which police said targeted the country's minority Shiite Muslim sect, left many victims buried under rubble, but authorities did not know how many.

It was the deadliest incident since bombings targeting Shiites in the same city killed 86 people earlier this year, leading to days of protests that eventually toppled the local government.

Shiites have been increasingly attacked by militant groups who view them as heretics and non-Muslims in this Sunni Muslim dominated country. Many of the Shiites in Quetta, including those in the neighborhood attacked Saturday, are Hazaras, an ethnic group that migrated to Pakistan from Afghanistan more than a century ago.

Quetta police chief Zubair Mahmood told reporters that the bomb was hidden in a water tank and towed into the market by a tractor. He said the blast destroyed shops in the neighborhood and caused a two-story building to collapse.

"We fear some victims may be found buried there," he said.

Mahmood said police did not yet know who was behind the bombing but a local television station reported that Lashker-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni extremist group that has targeted Shiites in the past, had called to claim responsibility.

Senior police officer Wazir Khan Nasir said the bomb, set off in a residential suburb, was detonated by remote control.

Another officer, Samiullah Khan, said the bomb was detonated while dozens of women and children were buying produce for their evening meal. Local residents rushed the victims to three different area hospitals, often in private vehicles because there weren't enough ambulances to transport the victims.

A massive plume of white smoke rose over the area after the bomb blast. Television footage of the scene showed the streets littered with rubble from destroyed buildings, mixed with fruits and vegetables and shattered street carts.

Near one of the hospitals where the dead and wounded were taken, a man stood weeping as people were being taken in on stretchers.

"Look at our misery! We are helpless," he said.

Members of the minority Shiite sect took to the city's streets in angry protest, blocking roads with burning tires and throwing stones at passing vehicles.

Many also started firing into the air in an attempt to keep people away from the area in case there was a secondary explosion. Sometimes insurgents stagger the explosions as a way to target people who rush to the scene to help and thus increase the death toll.

Police cordoned off the area. Most of the Shiites in the area are Hazaras, and they were quick to blame Lashker-e-Jhangvi.

"This evil force is operating with the patronage of certain elements in the province," said Qayum Changezi, the chairman of a local Hazara organization.

Saturday's attack was the worst since a series of bombings on Jan. 10 killed 86 people in Quetta, almost all Hazara Shiites. Residents were so furious that they refused to bury their dead for days, instead camping out on the streets with the bodies in coffins in protest and demanding the government address the problem.

After days of protests, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf flew to the city to meet with protesters and sacked the chief minister and his cabinet. But Saturday's attack showed the still potent power of the militant groups behind such incidents.

Quetta is the capital of Baluchistan province, where the Shiite minority has been attacked several times in recent months. Baluch nationalist groups are fighting an insurgency there to try to gain a greater share of income from the province's gas and mineral resources. Islamic militants are also active in the province.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi took their name after a firebrand Sunni cleric who gave virulently anti-Shiite sermons.

Pakistan's intelligence agencies helped nurture Sunni militant groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in the 1980s and 1990s to counter a perceived threat from neighboring Iran, which is mostly Shiite. Pakistan banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi in 2001, but the group continues to operate fairly freely.

Last year was particularly deadly for Shiites in Pakistan. According to Human Rights Watch, more than 400 were killed in targeted attacks across the country. The human rights group said over 125 were killed in Baluchistan province, most of whom belonged to the Hazara community.

Rights groups have accused the government of not doing enough to protect Shiites in the country.

__

Associated Press writers Zarar Khan contributed to this report from Islamabad.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bomb-rips-pakistan-market-killing-65-195100396.html

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KANKASH: 34,000 Troops to Withdraw from Afghanistan

Videos - Kankash

Saturday, 16 February 2013 14:20 Written by TOLOnews.com

The US President Barack Obama on Tuesday night said that over the next year 34,000 US troops will withdraw from Afghanistan.

To watch the programme, click here:

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"Tonight, I can announce that over the next year another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan," said Obama in his State of the Union address. "This drawdown will continue. And by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over."

The 34,000-troop withdrawal is the latest phase in a transition plan that the United States, Afghanistan and allies developed at recent Nato summits in Lisbon, Portugal, and Chicago.

The number of US troops has already declined from a high of about 100,000 in 2010 to 66,000 now.

After the troop's withdrawal announcement, The US State Department has said that the United States is seeking Pakistan's support to secure Afghanistan as it prepares to pull out from the war-ravaged country by the end of next year.

Host Omid Farooq examines the issue with this episode's guests:

? Fardin Hashimi, teacher at the Kabul University
? Asadullah Sahadati, member of Parliament
? Mirdad Khan Nijrabi, member of Parliament

Source: http://www.tolonews.com/en/video/kankash/9458-kankash-34000-troops-to-withdraw-from-afghanistan

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Turkey meat ball soup - Food and Nutrition - Lap Band Talk Forums

Posted Yesterday, 5:28 PM

This road traveled has not been easy but it is in my soul now that I am worth loving myself as an individual.??When you're down and do not think you can go on with this journey, pick yourself up and move forward.??You will get there if you love yourself.

Author of Five books last release was "The Prevalence of Love"??(Amazon Kindle) :)

Moving on down with Ideal Protein.

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Dismissals Don't Bode Well for Facebook IPO Plaintiffs, But It's Early Yet

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Asteroid will buzz Earth, miss by 17,150 miles

This image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech shows a simulation of asteroid 2012 DA14 approaching from the south as it passes through the Earth-moon system on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. The 150-foot object will pass within 17,000 miles of the Earth. NASA scientists insist there is absolutely no chance of a collision as it passes. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech)

This image provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech shows a simulation of asteroid 2012 DA14 approaching from the south as it passes through the Earth-moon system on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. The 150-foot object will pass within 17,000 miles of the Earth. NASA scientists insist there is absolutely no chance of a collision as it passes. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? A 150-foot asteroid hurtled toward Earth's backyard, destined Friday to make the closest known flyby for a rock of its size.

NASA promised the asteroid would miss Earth by 17,150 miles, avoiding catastrophe. But that's still closer than many communication and weather satellites; scientists insisted these, too, would be spared.

Asteroid 2012 DA14, as it's called, is too small to see with the naked eye even at its closest approach around 2:25 p.m. EST, over the Indian Ocean near Sumatra.

The best viewing locations, with binoculars and telescopes, are in Asia, Australia and eastern Europe. Even there, all anyone can see is a pinpoint of light as the asteroid zooms by at 17,400 mph.

As asteroids go, DA14 is a shrimp. The one that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was 6 miles across. But this rock could still do immense damage if it struck, releasing the energy equivalent of 2.4 million tons of TNT and wiping out 750 square miles.

Scientists are certain it won't impact Earth. And chances are extremely remote it will run into any of the satellites orbiting 22,300 miles up.

Most of the solar system's asteroids are situated in a belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, and remain stable there for billions of years. Some occasionally pop out, though, into Earth's neighborhood.

The flyby provides a rare learning opportunity for scientists eager to keep future asteroids at bay ? and a prime-time advertisement for those anxious to step up preventive measures.

"We are in a shooting gallery and this is graphic evidence of it," said former Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart, chairman emeritus of the B612 Foundation, committed to protecting Earth from dangerous asteroids.

Schweickart noted that 500,000 to 1 million sizable near-Earth objects ? asteroids or comets ? are out there. Yet less than 1 percent ? fewer than 10,000 ? have been inventoried.

Humanity has to do better, he said. The foundation is working to build and launch an infrared space telescope to find and track threatening asteroids.

DA14 ? discovered by Spanish astronomers last February ? is "such a close call" that it is a "celestial torpedo across the bow of spaceship Earth," Schweickart said in a phone interview Thursday.

Astronomers organized asteroid-encounter parties for Friday and experts just about everywhere were giving flyby rundowns.

NASA's deep-space antenna in California's Mojave Desert was ready to collect radar images, but not until eight hours after the closest approach given the United States' poor positioning for the big event.

Scientists at NASA's Near-Earth Object program at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimate that an object of this size makes a close approach like this every 40 years. The likelihood of a strike is every 1,200 years.

If a killer asteroid was, indeed, incoming, a spacecraft could be launched to nudge the asteroid out of Earth's way, changing its speed and the point of intersection. A second spacecraft would make a slight alteration in the path of the asteroid and ensure it never intersects with the planet again, Schweickart said.

Of course, this is all in theory.

Forget an asteroid blowup like the one depicted in the 1998 film "Armageddon." The last thing Earth needs is asteroid fragments raining down.

"Thanks, Hollywood," Schweickart said with a laugh.

___

Online:

NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/asteroidflyby.html

B612 Foundation: http://b612foundation.org/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-02-15-Closest%20Asteroid/id-c7cfff47cabb4b389a3072afc77812a4

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The dark side of Texas jobs

I've heard the Texas pitch before.

It's an enviable track record of job creation, but a hiring spree with some noteworthy issues.

Rick Perry, the Texas governor, on his state's sky high rate of workplace deaths: "I don't think it has anything to do with the regulation side."

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So I had a key question for Rick Perry, the state's governor, on Wednesday as he wound up a whirlwind business recruitment tour in California with a media conference call from Laguna Beach.

Perry was detailing Texas' successes, with a few less-than-subtle jabs at California. He said he heard in his meetings with California business leaders that his state's low-tax, low-regulation, low-litigation formula sounds very attractive.

I asked Perry if he could explain the state's sky-high rate of workplace deaths. Did Texas' much-hyped business-friendly regulatory environment have anything to do with that national leading trend ? not a number that Perry bragged about in his please-move-to-Texas spiel?

"I don't think it has anything to do with the regulation side," Perry replied of his state's high worker death counts. "It has to do with the types of jobs we have. You in California are not very knowledgeable about the energy industry, and that is a fairly dangerous workplace."

Perry did admit to the challenge, "we do have our fair share of on-site injuries and deaths at the workplace; but it's not because of a lack of regulation."

Let me put the Texas situation in perspective.

I've collected in my trusty spreadsheet the past nine years of federal workplace deaths data by state. Since Perry is pitching Texas in California, let's compare this ultimate measure of worker safety from the freewheeling Lone State and our Golden State ? often criticized in business circles for overprotective laws.

From 2003 through 2011 ? the latest stats available ? 4,282 Texans were killed at work vs. 3,949 workplace deaths in California. But that 8 percent difference ? at first glance, not much ? should be adjusted by California's large-but-shrinking jobs advantage between the states.

What you then see is that in these nine years Texas had 4.21 workplace deaths per 10,000 workers employed vs. 2.72 in California. That's 55 percent more deaths on a per capita basis.

But I wanted to see if Perry's explanation rang true ? that the risky energy business explains the workplace-death difference.

Since 2003, deaths in California's mining industries ? a catch-all for every extraction industry including oil and gas ? totaled 39 workers. In Texas oil and gas extraction trades in these nine years, 366 workers died.

Still, when you subtract those extraction industries from the broad totals, you still find that Texans die on the job at a 43 percent higher rate than Californians.

Even workers in the wide-ranging service-worker category ? those not extracting or creating goods ? died at Texas workplaces at a 37 percent faster pace than Californians from 2003 to 2011, by my math.

Perry seemed perplexed ? one Houston Chronicle blogger said he "bristled" ? at my question, as if his own cherry-picking of Texas-favorable statistics was somehow more enlightened.

"An interesting thing to me is that people spend a lot of time digging through to find that one statistic that they want to hold up and talk about," he said to reporters. "The fact is that all of these states are in competition. And there is a direct correlation between jobs that are created and taxation and regulation burdens upon business. And that is what we're focused on."

And he added: "I am, as are all Texans, very focused on the safety of our citizens."

Competition among states for jobs is a good thing. We need states with various textures of economies and cultures and climates to offer wide options to both domestic and foreign corporations and workers.

But dead workers is not just "one statistic" ? it's a reminder of workplace risks. Nobody can eliminate those sad happenings, as bosses, and workers, are human ? so fatal mistakes are made and accidents do happen.

But if competition revolves around transparency, as it should, then Texas' risky workplaces ? whether due to the nature of the work or boss-chummy regulators ? should be part of the discussion.

Because there is a big difference between an extra percent or so of job growth or profit margin ? and another dead worker.

Contact the writer: 949-777-6727 or jlansner@ocregister.com

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/texas-495888-perry-california.html

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Russia, Kazakhstan may mange space base together

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) ? A Russian space official says lease agreements for some launch facilities in Kazakhstan could be suspended, opening the way for their joint administration by the two countries.

Roscosmos deputy head Sergei Savelyev told the Ivzestia newspaper in an interview published Thursday that the first facility to come under review is the pad used to launch the satellite-deploying Zenit rockets.

Statements from Kazakhstan about the complex had provoked some speculation that it was seeking higher rental payments, but the Central Asian nation also seems intent on expanding its own space industry.

Savelyev said Kazakhstan has expressed interest in the training of its own space experts.

Russia currently pays Kazakhstan $115 million annually to use the Soviet-built cosmodrome under a deal that expires in 2050.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-02-14-AS-Kazakhstan-Space-Base/id-5d8e8b14b021416fa05c35e184a49437

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Senate Democrats offer plan replacing automatic budget cuts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the Senate on Thursday rallied around a $110 billion tax increase and spending cut plan that would postpone more severe automatic spending cuts set to begin on March 1.

The proposal, which is expected to get shot down by Republicans who oppose raising taxes any further to reduce budget deficits, might never come to a Senate vote. But some of its components could be included in future budget negotiations.

Before the plan was formally unveiled, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called it "a political stunt" and "a total waste of time."

The Senate Democrats' plan would cancel the across-the-board spending cuts, known as a sequester, through December 31. The cuts would be revived in January 2014 unless replaced as part of a more comprehensive deficit reduction deal.

Under the Senate Democrats' plan unveiled on Thursday, all of the new military spending cuts due to begin on March 1 would be put off until fiscal 2015, when the war in Afghanistan is expected to draw to a close.

About $27.5 billion in replacement military cuts would start in 2015 and be spread over seven years, according to a summary of the Democrats' plan.

Another $31 billion in spending cuts over 10 years would be achieved by ending direct farm subsidy payments.

"I think our caucus is very supportive of replacing the sequester with a fair and balanced approach," Senate Budget Committee Patty Murray told reporters.

If Congress fails to act, about $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts begin on March 1 and continue through September 30 as part of a decade-long $1.2 trillion budget savings plan. Half of the cuts would be shouldered by the Defense Department and the other half would be scattered among many other government agencies.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that if fully implemented, these budget cuts would hold back U.S. growth and prevent the creation of about 750,000 jobs this year.

But with Democrats and Republicans far apart on how to replace the automatic cuts, they are widely expected to go into effect on March 1. In subsequent weeks a replacement measure could be negotiated at the same time Congress works on a deal to fund government agencies that run out of money on March 27.

On the tax side, Senate Democrats say they would raise $54 billion over a decade by setting a new minimum 30 percent tax rate for the wealthy. Known as the "Buffett Rule," it would be applied to taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes over $1 million, after subtracting charitable contributions.

It would be aimed at those who pay less than a 30 percent average tax rate in combined income tax, alternative minimum tax and the employee's portion of the payroll tax. The Buffett Rule, named after billionaire Warren Buffett, who has promoted it, would be phased in for those with annual incomes of $1 million to $2 million.

Two other tax hikes would eliminate a break that Democrats say encourages companies to move jobs overseas and a tax loophole enjoyed by the oil industry.

The latter would include oil from tar sands among the petroleum products that are subject to taxes that support an oil spill liability trust fund, according to the Democrats' summary.

In the House of Representatives, Democrat Chris Van Hollen has introduced similar legislation to replace the automatic sequester cuts through December 31. But Republicans who control the chamber have rejected four of his attempts to attach the proposal to other legislation.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; editing by Jackie Frank)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-democrats-offer-plan-replacing-automatic-budget-cuts-020636690--business.html

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Balance: A 2013 Conference, an Achievement in California Wine (and a Calder Mobile)

For the past three years, a small group of California chardonnay and pinot noir producers has gathered for a conference and tasting called In Pursuit of Balance. In past years it's been staged in San Francisco and New York; in 2013, for the first time, they brought their wines and their message to Los Angeles.

The organization represents the concerted effort among these winemakers to pursue, revisit or otherwise reclaim an aesthetic once rumored to be lost in California: wines of proportion and restraint. For the better part of two decades, the trend in wine styles has been toward making riper, more buxom and more extracted wines, with softer textures and higher alcohols, a trend rewarded by critics and snatched up by consumers -- and heeded, needless to say, by the wine community.

The wines on display at IPOB, many from the cool 2010 and 2011 vintages, represented leaner styles, less extracted, less ripe, lighter in alcohol and higher in acidity, and their exceptional, consistent quality compels me to say that at this moment in California, balance need no longer be pursued. It's being achieved.

As far as the market is concerned, these producers and their wines are still very much in the minority. Most California chardonnay and pinot noir remains juicy and plush; most privilege fruit above all other attributes and exhibit a fleshiness of texture that sort of feels the way that sounds: sensual, satisfying, a tad indulgent.

What's not to like about such attributes, you may ask. Well, nothing. Many of the wines made in this style are downright irresistible. But things go missing. In all that ripeness, the expression of place -- one of the many things we love about wine -- gets squishier, harder to read. Big wines have a dispiriting uniformity to them, with fruit obscuring all other attributes.

The most prized wines in the world -- whether from Burgundy, from Hermitage, from the Rheingau or the Piedmont -- are revered for the interplay of fruit with a host of other attributes, how the wine manifests soil and climate and steepness of slope, the vagaries of place known as terroir -- all working together toward some harmonious and unique outcome.

Of course, wines of this type aren't as immediately gratifying as riper wines -- the chardonnays presented were crisp rather than rich, built up not by oak but by lees and acidity. The pinots were more given to savory attributes: pine frond, plum blossom, mushroom, tea.
But what you may have missed in terms of fruit was made up in tension and drive, a compressed textural energy that induces you to take another sip.

Sommelier Rajat Parr, one of the event organizers, describes the wines as "crunchy," a marvelous word not only for its connotations of freshness but because it seems to capture their kinetic quality, their textural energy and drive, the difference between a puddle and a stream, a cinderblock and a skipping stone, a baked apple and one just plucked off the tree.
For these producers, balance is not static but kinetic, like one of Pollock's paintings or Calder's mobiles -- wildly turbulent, even as they stand perfectly still.

For a list of participating wineries, go to inpursuitofbalance.com.

And in somewhat related news:
- New Zealand Pinots To Drink Now
- 5 California Winemakers On The Best "Ripe and Fleshy" Valentine's Chocolate + Wine Pairings

---

Patrick Comiskey, our drinks columnist, blogs at patrickcomiskey.com and tweets at @patcisco. Want more Squid Ink? Follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook.

Source: http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2013/02/in_pursuit_of_balance_californ.php

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Clues to why most survived China melamine scandal

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Scientists wondering why some children and not others survived one of China's worst food safety scandals have uncovered a suspect: germs that live in the gut.

In 2008, at least six babies died and 300,000 became sick after being fed infant formula that had been deliberately and illegally tainted with the industrial chemical melamine. There were some lingering puzzles: How did it cause kidney failure, and why wasn't everyone equally at risk?

A team of researchers from the U.S. and China re-examined those questions in a series of studies in rats. In findings released Wednesday, they reported that certain intestinal bacteria play a crucial role in how the body handles melamine.

The intestines of all mammals teem with different species of bacteria that perform different jobs. To see if one of those activities involves processing melamine, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Shanghai Jiao Tong University gave lab rats antibiotics to kill off some of the germs ? and then fed them melamine.

The antibiotic-treated rats excreted twice as much of the melamine as rats that didn't get antibiotics, and they experienced fewer kidney stones and other damage.

A closer look identified why: A particular intestinal germ ? named Klebsiella terrigena ? was metabolizing melamine to create a more toxic byproduct, the team reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Previous studies have estimated that fewer than 1 percent of healthy people harbor that bacteria species. A similar fraction of melamine-exposed children in China got sick, the researchers wrote. But proving that link would require studying stool samples preserved from affected children, they cautioned.

Still, the research is pretty strong, said microbiologist Jack Gilbert of the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory, who wasn't involved in the new study.

More importantly, "this paper adds to a growing body of evidence which suggests that microbes in the body play a significant role in our response to toxicity and in our health in general," Gilbert said.

Source: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/medical/article/Clues-to-why-most-survived-China-melamine-scandal-4275803.php

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Analyst: Microsoft leaves billions behind without Office for iPad

Microsoft's Steve Balmer with Office for Surface

FORTUNE -- Two and a half billion dollars.

That's how much Morgan Stanley's Adam Holt estimates Microsoft (MSFT) may be leaving on the table by not offering a full version of its Office suite (Word, Excel, etc.) on Apple's (AAPL) iPads.

Here how he gets that number.

For starters he estimates that Microsoft probably sold fewer than 1 million Windows-based tablets last year and will be hard pressed to capture 10% of the tablet market this year -- especially with stalwart partners like Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) reportedly choosing Android over Windows 8 for its forthcoming mobile devices.

He also reports that three to four times as many Mac users (30-40%) install paid versions of Office on their machines as Windows PC users (10-15%) do -- a difference that feels too high unless he's not counting the discounted versions of Office Home edition that come bundled with new PCs.

Assuming a similar 30% attach rate in 2014 on roughly 200 million iPads at an average selling price of $60 comes to more than $2.5 billion in extra revenue per year, even after Apple takes its 30% cut off the top.

That's more than Holt forecasts Microsoft will make from selling software (Windows and Office) on all Windows-based tablets in 2014.

"The math is compelling," he concludes, "and may drive MSFT to move Office."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/loopinsight/KqJb/~3/EfJFi5xNoD4/

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Gov't approves issuance of bonds worth almost CZK 157bn | Prague ...

?TK |

14 February 2013

Prague, Feb 13 (CTK) - The Czech government yesterday approved the Finance Ministry's proposal to issue bonds worth almost Kc157bn this year, with the ministry planning to use Kc7.8bn of the amount to cover part of the deficit of the state budget for 2011, the government's spokesman Michal Schuster said.

The ministry also wants to use the money raised from the bond issue to cover securities maturing this year and for the repurchase of further bonds from the market.

The main reason for submitting the proposal is the repayment of a higher state budget deficit in 2011 and an effort to avoid the refinancing risk, that is the possibility that the state would not be able to meet its obligations due to a small share of long-term government bonds, the ministry said.

The Czech state posted a Kc142.8bn deficit in 2011. Originally, the ministry reckoned with a deficit of Kc135bn.

The Finance Ministry obtained money for covering the originally planned deficit thanks to another law on the state bond programme. The ministry submitted the current law owing to the extra amount of almost Kc8bn.

The ministry can use the remaining sum of over Kc149bn to cover state debt principals payable in 2013 and other possible obligations of the state due in 2013, according to the proposal.

"The bond issuance will increase the state debt by the nominal value of the bonds, but the use of the money raised from their sale for instalments and repurchases will in turn cut the state debt," the Finance Ministry said.

The state debt amounted to Kc1,670bn at the end of 2012.

The law on the state bond programme to cover part of the deficit of the Czech Republic's state budget for the year 2011 exceeding the planned deficit and on the state bond programme to cover the state's other obligations payable in 2013 enables bond maturity of up to 105 years.

The Finance Ministry wants to borrow Kc230.7bn this year in line with the Funding and Debt Management Strategy for the year 2013.

The ministry is planning to issue government savings bonds again next year as part of the strategy. The value of the savings bonds, intended for individuals, municipalities, foundations and non-profit organisations, will be between Kc20bn and Kc40bn.

Copyright 2011 by the Czech News Agency (?TK). All rights reserved.
Copying, dissemination or other publication of this article or parts thereof without the prior written consent of ?TK is expressly forbidden. The Prague Daily Monitor and Monitor CE are not responsible for its content.

Source: http://praguemonitor.com/2013/02/14/govt-approves-issuance-bonds-worth-almost-czk-157bn

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Girl placed with foster family three weeks after being adopted ...

ANP / de Volkskrant

A couple that adopted a 2-year-old girl from China, placed this girl with a foster family, three weeks after her arrival in the Netherlands, without reporting this to the adoption agency or any other organization

The girl and one of the adoptive parents couldn't deal with each other. "The child constantly rejected one of? the adoptive parents. This parent couldn't cope with the situation. The adopters saw no other way than to place the child with a foster family", the inspection on youth-care, wrote in a report about the case.

The girl had been adopted in August 2011. Stichting Kind en Toekomst (Child and Future Foundation), the agency that arranged the adoption, was only informed about this failed adoption in February 2012. This only happened after the foster parents had asked Bureau Jeugdzorg (Dutch office responsible for youth care) was being asked for support.

According to a spokes person of the inspection, this is the first time a case like this has been reported. The fact authorities didn't know this child no longer lived with her adoptive parents, is "very bad", according to the spokes person. The adoptive parents deliberately didn't inform authorities about the failed adoption, because they were afraid the Raad voor de Kinderbescherming (Child Protective Services) would get involved and the child would be moved from one children's home or foster family to the other.

The adoptive parents have seen their parental rights removed only six months after the failed adoption. Bureau Jeugdzorg has custody over the child, which still lives with the foster family.

According to the inspection, the adoptive placement wasn't performed properly. The adoption agency has not properly investigated the situation of this girl and the match with the prospective adopters. Post-placement care was not properly taken care of: contact only took place through phone calls or by writing. "This needs improvement", the inspection said. Upon arrival in the Netherlands, a child should receive medical and psycho-social evaluation, to know of problems or traumatic experiences as fast possible.

Source: http://poundpuplegacy.org/node/54138

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US Airways hopes to gain legitimacy with merger

In this Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, photo, US Airways jets are parked at their gates at the Charlotte/Douglas International airport in Charlotte, N.C. Patched together from several scrappy regional carriers on the brink of bankruptcy, US Airways has often been ridiculed within the aviation industry and remains a perennial afterthought among travelers. But it hopes to shed that image by merging with the larger American Airlines, in a deal which will catapult the two to the top of the industry. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton

In this Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, photo, US Airways jets are parked at their gates at the Charlotte/Douglas International airport in Charlotte, N.C. Patched together from several scrappy regional carriers on the brink of bankruptcy, US Airways has often been ridiculed within the aviation industry and remains a perennial afterthought among travelers. But it hopes to shed that image by merging with the larger American Airlines, in a deal which will catapult the two to the top of the industry. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton

In this Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, photo, US Airways jets are parked at their gates at the Charlotte/Douglas International airport in Charlotte, N.C. Patched together from several scrappy regional carriers on the brink of bankruptcy, US Airways has often been ridiculed within the aviation industry and remains a perennial afterthought among travelers. But it hopes to shed that image by merging with the larger American Airlines, in a deal which will catapult the two to the top of the industry. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

In this Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, photo, the US Airways 'Heritage" logo is shown by the door of a jet parked at the Charlotte/Douglas International airport in Charlotte, N.C. Patched together from several scrappy regional carriers on the brink of bankruptcy, US Airways has often been ridiculed within the aviation industry and remains a perennial afterthought among travelers. But it hopes to shed that image by merging with the larger American Airlines, in a deal which will catapult the two to the top of the industry. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)

In this Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, photo, US Airways jets are parked at their gates at the Charlotte/Douglas International airport in Charlotte, N.C. Patched together from several scrappy regional carriers on the brink of bankruptcy, US Airways has often been ridiculed within the aviation industry and remains a perennial afterthought among travelers. But it hopes to shed that image by merging with the larger American Airlines, in a deal which will catapult the two to the top of the industry. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton

NEW YORK (AP) ? US Airways is poised to finally become the industry giant it has long aspired to be.

The company has often been ridiculed within the aviation industry and remains a perennial afterthought among travelers. But it hopes to shed that image by merging with the larger ? but troubled ? American Airlines, a deal which will create the world's largest airline.

The deal is expected to be announced Thursday morning, according to three people close to the situation, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about the merger.

American has been in bankruptcy since November 2011. Its creditors will own the majority of the new carrier but it will be US Airways management at the helm. Airline consultant Paul Sterbenz calls it "an example of the little fish swallowing the big fish."

US Airways was patched together from several scrappy regional carriers on the brink of bankruptcy. Though it has grown over its 73-year history to become the nation's fifth largest carrier, in many ways, it has remained a second-string player.

The merger with American will elevate both airlines to the same level as Delta and United. International business travelers will be left with just three mega-airlines to pick from and the merger will likely bring to a close more than 30 years of U.S. airline consolidation.

Even within an industry known for frequent mergers, US Airways stands out.

Like most U.S. airlines, its origins can be traced back to carrying mail for the post office. The airline started such service in 1939. Its forbearers ? Allegheny and Piedmont ? soon expanded into shuttling passengers from one small city to another in western Pennsylvania, North Carolina and the Ohio River Valley. Neither were major players. When larger airlines abandoned cities, they swooped in, taking over the service.

Growth also came through acquisitions of even smaller airlines: Lake Central, founded by an air racer, in 1968; Mohawk, which expanded thanks to financing from a farmers' cooperative, in 1972. Empire Airlines, which developed out of an aircraft fuel supplier, was added in 1986. The next year, Pacific Southwest Airlines ? which originally weighed luggage on bathroom scales ? was added. Even real estate mogul Donald Trump's failed Boston-New York-Washington shuttle would eventually be folded into US Airways.

The airline was flying more and more passengers but still failed to dominate the skies.

"We were thought of as second-class citizens," says Edwin I. Colodny, CEO of the airline from 1975 to 1991.

Each merger brought its own headaches. Seniority lists had to be merged, computer programs synchronized and routes coordinated. Cultures often clashed.

For instance, Allegheny, based in Arlington, Va., billed itself as the "airline of executives" while PSA, which was based near a large Navy station in San Diego, was nicknamed "Poor Sailors' Airline." Its wisecracking flight attendants wore hot pants and midnight flights were known for their freely flowing liquor.

By 1979, Allegheny had grown to fly to Arizona, Colorado, Texas and other states outside the Allegheny Valley. To reflect its shift from regional to national carrier, the airline changed its name to USAir.

The biggest growth came in 1987 when Piedmont Airlines, based in Winston-Salem, N.C., was acquired. It did not go smoothly. Piedmont was a southern airline. Most of US Airways traced its lineage back to the Northeast.

"The Piedmont employees felt very, very proud of their airline and they did not see being merged into US Air as being something they looked forward to," Colodny says.

It became common for workers to tell each other within minutes of meeting which airline they came from. There were Piedmont guys and Allegheny guys and a handful who once worked at Empire Airlines. Nobody was just a US Airways guy.

"It was a very quick indication that there was a holding on to the past," says Chris Doan, who oversaw operations and maintenance for US Airways from 1996 to 2002.

The airline eventually embraced that disjointed past, honoring its predecessors with a logo that incorporates four of their emblems. It can be seen today when boarding planes, on the right side of the doorway.

"We're a survivor," says John McDonald, vice president of corporate communications at US Airways Group Inc. "The sidelines of the airline industry are littered with carriers who didn't make it."

Part of the airline's strength comes from its strong saturation along the East Coast. It excels in bringing passengers from small cities to major business centers.

What has always been missing is a large overseas network. A promising partnership with British Airways fell apart in the late 1990s and the airline at the time had few flights west of the Mississippi.

Airline executives recognized the shortcomings and by 1998 were telling Wall Street analysts that they were transforming the airline into a "world-class carrier of choice." But it quickly became apparent that the only way to do so was to merge. A deal was announced: the much larger United Airlines would buy US Airways for $4.3 billion.

That became the company's main focus. Everything else was put on hold. Improvements weren't made to seats. Lounges were ignored. Why paint planes if they were going to be redone in United's colors in the near future?

But then in the summer of 2001, the Justice Department blocked the deal. US Airways was back on its own.

Then came the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The industry suffered major losses as passengers stopped flying. But US Airways was hit particularly hard.

Its routes included many highly profitable short-haul flights around the Northeast. But strict new security measures made it easier for people to drive or take a train. Compounding problems: Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, a source of many of those lucrative flights, was closed for 23 days.

Within sight of the airport was the airline's headquarters.

Executives used to peek out the window to see if the top level of the parking garage was full. It was an imprecise, but telling, way to gauge business. After 9/11, the parking garage was deserted. It was "a very stark reminder of what was going on," says Ben Baldanza, a former US Airways executive and now CEO of Spirit Airlines.

By the following August, US Airways filed for bankruptcy protection. It emerged less than a year later only to head back to bankruptcy court in September of 2004.

Then at Christmas, the airline suffered a huge blow to its reputation.

A staffing shortage at its Philadelphia hub, the holiday rush and some bad weather led to a toxic mix. The airline quickly became overwhelmed and wasn't able to call in reinforcements. Employees, mad about wage cuts, called in sick or refused to work additional hours.

The airline canceled 405 flights over the holiday period. Another 3,900 were delayed. More than 560,000 passengers were affected. If that wasn't bad enough, there were 72,000 reports of lost or damaged luggage. Half the phone calls made to the airline were never answered.

(The airline has since improved its on-time and baggage handling performance and ranks at the top of U.S. carriers in those categories.)

Five months after the Christmas nightmare, discount carrier America West swooped in, buying US Airways out of bankruptcy. The airline was days away from being liquidated.

"There wasn't a compelling industrial logic to the combination," says David Siegel, CEO of US Airways from 2002 to just before the second bankruptcy filing in 2004. He's now CEO of Frontier Airlines. "The US Airways management team realized it needed to exit ? the human sacrifice upon the altar of organized labor, starting with me."

Doug Parker, then CEO of America West, took over and still runs the combined airline, which adopted the US Airways name. It was not a smooth merger. Seven years later, the company's pilots have yet to reach agreement on a new contract or a merged seniority list.

"The number of employees at US Air outnumbered America West and that led to the sparks flying between the two groups," says Ed Beauvais, who founded America West and left in 1992.

It might be crazy to merge with yet another larger airline when the last deal hasn't yet been completed, but in many ways US Airways and American's parent, AMR Corp., don't have a choice.

The airline industry has been searching for stability ever since the government ended its regulation of routes and prices in 1978. Companies that once had profitable monopolies suddenly faced startups undercutting their fares. Since deregulation, 193 airlines ? small and large ? have filed for bankruptcy. Some emerged stronger. Some stopped flying. Others survived only through mergers.

A final wave of consolidation in the past five years has created a new breed of mega-airlines. Delta Air Lines bought Northwest and United merged with Continental, creating the world's two largest airlines. Their massive route networks have enabled them to lure away highly profitable corporate travel accounts. A joint US Airways and American will rival them in size and give both airlines a shot at winning back business travelers.

"It would be the end of legacy carrier consolidation," says Basili Alukos, an airlines analyst at Morningstar.

Having one less competitor could also enable all airlines to charge more ? something good for their bottom lines, but not fliers.

Parker, who started his career at American, will now return, getting a chance to run what was once the nation's leading airline. He and the US Airways management team will move their headquarters from Tempe, Ariz., to American's home in Fort Worth, Texas.

If the deal gets government approval and goes through, US Airways would ? for the first time in its history ? ascend to the top of the airline industry. It just might have to lose its identity to get there: The new airline will be called American.

___

Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-13-US%20Airways-History/id-e15095fe12834b7192765520f3e6306a

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Israel Rothman wrote a new post, 2013 SEO 101 | The New Search Engine Optimization | Being the Source of Real Content , on the site 2013 Guide for Social Media Advertising Agency

S.E.O. in 2013 is more about the syndication?and?distribution of real content than it is about on-site optimization ? which is done mostly by a well-setup modern content management system like WordPress, Ruby-on-Rails, or Drupal these days. ?Therefor, the quality and formatting of the original content itself,?the?strategy?for?the?targeting of the?metadata, and the distribution of the content through groups, content aggregates, blogs and feeds?becomes?the main occupation of a social media marketer.

Our thanks to Mashable for this great?info-graphic:

From [infographics] like the one above, designed to be?redistributed?with links back to the source by bloggers like me with audiences of our own, to well thought out articles like this one, to videos that rank on YouTube search and on Google and other search engines, like this one:

In 2013, the modern social media marketing agency:

1. Creates a strategy designed to?target?a specific topical or geographical audience,
2. Collects, arranges and/or manufactures real content of?interest to that audience
3. And then distributes that well optimized content ?through modern social media channels, building a trail back to the source.
4. It is more about internet publishing and modern distribution in 2013

A good example to use to?illustrate?the results from this methodology carried out is a domain that we now have for sale from a client ( the third to own this domain with us) who did not renew last spring. ?Sometimes the greatest challenge for us, as technology and publishing professionals, is to get the clients to appreciate and acknowledge what we have?done?for them when we do a great job: for instance http://distressedrealestate.org?was designed to rank for?Washington?distressed real estate?Google search; and it still does. ?Yet our barely computer literate client refused our renewal at only $120 per year for hosting, after spending the $975 to create the blog website and?the?rankings, when all they?would?have needed to do to maintain these rankings at this point?would?simply be to post to the blog to maintain this Feedburner feed that we syndicated: ?http://feeds.feedburner.com/Distressed-Real-Estate.

It seems strange to us that so many clients?would?invest the money needed to hire a professional S.E.O. firm for?competitive?searches in real estate, hospitality, events planning, or?professional?services such as ourselves, who performs; then they give it all up so easily, without even acknowledging or knowing what they had; when all that is needed to maintain it at this point is continue with the obviously sound strategy to begin with (I.E. to simply?continue?to post on topic once in a while to maintain the?presence) ?This is even more strange, knowing what I know, ?that these original Realtor-investor clients (in Bellevue Washington) made $50,000+ per month during that time by?education, financing, buying, and flipping real estate in that as buyers agents offering investment seminars, hard money loans, mortgages, and informational services to buyers and investors in their area. ? They filled a room with 50 prospects weekly!

original article is here:

2013 SEO 101 | The New Search Engine Optimization | Being the Source of Real Content

Shameless plug is here:

2013 Rothman Guide to Modern Advertising

Source: http://2012-rothman-guide-smo.uplog.org/2013/02/14/2013-seo-101-the-new-search-engine-optimization-being-the-source-of-real-content/

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Carney: Rubio sounded like Romney (Washington Bureau)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/284631968?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Trump to address Oakland County GOP in May

Donald Trump, the businessman, reality TV mogul and detractor of President Barack Obama, will be the keynote speaker at the Oakland County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner fundraiser this spring.

"I am honored to have the opportunity to share my thoughts and views with the Oakland County Republican Party and the great state of Michigan," Trump said in a release. "As the oldest, largest and one of the most influential Lincoln Day Dinners in the country, I could not have been more pleased to receive this invitation."

The dinner will be held May 21 at the Suburban Collection Showplace in Novi. Tickets to the dinner, which is the Oakland County GOP's primary fundraiser, cost from $75 to $750 for an individual ticket and up to $5,000 for a table of 10.

"We are thrilled to have Mr. Trump headline this year's event," David Trott, chairman of the Lincoln Day Dinner, said in the release. "The Lincoln Day Dinner is a tradition Oakland County has celebrated for 124 years, and it is only fitting that our keynote address is delivered by one of the most celebrated and recognizable entrepreneurs and philanthropists in the world."

A real estate developer, Trump gained additional fame as the star of "The Apprentice" TV show. During the last election cycle, Trump considered a run for president and later became one of the biggest proponents of the "birther" movement, questioning whether Obama was born in the U.S.

lrazzaq@detroitnews.com

(313) 222-2127

Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130214/METRO02/302140457/1408/LOCAL

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House clears disaster aid for houses of worship

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The House has overwhelmingly approved a bill to allow houses of worship damaged by Superstorm Sandy to receive federal disaster aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The measure, which passed by a 354-72 vote Wednesday, adds houses of worship to the government's list of private nonprofit organizations eligible for aid. Critics said the measure violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

Sandy roared up the East Coast and pounded several states in late October, especially New York and New Jersey. The storm is blamed for 140 deaths and billions of dollars in residential and business property damage. Bill supporters say many houses of worship damaged in the storm continued to serve their stricken communities with help such as shelter and food.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-13-US-Superstorm-Aid-Religion/id-08c1163aeb3043ba95c3dc058e6e8c92

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The Always Up-to-Date Guide to Streaming Blocked Content Overseas

Regardless of which end of whatever pond you're on, region blocked content is annoying. Whether you're an ex-pat looking to watch reruns of The Wonder Years, or you're a hankering for a dose of Dr. Who, here's the best (and easiest) way to get that content.

One of the big problems with streaming content overseas (or from an overzealous college campus that blocks everything) is that the landscape for doing so changes a lot. Just a few years ago you had to jump through a lot of hoops, but in most cases it's now as simple as a using an extension or web service. First, let's look at our favorite way of getting to the bulk of online content. Then, we'll look at the alternatives that give you access to just about anything you want.

The Easiest Method: Hola Unblocker

The previously mentioned Hola Unblocker extension for Firefox and Chrome is the simplest way to reliably watch the bulk of streaming content no matter where you are. You can get access to Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, CBS, Fox, BBC, and more using just the extension. You can also add a few more services, including AETV, Google Play, Syfy, YouTube, USA Network, and others using the Windows client. All you need to do is install the extension, and Hola Unblocker does the rest. It's incredibly simple.

If all you need to do is access a few choice streaming services, Hola Unblocker is the easiest way to do it because it doesn't interfere with any other settings (or your overall internet access speed). That said, it doesn't support that many services. For that, you need to dig a little deeper.

Alternative Methods

Hola Unblocker is fantastic because it's fast, and doesn't require a lick of technical know-how. That said, it's pretty limited in what content you can stream. If you're looking to watch videos or listen to music from other services, here are a few more great options.

• Unblock.Us: Unblock.Us was our pick for the easiest way to watch the Olympics on the BBC, and it's still one of the simplest ways to get around region-blocked content, blocks from your ISP, and any other censorship you run into. You get a free week-long trial, and it's $4.99 a month after that. For a free alternative, check out Tunlr. Both services also support set-top boxes like the Apple TV and Playstation 3.
• Use Any VPN You Want: Another option is to set up a VPN to reroute your traffic through servers in other counties. Any VPN will do (although you might want to stick with one of these five). If you subscribe to a Usenet service like GigaNews, you might even get a VPN for free as part of the package. This keeps your data a lot more private than the above services, but it will likely slow down your connection.
• Tunnelbear: If you want an incredibly easy-to-use, on-off switch, Tunnelbear works wonders. Simply download the software, flip the switch to the location you want, and you can start streaming immediately. When you want your normal internet back, turn it off. The free version will only get you 500 MB for the month (probably less than an hour of streaming), but $4.99/month gets you unlimited access.
• Set up a Proxy Server: If a browser extension is more your style then using a proxy service is easy enough. The speeds won't be that great, but it's easy to shut off when you're done. You can also try the Tor browser for a few more options.
• Media Hint: Much like Hola Unblocker, Media Hint is an extension for Chrome and Firefox that automatically unblocks content you come across on Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, and Rdio. Unfortunately, it's no longer available directly in the Chrome Store, so you'll have to manually install it.

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This should give you access to pretty much any region blocked streaming content out there for right now. As other services pop up we'll give them a shot and update when something simpler (or more encompassing) comes along.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/uuJDapvCpPM/the-always-up+to+date-guide-to-streaming-blocked-content-overseas

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